Your primary goal for this option is to improve your readers’ understanding of a subject. Choose a topic that
interests you, and make sure it is something you want to know more about. YOU SHOULD NOT
ALREADY BE AN EXPERT. Don’t do something you’ve recently written about because the best papers are
those in which the writer shares newly discovered information with the reader. You are NOT required to
research a topic related to The Round House, but you can if you want to. Medical and scientific topics (such
as earthquakes, vaccines, opioid addiction, or black holes) work well, or you could explore a topic related to
history or culture. For example, did you know there was a concentration camp in Minnesota? Loons,
centipedes, hamsters, and other critters also make excellent topics, as do concepts like gaslighting or toxic
masculinity. Any topic can work, but stay focused. Your topic should be narrow enough so you can become
an expert on it and educate your readers about it in approximately 4-5 pages (PLEASE, no more than 5
pages). Although there are several formal requirements (listed below) you must follow, this is still your
writing. The emphasis is on information, but as a writer, you are the shaper of that information. Reading your
essay should be even better than reading the original sources.
GUIDELINES:
1. Choose a group of readers likely to be interested in your topic (like “college students” or “new
parents”) or choose a periodical or web site (like Cosmopolitan or National Geographic), and list
this audience at the top of page 1. Address your report specifically to that audience.
2. Before you begin your research, formulate a question about your topic to help guide your work.
Your answer to this question will lead you to your thesis. Your report must have a narrowly
focused subject and a clear statement about that subject.
3. If you want to write about a person, like Prince, please DO NOT write a full birth-to-death
biography of that person. Instead, focus your essay on what made that person important.
4. To support your thesis, you must provide plentiful, plausible, and pertinent information.
5. If your source articles are thorough, you shouldn’t need more than four, but feel free to find
additional sources if you need more information. (See source notes below)
6. The organization of your report should be logical and appropriate to your subject (break your
subject into groups, steps in a process, etc.)
7. Provide clear definitions for any terms your readers may not know.
8. This should NOT be a persuasive essay.
OPTION 2 (Argumentative/Persuasive Essay):
For this option, you must attempt to persuade your readers to adopt your position on an issue by informing
them about the issue and supporting your position. The ideal subject is something with which you are
familiar (you have first-hand experience) and something that has distinct opposing viewpoints. It is essential
that you come across as somewhat of an authority on the issue, and personal experience is a good way to
demonstrate that. Your topic does not have to be something of global or national concern, and it does not
have to connect to The Round House. Start by looking at things you would like to change about your
community, or even your neighborhood. This essay should be about 4-5 pages long, so stay focused. Please
don’t go over 5 pages!
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