Explain and analyze the most relevant and pressing counterarguments, challenges and complications in order to both demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of diverse perspectives within the debate and use engagement with these opposing perspectives to expand, qualify, and refine your reasoning via persuasive, ethical and substantiated rebuttals.

Final Research Essay (at least 8 FULL pages, not including Works Cited list): this should be a polished final essay not a draft!

Purpose: The purpose of your Final Research Essay is to organize and analyze your best research findings, especially from your Annotated Bibliography, in order to support a reasoned argument that answers your final question-at-issue (significantly to subtly revised from your Controversy Paper’s question-at-issue).

Brief Summation: In order to answer your final question-at-issue, which should be offered in your introduction, the body of your Final Research Essay should examine the best and most pertinent scholarly research sources you have found during your Annotated Bibliography Research to arrive at an enthymeme in your conclusion that answers your opening question. (Relevant reliable popular sources are also useful to include.)

Core Requirements for Final Research Essay:

In order to be eligible for full credit (30 labor units) your first version must:

1) Be 8 to 10 full pages long (with a recommended maximum of fifteen for those doing the extra labor option for a Thorough Research Essay) and accurately follow all of the MLA Format and Documentation guidelines modeled and explained in the course handouts.

2) Include an effective introduction offering both clarifying context and an overview of the controversy, as well as stating your guiding question-at-issue (in bold font for clarity) that gets to the heart of the debate surrounding your proposed, and approved, social problem facing our world today.

3) Effectively address, integrate and analyze central ideas and evidence in the form of direct quotes from a thorough selection of relevant academic sources from your original research especially from your Annotated Bibliography, including a good balance of specific evidence/data/ideas from primary sources and reasoning/claims/interpretations from secondary sources, to support, develop, and explore the essay’s thesis.

Note: Your integration and analysis of research sources should disclose the authors/organizations’ relevant expertise or potential bias when meaningful, so that readers readily understand the relevant ethos of each research source.

4) Explain and analyze the most relevant and pressing counterarguments, challenges and complications in order to both demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of diverse perspectives within the debate and use engagement with these opposing perspectives to expand, qualify, and refine your reasoning via persuasive, ethical and substantiated rebuttals.

5) Include a reasoned thesis (enthymeme in bold font) in the conclusion as the paper’s central argument answering your opening question-at-issue regarding your proposed, and approved, social problem facing our world today.

6) Reflect significant improvement in response to your four revision goals (two selected by you and two assigned by instructor), as well as editing for clarity and precision. Important: In the body of your essay, put any sentences or paragraphs that include changes and additions intended to address these revision goals in bold.

Grading: Based on the full core requirements listed above, turning in a complete hardcopy of this first version on time will be worth 30 labor units, with 20 points earned for meeting the first five core requirements explained above, and the remaining 10 points earned through improvements in response to your four personalized revisions goals. Caution: It is not possible to earn any credit for this assignment if either in-text parenthetical citation or a Work Cited list is missing. And due to time constraints, this assignment is not eligible for revision, making your first score on this assignment final.

Submission Details: In addition to submitting your Final Research Essay here for the required anti-plagiarism scan, be sure to turn in a pdf with all changes and additions focused on your four goals indicated in bold as part of your Final Portfolio.

Special Note regarding Finals Week Deadlines: The Final Essay and Final Portfolio each only have 12-hour grace period available due to time constraints, running until noon. Exceptions to the final deadline can only be made based on officially documented emergencies and may result in either a failing grade being initially recorded to meet University deadlines (and then changed after the registrar releases grades) or necessitate applying for an incomplete in the course to finish a small amount of remaining work before the end of the following term.

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