Persuasive Research Essay

Persuasive Research Essay
Topic: Recommend a “Staycation”
We all need a break from our day-to-day routines once in a while, don’t we? When we can’t go on vacation (for various reasons) we must stay home, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves. Let’s get creative! What would your long weekend “staycation” look like?
NOTE: You’re not expected to take this “virtual vacation.” Merely plan and recommend it! Think of yourself as a travel agent.
Prewriting
Get creative! What are the elements of this “staycation”? What parts, if any, could be done in person? What parts could be done virtually with the right resources?
Budgetary Constraints: You have $0 as a budget and must recommend only activities that can be done at home with readily available household materials OR activities that can be completed online.
Time Constraints: You must plan a staycation for one long weekend, with activities that begin on Friday and end on Sunday.
Purpose or Theme of the Staycation:
Decide what this virtual vacation should accomplish. (Ex: to relax, to learn, to experience something new)
Determine what activities will accomplish this goal. (Ex: for a relaxing vacation, you may not want to stay up late for a horror movie marathon)
Create your itinerary for the “trip.” (Think about food and activities that accomplish your goal.)
Drafting
Write a formal persuasive essay with research to recommend this weekend staycation to your readers.
Choose ONE (1) of the following prompts:
Recommend the full itinerary. (General thesis)
Evaluate the itinerary, and recommend the best activities on it. (More specific thesis)
Convince your audience of the single most important benefit of this full itinerary. (Most specific thesis)
Assignment Criteria
Focus/Purpose: To persuade (Who would agree to take your trip? Who would rather do something different? How will you use your research to convince all of your readers to take your trip?)
Content and Support: 6 paragraphs, minimum. Establish your argument and support it with 4 sources within 600-700 words. Address the needs of your entire audience by including content for those who already support your view and countering the arguments made by those who oppose your view.
Idea Organization: Each paragraph must have a topic sentence and supporting details appropriate for the persuasive format. In addition, each body paragraph must have at least one (1) direct quote or paraphrase from a source, not to exceed 10-15% of the paragraph’s content. Each body paragraph should develop your idea and use research only in support of that idea.
Style: Academic, formal paragraph and sentence structure. 3rd person is required. The diction and tone will be engaging and convincing.
Format/Essay Conventions: The essay must meet all of the requirements for standard introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs in a persuasive structure.
MLA: The heading, page formatting, in-text citations, and works cited list must conform to the 8th edition of MLA format.
Research Requirements:
This essay requires 4 sources only.
2 sources must be through the GSU Library databases (sometimes called GIL for “GALILEO Interconnected Libraries”).
The other 2 can be from GIL or from academically appropriate websites. These websites must give credit to authors or organizations by name, and these authors must be experts in a field related to your specific thesis topic.
No blog posts or webpages that merely list information (ex. “My family’s rainy day weekend” or “Top 10 Reasons to Visit Barcelona in the Spring”) will be permitted.
You may use direct quotes or paraphrases within your essay. The in-text citations must include an introduction to your research and parenthetical documentation after your research.
No paragraph should contain more than 10-15% research.
Your Works Cited list must have full citations for each of your four sources. This does not count towards your word count.
All research within the essay’s paragraphs and on the works cited list must conform to the 8th edition of MLA format.

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