Module 9: Your Voice and the American Dream
This module will take you through the basic steps of a persuasive research paper in which you will address a topic meaningful to you. Persuasion is the most popular form of nonfiction writing today. It surrounds you in magazines and newspapers and on television, radio, and the Internet. It even hides subtly as themes in popular films, novels, music, and the clothes you wear. Persuasive writing is also the easiest form in which to find your writer's voice, or unique perspective, style, and tone. Effective persuasive writing can be a difficult and detailed process; however, if you use a series of simple steps, select a topic about which you feel passionate, and practice with format and style, you can can write a persuasive selection that will move even the most stoic reader. In this module, each topic assessment builds on the previous. The completion of each topic will set you up for the module assessment and the culmination of this process: the creation of your paper and the application of your literary voice in a real-world setting.
Essential Questions
- What is the process for building a formal, persuasive research paper using proper MLA format?
- How can you find appropriate sources and use them properly in order to support your opinion?
- What methods can you use to organize and present your ideas in a way that is persuasive to your intended audience?
- How can you use style and tone to develop your literary voice and apply it to addressing real-word issues?
- How is a rough draft critical to the writing process?
- How do you revise and edit a rough draft for a research paper?
Getting Started
For this module, the most important thing you will need to do is relax and take the process of writing a persuasive research paper and finding your literary voice step by step. You will create a final product for this module assessment that includes a cover page, a formal outline, a 1,000- to 1,500-word persuasive essay with parenthetical citations, a Works Cited page, and a reflection on publishing your work to a public audience. It may sound like a lot, but by taking such a daunting task one piece at a time, any project becomes more manageable.
Your first step is very basic. Think about an issue that interests you and directly affects you or someone you know. For instance, maybe you live in a neighborhood where cars constantly speed and endanger pedestrians, and you would like your neighbors or local government officials to advocate or enforce lower speed limits and stricter penalties. Maybe you are raised by a single mom who works hard at her job but is paid less than her male coworkers. Maybe your cellular phone or tablet has been confiscated by school authorities because you cannot use electronic devices in school and you think this is wrong. Maybe you see a lot of homeless people in your town and you feel the welfare system needs to be handled differently. Maybe you see many of your friends and other youth not as active as they should be and you want to persuade your peers to be more physically active.
From local to international levels, there are numerous issues that directly affect you or your family and friends every day. Here are some more suggestions: pro-life/pro-choice, genetic engineering, vaccinations, space exploration, marriage equality, euthanasia, cloning, body modifications, plastic surgery, the death penalty, gun control, school uniforms, taxation on junk food, overdiagnosis of diseases or conditions, homeschooling or chart schools, animal cruelty, global warming, illegal immigration, and government surveillance.
When choosing the topic of your persuasive paper, you should adhere to the following guidelines:
- You are familiar with or have interest in the topic.
- The topic somehow directly affects you or people that you care about.
- You can research, find facts, and gather professional opinions (books, periodicals, websites, personal interviews, and etc.) about the topic to support your viewpoints.
- You can participate in public discussion about the topic or take action to effect change (by starting a petition, joining a lobbyist group, volunteering your time, writing a letter, etc.)
After taking some time to think about subjects that are familiar and interesting to you, make a list of these subjects. Then, do some basic research about some of your key ideas, and talk to the people around you to gather more ideas. Take your time, think it through, and make sure that you can find a wide range of concrete sources. From your list, eliminate those topics that you do not think are as interesting or for which you think you cannot give an effective persuasive argument.
After narrowing your topic list down to a few ideas, see if you can find at least one book source, a periodical, a person you can interview or a documentary you can view, and several professional websites for each topic. For the final module assessment, you will need at least six sources, or two sources for each of your three arguments.
Once you have documented your list of ideas and preliminary source selections (at least five per topic), please save it with a file name of mod9_ideas and submit it to the dropbox. After reviewing your ideas and sources, you and your teacher will discuss them to help narrow down your topics to one selection. Once your chosen topic and sources have been approved, you will begin the next step in the research process.