NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

the assignment : you’ll use the project 3 ( i will attach a file for my essay of proj 3) research to write a public opinion essay based about your topic about benefits of camel milk and meat .

Your essay must take a position on the relevance and significance of your topic and the information you are bringing together. It needs to express a focused perspective on the topic, not a general overview. (An essay that simply presents information will not receive a grade higher than a C.) What question or angle really caught your attention? What points in your sources made you think? NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

Opinion essays are shorter and less scholarly than a traditional research paper, but they should still use specific and credible evidence from your research (and possibly from your own experience) to support your ideas. Generalizations and unexamined assumptions usually don’t interest readers (or will actually irritate them). NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

• Decide on the perspective or angle that you want to take, and use it to shape your essay.
• Describe your position in the first paragraph and explain it through the rest of the essay.
• You may vary the length of paragraphs, as you’ve seen in class examples. However long or short a body paragraph is, it need to have a topic sentence that links back to your position and forward to the main point of the paragraph.
• Refer to at least three excellent sources (with identifying tags, and hyperlinks or parenthetical citations).
• Encapsulate your position in a pithy title (short & meaningful or clever).
• Your conclusion needs to not only summarize your points but also to relate to your readers and (hopefully) get them thinking.
• Establish common ground with all readers, even those who may disagree with you. Acknowledge possible alternative perspectives and then relate them to yours. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area
• Write for a specific audience: identify a website or blog where you might post your piece and read some of the other posts and comments. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area
• Imagine a rhetorical context for your essay and revise your tone and word choices to be persuasive to that audience in that situation.

Grading criteria: focus, sense of perspective, expression of topic’s complexity, sense of significance, rhetorical awareness (tone, word choice, source selection, editing), connections among sources, responsible and effective use of sources, MLA formatting.

For your final assignment this semester, you will use the research you’ve done for Project 3 to produce a piece that is intended for the public. It should have a clear purpose, e.g., to state a particular opinion and persuade the audience to believe it or take action; to inform; to educate. The piece may be an op-ed piece about your topic, a brochure, or a blog post. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

Op-Ed Assignment (3-4 pages)

“Op-ed” is short for “opposite the editorials,” because in a traditional newspaper op-eds appear on the page opposite of the editorials page. Op-eds are opinion pieces that discuss issues relevant in our general society, and they often argue a position on a topic or propose a solution to a problem. Most op-eds are written by people with substantial knowledge of a topic; after completing your annotated bibliographies and group presentations, you are on your way to being experts on your topic, and now you’re going to have a chance to put your knowledge to work to communicate something to the world. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

Requirements:

1. An introductory hook that grabs readers’ interest and tells them clearly what the piece will cover.

2. Basic facts and some description about a specific problem or angle related to your educational topic.

3. Quotes, paraphrases, and/or summaries of at least 2 sources from your group research presentation.

4. A conclusion where you wrap up your discussion. You might look forward to the future of your topic, encourage readers to take action on your topic, leave us thinking about the larger implications of your topic, etc. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

Some things to keep in mind about op-eds…

• Op-eds are shorter and less scholarly than a traditional research paper, and their audience is the general public, not a specialized group of people. However, your piece should still use concrete, specific, and credible evidence from your research and/or personal experience to support your ideas. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

• While op-eds often argue opinions and push a particular viewpoint or agenda, your piece does not need to adopt such a clearly argumentative approach. Rather, you can present an “angle” or“take” on your issue, or you can present a possible solution to a problem you’ve discovered in researching your topic. What do you want to say to your audience (the general public) about the topic? You’ll need to make sure your piece is focused narrowly enough for you to cover the topic fully. 

What facets of the topicreally caught your attention as you were doing your research? What kinds of thoughts or opinions did you come to as you were putting the project together? Did you discover a particular angle on the problem of cultural appropriation that we need to address as a society? Do you have a possible solution to offer? Think of a particular angle you want to present to your audience, and use that angle to shape your piece. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

• You’ll need a clearly stated thesis that takes a position or angle on your topic, and you’ll need to remain focused on that position throughout your piece. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

• You’ll need to use good paragraph structure; each paragraph needs to treat one main idea that clearly relates to the thesis, and each paragraph needs a good topic sentence that links backward to the thesis and forward to the content of the paragraph.

• Op-eds usually have clever titles that get readers’ attention and clearly indicate the main idea/ thesis.

• You’ll need to use at least two of your five sources in this project. You can cite them only within your text, as many op-eds do, in which case you need to provide author, title, and a link to the source. Or you can cite only the author in the text and provide titles and links at the end. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

• Your piece should be about 3-4 pages long.

Some rules for good arguments:

• Support your points with good specific evidence, either from your research, from your personal experience, or both. Generalizations and unfair assumptions usually won’t help you to convince readersof anything.

• Establish common ground with all readers, even those who may disagree with you.

• Know (and acknowledge) other views on your topic, even (and especially) when they don’t agree with yours. This will show that you’ve listened and heard other views, but still feel yours makes the most sense.

• Be passionate about your subject, but use a fair and balanced tone; an overly aggressive, condescending, or angry tone will turn your readers off and make you seem untrustworthy. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area

Thesis Statements

A strong thesis statement is specific, focused, narrow, clear, and contains one main idea. It is not a simple statement of fact, but is something worth discussing. It tells us what the essay will cover, why the issue is important, and how the essay will approach the issue.

• Write down your topic.

• What position will you take?

• Can you narrow your focus so that you can adequately cover the topic?

• Work on making the thesis specific and clear so that your readers will be able to grasp your idea. Work on making it focused on one main idea that you can cover. NSG 3036 Week 1 Identifying a Research Area