ENGLISH 111/009

Draft Essay about a Problem in your Research Area

Dr. Diane Thompson, NVCC, ELI

Now you are ready to write the draft for your second formal online essay, "A Problem, Its Causes, Effects, and Possible Solutions." (You may change the title to suit your own essay as it develops.) You will write the draft, work on revision activities, and finally write the polished version for a grade.

This essay must deal with some problem or issue in your selected research area. This will allow you to use the articles you are gathering for your Research Report as background and supporting material for this essay. If you do not yet have enough information to write a well-developed essay on the topic, do more searching and find it. Be sure to cite each article you refer to, whether you actually quote it or just discuss information from it.

For information on how, when, and why to document your essay, go to the Grammar Page and read the section on documentation. If you need more specific information, go to the MLA documentation section of Hacker, MLA-4, sections a (MLA in-text citations) and b (MLA works cited). You will need to do in-text citations of sources for your ideas and facts, as well as a list of works cited at the end of your essay.

Your draft should start by stating what the problem is that you are exploring and why it is a problem. Explain the background of the problem--how did it develop? Who or what does it affect? How serious is it? Do this in one or two paragraphs, developing your ideas and giving specific examples to explain and support your ideas. Be sure to use in-text citations to document the sources of your information.

The body of the draft should propose and examine several (at least three) possible solutions to the problem. Each solution needs to be considered for its costs or consequences and possible bad as well as good outcomes. Again, give specific examples to support your ideas. Be sure to use in-text citations to document the sources of your information, as well as a list of works cited at the end of your essay.

The concluding section of the draft should explain which solution that seems best to you and why. Again, develop this section using specific examples to support your ideas.

Post your draft to Blackboard, "Tasks 3, 4 and 5."