Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Writing Assignment {ANWR}
2207
Should petroleum companies be allowed to drill for oil in the ANWR?
This Writing Assignment will focus on using argumentation.
Do whatever research and reading necessary to understand the issue of oil drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Select one side of the issue to argue. Your paper either will
support drilling for oil in the ANWR or your paper will oppose drilling for oil in the ANWR. As with
any convincing argumentative essay, yours must successfully appeal to the reader on three levels: 1)
logical/rational, 2) moral/ethical, and 3) emotional. Your essay should be approximately 1000 words in
length. Your essay should adhere to the Modern Language Association (MLA) essay format and use the
12 point Times New Roman font throughout. See The Bedford Researcher for information on MLA
essay format and requirements. Use the MLA practice template (see MLA Resources in Blackboard) to
help you format your sources on your essays Works Cited page. MLAs own website (see Blackboard
link) also has guidance on working with the MLA practice template and on adhering to MLA style. So
does the OWL at Perdue (again, see the Blackboard link). Incorporate into your essay at least five items
borrowed from at least three secondary sources and then document your sources according to MLA
requirements. This means that your paper will have at least five parenthetical in-text citations as well as
a concluding page titled Works Cited where the required bibliographic information about your sources
is presented in the format MLA requires. Examples of appropriate secondary sources to borrow from
include magazines, journals, newspapers, databases (the MDC Library offers you free online access to
lots of databases), books, films, government publications, and encyclopedias. Again, avoid open sources
like Wikipedia. Submit your essay to the appropriate drop box in Blackboard. As always, follow the
conventions of standard edited American English. Please be your own editor and proofreader!
