Consider using this planning guide to prewrite for your essay. This planning guide asks you to consider the quotes you are including from your sources and how they fit with topic sentences that you create to connect with your thesis. Feel free to copy and paste the text here into a Word document of your own. Also, feel free to add body paragraphs as necessary. A great source for APA formatting is the OWL at Purdue.
Organizing and Drafting Guide for Essay #1
Tentative Thesis:
Type a complete sentence that is a strong thesis statement here (remember, your focus is to write about evaluating sources and ethical research in the age of fake news, and you are creating an argument as you craft your thesis):
Example (with a different topic): Solar and wind energy can provide much-needed additions to our power grids, yet they can be problematic as they are emerging technologies, as they involve parts that need frequent replacing, and as those parts add to our problem with waste because they are not recyclable. (Notice how I tried to set up the topics for my body paragraphs in the thesis.)
Purpose:
Example: I wish to write about alternative energy sources because I feel that climate change has made such technologies necessary and important. However, knowing the difficulties they pose in implementation is important so that interested consumers can fully consider the additional costs involved in their investments.
Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph #1
Example (using the sample thesis): The emerging technologies that provide us solar and wind power create difficulties harnessing and storing the electricity.
A. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your first piece of documented text evidence here.
Example: In his study, “Solar Power and Battery Failures,” John Smith (2021) explains how “the beauty of the systems frustrates many homeowners when the energy created by the cell is difficult to route to practical storage or connect to existing power grids” (p. 42).
B. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your second piece of documented text evidence here.
C. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your third piece of documented text evidence here. (optional)
2. Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph #2:
Ex: Alternative energy setups require inordinate amounts of upkeep.
A. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your first piece of documented text evidence here.
B. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your second piece of documented text evidence here.
C. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your third piece of documented text evidence here. (optional)
3. Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph #3 :
A. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your first piece of documented text evidence here.
B. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your second piece of documented text evidence here.
C. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your third piece of documented text evidence here. (optional)
4. Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph #4:
A. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your first piece of documented text evidence here.
B. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your second piece of documented text evidence here.
C. Text evidence (with documentation):
Type your third piece of documented text evidence here. (Optional)
Remember that you essay needs to be 4-5 pages of argument in APA format (not including cover page and References page):
Title page
4-5 pages of cogent, persuasive research
References page in proper APA format with at least five to six credible sources
____
Essay #1: Evaluating Sources & Ethical Research in the age of Fake News
For this first module, you have been evaluating essays and articles for their rhetorical appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as searching for any potential fallacies or holes in the logic. Youve also been learning what it means to evaluate sources, to utilize accuracy and integrity in research writing, what fake news means and entails, how to avoid perpetuating false information, and how to avoid misperceptions based on unreliable sources. Youve read about fake news and unreliable information in the realms of science, academia, history, and others. In many respects, youre becoming a reliable source on the issue of credible research.
Thus, for your first essay, you will write an argumentative essay that utilizes the rhetorical appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos and avoids fallacies on the topic of Fake News. You will write a clear, articulate thesis statement that succinctly expresses your main point, your argument, the blueprint of your essay. The thesis should be the last sentence of the introduction paragraph. You should have body paragraphs and a conclusion that leaves a lasting impression, and proofread carefully for grammatical and mechanical accuracy.
You should use a minimum of six to eight sources from the Module One readings. You should incorporate these sources as evidence of your own main point, using them to support your own analysis and ideas. Please cite your sources in APA format, using in-text citations and providing a References page. You do not need to conduct any outside research aside from what Ive already provided in Module One. However, you are welcome to research and incorporate one or two additional sources to support your point, as long as they are from credible sources and pass all the accuracy and integrity guidelines for sources that youve learned this module.
Your essay should be 4-5 pages of argument, with an additional cover page and Reference page in APA format. You may include an abstract if you would like, but it is not required. You should follow the TEAR and PIE-IE-IE handout guidelines for paragraph structure, which means a topic sentence for each body paragraph and credible support via textual evidence, cited in APA format. You should include signal phrases for every quote or paraphrase as well as an in-text citation. Any borrowed information left uncited is plagiarism, intentional or not.
Your researched analysis should consider and formulate a cogent, articulate answer to the following questions, and you are also free to come up with your own questions in response to the readings: How can we as college students and/or the general public avoid fake news? In an age of lies and misperceptions, how can we know which information to trust? How can we be responsible, accurate, ethical researchers? Is there such a thing as unbiased information? Is there such a thing as credible sources?
These questions are a launching point, and you will formulate your own thesis to answer them, and then use at least six to eight sources to support your point.
Sources are placed in files-
