Real World Essay: An Op-Ed on the Minimum Wage
Ø Read the prompt very carefully, and make sure you understand what you need to write about.
Ø In this essay, you are asked to use the information from a variety of websites/sources that are listed in Achieve under “prompt” and two additional ones you will find. Make sure to document properly your citations, quotations, paraphrases, and summaries from the websites using MLA style guidelines.
Ø Include all the sources you used in the Works Cited page at the end of your essay.
Ø Assignment Details:
For this assignment, write a three- to four-page argument for the editorial page of your local newspaper, in which, based on your evaluation of a number of websites, you make a recommendation on what the minimum wage should be in your city or state.
· To reach your conclusion on this issue, you will need to evaluate each of the websites from the list (5 websites) plus two more that you will find.
· If you want to use your sources most effectively to support your argument, it’s not enough to simply include them as a series of unrelated sources; you need to tie them together, explain their relationships with each other, and express your conclusions about them. This process is called synthesizing, and it is discussed in more detail in Synthesis (22.14) in Achieve.
While writing your essay, you will need to evaluate the truth of the information you find on particular websites. The readings within this unit have prepared you for distinguishing between the facts and “fake news”. There is a lot of information available about the topic of raising the minimum wage, some of it fairly reliable and a lot of it highly questionable. It is your job to detect lies, determine the truth, and resist the fake news
A. Paragraph 1 needs to have these elements:
Hook + Connecting Info + Thesis Statement
A. Paragraph 2 (first reason from your thesis)
Topic sentence (state the reason) + Supporting details (support this claim/reason/topic sentence) with evidence (examples from your life, real-life examples/stories, quotes from your sources, ideas from your sources, statistics, anything that proves your point)
B. Paragraph 3 (second reason)
Topic sentence + Supporting details
C. Paragraph 4 (third reason – optional: having 2 reasons + counterargument is also enough)
Topic sentence + Supporting details
D. Paragraph 5 (counterargument) – what your opponents say
Counterargument (what the people who have different opinion might say) + Refutation (how do you refute their argument and prove it wrong)
I. CONCLUSION
A. Paragraph 6
Restated Thesis Statement + Call to Action/Clincher/Strong ending
