Research Essay Assignment

The assignment is a research essay that requires students to choose a topic, find relevant sources, read and evaluate them, formulate a thesis, and write a well-supported report. The essay should be 1,200 words long and demonstrate the student's ability to critically think, argue logically, and use proper MLA format for citing sources.

Peter MacDonald EAC150 Summer 2016
RESEARCH ESSAY
Value: 20 marks
Due dates:
Outline and annotated bibliography: Tuesday, July 26 (5 marks)
Final essay: Tuesday, August 9 (15 marks)
In this assignment, you will write a 1,200-word essay based on a topic of your choice. The
assignment will demonstrate that you can
 Choose an appropriate topic
 Find appropriate sources of information
 Read, understand and evaluate these sources
 Formulate a thesis based on the information you have found and your evaluation of this
information
 Write a report that clearly and strongly supports your thesis with logical, well-considered
arguments
 Include quotes from your sources and cite these sources using proper MLA format
 Write logically, using correct grammar and spelling
The process
 Your first step will be to choose a topic for your report. The trick is to choose a topic that
interests you and that is narrow enough that you can cover it adequately in 1,200 words.
For example, a history of Canadian prime ministers would be too broad; an evaluation of
one prime minister would be better. I have listed a few possible topics at the end of this
summary.
 Find at least three articles that take differing views on the topic. For example, if you were
writing about John Diefenbaker (Canadian prime minister in the late 1950s and early
1960s), one article could be a biography of Diefenbaker; another could cover a major
political or social issue with which he was involved; and the third could be a comparison
of Diefenbaker with other prime ministers or with other political leaders of his day. Don’t
choose three articles that take the same point of view, or you will not have enough
material for your paper. An “article” can be a book, an encyclopedia, a newspaper story,
a magazine story or a website (but only one of your articles can be a website); all of your
sources must meet the criteria of reliability that we have outlined in class Do not use any
of the assigned readings from our class. Do not use Wikipedia.
 Read each article, making note of the main thesis as well as the facts, opinions and
arguments used to support the thesis. Write a critical bibliography: a two-paragraph
summary of each article, citing the source (in proper MLA format) and outlining, for each
article, the thesis and the main arguments in your own words.
 Use what you have learned from your reading, as well as anything you may have already
known or thought about the topic, to form a preliminary thesis statement.
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Peter MacDonald EAC150 Summer 2016
 Write a point-form outline that lays out what you are going to say in your paper: thesis,
supporting points, conclusion, list of sources.
 Hand in your critical bibliography, thesis statement and outline on or before
Tuesday, July 26; do not submit your work by e-mail.
 Write a rough draft of your paper. Read your draft to see if it supports your thesis. If you
find that you have changed your opinions while writing, you may want to rewrite your
thesis statement.
 Write the final version of your paper. It should be done on a computer and printed
double-spaced. Include a cover page with your name and the title of your essay. Make
sure that you cite your sources properly and include a well-formatted list of works cited.
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style; you can find information on MLA style
on the Seneca Library website. Staple the pages together and hand in the essay on or
before Tuesday, August 9; do not submit your essay by e-mail.
Some suggested topics
I strongly encourage you to choose your own topic based on your own interests. Here are some
examples that may give you some ideas to start with.
 Canada and the arms sale to Saudi Arabia
 Cultural concepts of beauty
 The softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the U.S.
 Alienation
 Bulimia
 Arranged versus “love” marriages
 Body-language differences between two cultures
 Performance-enhancing drugs in sport
 The difference between fads and fashions
 Copyright in the digital age
 How technology will change financial reporting
 Reconciling the need to help refugees with the need for security
 Brexit: Good or bad for Britain?
 Populism in modern politics
 Should athletes be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs?
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