Welcome to the first week of EH1020! In this Unit, you will get an overview of the course purpose and an introduction to writing an argumentative research paper. Most importantly, you will begin to think about your topic. Because our course moves quickly, there is not much room for making changes to your topic, so this first unit is a great opportunity to put in some critical examination into your potential topic to ensure success throughout our course.

A few words of advice on selecting your topic:

This is an argumentative research essay. So, whatever topic you select should have a clearly identifiable pro and con side. For example, thanks to Netflix, over the course of the last few months, students have been interested in writing about serial killers in general or specific serial killers. Okay, interesting topic, but what is your argument? Serial killers are bad? Well, yes, but how do you sustain this argument using three or four specific reasons?  Often times, students end up writing a research essay and not an argumentative essay.

In In the first two units, you will read that you should select a topic that you find interesting. Interesting topics are great, but sometimes, we have a tendency to have such strong opinions on the topic that it can be hard to see our own bias or recognize what is an opinion as opposed to fact. For example, many people have an interest and strong opinion on topics such as abortion, gun control, policing, or current politics. Generally, students end up finding these topics challenging later in the term because A) it can be harder to remove one's own opinion; B) the subject matter is so new that finding reliable sources that are academically appropriate (peer-reviewed) is close to impossible. Keep in mind: not all websites are created equal! For example, websites such as ProCon.org or Wikipedia must be completely avoided.

In this Unit we will look at the following:

1. An overview of the course

2. Writing an argumentative research paper

3. The foundations of the argument

4. Selecting a topic

5. Think about the writing process

6. Learn about the Student Success Center

7. Grammar review

8. Quiz

Whew! That's a lot! You can do this! Breathe and review each lesson, then take a break.

Cheers,

Instructions

You now know that you will be engaged in a research project for the rest of this course. Your investment in the outcome of the project often has a good deal of reliance upon the topic about which you choose to write. The more interest you have in your topic, the more you will be driven to learn more about it and to write about it, so you want to choose a topic that will hold your interest as you learn about the process of writing a research paper.

Use some of the following questions to help shape a reflection upon the topic you are considering for your research paper.

Think about some of your favorite subjects. What interests you the most? What ideas do you have about a topic? You may want to mention and then briefly explain three ideas that you have, pointing out the topic idea that is most appealing to you.

What thoughts do you have about the topic right now (prior to researching it)? What do you expect to find when you research the topic? What do you hope to learn about? What are some of your assumptions right now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjjZ5aeu5NQ&feature=youtu.be 

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

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