Your objective in this assignment is to identify and endorse what you
claim to be the best plan under consideration today by demonstrating
that this plan is necessary and superior to any alternatives. In
the first part of the assignment, you will write a brief e-mail to your
instructor that proposes the topic of your Advocacy Essay. Parts
of your e-mail proposal may be revised later and included in your
Advocacy Essay. Your primary purpose in this part of the
assignment is to introduce a policy plan that merits further
consideration. You are proposing a research and writing agenda
for your final essay. The grade for this e-mail assignment will
be determined by how clearly and convincingly you make a case for
proceeding to the Advocacy Essay, that is, persuading your instructor
that your project is workable.
For the Advocacy Essay, you will write a well-researched, coherent, and
balanced essay that analyzes and advocates a pending policy initiative
designed to address one of the problems described in Nickel and Dimed. This paper
is the culmination of the course and will demonstrate what you have
learned about argument and research. Strong essays will identify
an appropriate, current public policy initiative, explain its
strengths, and acknowledge any opposition.
Assignment
# 3: Advocacy Essay
Identify the
Problem and Your Position
For this assignment you must identify a problem addresssed in Nickel and Dimed that your
initiative will address. Briefly introduce your subject by
recounting how Ehrenreich describes the problem. You are not
required to adopt or refute any position she takes on public
policy. Whether you agree with her or not, you need to
demonstrate that you recognize how she understands the social problem
that motivates your proposal. You must then communicate your
position on the issue as to why you think action is necessary.
Relate your concerns to those of your audience. For many papers,
depending upon the topic, some account of the history and CAUSE of the
problem will be necessary for the explanation of why and how the public
polity must be changed.
Analyze
the Plan that You Advocate
You must establish your position as to what the appropriate
solution to the problem should be and advocate a policy proposal you
believe to be the best response to your problem, providing good reasons
for your endorsement. In this section you must provide the name
of a policy initiative that is currently under SERIOUS consideration;
identify the sponsor of this proposal and their interests or
affiliations; provide an overview of the plan, its scope and
objectives; demonstrate that the plan is feasible. Included in this
task is showing that the plan is timely and reasonable.
Analyze the
Alternatives and Argue
Your Endorsement
In this section you must consider alternative proposals and arguments
that counter your own. Be certain to use these counter-arguments
to strengthen your own case by responding to them with rebuttal
arguments. You will be required to provide the name of at least
one alternate policy initiave being considered; discuss the background
of the sponsor of this initiative; provide an overview of the
plan's objective; analyze the crucial differences between plans; argue
key reasons why your plan is superior; concede at least one limitation
or drawback to your own plan; reaffirm why your plan is still the best
initiative to support; and finally, endorse this plan as the best
proposal under consideration today. You might want to conclude
your essay with an extended advocacy statement on behalf of the pending
public policy initiative. What can your audience do to support
it? What are the chances of its success? What needs to
happen to ensure its success?
Cite Ethos with
Your Sources
You should cite at least one piece of first-hand evidence; cite at
least one graphic element that conveys appropriate evidence, and as
always, cite a variety of sources. Be sure that your sources are
primary, written by experts in the field. Be sure that the
majority of sources were published within the last 12 months. Be
sure to have a properly formatted Works Cited page immediately
following the essay.
(Adapted
from Grant Hier's class
assignment)
For details about how best to complete
this worksheet as well as for
help in organizing your answers into an essay, drop in to any of the 39C workshops.