EL Unit 2

You are a researcher for a debate team.  You must help your team develop an argument to win a debate about an important topic in American Society.  You must develop a 5-paragraph position paper that argues for your position and addresses at least one argument from the opposing side.

• Use the “Browse Topics” section of the database called “Opposing Viewpoints in Context” to select a topic of debate.  You should “take a side” in an argument.
• Make a claim by developing a “thesis statement” to present your argument in one sentence.  For example, “The death penalty should be abolished because __, __ and ___.”  (You do not need to fill in the blanks until after you finish researching.)
• Use evidence from resources to support your claim. (At least two resources should be gathered from the database called “Opposing Viewpoints in Context.”)
• Follow MLA citation requirements to quote it properly or paraphrase it, but include an “in-text citation” after each piece of information that is borrowed from resources.
• Use at least 3 sources in your project and provide full citations in an MLA-style bibliography as a separate page at the end of your project.
• If it is useful, you may make a copy of this template. Use it to collect citations for each source used to learn new information. Use it to record notes in your own words. Or, if you are using “quotations” place them in “quotation marks.”  Always keep careful record of the source from which you are borrowing information.  This helps you to avoid plagiarism.

The links at the library’s web site provide support including:

• What is Plagiarism, and how do we avoid plagiarism?
• How to write a bibliography
• Sample Bibliography
• How to access the databases from school or home
• Database time savers, including “use Bookmark URL to save the location of a database article”