In E3, the documented white paper, you will complete research of various kinds to define a problem or issue, examine its origins, causes, and consequences, and critique various approaches to deal with the problem/issue. Later, in the editorial, you will briefly restate the problem and suggest a plan of action or a way of thinking about the problem. Through this research, you will become something of an authority concerning this problem/issue.

In the documented white paper, you will use research to structure an argument presenting your position on the problem/issue and examining various approaches to dealing with it. This will draw on chapters 9-12 in Writing Arguments.

As you begin thinking about the topic, do not pick some vague abstraction about which you know very little or about which you couldn’t care less. Make sure your topic is a specific problem or issue, not something that would turn your essay into a report on something like "The History of World War II." You need to pick a manageable topic—something that you can effectively cover in 5-7 pages.

Think about beginning in two ways. First, review the distinction made in the textbook on page 83 between "information questions" and "issue questions." You will certainly need information to make a good, persuasive, and convincing argument, but you also need a purpose—a reason for writing—and an audience before you can make an argument. The issue question is what gives you a purpose and reason for writing. A second place to begin is to look at the world around you, preferably at a local level, to try and decide what problems/issues concern you. Often local issues echo larger concerns, so you will be able to explore a problem both on the general and specific (local) levels. There are many unresolved and difficult issues facing the people of our community, our county, our state, our country. Are there issues or problems in your lives about which you care enough to do some research, and which are complex enough to warrant that work? Write something real. Write something that matters to you.

Once you’ve begun developing an issue, you’ll have to start gathering information. As you do so, you will find that your topic will become more focused. There are many great sources of information: the library (books, journals, newspapers, government documents, and databases for searching), the World Wide Web (beware of inadequate sites; make sure they are legitimate and verifiable), and people and institutions in the community who can provide you with relevant information. This information will serve in your papers as the evidence you need to substantiate your argument—that is, reasons, backing, and grounds. Don’t forget the work you did for E1 and E2; their purpose was to prepare you for this paper. Part IV in Writing Arguments offers many suggestions and techniques for using the library to gather information. Chapter 6 provides suggestions for field research and using personal observations in your argument. Use all these resources to examine your issue and build your argument.

Besides developing a topic, finding the necessary information, and constructing a convincing argument, you will also need to cite your sources in proper fashion using either MLA, APA, or another discipline-approved format (see Chapter 17). In general, you will be expected to use at least five sources exclusive of the World Wide Web. At least three of these sources must be recent (within the last five years) periodicals. These periodicals must be scholarly or high-level journals (e.g., Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, etc.). You may also use national newspapers such as the New York Times or Washington Post, but these come in addition to the three periodicals mentioned above. Local or regional newspapers are appropriate only if you are dealing with local problems or a local or regional perspective on a larger problem. If you use the World Wide Web, make sure you can verify and validate any claims made. Remember, as noted in the syllabus, you must be able to provide copies of articles and materials you use in your work if requested. You must document your sources, and your instructor must be able to examine them if necessary.

You also need to make sure your writing is clear and concise and that you develop a thoughtful position about the issue and argue your position clearly and convincingly in the editorial. We’ve been working on these skills all semester, and now is the time to demonstrate what you’ve learned. Take time to visit the Writing Center and to have peers work through your paper with you. The more feedback you get, the better your paper will be. You’re making an argument about something which concerns you both as a person and citizen of a larger community. You’ll have to make a logical argument (logos), but you will also need to make use of the appeals to ethos and pathos to make your argument more persuasive. You should use this essay as a way of learning something new and of better understanding the process of argumentation.

While you will be discussing approaches to the problem/issue in the documented white paper, your focus for the essay will be to discover, explore, and learn about the problem or issue you research. The approaches to the problems will also be a part of the essay. The editorial will then focus mostly on describing the problem/issue and laying out detailed, specific plans of action or approaches to that problem/issue. Remember this will be written as a follow-up to your documented white paper and will be targeted to a specific audience.

You will submit at least one draft to your instructor for commentary. After you get it back, consider his or her response, revise, and submit a clean draft in your portfolio.

E3 due date: ___/___ Length: 5-7 pages

Assignment #1: proposal memo
For this essay, you will choose a contemporary problem or issue that you will study for the rest of the semester. You will propose a topic for your instructor to approve. In this proposal, if you have chosen a topic about which you have strong emotional, political, or religious convictions, you will have to convince your instructor that there is depth and breadth to your position, that you understand the issue in all its complexity, and that your position is based on experience and knowledge. You must also be open to other positions. The point is that you should feel strongly about your problem/issue, but should also be able to recognize opposing points of view. You will be doing some brainstorming work in class to help generate ideas. In your proposal memo, describe your topic in as much detail as possible. Start with a question and talk about ways of pursuing the answer to that question. Give an enthymeme that describes your current stance on the topic. Discuss your plans for research in a proposal memo

Assignment #1 due: ___/___.

Assignment #2: annotated bibliography
As part of E3, you will need to do an annotated bibliography. You will read all your sources, write short summary statements for each, and, using appropriate citation techniques, create a bibliography. This is an important step in a white paper because it will help you see if your sources will support your argument. It will also help you identify sources that may or may not be useful for your paper. For the annotated bibliography, you will need to locate a total of ___ sources—primary and secondary—dated no earlier than 1985.

Find the following types of sources, as your instructor directs:

___ journals, periodicals, or newspapers

___ books

___ kinds of primary research—interviews, surveys, etc.

___ World Wide Websites

Submit your annotated bibliography on ___/___.

Assignment #3: considerations for structuring the white paper
By ___/___, work through the questions below and start writing these chunks of the paper, identifying places that you need to develop as you learn more about your topic. Also use these questions to focus your research. Keep your readers in mind as you make decisions about structure and organization. Show your research questions, making sure later in the paper to either answer them clearly or address the fact that they can’t be answered. You can use these questions as a structuring device. Your thesis statement should define and limit your topic AND show the significance of your paper. Your introductory paragraphs should set up the scope of your paper. Establish the paper’s limits early. Remember to use logic as an antidote to bias. Your concluding sections should pull the issue into focus. Use topic sentences to guide readers. These topic sentences can also provide transitions between paragraphs. Produce this assignment on a word processor; no handwritten assignments will be accepted.