Colon Cancer

Assignment

• Choose a current and controversial issue in your academic major. The issue must be debatable and must be discussed in existing research. Avoid topics that depend on personal moral beliefs.
• Review at least six sources. Your selection must include conflicting perspectives. After analyzing your research, evaluate your sources and argue for a position.
• Examine the evidence supporting the perspectives you find and the agendas driving them. Determine which arguments are the most and least convincing, and explain the reasons for your judgment.
• With each source, begin by summarizing the author’s thesis and the main points of his or her argument. Initially, be factual, not interpretive or critical. Move on to analysis only after you have presented the argument in its own terms.
• Consider the following questions:

1. Assess methodology. What kind and what quality of evidence does each author provide?
2. Does the author distort evidence or make reasonable deductions?
3. Overall, is the argument logical and convincing? Does the conclusion follow from the evidence provided? Are alternative conclusions possible?

• In your conclusion, provide an overview the arguments you have examined.

Errors to avoid

• Summaries of research that lack analysis will not satisfy the assignment. Include evaluations of the research you introduce.
• Avoid topics that reflect personal moral beliefs, such as, abortion, stem-cell research, physician-assisted suicide, or legalization of marijuana.
• Even if you are politically passionate about a reading, do not let your emotions draw you away from the assignment. Your objective is less to argue about the social or political issues that the authors raise and more to judge the success or failure of the arguments themselves. Avoid a diatribe.

Citation

• First draft must include in-text citation and a bibliography.
• For APA reference styles, see Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition.

Format

• Pages must be double spaced. Allow one inch margins on all sides.
• Include a title. On body pages, set last name or running head and a page number as a header.
• Use 12 point Times New Roman. Set text left justified, ragged right.

Length: 1500-1750 words. Papers over length will be penalized one grade.