6-8 papers, Times new roman 13pt, 1.5 spacing, MLA format.

The topic I chose is racial profiling in the US criminal justice system to narrow down the criminals is a widespread abuse of police powers.

Although it's illegal targeting specific individuals or groups based on appearance, yet it's still happening throughout the United States. In fact, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina are the three states that don't have laws against racial profiling.

These groups are more likely to be pulled over, more likely to be searched, and more likely to be arrested than any other groups. It is a fact that police officers are racially profiling when they see people as suspicious because of who they are, what they look like rather than what they have done.

Argument-Based Research Paper

• Over the course of the next 6 weeks, we will be looking at some fairly broad topics covered in the second half of the text (gender/sex, social class, race/ethnicity, age/elderly, economy, politics, marriage/family, education, religion, medicine/health, urbanization, and environment). You will need to pick one of these broader areas, dig deeper into it, come up with an argument/claim (see below), and write a 6-8 page paper exploring/proving the argument/claim.

• "An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided." (Purdue Online Writing Lab)

So the key is to dig among the chapters 10-22 and find something that you ‘tickles your fancy". Then you need to create an argument-based thesis statement (claim) that you will prove with evidence. You need to be careful not to create an argument or claim that is too broad or too narrow. For example, you might state, "Legalizing marijuana in the USA is a good idea for the country." But in a 6-8 page paper, it would be way too broad.

On the other hand, "Legalizing marijuana for medicinal use for those with pancreatic cancer in Cheshire County, CA is a good idea." is way too narrow and good luck finding evidence to support it. But perhaps, "Legalizing marijuana in New Hampshire is a sound budgetary decision." would probably be just right. Obviously, you could make the opposite claim in the case of legalizing marijuana. If you have questions about your potential claim for a paper, feel free to send me a note.

• In terms of research materials, books, articles, documentaries, and reliable websites (no Wikipedia) are fine but be sure to use reliable data and statistics whenever possible and avoid editorials that do not possess such.

• Please use a standard 12-14 font with 1.5 spacing and the MLA format. If you are unsure about MLA or any other aspect of a research paper, please let me know. In the meantime, please refer to the following website for overall help with an argument paper as well as MLA guide.

• Parts of your paper

• Introduction that includes your claim

• Body

• History

• Detailed explanation of the bigger issue (s) from which the claim arises

• Evidence including facts and statistics

• Analysis of evidence

• How evidence supports claim

• Counter claim (s)

• Rebuttal to counter claim (s)

• Conclusion

• opinions are fine but you must back it up with evidence. Two, you must have a thesis statement or claim. Don't make me guess what it is.