This assignment is not an essay but an exercise that helps build toward your Final Paper for the course. Your task in this assignment is to construct the best argument you can for a position on a controversial topic. Your argument should be your own creation. You may take inspiration from other arguments, but the formulation of the argument you present should be original to you.

To prepare to write this paper,

Begin by choosing a topic from the list.

• Under what circumstances (if any) it permissible to use capital punishment on persons convicted of certain crimes?

• Should legal marriage be available to couples of the same sex?

• How does the stage of pregnancy affect the morality of abortion?

• Should marijuana be legal for recreational use?

• Under what conditions is physician-assisted suicide morally acceptable?

• Is it ethically acceptable to raise animals for food on factory farms?

• What kinds of restrictions on gun ownership (if any) would be beneficial to society?

• Should it be legal for employers to discipline or fire employees on the basis of their content aired in social networks, even if this activity was not done on the job?

Construct an argument for a position on the topic. This is the position that you will defend in your Final Paper. Make your argument as good as possible: In particular, make sure that all of your premises are true and that the truth of the conclusion is demonstrated by your premises.

Consider possible objections to your argument, and revise it several times until you have an argument that is as strong as possible.

Search in the Ashford University Library for quality academic sources that support some aspect of your argument.

Constructing quality arguments is harder than it sounds; you may find that your first few attempts have problems and that it takes quite a bit of time and effort to revise an argument to a point that the premises adequately support the conclusion. You will be revising this argument for each of the remaining assignments in this course.

In your paper,

Present a main argument in standard form with each premise and the conclusion on a separate line.

Provide support for each premise of your argument. Explain the meaning of the premise, and provide supporting evidence for the premise. [One paragraph for each premise]

Pay special attention to those premises that could be seen as controversial. Evidence may include academic research sources, supporting arguments, or other ways of demonstrating the truth of the premise (for more ideas about how to support the truth of premises take a look at the instructor guidance for this week). This section should include at least one scholarly research source.

Explain how your conclusion follows from your premises.

For an example of how to complete this paper, take a look at The Ethics of Elephants in Circuses.

The Initial Argument Paper

Must be 400 to 600 words in length (not including the title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style
Must include a separate title page with the following:

Title of paper

Student's name

Course name and number

Instructor's name

Date submitted

Must use at least one scholarly source in addition to the course text.

The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types.

Must document all sources in APA style

Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.