This essay will deal with the same topic that you chose for the personal and informative essays. In the personal essay, you identified a problem of significance. For the informative essay, you provided research and a balanced examination of that topic to your reader. In the stance essay you will explore ways to fix the problem and how your reader can relate to your position.
In this version, you will move from simply discussing the issue to developing an updated essay that takes a clear stance on one aspect of your topic. The goal of this essay is to learn how changing the purpose of the writing (from informative to more argumentative) impacts the content and potential audience. Further, it will help you understand the difference between writing to argue your perspective and writing to educate your audience. This knowledge will help you transition into persuasive writing (covered in ENG 215 - Research and Writing) and more advanced essays in your major courses.
You will take a position and present your perspective - alternatively put, your stance - on the issue you discuss. For instance, if you wrote an informative essay on water pollution levels in Flint, Michigan, then your stance essay could argue that the city must frequently test water throughout the state to avoid a similar issue. A second stance would be that government officials should be held accountable when they fail the people who elected them in the first place. These are only two of the many possible stances that you could take. As always, you should work with your professor if you have questions about your topic choice or essay direction.
How to assemble the essay:
Decide what part of the topic you want to take a stance on. This is best done by thinking carefully about the topic and considering what different people may want to argue for or against involving that issue. Think about what aspect of your previous paper you feel strongly about.
Write a new thesis statement that covers your paper's topic and direction (what you want the reader to understand when the essay is completed).
Perform the research needed to meet the source requirements (minimum 3 additional sources). You may not use more than two of the provided sources in the webtext.
Make sure that no content from your informative paper is reused. You may use some of the same sources, but you will be writing a new paper, so you cannot reuse anything else.
Review the finished draft to make sure the ideas flow, each of the paragraphs supports the thesis statement found at the end of the introduction, and that your conclusion brings the essay to a strong sense of closure.
Finally, proofread the version you intend to turn in for grammatical, sentence structure, clarity, and word use errors.
The final version of the essay must:
Be in essay form with an introduction, body, and conclusion
Conclusion should explain why the essay's main points are important
Meet the page requirement of 5-6 pages (Title and References pages do not count)
Address the same overall topic as your informative essay
Take a clear stance on the issue in question and articulate your stance through a well-developed thesis statement (found at the end of the introduction)
Support your thesis statement with developed analysis of your sources and how they connect to your topic
Use a minimum of five (5) academically appropriate sources properly cited in APA format and represented on the References page