Preliminary Assignments for the 
Argumentative Research Paper

Each step that I include in the preliminary assignments is meant to enable you to progress smoothly toward the composition of your final draft. These preliminary assignments occur in three stages and are awarded points that total 5% of your final grade. Please remember: you must submit each assignment during its due date window. Prelims submitted after the deadline window has passed cannot earn points. And, most importantly, you cannot earn any points for a prelim if the previous prelim assignment has not yet been submitted!

I. Resource List - 20 points

The resource list is a catalog of what you have found to-date on your most likely topic choice. These resources may prove unhelpful as you formulate your argument, but at least this indicates a direction you have taken in your reading. The list should be printed, and follow MLA documentation guidelines.

For the resource list preliminary assignment, you should produce eight resource items.  Any list with less than eight will be penalized accordingly. To be certain that you have what you need for this preliminary assignment, please consult this website.

II. Outline - 10 points

The outline represents your first attempt to organize your argument. Use this preliminary assignment to help you decide what should go and what should stay in your overall strategy for your position. You may change this structure at any time, of course, but this should give you an opportunity to put to paper what you've been thinking as you've been reading.

This assignment should provide three important pieces of information: the tentative thesis statement, the rough overview of the plan for your argument, and the audience profile statement.

Follow this website for the format and scope of the outline prelim assignment, including a sample outline page.

III. Three-Page Draft - 20 points

Your first draft must be at least three pages in length to earn the preliminary points. This may or may not have an explicit structure, but it should contain a working thesis and include some discussion of the argument. It should NOT contain any outside sources yet. If you cannot discuss your argument for at least three, double-spaced pages without borrowing from a source, then you may not have thought deeply enough yet about your topic.

Once the first draft is evaluated, then the remainder of the work required is to include the experts and authorities from your reading to bolster your argument. This represents the "research" of the argumentative research paper assignment and should account for about 20 - 25% of the entire essay. Including a percentage of sources beyond that range may indicate that you are depending too heavily on borrowed material. Including less than 10% borrowed may show you have insufficient research to support your thesis.

Check the timetable for our work on this project to be sure you are on schedule!