Essay 3 Final DUE: Thursday, May 14th by 11:59 p.m. CST Length: 800-1000 words (this does NOT include your Works Cited page, title, and/or heading), 11- or 12-point font, double-spaced, Times New Roma
E 3 - Argumentative Research Paper Assignment Sheet
Email me your topic in a PROPER email (see format): Wednesday, May 6th by 11:59 p.m. CST - Failure to do so will result in a 5 point deduction off your essay 3 final grade!
Essay 3 Final DUE: Thursday, May 14th by 11:59 p.m. CST
Length: 800-1000 words (this does NOT include your Works Cited page, title, and/or heading), 11- or 12-point font, double-spaced, Times New Roman, MLA Format 8th edition - Use your The Little Seagull Handbook.
Source limit: Two (2) scholarly and one (1) popular sources (3 sources total); Each source needs to be used a minimum of two times in your essay. Do NOT place in-text citations in your introduction or conclusion.
*****All sources are required to be from Eastfield’s Library Online Database ONLY******
If you need help with finding sources, you can ask Jason Moore (EFC Librarian) for help at [email protected].
Use correct MLA format for in-text (parenthetical) citations. Failure to do so will result in a failing grade.
Note: DO NOT USE first nor second person. You will earn a zero (0) if you use first or second person. DO NOT USE contractions. You will earn a 50 if you use contractions.
You will write an essay that presents a convincing or persuasive argument that follows the guidelines and criteria established in the lectures provided. In doing so, you will develop a sophisticated and cogent argument to either convince (to change a belief or attitude), or persuade (to call upon the audience to take action). This essay is not a research paper that explains the issues, but one that begins with a controversial claim and then seeks to convince or persuade the reader that this claim represents the best position on the topic. The goal of this exercise is not to announce your own beliefs, but to convince or persuade somebody else to change their opinion or behavior by the weight of your comprehensive argument. Other than a brief paragraph introducing the topic, advance your argument in every paragraph.
****If you choose a topic not on the list OR on the list below, you still need to get it approved by me, so make sure you email me to approve your topic by Monday, July 29th by 11:59 p.m. CST. Failure to do so will result in a 5 point deduction off your essay 3 final grade! Send a proper email with your question and your claim statement which is your stance.****
Example:
General topic: Diversity
My question: Does TV capture the diversity of American yet?
Claim statement: Television in America does not capture the true diversity of our society.
Choose one of these general topics (See sample in essay 3 folder):
Affirmative Action
Alternative medicine
Artificial intelligence
Assisted suicide
Bilingual education
Capital punishment
Censorship
Childhood obesity
Civil rights
Climate change
Cyber bullying
Eating disorders
Fracking
Freedom of speech
Genetic engineering
Hacking
Health insurance
Identity theft
Immigration
Minimum wage
Outsourcing
Polygamy
Privacy
Racial profiling
Reparations
Self-driving cars
Sex education
Standardized testing
Stem cells
Sweatshops
Title IX
Vaccines
Violence in the media
Women's rights
NOTE: You still need to get your topic (above) approved, so make sure you email me to approve your topic by Wednesday, May 6th by 11:59 p.m. CST . Failure to do so will result in a 5-point deduction off your essay 3 final grade!
Reminders:
You need a Work Cited page – THREE SOURCES!!! Refer to your The Little Seagull Handbook, MLA lectures, MLA handouts, and samples.
Read your literature piece critically: analyze, question, infer, interpret, and evaluate.
MLA Format
Failure to meet the word requirement will result in you earning a zero (0) on essay 3 final grade.
DO NOT FORGET to upload your final paper to SafeAssign my 11:59 p.m. CST by the appropriate due date.
Directions: Use this outline to help organize your essay 3.
IntroductionBackground – provide some background about your issue, so your reader knows a little about it. (2-4 sentences)
They Say (1 sentence) – what is being said about this issue?
I Say (1 sentence) – what do you say about this issue?
So what? (aka why is knowing about this issue important?) (1 sentence)
Who cares? (aka who should care about this issue (be specific)?) (1 sentence)
Claim statement – Topic/Issue + Stance = claim statement
Topic sentence – mention reason 1(1 sentence) – You should add another sentence or two explaining your topic sentence.
Provide an example from a source. (i.e. direct quote) (one direct quote)
Explain WHY this example supports your claim statement (2-4 sentences)
Connect this example back to your claim statement (2-3 sentences)
Topic sentence – mention reason 2 (1 sentence) – You should add another sentence or two explaining your topic sentence.
Provide an example from a source. (i.e. direct quote) (one direct quote)
Explain WHY this example supports your claim statement (2-4 sentences)
Connect this example back to your claim statement (2-3 sentences)
Topic sentence – mention reason 3 (1 sentence) – You should add another sentence or two explaining your topic sentence.
Provide an example from a source. (i.e. direct quote) (one direct quote)
Explain WHY this example supports your claim statement (2-4 sentences)
Connect this example back to your claim statement (2-3 sentences)
Topic sentence – mention reason 4 (1 sentence) – You should add another sentence or two explaining your topic sentence.
Provide an example from a source. (i.e. direct quote) (one direct quote)
Explain WHY this example supports your claim statement (2-4 sentences)
Connect this example back to your claim statement (2-3 sentences)
Topic sentence – Introduce what the naysayers are arguing. (1 sentence) – You should add another sentence or two explaining your topic sentence.
Provide an example from a source. (i.e. direct quote) (one direct quote)
Explain WHY this example of the argument is wrong (2-4 sentences)
Connect your argument back to your claim statement and why your argument is the best (2-3 sentences)
Restate your claim statement (1 sentence)
Summarize your body paragraph 1 (1 sentence)
Summarize your body paragraph 2 (1 sentence)
Summarize your body paragraph 3 (1 sentence)
Summarize your body paragraph 4 (1 sentence)
Summarize your naysayer/counterargument paragraph (1 sentence)
So what? (aka - Why is issue important for society to know?) (1 sentence)
First and Last Name
ENGL 1302-073
K. Buck
1 May 2020
RPP: Vaccinate Your Kids
The reason I am submitting this article to be published in Cook Children’s Magazine is to inform the population about vaccinations in children and whether or not they are a good idea. Many parents and medical personnel believe that vaccinations are dangerous, so they choose to opt out; however, this is a poor decision because vaccines can prevent people from contracting infectious diseases. Parents should choose to vaccinate their children because vaccines have proven to be effective, they are safe, they do not contain harsh chemicals, and they protect the community as a whole. Other groups that should care about this issue are researchers, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, school administrators, and government agencies. This is a particularly important argument for parents to understand because they are the ones responsible for the future health of their children. If more parents choose to vaccinate their children, the community will be safer as a whole.
Currently, 1 in 10 children receive vaccinations on a different schedule than what is recommended by the CDC, or do not receive vaccinations at all. That 10% of children is “22 times more likely than fully vaccinated children to contract measles and nearly 6 times more likely to contract pertussis” (Dempsey et al. 22). This data proves the effectiveness of the CDC’s current vaccination schedule. Ever since Edward Jenner created vaccines in 1796, there have been skeptics who believe they are unsafe or that they don’t work. Today’s anti-vax movement is primarily caused by the spread of the idea that vaccines cause autism. It is also caused by parents who are angry that they have to vaccinate their children in order for them to attend school. Every time a person has a bad experience with a vaccine, he or she has the potential to spark up an anti-vax conversation. Vaccines affect every single person, whether or not a particular person is not vaccinated. This means that most everyone should have an interest in the safety of vaccines. Parents are the number one group that is interested in this topic because they are the ones who have to make the decision of whether or not their children will be vaccinated. Medical personnel are interested because they have the power to recommend or discourage vaccinations, and they should be informed on their decision. School administration and government agencies should care because they are the ones who create the vaccine laws and requirements, so they must always stay informed on the issues of health and safety.
Vaccines have been proven to prevent harmful diseases. They work by introducing foreign substances called antigens to the bloodstream. These antigens are specific to certain diseases, and they teach the body how to fight off the real disease should the body ever be exposed to it (“Vaccines”). Intentionally administering a virus to your child’s body may seem like a horrible idea, but the reality is that without it we would be dying from diseases left and right. An article by Lawrence K. Altman states that “in the 20th century alone, experts estimate, smallpox took up to a half billion lives, more than all the wars and epidemics put together” (Altman 7). He also says that in the 1800’s, smallpox killed 400,000 Europeans a year (Altman 9). People often forget how revolutionary it is that we as a country have such easy access to vaccines. Without this access, many of us would not be here today. Edmund Kitch, a professor at the University of Virginia, once pointed out that “Vaccines are no longer perceived as a miracle preventive therapy against frightening disease, but as a routine, nuisance procedure to prevent diseases hardly anyone – including hardly any young physician – has actually experienced” (Kitch 32). Kitch is explaining that not many people who are alive today have actually experienced the horrors of some diseases themselves, so as a population we are blind to how miraculous immunizations really are. The decision as a parent to not vaccinate your child puts him or her at serious risk of disease, suffering, and death. No parent with any love for their family would choose this for their child.
Vaccines are safe to use and do not cause autism. The idea that vaccines are the cause of autism is a common misconception that has come about due to a hypothesized correlation between receiving a vaccine as a baby and developing an autism spectrum disorder later. The vaccine most often accused of causing autism is the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine, or MMR. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine observed 537,303 children to test the hypothesis that this vaccine in particular is linked to autism. The results concluded that that there is not sufficient evidence to say that MMR causes autism (Madsen et al. 16). If there was any sort of link between the two, a study composed of so many children should have done the trick, but it didn’t. Granted, there has been an overall increase in the rate of autism diagnoses in recent years. Many people link this to the corresponding increase in vaccine usage; however, in his article Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses, Stanley Plotkin and his colleagues points out that the increase in diagnoses is “likely driven by broadened diagnostic criteria and increased awareness” (Plotkin et al. 13). In other words, the frequency of autism in the population is the same as it has always been, it’s just getting diagnosed more often.
Another common assumption about the safety of vaccines is that they contain harmful chemicals such as thimerosal, which is a mercury-based preservative. The type of mercury contained in thimerosal is extremely harmless, but it is commonly confused with another type of mercury that can be toxic to humans (“Thimerosal” par 2). It was commonly used as a preservative to prevent bacteria and fungi from growing in vaccines; however, the ingredient was taken out of children’s vaccines in 2001 due to the controversy surrounding the issue (“Thimerosal” par 7). Even if thimerosal was proven to cause adverse effects, which it wasn’t, it still wouldn’t be substantial evidence to use in an anti-vaccination argument because it hasn’t been used in over 18 years.
Being vaccinated is about more than the health of the individual. It protects the community as a whole. In 2015, a measles outbreak occurred and was traced back to Disneyland’s Resort in Anaheim, California. New cases of measles began to pop up and the disease has continued to become more prevalent in the United States. A research article found in the JAMA Network collected data from the California Department of Public Health in order to figure out what role vaccinations played in the outbreak. After statistically analyzing and charting the data, the research team concluded that “substandard vaccination compliance is likely to blame for the 2015 measles outbreak” (Majumder et al. 4). This means that if more people had received the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, the measles outbreak might not have been an outbreak at all. This falls in line with the concept of herd immunity, which concludes that if most individuals within a population are immune to a certain disease, even those who are not immune will be protected from said disease.
There are many parents and medical professionals who believe that people should not vaccinate their children because it is dangerous for their health. Most people with this stance have either had themselves or know someone who had a bad experience or adverse side effect shortly after immunization. For example, in 1995, a 14-year-old girl receiving a three-does hepatitis B vaccine started experiencing headaches, fever, nausea, and weakness immediately after she received her vaccine. A whole year later, she was still extremely ill and was finally diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that the doctor attributed to the vaccine. More research on the subject uncovered that over 25,000 adverse reactions to the Hepatitis B vaccine were reported between 1990 and 1998 (Wallstin 89). This one example as well as many others shows that claims against vaccines are not unwarranted. Skepticism about the effectiveness and safety of vaccines has been around since Edward Jenner discovered vaccinations in 1796. For example, the Victorian anti-vaccination movement in the 1800’s debated whether or not citizens should be forced to receive vaccinations. In her article about the 19th century anti-vax movement, Elizabeth Earl explains the argument as addressing the “boundaries of personal freedom versus social obligations” (Earl 18). This boundary tends to be a fine line. On one hand, being forced to receive a vaccination seems wrong; however, choosing not to receive the vaccination is a decision that affects everyone. Herd immunity is what occurs if the majority of individuals within a population have been vaccinated against a particular disease. It is rare for anyone to contract the disease because even those who are not vaccinated are surrounded by people who are- meaning there are less ways they can be exposed to the virus. Some individuals are born with autoimmune diseases or have other medical requirements that make it dangerous for them to receive vaccines. This means that when someone chooses not to vaccinate their child who is perfectly healthy, they put other less fortunate children at risk for disease.
If more parents collectively decided to have their children vaccinated against harmful diseases, not only would their children protected, but the entire population would be that much safer as a whole. While it may seem frightening to some, getting vaccinated is a routine procedure that has proven to be both safe and effective. A large portion of the world does not have easy access to vaccines like we do in the United States, and these countries’ high rates of disease leading to death shows it.
Works Cited
Altman, Lawrence et al. “Smallpox: The Once and Future Scourge?” The New York Times, 15 Jun. 1999, pp. 1-10, The New York Times.
Dempsy, Amanda F. et al. “Alternative vaccination schedule preferences among parents of young children.” Pediatrics, vol. 128, no. 5, November 2011, pp. 15 -30. AAP News and Journals. Accessed 20 Feb. 2019.
Earl, Elizabeth. “The Victorian Anti-Vaccination Movement.” The Atlantic, 15 Jul. 2015, pp. 11-21, The Atlantic.
Kitch, Edmund W. “American Law and Preventive Vaccination Programs,” Childhood Immunizations, vol. 3, no. 23, 1993, pp. 12-34. CQ Researcher. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.
Madsen, Kreesten et al. “A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccination and Autism.” The New England Journal of Medicine, 7 Nov. 2002, pp. 9-18, The New England Journal of Medicine. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.
Majumder, Maimuna S. et al. “Substandard vaccination compliance and the 2015 Measles outbreak.” JAMA Pediatrics, vol. 169, no. 5, 2015, pp. 1-4. JAMA Network. Accessed 20 Feb. 2019.
Plotkin, Stanley et al. “Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses.” Clinical Infections Diseases, vol. 48, no. 4, 15 Feb. 2009, pp. 1-15. Oxford Academic.
“Thimerosal in Vaccines.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 2015.
“Vaccines & Immunizations.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 18 Aug. 2017.
Wallstin, Brian. “Immune to reason.” Houston Press, 3 June 1999, pp. 50-100, Houston Press.
