Using their research in the annotated bibliography, students identify an angle or theme or
position they can support about their topic, and they write a position essay for an
academic audience.
This angle or position will likely be a response to the research question that drove the
annotated bibliography; this response will not often be an answer to the question, but
rather a statement about the possible answers to the question or a statement about the
difficulty of answering the question with any certainly.
You should use the four sources from your annotated bibliography. However, you can
add up to 3 additional sources
that are geared toward the college-educated reader.
Students will be graded on content, organization and style:
–Overall, a presentation of your key ideas, and your thesis, in an in-
depth, coherent, and even interesting or thought-provoking manner
-A compelling Introduction (hook, sources: articles and authors; a short
summary of your main idea, and a debatable, narrowly focused, well-
crafted thesis statement)
–Development of paragraphs (topic sentence, use of evidence and
analysis) and the skill in which you have your sources “converse” with
one another
-Use of strong organization skills: clarity, transitional words and phrases,
and strong verbs
-Strong command of grammar
-A compelling conclusion
-An understanding of MLA rules for in text citation and Works Cited
-Proofed closely.
Ultimately, your professor must judge the paper to be an effective academic,
college-level work.
Final research paper: 4-5 pages plus WORKS CITED. Four pages is the
department minimum.