Homelessness in the United States is as an revolving-door emergency
DELIVERABLEDue by the end of the first day of class, Week 1 requires ONE individually written persuasiveessay between 700 and 1,200 words. The essay is required to correctly follow all APA essayguidelines in the page structure (cover page, essay and bibliography) and in the content of thetext (i.e., proper spacing, use of running headers and page numbers, in-text citations, etc.).NOTE: Most academic essays are written using the third person point of view. This assignmentallows (and recommends) you to include a limited amount first-person narration in addition tothe more formal, third person style of essay writing.REQUIREMENTS• You may use more sources (which I highly recommend), but this essay requires a minimum oftwo. These two sources aren’t just any source, either. Both must be peer-reviewed (explainedbelow). Use peer-reviewed sources plus other non peer reviewed references (examples: yourtextbook, another textbook and text sources, previous course class notes/material, newspapers,magazine and articles, books, governmental research, etc.) to obtain your evidence (evidenceincludes statistics, data, facts, examples, quotes, research and studies and their results, personalexperiences, etc.) that supports your reasons or warrants on your claim/thesis.NOTE: Peer-reviewed articles are usually found on library databases and not on Google. Peerreviewed articles accepted for publication exemplify the best research practices in a field. Thesearticles are meticulously examined by a board of experts to determine and required to meet thehighest standards.• Sources should be correctly applied to the essay as in-text sources and in the Works Cited page.(Don’t forget to use your e-textbook as a source if it’s applicable.)• All APA formatting must be correctly applied (title page, page formatting, and layout, etc.).• The topic must come from a local, regional, or national current event or political issue that hasaffected you, your family, or your community within the last two years.For example, you might discuss the role tourism plays in your area; how professional sports (orthe lack thereof) have impacted your community; a lay-off within a company, business success orfailure, retirement of someone in your family, or other work-related issue; military-relatedmatters from deployment or combat; effects of Obama Care; retirement, etc.; whether or not youagree with the decisions your local school board has made recently and how they have affectedyour children. You may even have a gripe with the University of Phoenix.Your topic does not necessarily have to be controversial, but it should be something that hasaffected and about why others should be persuaded to see or understand the way you do. And itmust convey the political or economical impact of the event(s).PRE-WRITING• Consider who you want your audience to be for this piece and address your essay to them byusing the appropriate language, style, and other writing-related nuances that are appropriate andeffective at reaching that audience (this is what we call a rhetorical analysis).• Spend some time conducting pre-research to explore the topics you are considering in order todetermine what the issues are, if an aspect of the topic fits or can be related to your personal life,whether you can manage the topic or issue in a week’s time. Find specific issues about your topicin order to choose an area to write about that is not too broad or too narrow.• Develop your thesis that makes a point and chooses a side of the issue that can be debatable andargued. If your thesis cannot be argued, what’s the point? I don’t need to persuade anyone that thesky is blue but I might have to persuade others that Obama Care is having a negative economicaleffect to the middle class by collecting real data and exploring my family’s personal experienceswhen dealing with insurance policies and rising costs.ESSAY BREAKDOWN>> 1 introductory paragraph>> 2-3 or more body paragraphs>> A refutation paragraph (If you are unaware of this type of paragraph, plenty of online sourcesexplain what one is.)>> A conclusionMore explanation• In this paper, begin with a title that prepares the reader for the topic. You will then explain thetopic and your position of the topic using a well-developed introduction that includes a clearlywritten thesis statement.• The introduction will be followed by well-developed paragraphs that support your thesis. Yourbody paragraphs should include the reasons why the reader should agree with your point-ofview.• Another body paragraph should be developed using your narrative and personal experiences.This paragraph is the one in which you are most effective using a first-person point-of-view (allof your paragraphs should limit the use of first and second person unless you weaved yourpersonal experiences/narrative into the other body paragraphs beside this one — just make sureyou include “real” data and facts that support your thesis and any opinions. NOTE: A paragraphfull of opinions doesn’t mean a thing unless you have real data to back up your ideas andthoughts!!• One of your final body paragraphs should introduce the opposing viewpoint(s) to your essay’sthesis. Here, you acknowledge the strongest opposing views to your position and provide somesupport to the opposition (you should conduct a little research to formulate this paragraph aswell). The trick is to 1) present the opposing information (one or two of the strongest opposingviews) with support but 2) end it with one or two sentences that strongly refutes the opposition’sviews and 3) seamlessly transitions into your concluding paragraph. Again, this should not takemore than a paragraph or two.• The conclusion of a persuasive essay will tell the readers what to do and how they should tothink or feel about the topic by reintroducing your strongest evidence or personal experience.