Length: 5-7 pages

For your first project, research a current event, issue, or controversy and read at least four relevant and helpful articles, essays, or chapters about this topic. I truly encourage you to research something about which you are curious and anxious to learn.

ASSIGNMENT: Find four important articles from scholarly sources about a current and relevant professional or social issue and write summaries of them (“they say”).

The four articles need to be about an important current topic in your field, or a current event that has particular meaning and importance for you. The articles must be from a professional journal or a scholarly source and must connect to your major, minor, future profession, or a cause/issue that is extremely important to you.

The majority of your essay will be an objective summary of your research (They Say), but in your introduction, thesis, and conclusion, you may certainly interject your opinion about the topic (I Say). Remember to use the templates from our textbook to help you formulate the ideas.

Please avoid writing about the following topics: global warming, abortion, cigarettes/tobacco, stem cell research, gun control, euthanasia, whether homosexuality is right or wrong according to the Bible, affirmative action, the death penalty, or the legal drinking age.

• Your paper should be 5-7 pages.
• It should be typed, double-spaced, with margins no larger than 1 inch on all four sides.
• Choose either MLA or APA style format. Once you decide which format you will use, make sure you follow that format correctly. Use the section in Keys for Writers, visit the Writing Center, and/or use Purdue University’s OWL website (owl.english.purdue.edu). For APA, you will need the properly formatted cover page and a References page. For MLA, you will need a Works Cited page.
• Your essay must have a title that indicates that your idea in a creative, eye-catching way. In other words, your essay should NOT be titled, “Essay #1” or “Bibliography.”
• You absolutely must read the assigned chapters of our text carefully before writing this paper. Your understanding of the assignment and its purpose will be evident in your paper, and your grade will remain low if you have not read the chapters and incorporated the information and knowledge and direction into your final product.
• It should be polished and professional. Please staple the pages of your final draft together.
• This paper will be graded on both the critical level of your content, as well as its organizational success.
• THEY SAY/I SAY: Your paper must demonstrate that you have read all of our chapters in the textbook so far; use the templates from the various chapters in your paper.