Prof. Packer - Eng. 101 FALL 2021: Home / Your Assignment

Welcome! This research guide was created for students in Prof. Packer's English 101 Writing and Research class and is a customized resource for this assignment.

Your assignment is to write a 2-3 page persuasive essay and support it with credible sources. 

Citing your sources is an essential component of any research assignment. Your essay should include parenthetical (in-text) citations and a Works Cited page using MLA 8 style formatting.

If you have any questions about research and citations, please feel free to contact me at rebecca.steere@sunywcc.edu. 

• What is persuasive writing?
  • It intends to convince readers to believe in an idea or opinion.
  • It uses logic and reason to show that one idea is more legitimate than another.

• Steps for writing a persuasive paper:

STEP 1.   Select a topic. Decide what aspect of the topic you want to focus on and write your research question or thesis statement.

STEP 2.   Find background information about the issues related to your topic.

STEP 3.   Build a search strategy by choosing keywords to find articles, books, e-books.

STEP 4.   Explore different viewpoints/sides of the issue. Find examples to support your opinion and to counter the opposing viewpoint.

STEP 5.   Cite your sources to avoid plagiarism.  

The resources on these pages will help you:

• Find background information on your topic
• Develop a search strategy
• Find articles using the library databases
• Evaluate sources
• Cite your sources using MLA format
• Avoid plagiarism