This week’s project is your first version of the essay component of your final project. You will present your big idea in a persuasive and research supported manner and include your revised thesis statement. The style of the essay should be appropriate to an academic audience: avoid slang and stay in third person, and use the proper APA citation and formatting style.

For this project, review the feedback you received for the Units 2 and 4 projects as well as the Invention Lab comments relating to the ideas, plans, and prewriting exercises you have completed so far. Expand these ideas into a first draft. You do not have to implement all of the comments from your instructor or classmates, but you should pay attention to them and follow the advice you feel will help build a strong paper.

Your draft must be at least three to five pages long (not including the title page and references page) and contain a brief introduction and conclusion. Make certain that your introduction includes your revised thesis statement, one to two sentences that identify your big idea, the problem the big idea will address, and why your solution/idea should be implemented. You will also have cohesive body paragraphs that provide a specific, focused analysis of your main points supported by the sources you found during the research process.

You must include at least three sources in this draft (in the text itself, not simply in the references page), one of which must be an academic source from Kaplan’s Library. Your sources, of course, must include in-text citations in the body of the paper as well as full citations in the references page following the APA format. If you do not include the appropriate citations, your paper will be considered plagiarized.

In addition to at least three pages of text, you must also include both a title page and references. These pages are in addition to, not included in, the three to five required pages. You can view models of APA formatted essays in the Writing Center’s reading, Sample APA Research Paper, and unit 4 includes links to numerous Writing Center resources on citation style.

Submitting your Project

Put your project in a Word document. Save it in a location and with a name that you will remember. When you are ready to submit it, go to the Dropbox, located in the tab above next to DocSharing, and complete the steps below:

• Click the link that says ‘Submit an Assignment’.
• In the ‘Submit to Basket’ menu, select Unit 6: Dropbox.
• In the ‘Comments’ field, make sure to add at least the title of your paper.
• Click the ‘Add Attachments’ button.
• Follow the steps listed to attach your Word document.
• To view your graded work, come back to the Dropbox or go to the Gradebook after your instructor has evaluated it.
• Make sure that you save a copy of your submitted assignment.