Plan, draft, and revise an essay that draws from a minimum of 4 separate scholarly sources to present an argument relevant to a local community, situation, organization, procedure, attitude, or legislation. Local means anything from the state (Virginia, Maryland, or D.C. are all considered local) level, a county, a city/town, or a local church or a specific place of local employment. Choose a topic that has special interest to you, to people in your intended profession, to people in your hometown or family, or to friends in your community. Write about something you care about. Your essay must make a claim, must have an argument: you are not simply providing information on a topic.

Generalized topics for generalized audiences – particularly topics about which people hold unshakable opinions, such as the death penalty, abortion, domestic violence, legalization of marijuana, etc. – will not be appropriate for this essay unless you can conclusively demonstrate that you have a local angle and a local audience that could indeed be changed by reading what you write. You may not write about the legalization of marijuana or abortion; these are the only two topics banned.

The essay you write will be an academic, source-based argument, emphasizing research skills, library sources, interview or other forms of academic inquiry. Your argument should add something new or unique to the conversation about your topic and not just repeat someone else’s argument.

The purpose of this assignment will depend on your intended, local audience. It will most likely fall into one of the following categories: a) to convince undecided readers to accept your thesis; b) to make opposing readers less resistant to your thesis; c) to convince reader who agree with you to take action.

Integrate a minimum 4 reliable, scholarly sources to this topic into your final essay.