This will be a problem/solution argument paper on police brutality. | english | University of Hawaii at Manoa

You may use the Problem/Solution (Proposal) Argument sections (eBook Chapter 11: Proposing, and How-to Video 6) and Examples of Student Works (Proposing example) from MindTap as a guide for your paper.  You should also review proposal arguments we’ve read for class and analyze their rhetorical uses of the three different appeals, strengths, and weaknesses; consider what works/doesn’t work in these arguments and apply certain strategies and appeals accordingly in your own writing.  In writing this assignment, your task will be to select a topic and then devise a claim in which you take a stand on a particular public-policy, practice, or change in attitudes issue.  Your proposal indicates and proves that there is some problem or need which needs to be addressed, some action/solution should take place, and suggests that there are good reasons why it should.  You also need to state specific effects of your proposal (how your proposed solution will work and what benefits will come from it).  You will then support your proposal claim with evidence from a minimum of five current research sources.  Remember to cite all research sources in your paper according to MLA format (in-text parenthetical citation), along with a complete documented list of sources used in your paper on a separate Works Cited page (refer to MindTap and Valencia College Website). 

In order to write a fair and credible paper, you will also need to show that you are aware of the pros and cons of arguments that might be made by people who disagree with your position (counterarguments).  You may also want to address previous proposals/solutions that have been offered in the past and show that your solution is better in some way and more feasible.  In order to avoid bias and oversimplification of the problem, you also need to indicate that you have knowledge of other factors which may be involved in the issue.

Be sure to choose an issue that you care about so that you can argue your proposal with passion and conviction.  In other words, if you don’t believe in what you’re proposing in your paper, your reader will also not be convinced or persuaded to take action (build your ethos in the argument).  Also make sure that your proposal is workable/feasible, thus allowing your audience to consider your proposal in reasonable terms.