Writing Homework Help

Respond to this prompt in a well thought out manner that expresses your thoughts, gives clear reasoning, and fully explains your point through metacommentary. These discussion are not required to be in formal writing so you may write casually if you wish. However, you will be required to include at least one quote or paraphrase that is referenced with an in-text citation. A Work Cited list will also need to be placed at the bottom of your response so that your classmates can check out your source material if they wish.

See these resources for MLA format of citation and sources if you need it:

MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics // Purdue Writing Lab (Links to an external site.)

MLA Formatting and Style Guide // Purdue Writing Lab (Links to an external site.)

There is not minimum word count, however to produce a full thought out response your first post should be between 120-150 words minimum.

You will also need to respond to at least two classmate’s initial postings. You may respond to as many postings as you like, I encourage you to respond to everyone’s posts at least once as this is a small class. Each response needs to be thoughtful and respectful. Do not simply agree or disagree with the initial post but go in-depth by fully explaining your reaction or thoughts on their post. Quotes/paraphrases are not required for the responses, however if you do use quotes or paraphrase please cite them appropriately. You will

Week 3: Discussion Prompt

Read over all of the following articles about writing an argumentative essay. Each article contains advice that will hopefully help you to make Essay 1 the best it can be.  

https://owlcation.com/academia/How-to-Write-an-Argument-Essay (Links to an external site.)

https://valenciacollege.edu/students/learning-support/winter-park/communications/documents/SampleArgumentOutline.pdf (Links to an external site.)

How to Write a Standout Argumentative Essay | Grammarly Blog (Links to an external site.)

Choose 1-2 techniques or pieces of advice that you believe will help to make your essay the best essay possible. Tell us what your topic and stance are and how the technique or advice you read has given you a new, or better, understanding of how to write about the topic. How will you apply this to your essay?

Responses – Based on the original post give your classmate your own critique or advice based on your own experience or ideas. If you believe that that you have a good idea, information, or technique that they can include in their essay please let me know. Each student is under no obligation to take the advice of their classmates, but it is always nice to have new ideas or advice as options should you choose to use them.

POST 1

For this assignment I read an article about transition words. How adding transition words to your essay, will make your essay standout more. In her article, “Easy Words to Use as Sentence Starters to Write Better Essays“. Virginia Kearney gave me better ideas to nail my essay. She goes on to explain how using transition words in your essay is key to improving your writing skills. Kearney gives an example of transition words being used. “After work, Liz went to the store to get some groceries. In the produce section, she ran into her roommate Joy. First of all, they argued about whether they were out of blueberries, and secondly what they should buy for dinner. Next, Joy insisted that she was better at choosing ripe avocados.” (Kearney). The bolded words are examples of transition words. Reading the paragraph without them, this paragraph is absolutely boring. In my opinion, it makes the reader uninterested in reading this and won’t grab the reader’s attention.

For example, I’m going to do my essay on the fast food industry. I’ll be providing the pros and cons of the fast food industry. How is it affecting our society? Why do so many people eat fast food? How comes it keeps growing yearly? Is ordering on your phone and earning perks or getting it delivered keeping us more interested? And, obviously the downside of the fast food industry. Is it the main cause of obesity? Are their hidden ingredients they don’t publicize to keep us addicted? How has fast food affected us negatively? The list of advantages and disadvantages goes on and on.

But, how will transition words make my essay stand out more. Using examples like: Therefore, Furthermore, Additionally, Nevertheless, Besides, In other words, Otherwise, and so forth. Are great words to start your paragraph(s), helps add evidence to your argument(s), helps add evidence to your personal experience(s), helps with providing both points of views (pros and cons), and helps with adding your conclusion.

classmates discussions #2

The paper I’m planning on writing is Homelessness crises and some facts and ways to correct the problem. I read several of the articles offered and I favored Virginia Kearney’s “How to Write an Argumentative Essay Step by Step. I like the question-and-answer format. It’s like being told a story and it makes you question what you’re reading.

I think that homelessness in California is a huge issue and it affects hard-working families. The assumption that homeless people just don’t want to work is false. Yes, some have issues with addiction or mental health issues. But in many parts of California, we have communities of homeless families that simply can’t afford to survive. Low-income families face the greatest risks of housing insecurity and homelessness. Around 2.5 million low-income families in California are cost-burdened (spend at least thirty percent of their income on rent) (Legislative Analyst’s Office 1).

I and my three youngest children spent time amongst that community living in a shelter in San Diego. I never did drugs, I didn’t have mental health issues, I just simply became a single mother and having a disabled son was unable to work and care for him. Most people think oh well they have resources, not the kind you think. A shelter is no place for a child to grow up and many spend years jumping from shelter to shelter never able to obtain stable housing.

I personally think the homeless are a tax shelter for the rich and keeping people poor and on the street lines someone’s pocket. Families need homes, not tents, or overnight shelters. When families are homeless, surviving is the main focus. It takes away from everything, education, homework, a normal life. Low-income families face the greatest risks of housing insecurity and homelessness. Around 2.5 million low-income families in California are cost-burdened (spend at least thirty percent of their income on rent) (Legislative Analyst’s Office 1).