For this assignment, you will need to write an Argumentative Synthesis on the topic of Common Core Standards, a program widely adopted in 2010. By 2013, 43 states were using the standards to measure a student’s progress. The issue to be examined in this essay is whether or not our education system should continue using the Common Core initiative as a means of educating our youth from K through 12. The initiative began because “vast differences in educational expectations existed across states” (Conley 3), and though this might have been rather unimportant when a formal education was not as vital in finding a job a few decades ago, this has changed greatly in recent years with the heavy demand for a formal education in the workplace today, namely the tech industry. In a manner of speaking, students were coming to college with varying levels of readiness. Common Core Standards is an attempt to even this out, giving all students an equal opportunity to succeed in college. Opinions vary greatly among educators. Those who support the initiative believe that the program evens the proverbial playing field, requires instructors to use higher level instructional techniques, requires students to “produce evidence of learning through products that emphasize the use of higher level skills” (VanTassel-Baska 60), and prepares them for the demands of high tech jobs. Those who oppose the initiative believe it stunts the student’s creativity, does little to emphasize the importance of the humanities, especially English/writing skills, will lead to the federal government completely taking over education, forces teachers to “teach to the test,” and does not account for the fact that teachers are not only ill-prepared to use the techniques required to implement the standards but that they also lose their pedagogical autonomy. The seven articles that you must use can be found below:
commoncore_1_.pdf
I expect you to use at least 5 of the 7 articles provided. The essay is due Saturday April 29th at 11:59pm and should be 5 to 7 pages long, not including title page and reference pages. Use Times New Roman font and 12 point type size. This essay must be completely in APA style; this includes running eaders, title page, in-text citations and the reference page. You DO NOT have to have an abstract. You should have all the information that you need to cite each of these sources in your reference page. If you are struggling to find the information, go into our library and select the research database Education Research Complete and do a title or author search. That is where the articles came from. If you turn in an essay that fails to be in APA style or does not have in-text citations and a Reference page, the essay will fail automatically. There is an example of an Argumentative Synthesis in your text book on pages 228-232, but keep in mind that the student in this example uses MLA Style of documentation. Again, you must use APA.
Your introduction to this assignment should essentially introduce the topic and the issue to the reader; you might even consider a quote or two from the source materials as an introductory strategy. I do expect to see a thesis statement at the end of your introduction that introduces a controversy/debate and takes a clear stance. However, one of the major problems that I have encountered with students constructing a thesis statement is that they often give me a purpose statement rather than a thesis statement. I DO NOT want a purpose statement. See the handout below for the differences between the two and for information on how to construct a thesis and test it:
Thesis Statements.docx
The body of this essay should consist of paragraphs that are organized as follows:
Topic Sentence (I want to see your writing here; do not let the sources write them for you)
Discussion
Then, incorporate sources (at least two different ones)
Wrap up your point in your own words, not a source’s. Tie the discussion back to your point/argument
Here is a sample paragraph from an Argumentative Synthesis Essay using APA in-text citation style:
Asian carp are not only a threat to the ecosystems they are trespassing on, but they are also a real danger to humans using these waterways recreationally. One of the Asian carp species, the silver carp, that have settled into American waters have developed a new trait that has not been seen before in the same species that exist naturally in Asian countries. The fish here will jump up to ten feet out of the water when they are startled by vibrations from a boat engine, and weighing anywhere from twenty to fifty pounds can cause very serious injuries. In Dave Scroppo’s (2010) article “Watch Out for Flying Carp,” he writes “At this point, everyone here has been hit by a flying carp…One of our staff actually needed physical therapy from one that landed on his head” (p. 45). Danylo Hawaleshka (2011) concurswith Scroppo in an article he wrote titled “Barbarian at the Gate,” stating “In 2003, a carp reportedly weighing 30 lbs leaped out of the Illinois River and struck a woman jet skiing. It broke her nose and a vertebra, knocked her out, and she almost drowned” (p.17). Both of these men have experienced the dangers that Asian carp, specifically the silver carp, pose to humans, and they agree that if the carp are allowed to spread to the great lakes many more anglers and citizens using the watersrecreationally will be at a high risk of injury and will need to take extreme caution when on the water.
I also expect you in this essay to summarize other positions on the topic and of course offer counter-arguments to them. This does not have to be done in a separate section of the essay; in face, I would prefer you to do this at the same time you are presenting your position on the issue–from section to section. Do be very careful about writing argumentative fallacies. Stay away from them. See the following attachment for examples of the type of fallacies you should steer clear of while arguing:
Argumentative Fallacies.docx
The conclusion of this essay is merely a summation of your opponents’ positions, why you disagree with them, and of course summarizing your own major points
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