Once you find two articles that engage in a scholarly debate, spend time annotating them so you can easily explain each scholar’s thesis, supporting points, and use of evidence. After, you will make it clear which scholar constructs the stronger argument by evaluating each side’s argument (thesis, use of evidence, appeals to logos, appeals to ethos, etc.). Finally, you will choose a side, apply it to primary textual evidence not covered by the scholar, and show that the scholar you chose is actually the stronger. I repeat this link below, but here is a link to a strong sample paper so you can see these parts in action.
This means that your opinions will not be about the primary source but about how well each side in the debate constructs an argument.
Purpose: As an author, your purpose is twofold: 1) inform your reader about each side of the debate and 2) evaluate each side so your reader understands the strengths and weaknesses of the two competing interpretations.
Audience: Your audience will have read the primary source but not the secondary sources. Consequently, the primary source does not need to be summarized but a thorough summary of each scholar’s paper or side of the debate is needed before you can evaluate their arguments.
Genres: Summary, evaluation, and compare/contrast.
Tone: Formal
Documentation: MLA rules, especially regarding direct and indirect source use. All instances of quotation, paraphrasing, and summarizing must be given in-text credit: attributions and parenthetical references. Click here for more information about indirect source use.
Length: A minimum of 1,500 words
Works cited list: Follow the MLA rules for the works cited list; include the primary and secondary sources
Primary source: It must be a selection from the anthology. Consequently, it must be written by an American author and published after 1865 to present.
Secondary sources: You must use a minimum of two secondary sources. These must be scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles from either of the academic databases JSTOR or Project Muse. You must access these databases via WC’s library page. They each must be a minimum of eight pages. They cannot be study guides, reviews, abstracts, or essays from the general internet. If you need them, the library has posted video tutorials for the databases. The page arranges them alphabetically. Look for JSTOR and Project Muse, the two required databases. Keep in mind the example searches they run are not the same keyword searches you should use. Your keyword searches should pertain to the chosen primary source. Use the work’s title and perhaps add the author’s name as a second keyword. Do not change from keyword search to title or author search though. These authors did not publish in academic, peer-reviewed journals. Changing from keyword to title or author search will not return a hit. I know this is a bit confusing, but the title of the chosen primary source is a keyword. It is the key thing you hope the articles discussed. Secondary sources were not written by the primary source authors, so their titles and names must be used as keywords.