Fresno California Community Issue Paper For this writing project you need to research a community issue, an issue that you can point to that you care abou

Fresno California Community Issue Paper For this writing project you need to research a community issue, an issue that you can point to

that you care about and that affects you and / or people you know. Your job, first of all, is to

inquire: find out what the issues are. Talk to people. Read the newspaper or a magazine. What

issues are people talking about? What are the problems in your communities? Some examples of

communities that you might want to inquiry into would be your hometown, your neighborhood,

the town you live in currently, the university, the Fraternity or Sorority or other club you are a

part of, your church, your job, an online community, etc.

After settling on a community issue, you should do three things to help you brainstorm what you

might write about:

1. Describe what you know about that issue. What do people say about it? What “sides” are

there on this issue (as a side note, often there are more than two “sides” to an issue and

your job will be to describe the complexity of this issue)?

2. Freewrite about how you relate to this issue. Why is this issue important to you or your

community? What experiences have you had that affects you position on the issue?

3. Research the issue. Start with questions: what do you want to know? What information

do you need to find out? Try to draw on the four sources of information that are usually

included in a researched essay to develop your articulation of the issue: memory or

experience, observation, interviews, and reading (see page 443 in The Curious Writer for

more information).

4. Is technology that is used to resolve the issue helpful? Can it be used better? What are the

consequences of its use?

Bottom Line Requirements

1. You need to write about a local issue. Please do not write about an issue that is not

specific to one or more of your local communities. You should make it clear in your

writing project how you relate to this issue or why this issue is important to you.

2. You will need to educate your readers on the various facets of the argument(s)

surrounding this issue. It is important to provide some scope and consider various points

of view.

3. You will need to take your own stand on the issue.

4. You need to include how the issue is related to technology in some way.

5. You should use outside sources and information in writing this paper (and cite those

sources according to MLA style guidelines). You could use information from interviews,

newspapers, web pages, books, and / or magazines. You will need to include five (5)

sources for this paper. Three of those sources have to be from acceptable academic

sources (ie: .gov websites, articles or books found in the library or through the electronic

databases in the library).

Specifications: 7 – 8 pages, Word, MLA format, Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-

spaced. Works Cited must be included and are not part of the page count.