Diligently researching social issues for persuasive essays!

Internet Research for Opinion Essayshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Recommended Sites for Information

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.procon.org/

http://www.sadd.org/

http://www.nytimes.com (for current events)

http://www.fbi.gov/publications.htm (Facts and statistics from the FBI)

http://www.greenhope.org/index.shtml (Information about women in prision)

http://www.ssbx.org/ (Sustainable South Bronx: information about global warming related to urban areas)

http://www.correctionalassociation.org/index.html (Information about prisions)

Recommended Search Engines for Your Research

http://www.kidsclick.org

http://yahooligans.yahoo.com


Websites about Online Research

"The New Plagiarism," Jamie McKenzie
http://www.fno.org/may98/cov98may.html

Guide to Student Research
http://www.slu.edu/departments/english/research

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/index.html

New York Public Library Online Databases
http://nypl.org/databases

"Using the Internet for Student Research," Peggy Maslow
http://teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/incorptech/netresrch.htm

Citation Machine
http://citationmachine.net

In class we explored photographic representations of our school's neighborhood and how that informs people who live there.

Choosing an Issue

Look through the issues on your brainstorm lists. At each issue ask youself three questions about each of them in order to find the best issue for your essay.

1. Do I feel passionately about this issue?
2. Is this an issue that people will want to read about?
3. Will I be able to find evidence about this issue?

If you can answer yes to all three of these questions, then that is the issue that might make the best essay topic.

Freewriting on Three Issues

Today we did three freewrites on three issues that each of us felt passionately about.

A freewrite can be done by timing yourself for about 1 - 2 minutes. In that time you must write as much as y0u can about your issue.

Brainstorming Important Issues

Today we brainstormed three lists of issues:

1. Issues that are important in the world and in the U.S.A.
2. Issues that are important to teenagers
3. Issues that are important to me

You should have at least 5 issues for each category.