EXPLORATORY ESSAY

FORMAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2: WRITING AN EXPLORATORY ESSAY (5-PAGE

ESSAY W/ WORK CITED PAGE THAT BEGINS ON PAGE SIX AND INCLUDES AT LEAST TWO SCHOLARLY SOURCES)

You must begin with a question concerning a serious social issue that genuinely perplexes you. The chapters posted in Canvas from, Social Problems: A Down to Earth Approach is filled with information about serious social issues. We will explore some of the social issues together, but it is ultimately up to you to decide which serious social issue you want to research and write about for the remainder of the semester. Of course, once you choose one you should not change it. Continue to learn more about it on your own as the semester progresses. (1) At the beginning of your essay, explain why you are interested in answering your research question about this serious social issue. (2) Secondly, explain why you think it is a significant research question. (3) Next, explain why you have been unable to reach a satisfactory answer to your research question. (4) Then, write a first-person, chronologically organized narrative account of your thinking process as you investigate your research question through research, talking with other people (such as professors, friends, and family members) and doing your own reflective thinking. Your goal is to examine the social issue from a variety of perspectives, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different positions and points of view along the way. Your goal is not to answer your research question or come to a definite conclusion, but to report on the process of wrestling with your research question while leaving the problem open. The topic that you choose for FWA # 2 will also be the focus of FWA#3, and FWA# 4. The textbook should not be your only source even though it may be used for general information. Also look for scholarly books and articles some of which may be mentioned in the text. You may find them using research tools such as: Amazon Books, Google Books, Google Scholar, Chesnutt Library, and the other UNC System library databases.