Essay Instructions
For this week, you read the following articles addressing the Dakota Access Pipeline:
“The Dakota Access Pipeline is the Best Way to Move Bakken Crude Oil to Market” (https://daplpipelinefacts.com/.)
“The Big Fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline, Explained”
.) by Nives Dolšak, Aseem Prakash, and Maggie Allen
“Competing groups are trying to define the Dakota Access pipeline debate. So where does the truth lie?”
(http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dakota-access-pipeline-20161127-story.html) by Sandy Tolan
Where do you stand on the issue of the Dakota Access Pipeline? In your opinion, are the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux being violated? Why or why not? Use at least one of the articles listed above as evidence to support your claim. You are not required to do additional research, but you are encouraged to do so. Make sure you address the “so what” factor: why does this issue matter? What relevance does this issue have, if at all, to current debates about race in contemporary America?
Structure:
Your essay should include an introduction
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that introduces the topic and ends with a clearly worded, 1-2 sentence thesis statement.
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Each supporting paragraph (there should be at least 3) should begin with a strong topic sentence
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and should incorporate evidence, including direct quotations from one or more of the assigned articles. Direct quotations should be incorporated using the quotation sandwich method
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and proper MLA in-text citations
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. The essay should also contain a strong conclusion
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. The final page of the document should consist of a Works Cited
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page. Tips for formatting electronic sources can be found here
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.
Formatting Tips:
Your document should be 2-4 pages in length, typed and double-spaced, in Times New Roman font, size 12. Your paper should have 1-inch margins and should include a properly formatted heading and a title.
Requirements
Strong
Average
Needs Improvement
Argument: The paper advances a thoughtful argument that utilizes the argumentation skills described The Norton Field Guide to Writing. The essay includes a clearly worded thesis statement. Each paragraph has an argumentative topic sentence with at least one subsequent quotation and analysis of that evidence to help prove the topic sentence, which all helps prove the thesis. The essay also references at least one of the assigned articles. The conclusion demonstrates the thesis’s significance.
Writing: The writing is formal and polished with few grammatical/spelling/usage errors. In particular, the essay will demonstrate a strong grasp of comma usage and sentence structure.
Organization & Context: The paper logically organized and does not provide unnecessary details.
Presentation: The paper follows MLA formatting with double-spacing, a heading, and approximately 2-4 pages of text. The paper is presented in 12-point Times New Roman (including the header) with 1″ margins. All in-text citations are properly formatted, and the final page of the document contains a properly formatted Works Cited page that includes all sources referenced (which includes those that were summarized and/or paraphrased) in the essay.