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An Advocacy Essay

Like the HCP Project, the main assignment here is a multi-modal composition that uses various rhetorical positions and different types of evidence to make an argument. This one, however, is a bit different from the first in that over the course of these next few weeks, as you research and evaluate various sources, and as you draft, craft and organize your thoughts and evidence, you will at some point have to make a decision to become an advocate for a solution/policy to your central problem. Your argument for advocating a solution/policy in combination with the analytical reasons you provide for why you have chosen to focus on a particular solution/policy will after weeks and weeks of diligent engagement become a richly-textured thesis statement, one that deepens your articulation of the problem at hand and argues for a convincing way to move forward.

Important notes about the Advocacy Project:

1. Your solution must be apolicy that you find in your research – this is a requirement. A policy is a definite course of action.  For more information about policies, see UCI’s library webpage on Advocacy Project Sources.
2. Your solution/policy may not be implemented where you have defined the problem – the solution/policy must either be proposed (i.e. not implemented yet) or the solution/policy may be implemented outside the location of your problem (i.e. advocate for a current policy in NY to be implemented in CA, if CA is where you have defined your problem).
3. 3. While you will be advocating for a solution/policy in this paper, it is important to understand that your solution/policy will likely not solve the entire social/cultural/political problem – these are complex issues that are current problems because there is no simple singular “solution.” Thus, your task for the advocacy project is to find the best solution/policy to minimize your chosen social/cultural/political problem. What policy will minimize the problem the most?

You should use at least 10 sources. Use the APA system for citing your sources.

YOUR ESSAY MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ARGUMENTS

1. Causation Argument: What are the root causes of the problem? Does your policy address those causes more effectively than other solutions?
2. Coverage/Comprehensiveness Argument: Does your policy satisfactorily address the problem for a significant number of those people most affected by the problem? (You will need to show how many people, or what groups of people, will be affected by your solution.)
3. Cost/Benefit Argument: Do the policy’s benefits exceed its costs? (Remember that not all costs are financial– time/effort/inconvenience etc can also count as costs.)
4. Feasibility Argument: Is your policy feasible? Is it more realistic than other solutions? Is it easy to implement? Does it have enough support from significant parties to make it likely to be implemented?
5. Comparison Argument: Has a similar policy worked significantly well in another comparable context?
6. Anticipating the Opposition: What arguments do opponents of your policy make? (They might argue directly against your policy, or they might advocate a different policy.) How can you answer those arguments? It’s best if you can find real arguments made by real people that you can quote and cite, but you can also imagine what an opponent might say if you must.