• To learn to identify arguments and argument structures and to present your own argument about a topic.

• To apply library research skills as well as standard documentation methods.

Choose a political topic that is of interest to you and that in some way relates to the career path that you anticipate for yourself. Find three articles addressing this topic from three different perspectives. At least two of these articles should in some way disagree with each other. The third might offer a more impartial overview of the topic, argue for a third approach, or offer a new perspective supporting one of the other two.

These articles may be from newspapers, magazines or web sites, but they must have been published and accessible to a regional or national audience. Your documentation of these three articles must clearly establish where they are from.

Begin this paper with an overview of the topic and your own opinion about the courses of action that the chosen articles address. Then, present an overview of each article explaining clearly how they agree and how they disagree with each other. Explain also anything about the writers or the contexts of these articles that might help your readers understand why they have adopted the viewpoints they have. In your conclusion, consider how these articles have influenced your opinion about this topic and, perhaps, suggest directions for further inquiry or further consequences of the argument you have examined.