Background: The 2020 presidential election was one of the most bitterly fought in recent

memory. The issues in the election (among them, the pandemic, the economy, race relations,

policing, gun control, health care, environmental policy, judicial politics, international trade,

foreign policy, and even the process of voting itself) continue to deeply divide the American

people.

Writing Assignment: On the basis of your reading of the New York Times, the Washington Post,

or another national news site, select a policy issue currently debated in the United States. This

does not need to be an issue debated only in the last presidential election. Read and collect news

and editorial articles on this issue. Pay careful attention to the ideas expressed in them to get a

sense of the conflicting points of view on the issue. After consulting at least three news and/or

editorial articles from the past year or two, write a 3-5-page essay in which you first explain the

issue to be addressed, then make the strongest case possible for two opposing sides of the issue,

and finally lay out your own position on the issue, drawing a well-researched conclusion based

on your critical assessment of the arguments of each opposing side you presented. Since the

hardest part of this assignment is for you to think about arguments you may not be automatically

drawn to, a good paper will present two opposing sides of the issue with sensitivity and care.

Indeed, an important purpose of this assignment is to foster an enhanced ability to recognize

that perspectives besides one’s own are valid and that one might have something to learn from

them.

Support your arguments with specific evidence from the articles you have selected.

Be sure to provide parenthetical citations in the body of your essay and a works cited page at the

end of it to identify the sources you used in completing this writing assignment. You are free to

use any citation style that you are familiar with. The Purdue Online Writing Lab is a useful online

resource containing specific information about how to use a number of different citation styles.

Your essay will be graded based on a holistic assessment of how well you met the requirements

of the assignment.