Santikian
Spring 2020
ENGL 1A+ and 10
Project #2: Research and Argumentative Essay: Identifying Problems and Finding Solutions
“The aim of any argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.” –Joseph Joubert
The goal of this essay is to create a reasonable, evidence-driven argument that effectively identifies a
problem that plagues society, people, a specific culture, your community, etc., and offer a solution to that
problem. While in the drafting process you will confront more than one solution and compare solutions
against each other, you will need to settle on one solution in the final draft.
Process:
• Reach agreement on the problem by defining it. In other words, what is the
problem? There may be contexts or scenarios in which this problem may exist,
but first you must be able to define the problem specifically.
• Developing consensus about the problem and its root cause is important since
your audience will not agree on an action if the problem has not been identified.
o Understand the root causes. What has led to the problem? Do we care
