Illustrative

 This is what is known as an illustrative essay. Illustrative essays are used to explain, illustrate, a topic to your audience. Examples (the illustrative part) are used to help your audience “see” your argument. The examples which you use however, must be absolutely relevant to your topic. What is very important is that the examples, illustrations, you choose help your readers understand your argument. Your assignment is as follows: From the subjects I’ve listed below, choose one: • Capital Punishment in the U.S. • Global Terrorism and its causes • Racism in media • Clemency for non-violent offenders • “Banning the box” and granting convicted felons the right to vote • Free speech and hate crimes • Freedom of religion This essay will have three main parts: Introduction, Body and Conclusion. The information from your essay must come from outside sources, only, and you must attribute all your information: “According to data compiled by The American Progress Report, …” Think about your topic and what you want to say about it (your focus). Then do some research and find two to three examples which you will use to illustrate what you are trying to say. The idea here is to be controversial; to say something that nobody else might have said. You can assume that your audience is familiar with your topic, so please do not spend any time defining it-just jump right into your opinion and what you are trying to say about your topic (your focus). For example: You can assume that your audience knows what capital punishment is, so there is no need to spend much, if any, time discussing it or its history (unless that is your focus)-rather, you are attempting to make a point by way of real-life examples; your illustrations. If you are trying to claim that capital punishment in the US unfairly targets minorities, then demonstrate that with two, or more, illustrations which prove, which show, that capital punishment in the US unfairly targets minorities. For this essay, you will be held to stricter guidelines: It must be done in MLA format, however, a Works Cited page is optional. However, please note, that if you choose to attest your information in MLA style, then you must provide a Works Cited page. Think of this as practice for Essay #4.I will provide a link to MLA formatting guidelines-if your essay is not submitted in MLA format, it will be rejected. You must follow the guidelines I gave for email and file names-if you do not follow those guidelines, your essay will be rejected.