Misconception or Opposition

The Final Project in this course is an argument for change, which will take the form of an essay that may include visuals to help support your argument. In Units 2 – 5, you brainstormed ideas for a Final Project topic, refined a potential thesis statement, gathered relevant research, and learned how to create an effective argument through characteristics such as logos, pathos, and ethos. In your Unit 6 Assignment, you will identify a potential misconception or opposition related to your argument and then use evidence from two reliable sources to address the misconception or opposition. The thesis statement for this Assignment is likely to be different from the thesis statement used for your Final Project since this assignment is only focused on one aspect of your argument–a misconception or opposing point.

A misconception that your potential audience may be based on faulty information or a lack of understanding of the facts about the topic. You will want to clearly identify the misconception in your thesis statement for the Unit 6 Assignment, along with briefly noting the truth the reader needs to recognize. An example of a thesis statement related to bullying might be, “While some believe that bullies are only boys who are physically larger than their peers, physical size in fact is not a dictating factor for who is a bully in schools.” Your body paragraphs will need to provide information from two sources to support this Assignment’s thesis statement; the research may serve to support a fact or further highlight that people have a misconception about your topic.

Rather than address a misconception about your topic, you can instead point out an opposing point of view to your topic. In this case, your thesis statement would identify the opposition and a weakness in this stance. An example of a thesis statement that identifies an opposing argument about bullying might be “Many teachers believe it is not part of their job to monitor student behavior for signs of bullying, yet they are the adults who are closest to the incidents and in a position to have a positive influence on children.” Again, the body paragraphs will need to present information from two sources to support the thesis statement.

You are not required to address both a misconception and opposing argument; only one is required for this Assignment. In fact, not all arguments have strong oppositions, so you may find it easier to address a misconception about your topic. An example of a topic that lacks opposition is the argument that children should not be physically, mentally, or sexually abused. As there are misconceptions about child abuse, such as the idea that an abusive parent does not love his or her child, it would be sensible to isolate one misconception to provide research supported insights for the reader.

Noted below are the specific requirements for your Unit 6 Assignment:

This Unit 6 Assignment is not a draft of your Final Project. Instead, it represents one aspect of the argument that you are likely to present in your Final Project. You will be allowed to use some of the sentences from the Unit 6 Assignment in your Final Project, but the sentences will need to be revised in order to flow well with the thesis statement and argument that dictates your Final Project’s focus. If you are concerned about gaining feedback on a draft version of your Final Project, reach out to Kaplan University’s Writing Center for their tutoring services; you can find further information about the available services on the KUWC website: Paper Review and Q&A Services.

See the following KUWC resources for further guidance on APA manuscript formatting and APA citation formatting:

Click the following link to access the grading rubric your instructor will use when assessing your Assignment: Unit 6 Assignment Rubric

Click the following link to see a sample Assignment: Unit 6 Assignment Sample