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This assignment does not count toward the final grade. Due Saturday by 11:59pm Points 0 Submitting a file upload File Types doc, docx, and pdf Submit Assignment For this milestone, you will select a final proposition from your topic paper and create a complete argument. You will complete a three-part topic paper before the deadline on Friday, February 28th at 11:59pm. 1. Apply principles of argumentation to a contemporary controversial issue 2. Construct an essay and argue for a side of the issue You will complete the following components for this assignment: 1. A rough draft of a complete argumentative essay The essay will be 4-5 double-spaced pages (~ words). The essay will use APA format for citations and references, including a separate reference page that does not count toward to length of the essay. The essay will be in 12-point Time New Roman font with 1†margins. Choose a final proposition (draw on instructor feedback) from your topic paper Argument Essay - Rough Draft 第1页 å…±4页 2020/3/28 1:42 proposition list and develop a claim in support of or opposed to your final proposition. Decide which side of the issue you want to argue to support. This is an exercise in evaluating evidence, analyzing claims, and building a case. I do not expect you to change your mind or political position. Rather, I expect you to genuinely research the arguments, evidence, and rhetorical tools (i.e., pathos, ethos) that are used by those you disagree with to make their cases. Write an essay with effective grounds, backing, and warrants for your argument. Research your topic to gain a sense of the major arguments made by each side of the issue’s stakeholders. Identify suitable backing that will strengthen your claims. Draw on the sources you identified in your annotated bibliography. Organize and analyze your research using the Toulmin model as a guideline for logical organization. Put together the best case you can for the proposition. Think through whether your case has internal contradictions or is otherwise open to counterarguments. Provide a vision and story to give cohesion to your argument. Remember: If there was not a case to be made for both sides of an issue, the issue would cease to be an issue because the matter would be settled. For example, the sun rising in the east is not an issue. There is no reasonable evidence to contradict the assertion and the vast majority of the world throughout history has accepted this as an unchanging fact. Issues are issues because both sides can make arguments since the matters have not resolved into broadly-accepted facts. I strongly recommend diagramming your argument and writing an outline to give your argument a logical progression before beginning writing your essay. Once you have completed researching your argument, write a formal essay creating your case. Provide the grounds, the warrant, claim(s), backing, reservations (if applicable), counter arguments, rebuttal to counter arguments, rhetorical strategies, Argument EssayRough Draft 第2页 å…±4页 2020/3/28 1:42 and a vision of how the world is improved by your proposition being granted adherence. Write to make your argument, then carefully proofread and edit

down. Be succinct. Avoid unnecessary jargon or superfluous language. Be clear and get to the point. The audience you are attempting to persuade (me) wants to see clear, relate-able, and complete argumentation. I do not want to see obtuse, vague, wildly abstract, or confusing writing. All sources must include an in-text citation and a reference on a separate references If you are directly quoting a source, your citation should look like this: According to Author A, "blah blah blah blah blah," (Last Name, Year, page #). If you are paraphrasing a source, your reference should look something like this: Author A (year) found that their research demonstrates support for blah blah blah (page #). If you are using multiple sources to back a claim, your citation should look something like this: Surprisingly, this phenomenon is actually not that rare (Author A, year; Author B, year). If you include a citation, you must also include a reference. If you include a reference, you must also include a citation. Citations point to references and your reference list tells your readers what evidence you have used. Reference pages should have References centered at the top of the page. Your references are then listed in alphabetical order by author last name. If there are multiple authors, use the first author listed to determine order. Here is an example of how a journal article reference should look: Author Last, First initial. (Year). Article title. Journal Title, Volume(issue):page #s. Ferguson, C. J., Konijn, E. A., Kaufman, J. C. (2015). She said/He said: A peaceful debate on video game violence. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 4(4): . Argument Essay - Rough Draft 第3页 å…±4页 2020/3/28 1:42 You might want to look at the Purdue Online Writing Lab for APA. ( /apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html) The rough draft should be largely complete but does not need to be polished. I will provide feedback on your draft version. The rough draft will likely be shorter than your final draft. The rough draft is not graded, but must be turned in before you can continue to the next module. Submit your rough draft. Your rough draft can be submitted as .pdf, .doc., or .docx. If you have any concerns, contact me (mailto: [email protected] ) to discuss. Move on to the next module by clicking the Next button below. You can also access modules by returning to the module index on the Home page. Argument Essay - Rough Draft 第4页 å…±4页 2020/3/28 1:42 Adema, W., Clarke, C., & Frey, V. (2016). Paid parental leave and other supports for parents with young children: The United States in international comparison. International Social Security Review, 69 (2), 29–51. Compared to other countries, the parental leave policies in the U.S is different, it only has unpaid maternity leave. The article also pointed out the positive influences of paid maternity leave and indicated the potential benefits of strengthening these policies. I think the quality of the source is reliable since it was derived from OECD Social Employment and Migration Working Paper No. 172, and the authors are policy analysts. To discuss maternity leave in the U.S, this is a great source to use because it provided a lot of analogical evidence.

Bryant, M. (2019). The US doesn't offer paid family leave -but will that change in 2020? The Guardian. Retrieved from Almost all countries in the world ensure the parents to have paid maternity leave, but the United States is not one of them. Until now, the U.S still don’t have relative policies to face this problem. This article discussed that the U.S government has started to talk about paid maternity leave and its importance in this year’s presidential campaign. Also, it discussed some potential policies that may be implemented. ‘The Guardian’ is a relatively famous newspaper, and this article talks current hot topics, so it can be used for my topic. This article is a good illustration of the trend towards paid maternity leave. Bryant, M. (2020). Maternity Leave: US Policy Is Worst on List of the World's Richest Countries. The Guardian. Retrieved from As the title of this article says, the United States has the worst parental leave policies among rich countries in the world. It is the only developed country in the world that has no mandatory paid maternity leave policy. The article also comes from ‘The Guardian’ and was written by the same author of the last one. Differently, this article used mainly statistical evidence to show that most rich countries in the world have good policies of maternity leave. These comparisons are useful to reflect that U.S policy is very backward. Delle Donne, A., Hatch, A., Carr, N. R., Aden, J., & Shapiro, J. (2019). Extended Maternity Leave and Breastfeeding in Active Duty Mothers. Pediatrics, 144 (2), 1–8. This journal did researches about the influences on new mothers after extending their paid maternity leave from 6 weeks to 12 weeks. By increasing the time of breastfeeding, the mother and her newborn baby have better physical and mental health. This is an academic journal, and I think it has a high degree of credibility. I can use the evidence from this article that longer maternity leave has positive impacts to both mothers and babies. Gault, B., & Hartmann, H. (2014). Paid Parental Leave in the United States: What the Data Tell Us Paid Parental Leave in the United States: What the Data Tell Us about Access, Usage, and Economic and Health Benefits. Cornell University, 1–50. This journal introduced the benefits of paid parental leave in different countries. It also describes the current situation in the U.S and what implementations can do to promote paid parental leave. Since it’s an academic journal from Cornell University, it should be qualified. There are many claims in this article I can use to argue that paid maternity leave is better. Huang, R., & Yang, M. (2015). Paid maternity leave and breastfeeding practice before and after California's implementation of the nation's first paid family leave program. Economics and Human Biology, 16, 45-59. This article describes the positive changes in the California workforce after implementing a paid maternity leave policy. It highlights the positive impact of paid pregnancy leave. Since this is academic research that has rigorous survey data, it is highly reliable. I think California's experience can be a microcosm of the entire United States, I can use this as analogical evidence to

insinuate the whole United States. Jia, N. Y., Dong, X. P., & Song, Y. (2018). Paid Maternity Leave and Breastfeeding in Urban China. Feminist Economics, 24(2), 31-53. Like one of the previous sources, this article also thinks paid maternity leave is important because it can benefit breastfeeding and the development of infants. These benefits are proved by both American and Chinese scientific researches. A large number of scientific evidence in this academic journal is very helpful to my topic. McCloskey, A. M. (2016). A Plan for Parental Leave. National Review, 68 (9), 18–21. Retrieved from The article listed the issues of not having federal policies for paid parental leave in the United States. The author also gave some ideal solutions to this problem. Many of them are reliable options and can be further discussed. I could find both pieces of evidence and suitable claims to support my propositions. The source is from National Review, so I don’t doubt its credibility. Petts, R. J., Knoester, C., & Waldfogel, J. (2020). Fathers’ Paternity Leave-Taking and Children’s Perceptions of Father-Child Relationships in the United States. Sex Roles, 82 (3/4), 173–188. This article illustrates the benefits of paid maternity leave from a father's perspective. Through data research, the authors found that fathers taking at least two weeks of maternity leave can strengthen their close relationship with their babies. This is the conclusion of an extensive investigation. I can use this source to emphasize the significance of paid maternity leave. BBC News. (2020). Finland to give dads same parental leave as mums. BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2020 from This article introduced the new maternity leave policy changes in Finland. The father now has the same length of vocation as the mother. The author demonstrated many advantages of this new policy and how to implement it in different situations. The article is a recent BBC news which tends to have a minimal bias. I can use this resource as an analog to America. Justification Maternity leave is always an important topic in every country. To every people who want to have children, it is necessary to know the policies about maternity leave. As we know, the United States has relatively poor policies in this area. The absence of statutory paid maternity leave has significantly increased the financial burden on American families. This problem is even more pronounced for families who cannot afford high day-care fees and do not enjoy paid maternity leave. In addition to economic pressures, changes in American parenting ideas have also fueled calls for paid maternity leave. Therefore, whether to revise related policies is a topic that can be argued. As parents, everyone hopes that they can enjoy better treatment when they have just had children. Also, this topic has conflicts of interest, better maternity leave welfare may reduce the benefits of companies, they may argue this topic from the opposite side. It has relations to feminism too. With the feminist movement nowadays, the pursuit of a better maternity leave system can also be a hot issue for feminists (of course, male maternity leave is also important). To argue this topic, we should first list the benefits of maternity

leave and prove that the current policies about maternity leave is not enough and the government needs to do more on editing relevant policies. In this process, there will be many rebuttals, such as who will afford the expense. To counter these rebuttals, we should give corresponding solutions. In this topic, the experience of other countries can be used as a very effective reference. Propositions U.S. should implement mandatory paid maternity leave policy.

Paper For Above instruction

The discourse surrounding maternity leave policies in the United States presents a compelling case for reform rooted in economic, social, and health considerations. Currently, the U.S. stands out among developed nations for its lack of mandated paid maternity leave, a situation that imposes significant financial and emotional burdens on families. This paper argues that the United States should implement a mandatory paid maternity leave policy, aligning itself with international standards and fostering numerous benefits across individual, familial, and societal levels.

From a logical standpoint, the scarcity of paid maternity leave in the U.S. results in widespread economic hardship for new parents. As Gault and Hartmann (2014) detail, countries with comprehensive paid leave systems report lower healthcare costs, higher maternal and infant well-being, and increased workforce participation among women. Conversely, the absence of paid leave in the U.S. contributes to economic instability for families, especially those unable to afford high childcare costs and unpaid leave periods. Financial strain can lead to adverse mental health outcomes and hinder early bonding between mother and child, which are critical for development (Delle Donne et al., 2019). Such evidence underscores the need for policy change that ensures financial security for families during their most vulnerable period.

Empirical data from international comparisons bolster this argument convincingly. For instance, Finland recently enacted policies granting fathers parental leave equivalent to mothers (BBC News, 2020), mirroring benefits observed in Scandinavian countries. These policies have been associated with increased paternal involvement, better child health, and enhanced gender equality (Petts et al., 2020). Similarly, studies in California demonstrate that paid maternity leave positively influences breastfeeding rates and maternal health outcomes (Huang & Yang, 2015). These microcosmic examples serve as persuasive analogs for broad U.S. policy reforms, illustrating potential societal benefits that can be derived from mandated paid parental leave.

The health benefits of paid maternity leave further strengthen the case for reform. Research by Delle

Donne et al. (2019) indicates that extending maternity leave from six to twelve weeks significantly improves maternal mental and physical health, which directly correlates with better infant health. Longer paid leave enables mothers to breastfeed longer, an activity associated with numerous health benefits for infants, including immune support and cognitive development (Jia et al., 2018). These findings advocate for policies that support extended leave duration, emphasizing the health and well-being of both mother and child as foundational societal goals.

However, opponents argue that mandating paid maternity leave may impose economic costs on businesses and government budgets. They contend that the financial burden could stifle economic growth and reduce corporate competitiveness. In response, proponents highlight that investments in maternal and infant health yield substantial long-term economic benefits, including reduced healthcare costs and increased productivity (Gault & Hartmann, 2014). Furthermore, countries such as Finland exemplify that equitable parental leave does not hinder economic prosperity but can enhance societal cohesion and gender equality (BBC News, 2020). Therefore, the evidence suggests that the economic costs are offset by the profound health and social benefits.

Another critical aspect of this debate is the role of gender equality and feminism. Modern feminist movements advocate for shared parental responsibilities, emphasizing that paid maternity leave supports gender equality by encouraging fathers’ involvement and reducing career disadvantages for women (Petts et al., 2020). Implementing policies that provide equal leave for fathers and mothers fosters a more equitable society and challenges traditional gender roles that limit women's opportunities. Finland's policy reforms reflect this shift, illustrating how parental leave policies can support both gender equity and family stability (BBC News, 2020).

To address concerns about costs, the U.S. could draw inspiration from successful models worldwide, such as Scandinavia and California, which demonstrate feasible integration of paid leave into national policy. Establishing a government-funded system that shares costs across workplaces and government resources could mitigate the financial impact on individual companies and ensure equitable access for all families. This approach aligns with the overarching goal of promoting public health, gender equality, and economic stability.

In conclusion, the implementation of a mandatory paid maternity leave policy in the United States is justified on multiple grounds. Evidence from international models and U.S. studies highlights the myriad

benefits for maternal and infant health, economic stability, and societal gender equality. While challenges related to costs and logistics exist, they are surmountable with strategic policy design inspired by successful international frameworks. Ultimately, ensuring paid maternity leave for all would affirm America's commitment to supporting families and fostering a healthier, more equitable society.

References

BBC News. (2020). Finland to give dads same parental leave as mums. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51409989

Delle Donne, A., Hatch, A., Carr, N. R., Aden, J., & Shapiro, J. (2019). Extended Maternity Leave and Breastfeeding in Active Duty Mothers. Pediatrics, 144(2), 1–8.

Gault, B., & Hartmann, H. (2014). Paid Parental Leave in the United States: What the Data Tell Us about Access, Usage, and Economic and Health Benefits. Cornell University. Huang, R., & Yang, M. (2015). Paid maternity leave and breastfeeding practice before and after California's implementation of the nation’s first paid family leave program. Economics and Human Biology, 16, 45-59.

Jia, N. Y., Dong, X. P., & Song, Y. (2018). Paid Maternity

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