ENGL 203: Advanced Academic English – Argumentative Research Essay

American University of Beirut (AUB) | Faculty of Arts and Sciences — Department of English

Course Information

Course Code: ENGL 203 | Course Title: Advanced Academic English
Credit Hours: 3 | Level: Undergraduate (Year 2)
Assignment Type: Individual Argumentative Research Essay
Assignment Number: Essay 3 of 4 (Major Writing Assignment)
Weighting: 25% of Final Grade
Word Count: 1,200–1,500 words (body text only; excluding Works Cited)
Submission: Via Moodle — Microsoft Word (.docx) format only
Due Date: Week 11 — Thursday, 11:59 PM (Beirut Time, GMT+3)
Citation Style: MLA 9th Edition

Assignment Overview

Academic writing at this level is not simply about presenting information on a topic — it is about staking a position, defending it with well-selected evidence, and anticipating the objections a reasonable reader might raise. Essay 3 asks you to do exactly that.

You will write a fully developed argumentative essay on a contemporary issue at the intersection of technology, society, or digital rights. The topic area is intentionally broad, because part of the intellectual work here is narrowing it into an arguable, specific claim. A thesis statement like “social media has both advantages and disadvantages” will not meet the expectations of this assignment. A thesis like “Lebanon’s current data privacy framework is structurally inadequate to protect citizens from targeted political surveillance” is the kind of focused, contestable claim we are working toward.

This essay follows on from the peer review and annotated bibliography you submitted in Weeks 8 and 9, so you should already have a working sense of your source material. If your topic shifted significantly since then, please flag this to your instructor before the Week 10 workshop session.

Learning Outcomes Assessed

Construct a well-supported argumentative thesis that takes a clear, defensible position on a contestable issue.
Integrate evidence from a minimum of four credible sources using MLA 9th Edition in-text citation and Works Cited conventions.
Develop and organize body paragraphs using topic sentences, evidence, and analysis — not summary.
Address and refute at least one significant counterargument in a logically coherent way.
Demonstrate sentence-level clarity, precision, and appropriate academic register throughout.

Topic Options

Choose one of the following topic areas. Within your chosen area, you must develop your own specific, arguable thesis. You are welcome to discuss your angle with your instructor during office hours or the Week 10 workshop.

Digital Privacy and Surveillance: Should governments in the Arab world be granted expanded access to citizens’ digital communications in the name of national security — and if so, under what conditions, if any?
Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity: Should universities in Lebanon and the broader region permit or prohibit the use of generative AI tools in student coursework, and how should institutional policy be designed?
Social Media and Political Discourse: Has the rise of social media platforms, particularly TikTok and Instagram, strengthened or weakened the quality of political debate in Arab societies since 2019?
Language and Identity: Does the dominance of English-medium instruction in Lebanese private universities contribute to or erode Arabic linguistic identity among young Lebanese graduates?

Note that these are starting points, not ready-made thesis statements. The framing above is deliberately open — you are expected to arrive at your own position through research and reflection, not to simply answer the question as posed.

Essay Structure Requirements

Introduction

Your introduction should move from a contextualized opening (not a dictionary definition — those rarely work well here) toward a clear thesis statement as its final sentence. The thesis must be arguable, specific, and preview the essay’s main line of reasoning.

Body Paragraphs

Each body paragraph should open with a focused topic sentence, develop one main point in support of your thesis, incorporate at least one cited piece of evidence, and close with your own analytical commentary. Simply inserting a quotation and moving on is not sufficient — the analysis of what the evidence means, and why it matters to your argument, carries the real weight here.

Counterargument and Refutation

Dedicate one full paragraph — or integrate it strategically into your argument — to acknowledging a meaningful objection to your thesis. A weak counterargument (“some people might disagree”) followed by dismissal will not satisfy this requirement. Engage with the strongest version of the opposing view, and explain why your position still holds.

Conclusion

Avoid simply restating what you said. A strong conclusion at this level should synthesize your argument, reflect briefly on its broader implications, and leave the reader with a sense of why the issue matters beyond the essay itself.

Source Requirements

Minimum four sources; at least two must be peer-reviewed academic articles or book chapters.
News sources (e.g., The Daily Star Lebanon, Al-Monitor, Reuters) are acceptable as supporting evidence but cannot substitute for academic sources.
Wikipedia, personal blogs, and AI-generated content are not acceptable as cited sources under any circumstances.
All sources must appear in a properly formatted MLA 9th Edition Works Cited page at the end of the essay.
In-text citations must use the author-page format: (Khalidi 44), or (Haddad and Karam 112) for two authors.

Formatting Requirements

Font: Times New Roman, 12pt
Line spacing: Double throughout, including Works Cited
Margins: 1 inch on all sides
Header (top left): Student ID, Course Section, Instructor Name, Date — on separate lines
Title: Centered, not bolded, not underlined
No cover page required
Paragraph indentation: 0.5 inch (first line of each paragraph)
Similarity threshold (Turnitin): below 18%

Grading Rubric

Criterion	Excellent (A: 90–100)	Proficient (B: 80–89)	Developing (C: 70–79)	Insufficient (D/F: below 70)
Thesis and Argument (30%)	Thesis is specific, contestable, and consistently supported throughout. Argument is coherent and advances meaningfully.	Thesis is clear and mostly supported. Minor lapses in argumentative consistency.	Thesis present but vague or only partially developed. Argument shifts or loses focus.	Thesis absent, too broad, or a statement of fact. Argument is unclear or incoherent.
Use of Evidence and Analysis (25%)	Evidence is well-selected, integrated smoothly, and followed by strong analytical commentary. Sources clearly support the argument.	Evidence is adequate and cited correctly. Analysis present but could be more developed in places.	Evidence present but over-reliant on quotation or summary. Analysis thin or missing in some paragraphs.	Little evidence, or evidence used without citation or analysis. Sources do not clearly connect to the argument.
Counterargument and Refutation (15%)	A substantive counterargument is addressed and refuted with clear reasoning. Strengthens rather than weakens the essay.	Counterargument present and addressed, but refutation could be more convincing.	Counterargument acknowledged but not genuinely engaged with. Refutation is weak or underdeveloped.	Counterargument absent or only mentioned in passing with no real engagement.
Organisation and Paragraph Structure (15%)	Clear, logical progression throughout. Each paragraph has a focused topic sentence and connects back to the thesis.	Generally well-organised with minor structural inconsistencies. Transitions mostly effective.	Organisation present but uneven. Some paragraphs drift or lack topic sentences.	Little evident structure. Ideas appear in an order that does not serve the argument.
Language, Style, and MLA Compliance (15%)	Academic register maintained throughout. Sentences are clear and varied. MLA 9th fully and correctly applied.	Register mostly appropriate. Minor sentence-level errors. Small MLA formatting errors.	Register inconsistent. Several grammatical or stylistic issues. MLA errors affect readability.	Register inappropriate or unclear. Significant language errors. MLA largely absent or incorrect.

Academic Integrity Notice

AUB’s Academic Integrity Policy applies to all submitted work. Essays found to contain plagiarized material — including text generated by AI tools and submitted as the student’s own writing — will be referred to the Academic Integrity Committee. If you are unsure whether a particular use of AI assistance is permissible, ask your instructor before submission, not after. The policy is available in full on the AUB Office of the Registrar website.

A Note from Your Instructor

One pattern that comes up every semester is essays where the writer clearly knows the topic but never quite commits to an argument. The reader finishes and thinks, “Okay, but what does the writer actually think, and why?” At this stage in your writing development, the goal is to train yourself to take a clear position and hold it — not to hedge so much that the essay says nothing. Academic hedging (words like “may,” “appears to,” “could suggest”) has its place, particularly when the evidence is genuinely ambiguous. But it should not be used as a way to avoid committing to a claim. If you find yourself writing “it could be argued that…” in your thesis statement, stop and revise.

Sample Answer Study Bay

The question of whether English-medium instruction in Lebanese private universities erodes Arabic linguistic identity is not straightforwardly answerable, but available research suggests the relationship is more complex than a simple displacement narrative. Lebanese graduates who receive all their tertiary education in English often report stronger professional confidence in that language while simultaneously experiencing what sociolinguists call “domain loss” in Arabic, particularly in formal and academic registers. Formal language policy at universities like AUB and LAU has historically prioritized English for economic and professional-mobility reasons, even as Arabic remains the primary language of daily civic life in Lebanon. According to Shaaban and Ghaith (2021), language attitudes among Lebanese youth indicate that Arabic is frequently associated with cultural pride but not with academic prestige, a dissociation that universities may be reinforcing rather than challenging. A well-constructed argumentative essay on this topic would need to distinguish between formal written Arabic, colloquial Lebanese Arabic, and Modern Standard Arabic, since conflating them weakens any claim about “Arabic identity” as a unified concept. The counterargument, that multilingual graduates actually strengthen Lebanon’s position in regional and global economies, deserves genuine engagement rather than dismissal, particularly given Lebanon’s historic role as a professional services hub in the Arab world. Instructors assessing this topic will look for an essay that takes a precise, defensible position and supports it with both linguistic scholarship and relevant regional data rather than generalizations.

Recommended References

(MLA 9th Edition)

Bou Ayash, Nancy. Toward Translingual Realities in Composition: (Re)Working Local Language Representations and Practices. Utah State University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.7330/9781607327974
Shaaban, Kassim, and Ghazi Ghaith. “Language Attitudes, Identity, and English-Medium Instruction in Lebanese Higher Education.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 42, no. 4, 2021, pp. 301–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2021.1877624
Flowerdew, John, and Tracey Costley, editors. Discipline-Specific Writing: Theory into Practice. Routledge, 2017. https://www.routledge.com/9781138645127
Haddad, Lubna, and Rania Karam. “Digital Literacy and Academic Writing in Arab University Contexts.” Writing and Pedagogy, vol. 14, no. 2, 2022, pp. 99–121. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.21345
Warschauer, Mark, et al. “Technology and the Future of Language Teaching.” Foreign Language Annals, vol. 52, no. 1, 2019, pp. 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12370