For this essay, you will select a famous unsolved mystery and make an argument about what the solution is. Your context will clearly explain the relevant background details and define any difficult terms or concepts to bring your reader up to speed on the topic. Because the theme is gender, your context will also clearly indicate how gender is important to the topic. Your acknowledgment/refutation section will be acknowledging alternative solutions–things that other people have suggested are solutions to the mystery–and refuting those alternate solutions by demonstrating their weaknesses. There is no set length requirement for this essay; part of your grade is demonstrating that you now know how much is enough. However, a good minimum to aim for is eight or nine well-developed paragraphs (introduction, context, main points, acknowledgement/refutation, conclusion) with introductions and conclusions that have at least four sentences each and body paragraphs that have at least five sentences each. Your argumentation essay must contain 3-6 scholarly sources. 2-3 sources must be used to back up your context, and 1-3 sources must be used to back up your acknowledgement/refutation. At this point, no sources should be used in your introduction, main points, or conclusion–those should be entirely your own ideas
