Final Paper: the Practical Proposal
For the purposes of this assignment you will be following Option #1 from your text book (Chapter 15, pp. 333). You will write a practical proposal addressing a local problem. Chapter 15 will be a big help getting you started on this assignment, which has a relatively stringent organization to it.
For the purposes of this essay you will be required to use at least 3 outside sources (at least two should be print resources) to help back up your claims for the problem, its significance, and your proposed solution/justification. MLA STYLE for documenting sources, both in text and in the works cited. The paper will be 5-8 FULLY typed pages, 12pt. times New Roman font. (see the appropriate sections of your textbook and your handbook for reference to MLA-style documentation. The final draft of your essay will be submitted to your blog, as well as attaching a copy of it to your WebCT assignment sheet.)
DUE DATES:
You will be responsible for submitting a rough draft (of at least 2-pages) to the discussion board by the assigned date. On the discussion board you will find small groups set up by me. Locate your name and upload your draft. You will then have to read and respond to your group members’ essays as well, offering them ideas, critiques, etc. (you will receive individual assignment sheets for your rough draft, as well as your discussion/peer review groups). I reserve the right NOT to accept any essay that I have not seen worked through the rough draft/peer review phase of this assignment.
Dates:
Rough Draft – Wednesday 4/16
Peer responses on discussion board – by Sunday 4/20
FINAL DRAFT – 4/28
Monday, April 14, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Paper 1 assigned
CAUSAL ARGUMENT – Paper #1 (Issues in Groups)
As human beings, we all belong to certain groups. As soon as we are born, there are groups thrust upon us: racial, gender-based and family just to name a few. If you’ve ever played sports, were in the school band, volunteered for a charity organization, or collected stamps, you’ve been part of a group. Every time you go out to dinner at a restaurant you are placed into a group when the maitre d’ asks, “would you like smoking or non-smoking.” Just by enrolling at University of Houston you have been thrown into these groups at the very least: college student, or college student in America, or college student in Texas, or full-time student or male/female student or part-time working student, etc. It is important for us to personalize the experience of this essay because in doing so it will make it easier for you to care about—and if you care about your topic it will make it easier to write about.
YOUR TASK:
Choose an issue about the causes of a trend, event, or other phenomenon. Make sure that the issue is one that affects a group you identify with and that your introduction deals explicitly with the connection you have to the issue you will be writing about. Then, write an argument that persuades an audience to accept your explanation of the causes or consequences of your chosen topic. Within your essay you should examine alternative hypotheses or opposing views and explain your reasons for rejecting them. Imagine your issue either as a puzzle or a disagreement. If a puzzle, your task will be to create a convincing case for an audience that doesn’t have an answer to your causal question already in mind. If a disagreement, your task will be more overtly persuasive since your goal will be to change your audience’s views. (See Ch. 12 pp. 255-end for practical advice concerning the topic generation, exploration of and drafting of your essay). Feel free to email me at jjoelthomas@netscape.net with any questions you may have.
ASSIGNMENT:
Write a 4-6 (fully typed pages) page essay with the above criteria. Use 12-point times New Roman font and the default margins (1 inch) on your computer. You will also be responsible for using at least 3 outside sources in your essay. MLA style for both works cited and in-text documentation (see the appropriate sections of your textbook And your handbook for reference to MLA-style documentation. The final draft of your essay will be submitted to your blog, as well as attaching a copy of it to your WebCT assignment sheet.
OUTSIDE SOURCES:
You will use your sources to aid you in the persentation of your argument, but the majority of your argument will not be a summarization of your sources. Use them like pepper in cooking—if used sparingly they will help flavor your essay, but too much will spoil it. Include a works cited page, as well as citing your sources in the essay itself according to the rules of MLA style. 3 is the minimum number of sources but you may use more than that if you like. At least two of your sources must be print sources (non-internet sources).
DUE DATES:
You will be responsible for submitting a rough draft (of at least 2-pages) to the discussion board by the assigned date. On the discussion board you will find small groups set up by me. Locate your name and upload your draft. You will then have to read and respond to your group members’ essays as well, offering them ideas, critiques, etc. (you will receive individual assignment sheets for your rough draft, as well as your discussion/peer review groups). I reserve the right NOT to accept any essay that I have not seen worked through the rough draft/peer review phase of this assignment.
Dates:
Rough Draft – Wednesday 2/27
Peer responses on discussion board – by Sunday 3/2
FINAL DRAFT – 3/9
As human beings, we all belong to certain groups. As soon as we are born, there are groups thrust upon us: racial, gender-based and family just to name a few. If you’ve ever played sports, were in the school band, volunteered for a charity organization, or collected stamps, you’ve been part of a group. Every time you go out to dinner at a restaurant you are placed into a group when the maitre d’ asks, “would you like smoking or non-smoking.” Just by enrolling at University of Houston you have been thrown into these groups at the very least: college student, or college student in America, or college student in Texas, or full-time student or male/female student or part-time working student, etc. It is important for us to personalize the experience of this essay because in doing so it will make it easier for you to care about—and if you care about your topic it will make it easier to write about.
YOUR TASK:
Choose an issue about the causes of a trend, event, or other phenomenon. Make sure that the issue is one that affects a group you identify with and that your introduction deals explicitly with the connection you have to the issue you will be writing about. Then, write an argument that persuades an audience to accept your explanation of the causes or consequences of your chosen topic. Within your essay you should examine alternative hypotheses or opposing views and explain your reasons for rejecting them. Imagine your issue either as a puzzle or a disagreement. If a puzzle, your task will be to create a convincing case for an audience that doesn’t have an answer to your causal question already in mind. If a disagreement, your task will be more overtly persuasive since your goal will be to change your audience’s views. (See Ch. 12 pp. 255-end for practical advice concerning the topic generation, exploration of and drafting of your essay). Feel free to email me at jjoelthomas@netscape.net with any questions you may have.
ASSIGNMENT:
Write a 4-6 (fully typed pages) page essay with the above criteria. Use 12-point times New Roman font and the default margins (1 inch) on your computer. You will also be responsible for using at least 3 outside sources in your essay. MLA style for both works cited and in-text documentation (see the appropriate sections of your textbook And your handbook for reference to MLA-style documentation. The final draft of your essay will be submitted to your blog, as well as attaching a copy of it to your WebCT assignment sheet.
OUTSIDE SOURCES:
You will use your sources to aid you in the persentation of your argument, but the majority of your argument will not be a summarization of your sources. Use them like pepper in cooking—if used sparingly they will help flavor your essay, but too much will spoil it. Include a works cited page, as well as citing your sources in the essay itself according to the rules of MLA style. 3 is the minimum number of sources but you may use more than that if you like. At least two of your sources must be print sources (non-internet sources).
DUE DATES:
You will be responsible for submitting a rough draft (of at least 2-pages) to the discussion board by the assigned date. On the discussion board you will find small groups set up by me. Locate your name and upload your draft. You will then have to read and respond to your group members’ essays as well, offering them ideas, critiques, etc. (you will receive individual assignment sheets for your rough draft, as well as your discussion/peer review groups). I reserve the right NOT to accept any essay that I have not seen worked through the rough draft/peer review phase of this assignment.
Dates:
Rough Draft – Wednesday 2/27
Peer responses on discussion board – by Sunday 3/2
FINAL DRAFT – 3/9
Friday, February 8, 2008
Toulmin, Classical argument & Planning
Don't let yourself get discouraged by the Toulmin Model or the Classical Argument - they can often seem uncompromising in their rigidity. They seem to ask you to write one way and one way only, artificially cramming ideas into a pre-made container into which those ideas may or mat not readily fit.
This does not have to be true and usually isn't.
At the very least what these models of argument do is give you the vocabulary you need to analyze and speak about and conceptualize the written argument - in essence you are getting part of the language of persuasion (or "Rhetoric" as Aristotle coined it). This is an important step - conceptualization, that is - in the process of taking information and processing it into applicable knowledge. By applicable we of course mean that you are converting something from a text into a form that you can use in your own writings. These Models also allow you the vocabulary to break down arguments into their component parts - this means that you are able in your own work to consider how your audience will react to certain informative/persuasive choices you make in your papers. And that is a major key to successful persuasive writing: being able to predict how your audience will react, not only to a topic (like Global Climate change for instance) but also to the way you present that topic. This is related to the concept of "audience-based reasons" from your text.
These models also give you valuable planning tools, something that, judging from your posts to the discussion board about your processes for planning essay in the past, many of you will benefit from greatly. So, use these models to help you gather and sculpt your thoughts into something more cohesive than you can get out of simply freewriting/brainstorming. You will find your writing taking on shapes that you never noticed before, and shape means that you will have given thought not only to the ideas you develop in service of your argument, but also how those developed ideas are being organized into something persuasive. And this, ultimately, is approaching then Aristotle's definition of "rhetoric": the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.
This does not have to be true and usually isn't.
At the very least what these models of argument do is give you the vocabulary you need to analyze and speak about and conceptualize the written argument - in essence you are getting part of the language of persuasion (or "Rhetoric" as Aristotle coined it). This is an important step - conceptualization, that is - in the process of taking information and processing it into applicable knowledge. By applicable we of course mean that you are converting something from a text into a form that you can use in your own writings. These Models also allow you the vocabulary to break down arguments into their component parts - this means that you are able in your own work to consider how your audience will react to certain informative/persuasive choices you make in your papers. And that is a major key to successful persuasive writing: being able to predict how your audience will react, not only to a topic (like Global Climate change for instance) but also to the way you present that topic. This is related to the concept of "audience-based reasons" from your text.
These models also give you valuable planning tools, something that, judging from your posts to the discussion board about your processes for planning essay in the past, many of you will benefit from greatly. So, use these models to help you gather and sculpt your thoughts into something more cohesive than you can get out of simply freewriting/brainstorming. You will find your writing taking on shapes that you never noticed before, and shape means that you will have given thought not only to the ideas you develop in service of your argument, but also how those developed ideas are being organized into something persuasive. And this, ultimately, is approaching then Aristotle's definition of "rhetoric": the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The Rhetorical Triangle
What this basic principle states - that we must consider the message, the audience, the writer - is the basis for all successful argument, both the studying of them as well as the composing of them. By understanding the dynamics that control these three factors in any given rhetorical situation, we are able to pinpoint what exactly we must focus on most: logic, emotion, or credibility of the speaker/writer. these are called classically the logos, the ethos, and the pathos. Different information will appeal differently to each side of the triangle.
As I am sure you can tell, an understanding of this rhetorical concept will allow you to plan essays that are most effective to your specific audience.
As I am sure you can tell, an understanding of this rhetorical concept will allow you to plan essays that are most effective to your specific audience.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Chs. 1,2,3 . . . in the beginning
In the beginning . . . there was Comp. I.
Much of these opening 3 chapters are devoted to rehashing many of the salient ideas from Comp. I, ad how these ideas are going to apply to the art of argument. When we look at Ch. 1 we see that arguments are more complex than a simple pro/con debate, that they are not a quarrel or a fight - instead a "dialectical discussion" (comp. I term). the argument requires justifications of its claims. this is the idea that saying something doesn't make it so - we, as humans, need proofs. Someone can say, in a State of the Union Address for instance, that the Union is strong, but if we don't receive justification/proof/example then we readers become suspicious. There is also the issue of whether truth or victory should be the ultimate goal of the argument.
Chs. 2 & 3 deal with reading and writing arguments respectively. By reading arguments we allow ourselves to see the components that make an argument successful. We get the opportunity to read as a Believer and a doubter, both with and against the grain (comp I term), thus honing our abilities to think critically. Ultimately it is important to read arguments so as to get a feel for what works and what doesn't - we must allow ourselves to analyze arguments and then use those ideas/strategies and apply them to our own writing
In order to do the thing one must experience the thing, in this case reading other arguments will help us when it comes to our own writing. And this writing is what the vast majority of th rest of your text will deal with: the writing of argument. Obviously we are going to worship at the altar of the "Multiple Drafts." The process of revision is where we discover exactly what we want to say and the best way to do it. The use of exploratory writing to discover ideas and deepen thinking is an important aspect of the planning process. Which brings us to planning. Planning for your essays is the only way to go. Planning more than you need also is a good way to go.
finally we reach the Classical Argument - this is an argument that is high on structure, low on surprise and possibly tension. It can be used as something that. It is like the five-paragraph essay, in that it is extremely well-organized, but, like the Paragraph/essay - there is very little surprise.
Much of these opening 3 chapters are devoted to rehashing many of the salient ideas from Comp. I, ad how these ideas are going to apply to the art of argument. When we look at Ch. 1 we see that arguments are more complex than a simple pro/con debate, that they are not a quarrel or a fight - instead a "dialectical discussion" (comp. I term). the argument requires justifications of its claims. this is the idea that saying something doesn't make it so - we, as humans, need proofs. Someone can say, in a State of the Union Address for instance, that the Union is strong, but if we don't receive justification/proof/example then we readers become suspicious. There is also the issue of whether truth or victory should be the ultimate goal of the argument.
Chs. 2 & 3 deal with reading and writing arguments respectively. By reading arguments we allow ourselves to see the components that make an argument successful. We get the opportunity to read as a Believer and a doubter, both with and against the grain (comp I term), thus honing our abilities to think critically. Ultimately it is important to read arguments so as to get a feel for what works and what doesn't - we must allow ourselves to analyze arguments and then use those ideas/strategies and apply them to our own writing
In order to do the thing one must experience the thing, in this case reading other arguments will help us when it comes to our own writing. And this writing is what the vast majority of th rest of your text will deal with: the writing of argument. Obviously we are going to worship at the altar of the "Multiple Drafts." The process of revision is where we discover exactly what we want to say and the best way to do it. The use of exploratory writing to discover ideas and deepen thinking is an important aspect of the planning process. Which brings us to planning. Planning for your essays is the only way to go. Planning more than you need also is a good way to go.
finally we reach the Classical Argument - this is an argument that is high on structure, low on surprise and possibly tension. It can be used as something that. It is like the five-paragraph essay, in that it is extremely well-organized, but, like the Paragraph/essay - there is very little surprise.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Course schedule
ENGL 1304 – Tentative Schedule
This schedule will evolve as the class progresses. Changes will be announced both on my blog and on WebCT. Full instructions for the items on this list, including page numbers will be posted as they become available. Unless otherwise noted, all blog assignments and discussion questions will be assigned on Monday and due by Sunday. All readings unless noted will be from Writing Arguments. Other readings will be provided in handout form/online at my blog and on WebCT.
WEEK
1.14
Reading:
Chapter 1 Argument: an introduction
discussion online
Blog Assignment: Getting Started on Blogger
1.21
Reading:
Chapter 2, 3
“A Modest Proposal,” by Jonathan Swift
discussion online
Blog essay: Summary/analysis of Swift
1.28
Reading:
Chapter 4,6 (anatomy of an Argument, logical fallacies, evidence)
additional virtual handouts
discussion online
Blog Essay: Microtheme or Classical Argument (pp.124-125)
2.4
Reading:
Chapter 5
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog assignment: Toulmin model
2.11
Reading:
Chapters 7,8
“Against School,” by John Gatto
discussion online
Blog assignment: Against . . . (pp. 160)
2.18
Reading:
Chapter 10, 12 (refer also to Chs. 16, 17)
discussion online
Blog essay: Logical Fallacies in our worlds
(Paper#1 [Causal argument] assigned (4-6 pgs.))
2.25
Workshop/Peer work-up Paper #1
3.3
Revision/conferencing Paper1
Blog assignment: Process writing/self-analysis (Paper 1)
PAPER 1 DUE – 3/9
3.10
Reading:
Chapter 11
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog Essay: The Trouble with Truth in Memoir
MARCH 17-21 [SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS]
3.24
Reading:
Chapter 14
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog essay: “Argument & Persuasion”
3.31
Reading:
Chapter 16, Appendix 1
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog essay: Evaluation of a Print Source and an Online Source
4.7
Reading:
Chapter 15 (continue to refer to Chs. 16, 17)
discussion online
Blog essay: Letter to the Editor
(Major Paper#2 assigned – 5-7pgs)
4.14
online Workshop/peer work-up Paper #2
4.21
Revision/virtual conferencing Paper#2
Blog essay: Semester wrap-up
PAPER#2 DUE 4/28
This schedule will evolve as the class progresses. Changes will be announced both on my blog and on WebCT. Full instructions for the items on this list, including page numbers will be posted as they become available. Unless otherwise noted, all blog assignments and discussion questions will be assigned on Monday and due by Sunday. All readings unless noted will be from Writing Arguments. Other readings will be provided in handout form/online at my blog and on WebCT.
WEEK
1.14
Reading:
Chapter 1 Argument: an introduction
discussion online
Blog Assignment: Getting Started on Blogger
1.21
Reading:
Chapter 2, 3
“A Modest Proposal,” by Jonathan Swift
discussion online
Blog essay: Summary/analysis of Swift
1.28
Reading:
Chapter 4,6 (anatomy of an Argument, logical fallacies, evidence)
additional virtual handouts
discussion online
Blog Essay: Microtheme or Classical Argument (pp.124-125)
2.4
Reading:
Chapter 5
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog assignment: Toulmin model
2.11
Reading:
Chapters 7,8
“Against School,” by John Gatto
discussion online
Blog assignment: Against . . . (pp. 160)
2.18
Reading:
Chapter 10, 12 (refer also to Chs. 16, 17)
discussion online
Blog essay: Logical Fallacies in our worlds
(Paper#1 [Causal argument] assigned (4-6 pgs.))
2.25
Workshop/Peer work-up Paper #1
3.3
Revision/conferencing Paper1
Blog assignment: Process writing/self-analysis (Paper 1)
PAPER 1 DUE – 3/9
3.10
Reading:
Chapter 11
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog Essay: The Trouble with Truth in Memoir
MARCH 17-21 [SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS]
3.24
Reading:
Chapter 14
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog essay: “Argument & Persuasion”
3.31
Reading:
Chapter 16, Appendix 1
additional handouts
discussion online
Blog essay: Evaluation of a Print Source and an Online Source
4.7
Reading:
Chapter 15 (continue to refer to Chs. 16, 17)
discussion online
Blog essay: Letter to the Editor
(Major Paper#2 assigned – 5-7pgs)
4.14
online Workshop/peer work-up Paper #2
4.21
Revision/virtual conferencing Paper#2
Blog essay: Semester wrap-up
PAPER#2 DUE 4/28
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