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

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.

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.