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ENGL 111 English Composition Statewide Online Course

Writing Project 4: Argument Paper
Overview:
For this assignment, you will build off the same topic used in the riting !ro"ect #$ %our purpose
is to ta&e a position on the issue or problem you synthesi'ed in riting !ro"ect # and to ma&e a
case for a claim about the topic(problem that will influence a reasonably s&eptical audience$
)ecause you ha*e wor&ed towards de*eloping a clear understanding of the scope of the problem
or issue in riting !ro"ect #, you are now in a position to ta&e an informed position on the issue
and to argue, for e+ample, for a specific definition of &ey terms, a specific e*aluation of a
proposal, a specific analysis of the causes of the problem, or a specific solution to the problem$
%our claim must be supportable with obser*able, measureable, and replicable e*idence$ ,*oid
claims that are deri*ed from moral or personal *alues, or which are simple claims of one
person-s or group-s sense of right and wrong, or which are based solely or primarily on
emotional appeals .re*iew Chapter 1/ for more on types of argumentati*e appeals0$
Claims are established as one or more of the four types of claims discussed in Chapter 1/$
,n effecti*e argument appeals to logic and reason .logos0, appeals to how readers and the writer
feel about an issue .pathos0, and see&s to pro"ect that the writer-s argument is fair, "ust, and
honest for all the sta&eholders .ethos0 .re*iew the section on 12hetorical ,ppeals to the
,udience3 in Chapter 4 for more on these types of appeals0$
%ou will need to use at least fi*e sources from the 5*y 6ech 7irtual Library databases in your
writing$ Some or all of these may come from the sources you found for your ,nnotated
)ibliography and(or used in riting !ro"ect #$ ,s you focus on your specific claim and
argument, you may want to do additional research to better support your position$ 6hus, your
bibliography for riting !ro"ect 4 will li&ely be similar to, but not identical with, your
bibliography for riting !ro"ect #$
%our draft must also include a fair and balanced discussion of at least one ma"or counter8
argument to your claim9respectfully and accurately summari'ing the opposing *iewpoint$ )e
sure your paper includes a clear, fair, and respectful refutation for this counter8argument$
%our claim about a solution to a problem or a position on a topic is your argument$ :owe*er, it
does little good to propose a solution to or an analysis of a situation that your readers are not
con*inced has anything to do with them$ So, do the audience analysis before underta&ing your
first draft$ %our purpose is to influence your readers, not "ust tell them what you thin& is right$ 6o
do that you need to thin& about what those readers are li&e, what moti*ates and interests them,
and why they should care about what you ha*e to say on this topic$ %our audience may not agree
with you in the end, but they should accept that your position is *alid, well8supported, and
capable of being held by a rational and credible person$
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Specifics:
;// points possible
1<// words minimum, double8spaced, using 6imes New 2oman 1;8point font
=L, or ,!, manuscript style with in8te+t documentation and or&s Cited or 2eferences
page .this page does not count in the minimum word count re>uirement0
Clear, arguable claim that is supportable with rational e*idence
Effecti*e use of counter8argument and rebuttal
,cademic tone? obser*ation of the con*entions of Standard English
,udience awareness
@se of at least fi*e print sources from the 5*y 6ech 7irtual Library databases, representing
two or more points of *iew on the position being argued
First draft must include a minimum ;//8word audience analysis$ 6his analysis should appear
as the first item in your first draft, before page 1 of the actual paper$ ,udience analysis is
to be remo*ed from the final draft$
Procedure:
COLLECT. 2e*iew the material that you collected from the 5*y 6ech 7irtual Library databases
for your ,nnotated )ibliography and riting !ro"ect$ %ou may decide to drop a couple of the
sources from the third pro"ect$ %ou may decide to add new material to replace items O2 to
add to the items from riting !ro"ect #$ 5n any e*ent, you will need at least fi*e items for
riting !ro"ect 4$ )e sure you &now enough about the authors and the organi'ations the
material comes from to establish the authority of these sources? remember you ha*e to say
something in your paper to boost your readers- confidence in what you are using as e*idence$
)e clear about why your topic is of interest to those authors as well as to your readers$ Loo&
o*er what your classmates are saying in the prewriting discussion forums$ Some may be
dealing with similar topics, and some may be using sources or ha*e ideas that might be
useful to you e*en if your classmate is writing about a different topic$ Note the changes they
are considering as they mo*e from the third into the fourth writing pro"ect$
@se "ournaling, brainstorming, branching, reader8response charts, and especially the double8
entry log that is e+plained in the te+tboo& to collect and organi'e your notes$
!art of the 1collecting3 process is to thin& carefully about our own audience$ =a&e a
distinction between the audience(readers that the authors of these readings may ha*e in mind
and the audience(readers ou ha*e in mind for your audience analysis$ )e sure you are
tal&ing about your audience and NO6 your topic in the audience analysis$
S!APE your writing$
Create a t"esis statement$ 6his statement should ma&e an arguable claim about the topic or
issue$ 6his time, you are ta&ing a position that ma&es sense to you in light of what you
learned in riting !ro"ect #$
#ntegrate t"e t"esis into an introduction. 6he introduction should present your main
claim(thesis$ 5t should also establish an 1essay map3 for your wor&$ 6his essay map should
establish the main supporting reasons for your claim$ )e sure each of these reasons can be
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supported with empirical .obser*able, measureable, replicable0 e*idence$ Go beyond
presenting *alues and common &nowledge as e*idence$ Finally, an introduction should at
least suggest why this issue is significant$
C"oose an organi$ationa% pattern. 2efer to Chapter 1/ for some suggested patterns for
argument papers$

&eview and revise our out%ine. 2e*iew and re*ise your or&ing Outline from Session 1;
before you start your first draft$ 6his outline should be consistent with the organi'ational
pattern you already pic&ed$ %ou may find yourself returning to this list to re*ise it as you
write$ Edit any new ideas into this list so they don-t get lost or end up in confusing places in
your writing$
'&A(T your writing using the wor&ing outline you created$
)se *LA or APA st%e in8te+t citation and bibliographic documentation$ Select the style
.=L, or ,!,0 that is appropriate for the &ind of audience you ha*e in mind and for the
topic you are wor&ing with$
)se transitions +etween paragrap"s$ Solid de*elopment may re>uire more than one
paragraph to discuss any one particular point from your list$ hen that happens, effecti*e
paragraph transition can gi*e your readers a clear indication that you are still on the same
general point or that you are mo*ing on to a new point$
,e co"erent. )e sure the ideas you borrow are necessary in order to ma&e something clear to
your readers$ Aon-t borrow anything beyond what is absolutely needed, and don-t lea*e a
borrowed idea or passage hanging without any discussion of why it is important$
&eview to eliminate ob*ious errors in grammar, mechanics, synta+, citation, and
documentation$ E*en a first draft should be reasonably clear to your peer editorsB
Su+mit your first draft for peer re*iew$ 6his will be done using the G2O@! lin& found in
Class Session 1#$
&E-#SE your draft after you re*iew the feedbac& you recei*e from the peer re*iew$ Ao not turn
in your first draft later on as if it were the final draft. .o fina% draft wi%% +e accepted
wit"out a first draft/ and t"e two of t"em must s"ow significant c"anges 0not just spe%%1
c"ec2 c"anges3 +etween t"e two versions.
4rading Criteria:
Effecti*e introduction, includingC clear thesis that establishes an arguable and
empirically supported claim? essay map that identifies &ey sub8claims? attempt to
establish significance of topic? audience awareness in tone and style
Fair and accurate discussion of at least one alternate point of *iew, including
respectful, fair, and complete summary as well as logical and e*idence8based
refutation of that alternate point of *iew
6hesis is well8supported with logic and e*idence$ E*idence should include
empirical e*idence .facts, statistics, e+pert opinion0 from published sources to
support claims? e*idence may also include use of first8hand obser*ation, e+amples
from personal e+perience, inter*iews, polls, etc$
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riter-s language discernible from that of source authors$ Source information
discussed and reasonably connected to the claims you are ma&ing
Effort to establish credibility of sources used
Effecti*e organi'ation, coherence, and paragraph transitions
O*erall, readers are con*inced of the *alidity of the writer-s claim .whether or not
they agree0$ riter demonstrates that a reasonable person could rationally hold
this position
or&s Cited or 2eferences page .minimum of fi*e items0 in correct =L, or ,!,
style
Clear control of Standard English con*entions for grammar, style, mechanics, and
academic format
2efer to the section on 1Guidelines for 2e*ision3 in Chapter 1/ for &ey re*ision points$
P"ases of t"e Project 4:
Audience Ana%sis Session 56
(irst 'raft Session 56
Peer &eviews Session 54
(ina% 'raft Session 57
T"e Audience Ana%sis
'ue + t"e end of Session 56/ as part of t"e (irst 'raft
See the section on ,udience ,nalysis in Chapter ; in our te+tboo& for more discussion of the
parts of an audience analysis
6he audience analysis should be minimum ;// words in length, and should appear as the first
item in your first draft, before page 1 of the actual paper$ @se copy D paste to add your audience
analysis to your first draft file before posting$
1. Audience profi%e. Aescribe and define your target audience$ ho do you want to
inform and influenceE hat are these &inds of people li&eE hat are the
characteristics that ma&e this topic useful, interesting, or important to these &inds of
peopleE .approximately 2-4 sentences0
2. Audience1su+ject re%ations"ip$ Aiscuss what your audience probably already &nows
9if anything9about the topic or problem you are in*estigating$ 6hin& about what
they may not &now$ 6hin& about why they might thin& your claim is important to
them$ hat attitudes or biases do you e+pect in your audienceE .approximately 2-4
sentences$0
3. Audience1writer re%ations"ip. Consider what you may ha*e in common with your
audience and what separates you from your audience$ Consider whether your
audience will trust what you ha*e to say or not$ ,re you 1one of them,3 or do they
need to &now something you before they are li&ely to ha*e confidence in youE
Aiscuss the persona you want to pro"ect to your readers$ .approximately 2-4
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sentences$0
T"e (irst 'raft
'ue + t"e end of Session 56
First drafts consist of the following elementsC
1. , left8hand bloc& header that includes your name, instructor-s name, class(section,
and date
2. , separate title for the paper, centered on the title line and in the same si'e, style, and
font as the rest of the document9not underlined$ @se an original title that suggests
your main point or approach .not 1,rgument !aper30$
3. =L, or ,!, formatting, including in8te+t documentation and a separate or&s Cited
or 2eferences page at the end$
4. =inimum 1;<F words for draft stage$ .1<// words for the final draft$0
5. , minimum ;//8word audience analysis$ 6his analysis should be posted at the
beginning of the draft paper, before page 1 of the actual paper$ @se copy D paste to
add your audience analysis to your first draft file before posting$ 6he audience
analysis will not be included in the word8count re>uirement for the draft itself$ 6he
audience analysis must +e removed from t"e fina% draft that is due in Session 1F$
5nstructions for posting your first draft for peer re*iew can be found in the Class Session ; folder$
Peer &eviews
'ue + t"e end of Session 54
%ou will be writing peer re*iews of at least two classmates- first drafts in Session 14$ Full
instructions for "ow to post peer re*iews can be found in the Class Session ; folder$ Full
instructions for "ow to respond to peers8 drafts can be found in the Class Session 14 folder$
(ina% 'raft
'ue + t"e end of Session 57
Final drafts must consist of the following elementsC
1. (ina% drafts must c%ear% +e re%ated to t"e ear%ier/ first drafts. , progression of
thin&ing from one draft to the ne+t must be e*ident$ =a"or changes in organi'ation,
new e+amples or ideas, or deletion of elements from the first to the final draft are
e+pected, but the final must still be clearly a de*elopment of that first draft$
2. .o fina% draft wi%% +e accepted unti% a first draft "as +een su+mitted9e*en if the
first draft is late and worth no points, it must precede the final draft$
3. 6he audience analysis must +e removed from the final draft$
4. 6he final draft must be properly formatted in =L, or ,!, style, must include a title
bloc&, and must include both in8te+t citations in the body of the paper and a or&s
Cited or 2eferences list at the end$ 6he or&s Cited or 2eferences list is NO6
included in the word count re>uirement$
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5. 6he final draft is to be a minimum of 59:: words in %engt".
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