Project: Public Argument
GENERAL INFORMATION
Now that you've completed your Controversy Analysis research paper, you've become pretty knowledgeable about your topic. You've probably also developed a new opinion (or strengthened an existing opinion) about your topic. The Public Argument is a chance for you to share your opinion, and back it up with supporting evidence from your research.
Our Public Argument assignment will produce TWO end products: a Written Argument and a Presentation. The Written Argument will be due on April 24th; our Presentations will take place April 22nd-May 2nd in class.
For your Written Argument, you'll decide on a Stance (which position do you argue?) and an Approach (The type of argument: proposal, causal, position, refutation, evaluative), as well as a Genre or form/medium for your message. The following are some examples of what most of you have chosen: (remember to run your choice by me if you haven't)
• A letter to the Editor or Op-Ed in a specific newspaper or magazine
• A letter to Someone in Power (a legislator/other lawmaker, the head of a company, etc.)
• A blog post / Facebook note / website/ online petition
• A video
• A poster/brochure or pamphlet
This is not an analysis. It's an argument!
You've been looking at and picking apart and putting into conversation everyone else's texts: Now, it's your turn to speak your mind. This essay is more creative than the other two, and you're encouraged to have as much fun with it as possible while still remembering... the Rhetorical Situation.
-To write your public argument, you must remember both the author's(s') and your own rhetorical situation. The rhetorical situation is comprised of the audience, purpose, and context.
*The audience is "for whom" the writing is produced, the persons whose minds and hearts the author hopes to move to think or feel in a certain way.
*The purpose is "for what" the writing is produced, the aim of the author in composing.
*The context includes the time, place, and circumstances in which the writing is written, impacting, in turn, its composition, distribution, and reception.
This assignment will not have a length requirement. The form your writing takes will be based on what Genre you choose to write in. No matter what form your writing takes, though, it still must:
• Have a clear thesis, well-supported by researched evidence & your own explanations. You need to use at least 3 sources to back up you argument.
• Be composed in Standard Written English, following appropriate grammar and spelling rules
• Appropriately cite referenced sources: depending on what format you choose, you might still want to use MLA in-text citation, or you could use footnotes, or hyperlinks - just be CONSISTENT and have a REASON why you chose to cite the way you did.
• Include a Works Cited page (in standard MLA format) at the end of you text.
Remember: You don't actually have to send your letter or post your argument online, but many students in the past have chosen to do so. Some even got replies from their Senators, or got their letters published in the paper!
Details of each part of this project:
The Class Presentation:
You will present your argument to your classmates as a part of this project. In this presentation you have to:
• Explain the controversial issue and explain the position you take now that you are an expert on this issue.
• Develop your argument using logical claims and appropriate rhetorical appeals.
• Tell your classmates about the text you decided to produce and why.
Note: you will need to bring a Power Point presentation or other type of visual aid to help you during your presentation.
The Text:
The second and most important part of this project is to create a text to develop your public argument. Remember that by text, I mean any type of medium you selected to deliver your message. You will write this text based its particular genre characteristics; for example, if you are writing a letter to a person in power you will not be writing in the same way as someone who is doing a blog post addressed to college students. Remember that your audience and your genre will determine how you have to write in this text. Here are some important things to remember about his part of the assignment:
• Even though you are not required to publish your text, you are expected to write it as if you were. If you are writing an article for the Daily Wildcat, you need to meet this newspapers' expectations for publishing in terms of format, length and content. These expectations will vary depending on the text you chose.
• You have creative freedom to create this text so have fun with it! Design will be an important part of this project and remember this will be determined by your audience and the rhetorical choices you decide to make. Try to remember some of the examples we have seen this semester.
• This project does not have a length requirement so you need to make sure that no matter how long your text is, the important part is for you to develop your argument clearly, logically, and effectively.
• Be careful with the format of your text: you need to make sure that your text is saved in a format that I can download from D2L and open. If you can't upload it on D2L you need to give it to me in a CD, flash drive, or figure out a way to share it with me.
Note: since I need to know about your audience and purpose to evaluate this project, you will submit the following chart along with your text on the D2L Dropbox folder.
Thesis Statement
Type of Argument
Audience
Why was this the most effective way to present your argument?