Blog Entry Ten: Finding a Controversial Topic

After being introduced to the various databases available through the PSU Library website during our Library Session on Wednesday, I now want you to find three different links to newspaper articles from these databases, each one focused on a different current issue that truly sparks your interest. 


For each link: I would like you to provide an MLA citation (show me how you'd cite it on your Works Cited Page, that is). Then, give me a brief summary of the issue and then tell me what your stance on that issue is. You can find more on how to cite various sources in an MLA Works Cited page in the handbook of your Norton Field Guide. 


This entry is meant to get you thinking about a topic for your fourth paper: Arguing A Position. It will be important that you pick a controversial, relevant, and timely topic for your paper. I do not want you arguing for the merits of using sunscreen -- that is obvious and not controversial at all. Controversy will be the heart of why your paper topic merit's a discussion. So think about this when finding possible topics for your paper.


Due by class, Friday, October 28

Paper Four: Arguing A Position

Purpose

Identify an interesting problem or current issue that merits your taking a stand; translate your stand (or position) into a thesis statement; support the reasons for your position with specific details and examples; and marshal your reasoning and appeals to persuade others to accept your position by modifying their thinking, behavior, or influence.

Invention

Keep in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

1. You might begin by thinking about what your position paper might accomplish: Argue a point. Take a stand. Solve a problem. Change a behavior. Introduce new policy or procedure. Correct a misconception. Refute an argument or belief.

2. In general, a position paper aims to either establish conviction (encourage someone to identify with and understand your position, persuade someone to change their mind) or to prompt action (attempt to make change based on your position).

3. Given these typical aims, your audience could range from one that is completely unsympathetic to your position to one that is understanding and ready to be persuaded to action.

4. Make sure that your proposed topic is debatable and lends itself to genuine disagreement.

5. Consider which available means are going to be most effective for making your major claim or for supporting points. A paper could deploy definition, comparison, cause-and-effect analysis, process analysis, or narration (or a combination of these available means) in order to argue your point. (For example: perhaps you want to argue for healthier dining options in the residence hall. A paper might deploy cause and effect related to the so-called “Freshmen 15,” incorporate a short narrative involving an acquaintance of yours who is struggling to find healthy dining choices, and spend space arguing that the current definition of “healthy food” at Penn State dining centers is inadequate and needs to be redefined.)

6. Be sure you find at least three sources from which you draw evidence to back up your argument as well as frame your rebuttal argument. Practicing paraphrasing sources and pulling out good quotes to use in your paper

Expectations

A successful position paper will:

1. Define the situation or problem that calls for your attention (exigence);

2. Include reliable sources that are appropriately cited and back up your claims;

3. Establish an audience who is (or should be) invested in this situation or problem;

4. Communicate your purpose (to express or defend a position, to question or argue against a belief or action, to invite or convince an audience to change an opinion or practice);

5. Marshal emotional appeals, logical reasoning, details and examples to enhance your points;

6. Employ a tone that expresses your opinion and advances your views without being confrontational;

7. Acknowledge and respond to opposing viewpoints; and

8. Supply a clear, identifiable conclusion that you want your audience to reach about the issue.

Length: 4-5 pages (double-spaced)

Proposal Due: Monday, October 31, 2011

Rough Draft Due: Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: November 14, 2010

Blog Entry Nine: Compare and Contrast

For this entry, please take a look at the comparison below made between Nabisco's Sugar Wafer and Fig Newton by Paul Goldberger, the architectural critic for the New York Times:

SUGAR WAFER (NABISCO) There is no attempt to imitate the ancient forms of traditional, individually

baked cookies here—this is a modern cookie through and through. Its simple rectangular form, clean and pure, just reeks of mass production and modern technological methods. The two wafers, held together by the sugar-cream filling, appear to float . . . this is a machine-age object.

FIG NEWTON (NABISCO) This, too, is a sandwich but different in every way from the Sugar Wafer. Here the imagery is more traditional, more sensual even; a rounded form of cookie dough arcs over the fig concoction inside, and the whole is soft and pliable. Like all good pieces of design, it has an appropriate form for its use, since the insides of Fig Newtons can ooze and would not be held in place by a more rigid form. The thing could have had a somewhat different shape, but the rounded tip is a comfortable, familiar image, and it’s easy to hold. Not a revolutionary object but an intelligent one.

Here, Goldberger focuses on the "architectural design" of the cookies for his compare/contrast exercise. I want you to do something similar. Find two objects that are equally interchangeable and write 200-300 words for each item, comparing and contrasting them using "design" and aesthetics as the only criteria for your evaluation. You might look at cell phones, the covers of two CDs from the same artist, toothbrushes. Have fun picking your objects. The only rule: KEEP IT SIMPLE!

ALSO: Please include photos of the objects you are evaluating in your blog. When you are composing your new post, you'll see an image next to "Link" in the toolbar above your post. Click on this image and then you'll receive instructions for how to paste images into your post. It's quite easy. Good luck!

Due by class Wednesday, October 19

Proposal Guidelines for the Critical Evaluation

-        At least 1 page, typed, 12-pt font

-        What do you want to review?

-        How will you establish merit?

-        What category does it fall into?

-        What might you compare or contrast your object with?

-        Who is your audience?

-        Name at least three pieces of criteria you will use in your evaluation.

NEW DUE DATE: Monday, October 17

Paper Three: Critical Review

Purpose

Evaluate an object or phenomenon that interests you and merits your attention. Write to a specific audience, one who can act upon or respond to your evaluation, and write with a specific purpose in mind.

Invention

Keep the following in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

1.          Choose a specific object/phenomenon to evaluate, and explain why it merits evaluation.

2.          Identify the category in which you are placing your subject, and develop evaluative criteria   for that category. For example, if you are going to evaluate The Office, you would determine whether or not you want to categorize it as a mockumentary, an American or British comedy, an Emmy-award winning show, intelligent comedy, etc.

3.          Once you know the subject and category for this paper, brainstorm a long list of evaluative criteria that could be applied to your subject/category and then determine which criteria are most important for your subject/purpose, keeping your specific audience in mind.

4.          Develop an argument that either explicitly states whyyour subject meets the evaluative criteria for the category you have chosen or specify why the subject needs to be re-categorized.

5.          Consider your purpose and intended audience--is your evaluation of your subject informative, entertaining, and/or persuasive?

6.           Revisit your exigence for your paper. How does your subject of evaluation correspond to your exigence?

Expectations

A successful critical review will:

1.     Have an introduction that explains why the subject merits evaluation;

2.     Place the topic in a precise category;

3.     Develop evaluative criteria by which you will make your key judgments, negative and/or positive (these criteria should be agreeable to your audience, or you should make the case as to why they are valid criteria);

4.     Use concrete evidence and examples that illustrate the ways in which the subject/phenomenon does or does not meet each evaluative criterion; and

5.     Compare and contrast your subject with others in the same category in order to help the reader understand your claims.

Length: 3-4 pages (double-spaced)

Rough Draft Due: October 21, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: October 26, 2011

Blog Entry Eight: Establishing Merit and Criteria for Evaluations

Pick something to evaluate. It can be anything you like: a product, a movie, an album, a book, etc. It does not have to be something you will use in your final evaluation paper, but it could be. After you've decided on the thing that you want to evaluate, I want you to do the following in 500 words:

1. Tell me what you are evaluating and why it merits evaluation (Is it popular? New? Revolutionary? Controversial?).
2.  Define what category this thing is in. Is it a horror film? A romance novel? Is it indie rock? Or is it pop music? Is it functional or is its aesthetically valuable? What other items could you compare it to? 
3.  List THE CRITERIA you would use to evaluate your subject. You need to have at least FIVE pieces of criteria that you would use to establish the value of your subject.


Due by class Friday, October 14.