An Account of an Argument

This paper asks you to identify an argument's claim and reason. You will also need to explain the general context for the argument, the author's purpose and audience and how you have been able to determine the context/audience/purpose based on clues from inside and outside of the text. It also asks you to describe the author's (a) supporting evidence and (b) overall structure, and finally, evaluate the argument in terms of its purpose and audience.

Successful essays will include:

- An introductory section that provides all the information the audience will need to understand your argument. This includes the topic of the writing project and your argument claim and reason about the author's use of good reasons.

- A statement of the claim/reason of "The citizen journalist: How ordinary people are taking control of the news."

- A discussion of the general context, author's purpose and author's audience, supported by evidence from inside or outside of the text

- A description and evaluation of supporting evidence. A description and evaluation of the organizing structure of "The citizen journalist: How ordinary people are taking control of the news." To evaluate the article's evidence and organization, you may want to ask yourself these questions:

- Where do you find facts and evidence in the argument? Direct observation? Statistics? Interviews? Surveys? Primary sources such as eyewitness accounts? Secondary sources such as published research? Quotations from authorities? Hypothetical situations? Analogy? Allusion? Personal Experience?

- Is the information presented in a logical order? Does the author use chronological order, cause/effect, problem/solution, general to specific, or other ways of organizing information? Do those structures help make the argument more persuasive?

- A conclusion that clarifies whether you believe the authors have written an effective argument based on the evidence and organization they chose to convince their audience of their purpose.