Assignment

Argumentation Prompts:

Instructions: Write a unified composition (which must be a minimum of 500 words) on your chosen topic from the list below. Your writing will be judged on focus, organization, mechanics, standard conventions, word choice, usage, and sentence structure, including MLA format. In addition to these elements, your use of an effective explicit thesis statement and the persuasive appeals, including the use of inductive and deductive reasoning, counter-argument and common ground will also be judged. Finally, we will also consider your use of effective, fully explained, well-organized evidence, as well as your utilization of argumentation tenets (the Rogerian strategy, and the absence of logical fallacies). Give yourself lots of time to revise, edit, and perfect this essay. Keep in mind also that this is your second essay, thus it will be graded more rigorously than was your first essay.

Additional Parameters

· this essay must be written in third person; do not use 1st or 2nd person (though you may use "we"). For further information on pronoun case, see LBH 275.

· do not use religious examples or arguments

· in your essay, you must directly address the counter-argument to your main point

· in your essay, you must show your development of common ground

· your essay must be in MLA format as is explained in the LBH, chapter 47-and be sure to use 12 point font.

· if you use secondary sources, then you must use MLA works cited models as are explained in your LBH, chapter 47.

· your essay must not simply restate the points given in the prompts

Topic #1

Time has long been considered a precious commodity. We try to spend it, save it, make it, but technically, it is a perception, something that we created to measure the duration of events. Argue through logical means with well supported claims that our current perception of time is erroneous and that we foolishly "spend" too much time on a specified activity. In your argument, you must offer a replacement for the thing that you say we are too engaged in.

Topic #2

Society has a lot of rules for individuals to follow (and these rules extend far beyond behavior that is legal versus illegal*). Consider that Rego tells us how to effectively complain, Barry tells us why women should have higher self-esteem, Ericsson asks us if lying really hurts (and might prove that it does), and Kimmel asks (in reference to education), "[a]re males not also hardwired toward compassion, nurturing, and love?" Choose a social aspect and through logical means with well supported claims, inform your audience about its deep implications. This aspect must be an uncommon one (so no socially charged aspects, as in religion, abortion, gun control, legalizing marijuana, and so on).

Topic #3

We like adages. They comfort us, humor us, and entertain us. Choose one of the adages below and, like Johnson, give an example of how this adage applies to a real-world situation. Using logical means with well supported claims, show the scope of the adage by creating an extended metaphor (the way Johnson does with the metaphor of bombs).

--a chain is as strong as its weakest link

--a mind changed against its will is of the same opinion

--the future is no more uncertain than the present

Suggestions for getting started:

Use reference books to assist you:

• Course books

• Dictionaries

• Thesauruses

Use one or more of the following prewriting techniques:

• Freewriting

• Brainstorming

• Mapping

• Diagramming

• Outlining

Don't forget that your thesis must assert a clearly arguable point.

* Here is some further information on this topic: Public nudity is illegal, but a lot of people don't even consider the legality when deciding whether or not to wear clothes in public. More often than fearing being arrested, most people fear public shame, so to avoid it, they do go out clothed (and what do we think of the person who does decide go out unclothed?). Dying one's hair green with purple polka dots is not illegal, but society's judgment is no less scathing for those who do (what would social media say about this choice?). So the legality of some situations is unimportant when compared to the jeopardy of social criticism.