Overview:

Argument has several purposes. One is to establish the validity of a writer's way of seeing what is true (persuade your audience to accept your position on a topic or issue) and another is to move an audience to act in a certain way (like an advertisement). One teacher of English wrote that persuasive essays are "a great way to participate in public debates that affect your campus and community, and even your nation" (Ballenger 268). Argument is a form of inquiry-you write an argument to answer a basic question on a topic.In a commentary, "you are contributing something new to an ongoing public conversation" (Johnson-Sheehan and Paine 171).

For this essay, you will write a commentary like an op-ed (a short persuasive essay that is literally on the opposite page from the editorials) similar to one that you would find in your newspaper. This is typically a more informal argument as compared to an academic argument.

Arguments make claims, or assertions about which reasonable people might disagree. A claim, according to Richard Fulkerson, "is a statement in which the response ‘I agree' or ‘I disagree' is a sensible reply" (qtd. in Ballenger 270). When you write an argument, you must examine the assumptions or reasons that provide the basis for the claims you make. Your commentary will make explicit claims and back them up with hard evidence.

Features of the form:

• Commentaries are often relatively brief treatments of a topic.

• Subject matter often focuses on issues of public concern.

• Informal argumentative essays have a central claim or proposition-a thesis.

• The central claim is based on one or more premises or assumptions. (A premise suggests that something is true because of something else. It expresses the relationship between what you claim and why you believe it to be true.)

• The commentary or informal argument relies on evidence that a general audience will believe (in contrast to an academic audience, for example).

• Informal arguments sometimes invite or encourage response.

• Readers won't respond unless they know what is at stake. You must establish why an action, policy or idea matters. (The "So what?" of argument.)

The Assignment:

For this essay, you will write acommentaryto be published in a publication of your choice.Your essay should be 1000-1250 words long (4-5 pages) and use three (3) text sources, two of which come from a database available in the library. Your argument should be lively and logical, with a strong personal voice, and also have the following features:

• A topic based on a current event or current issue

• An effective introduction

• A focus that is implicitly or explicitly on a question dealing with that event or issue. In an argumentative essay, you are providing evidence to support a particular answer to this question.

• A clear explanation of the current event or issue

• An argument for a specific position with clear premises and claims, including one central claim around which the draft is organized.

• Specific and appropriate evidence in support of the claims, including research (three sources).

• A clarification that qualifies the topic-avoiding oversimplifying or overgeneralizing the topic.

• Documents three (3) sources in correct MLA format.