Paper Assignment- Engaging With Written Arguments

This assignment will have you engage in a dialogue with another text. You will, thus, explore your voice as a writer. Read "Generation Wired" by Emily Listfield and choose two claims that the author is making = two opinions that she is expressing about issues that you are familiar with and have your own understanding of. If you do not have some opinions about the points you choose for discussion, you cannot engage in such a dialogue; all you can do is ponder over the points that the author is making and accept them or not - that's NOT what this exercise is about.

Write a four-step response to each of the two claims that you will have extracted. You will hand-in two such responses of about one page each. Of course, since the two responses will be part of the same assignment (Final), you won't need to write your names, date, etc. only once on the first page.

Here are the steps you need to follow for both responses separately, and notice that the example provided below does not have numbers or bullets:

Step 1. Indicate, in two ways, the initial-claim that you are responding to; your reader wants to understand what exactly you are talking about, what point you are referring to and engaging with.

a) First, use your own words to explain that point. (Use at least one "that" sentence.)
b) Second, provide a quotation to prove that the author made that point, said those things, indeed.

You may to explain this initial-claim in more detail even indicate how it is supported if you feel that it is needed. It will be your choice based on the circumstances.

Step 2. Express your a) total agreement, b) total disagreement, or c) partial agreement/disagreement to reveal your position as well as signal the direction of your response. Express this in one independent sentence.

Step 3. Formulate your own response-claim. Remember that step 1 and 2 are meant to pave the way for you to express your own opinion about the same issue. Your response is not a statement that says, "I agree, " or "I disagree." Rather, it is a full independent claim of your own, written in your own words, and expressing your own ideas. You are reclaiming the issue as your own with it; therefore, the response-claim constitutes your thesis statement for the short argument (at least one well-developed paragraph) that you are supposed to construct in defense of your position.

Step 4. Defend your response-claim: introduce and elaborate upon the supports (your reason(s) and evidence) necessary to justify your response-claim. You can use the word "because" to hook your reason(s) to your claim statement (step 3).

This defense (step 4) of your assertion expressing your position on the same issue (step 3) is supposed to be the bulk of the response = this writing assignment. Do this in at least one well-developed paragraph. Ponder over what facts, explanations, examples, comparisons, statistics, etc. would help prove your point.

Typically a response-claim is designed to a) contradict the initial-claim, b) further defend the initial-claim, or c) complete the initial-claim. The implicit conclusion should be that your response-claims, with their supports, have effectively refuted, reinforced, or supplemented the initial claims in meaningful ways.

Here's an example of such a response written by a student. (B+) (Notice that there is very little evidence in step 4. However, all the steps are there, and the student ends very well with a conclusion!

In her article, "The Function of Vampires," Mary Y. Hallab claims that our fascination with vampires is due to the fact that we are fearful of death and subconsciously we admire and want to emulate vampires because they have "escaped" death. She says, " we are in love with vampires and hope that this love for their victory over death will make us victorious in such a fight too." I agree with her to some extent. I believe that our strong interest in vampires stems not only from their immortality, but also from the fact that the contemporary media/literature portrays vampires as sexy superheroes. Today, such publications as the "Twilight" series and the TV series "True Blood" portray vampires are very attractive creatures with amazing abilities. In "Twilight," for example, vampires seek to protect humans; one even falls in love with a human. Therefore, to some extent, our fascination comes only in part from the fact that vampires are immortal; we, in fact, buy the whole package not only immortality, but also sex-appeal and Superman abilities. (Develop the paragraph a little more...)

Attachment:- Generation-Wired.rar