15 Aug Wrtiting to Convince
Write a 1,500 – 1,750 word research-based argument to support your position on some aspect of a topic of your choice, i.e., a topic that is open to debate and about which not every rational person agrees. Your argument should ultimately be a policy claim, i.e., a claim about what you think should be done with respect to some situation. In supporting policy claims, writers usually need to also make claims of fact and/or claims of value, which, in turn, must be supported with evidence.
See also TMHG, Chapter 13, “Using Strategies that Guide Readers”; and Chapter 14, “Using Strategies for Argument.”
3. Use a minimum of six sources to support your claim. The sources used must be highly credible, so be selective in your research. Keep in mind that some policy claims as well as claims of fact and value require empirical data for support, not just someone else’s informed opinion. However, given the limitations of human subjects research imposed by law on students and faculty by CMU’s Institutional Review Board, any data used in your argument must be gathered by some other source (e.g., the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The World Health Organization, etc.) and may not include data that you have obtained directly (i.e., you may not conduct any interviews, surveys, observations, etc.). Your instructor will probably expect you to upload with your assignment copies of all your print sources and URLs for all web sources.
4. In addition to including information based on your own knowledge and experience, use a combination of summary, paraphrase, and quotation in your paper, but no more than 10% of the paper (125-150 words) should consist of quoted material. Instead, rely on summary and paraphrase. And as you should have learned in ENG 101, all information from sources—whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, whether words or images—must be cited. Keep in mind, though, that your voice, not your sources’, should be most prominent in your argument.
