Which city is furthest west?

A. RenoB. Las VegasC. Los AngelesD.PortervilleE. San Diego

March 18, 2014

TURN IN YOUR SOURCE FOR ESSAY #4

READING QUIZ: “ARGUMENT”

Have you read The Lord of the

Flies?A. YesB. I think so, but I don’t

remember any of it!C. No

INTRODUCTION TO THE LORD OF THE FLIES

Link

Critical Thinking Assignment

The human species is in peril of becoming extinct. Each country with space shuttles has two days to send a group of people to the Space Station to live indefinitely in order to repopulate the Earth, should things progress to total annihilation. The United States’ powers-that-be have chosen its five-member mission crew and have narrowed its passenger pool to the below twenty-six healthy people. Your job as the commander is to create a seven-person passenger list. The passengers must be able to aid in repopulation and in sustaining life inside the Space Station and afterward in the post-Apocalyptic world. Record your reasoning for each choice.

Critical Thinking Assignment

Decide who the other six passengers will be

Explain how you chose the six passengers in a paragraph for each

REPORT VS. ESSAY

Report vs. Essay

Report Essay

Topic

•often a topic without opposing sides (for example, weightlifting)

•usually a question, proposition, or theory (for example, should parents install spyware on home computers to monitor their children’s activities?)

Report vs. Essay

Report Essay

Purpose

•to investigate and present information thoroughly and logically

•to articulate a well-argued response to a question or proposition through examples and references•to present a writer’s informed theories and opinions•to analyze or argue a point

Report vs. Essay

Report Essay

Reader

•one who intends to gain knowledge on the subject (reading for reference)

•reasonably intelligent, thoughtful adults who will have opinions on the topic (some may disagree with the thesis)

Report vs. Essay

Report Essay

Format

•often uses Chicago style (footnotes and bibliography)•depends heavily on sources•comprises sections with headings

•MLA format (in-text citations, works cited page)•integrates sources•usually does not include sections

Report vs. Essay

Report Essay

Style

•has to be objective•presents information to the reader

•can be subjective•writer uses sources to create a conversation•sources are commented upon, elaborated, or exemplified by writer

Report vs. Essay

Report Essay

Assessment

Success depends on:•the demonstration of good research skills•the objective presentation of relevant information

Success depends on:•the interest of the argument•how the essay relates one point to the next and how well it establishes the position•having a clear, readable, interesting style

Excerpt from a report:Facebook is a social networking phenomenon that has taken

the United States by storm and gained universal popularity. Facebook has more than one-half trillion members; 1 out of every 12 people on the planet has a Facebook account. More than 70% of those accounts are outside of the United States. Membership grows by almost three-quarters of a million people each day. If Facebook were a country, only China and India would surpass it in population (Grossman, 2010). About a billion new pieces of information are posted on Facebook each day (Stengel, 2010). Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook as a Web service from his Harvard University dorm room in February 2004 when he was a 19-year-old student. Last December, Time named the Facebook founder its 2010 Person of the Year. The now 26-year-old joins a list of honorées who have included American Presidents, royalty, and Nobel Laureates.

(Siegle, D.. "Facing Facebook: A Guide for Nonteens. " Gifted Child Today  1 Apr. 2011: General Interest Module, ProQuest. Web.  16 Mar. 2011.)

Excerpt from an essay:

But Facebook friends and social networking are not adequate substitutes for authentic friendship. We long for relationships with people who know us so well that their lives impact and influence ours. Young people love the high-tech world of multitasking and interactive media, but like the rest of us, they long for personal intimacy. On our campus, we are converting spaces in dorms back to common rooms because of the increasing desire of undergraduates to gather together in small groups.

We may have multiple social networks and thousands of acquaintances and still find ourselves profoundly lonely. A sociological study found that between 1985 and 2004 the average American's number of close confidants declined from three to two, and that those reporting "no close confidants" jumped from 10 to 25 percent. Lynn Smith-Lovin, one of the study's authors, noted that "you usually don't expect major features of social life to change very much from year to year or even decade to decade." But the data suggest a "remarkable drop" in the number and quality of friendships in American culture. The findings also confirm and amplify my anecdotal sense that more and more "connected" people, from CEOs to talented youth and young adults, are struggling with loneliness.

(Jones, L. Gregory. "My Facebook friends." Christian Century 15 July 2008: 35. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.)

INTRODUCTION TO ARGUMENTATION

Argument

What do you think of when you hear

the word “argument”?

Nature of Academic Argument

Argument

Argumentative skill is

acquired; it is not innate.

Argument in the Broad Sense

Your thesis states your position but it is not necessarily arguable and debatable.

You don’t acknowledge and weigh alternative views.

Your purpose is to present your position. You are not intent on persuading your readers that your position is superior to other positions.

Argument in the Specialized Sense

Your thesis is arguable and debatable.

You anticipate alternative views, acknowledge them, and address them.

You are intent on persuading your readers that your position is superior to other positions.

Importance of Audience

Who is your audience?What values do they

likely hold?How are their views going to differ or be similar to your own?

Argument in the Specialized Sense An argument in the specialized sense is

usually not An absolute truth. A revelation or brand new insight. The last word. Bad-tempered complaining. An exercise in pure logic. A chance to prove that you’re smarter than

everyone else. And, most emphatically, it is not necessarily

about some grand issue of concern to humankind in general.

Before you turn in a final paper, you should…

Read what experts have already written about the issue.

Examine the various dimensions of the issue by analyzing and evaluating the experts’ arguments to determine which are the most convincing, which are reasonable but not terribly persuasive, and which are flawed.

Articulate a thesis expressing your own position. Make sure you are adding to the conversation (not just saying, “I agree”).

Discover solid reasons to support your thesis. Return to the sources to extract evidence you will

use to back up each of your reasons. Summarize alternative views and reasonable

objections to your argument. Respond tactfully to these alternative views. Decide how you will structure your essay.

Overcoming Arguer’s Block

You must convince yourself that writing an argument is something you can do without becoming someone you’re not. Do that in four steps: Notice that you make arguments all the

time. Shake the fallacy of the absolute and

exclusive truth. Shake the fallacy of the final word. Begin with arguments that are easy to

make.

PROVING THE IMPOSSIBLE: AN EXERCISE IN EARLY

RESEARCH PAPER WRITING

Proving the Impossible: An Exercise in Early Research Paper

Writing I will put you into groups of four or five Work together to produce a two-page

persuasive essay on your assigned topic Use fictitious research for support with

quotations and paraphrases Today, you want to discuss your topic and

work on creating some supporting points.

Most Important/Interesting/Exciting Thing You Learned Today

A. Introduction to The Lord of the Flies

B. Critical Thinking ExerciseC. Report vs. EssayD. Introduction to ArgumentE. Proving the Impossible

What would you like to learn more about in the future?

A. Introduction to The Lord of the Flies

B. Critical Thinking ExerciseC. Report vs. EssayD. Introduction to ArgumentE. Proving the Impossible

Homework

Read The Lord of the Flies chapters 1-2

Come up with your two pretend sources and how they will work into your “Proving the Impossible” essay

Write a one-page argument essay for the six people you chose in the critical thinking assignment (due to Moodle by Thursday at 1:40 p.m.)

Participate in the weekly discussion (post due Thursday and replies due Sunday)