1 How to Teach the Argument Research Paper Composition Project in 10 Classes Copyright 2011 by Bruce D. Bruce Introduction This document describes a composition project that I have successfully used during my years of teaching at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The composition project is to write an argument research paper on a topic of the student’s choice. The Argument Research Paper is useful because it teaches the students useful skills: • How to Make Arguments • How to Rebut Counterarguments • How to Avoid Making Some Common Fallacies • How to Do Research • How to Use the MLA Format Teachers are welcome to evaluate this assignment to see if they want to use it in their own classes. Teachers are welcome to adapt this assignment as desired. Important Disclosures The students’ papers that appear in this document are copyrighted by the students who wrote them. This document refers (especially in Class 1) to Ohio University’s Alden Library and resources available there and at the library’s Web site. I hope that your school has similar resources. 2 Free Resources Be aware that you can go to Lulu.com and download this relevant document as a free pdf: Composition Project: Writing an Argument Paper with Research http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/composition-project-writing-an-argument-paper- with-research/14248675 This document includes samples of my students’ work. Other free documents for teachers and students are available at my storefront at Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/brucebATohioDOTedu 3 Table of Contents Class 1: Argumentative Research Paper; Assign the Paper 6 Assign Argumentative Research Paper (1,250-3,000 words) Sample Topics How Do I Write an Argument Paper? Good Sources on Many Topics Allison Kontak: “Teaching Foreign Languages Sooner” Class 2: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 25 Organization and Ways of Arguing How Do I Organize an Argumentative Article? Ways of Arguing Pros/Cons “Whistleblowing & the Environment: The Case of Avco Environmental” Informal Fallacies: Appeal to Force Class 3: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 31 Homework Due Today: Topic of Your Research Paper (and Brief Outline) Kairos Pathos, Logos, and Ethos “Argue on the Basis of Consequences” Amanda Forni: “Is the Death Penalty a Sensible Punishment?” Class 4: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 46 Case Study: The Polluter’s Dilemma Sample Outlines for a Research Paper That Makes an Argument Informal Fallacies: Against the Person (Argumentum Ad Hominem) How Do I Avoid Discriminatory Language? Class 5: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 54 Homework Due Today: Annotated Bibliography of the Sources of Information for the Data in your Research Paper Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): Moral Duty Anonymous: “Letter to Dr. Laura” David Bruce: “Same-Sex Civil Marriage: Pro” Write a Good Conclusion Common Knowledge Class 6: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 73 MP3 on Campus Tips on Writing Good Beginnings Informal Fallacies: Appeal to the People Class 7: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 81 Making Recommendations Original Arguments Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.): The Good Life Alison Davis: “A Deeper Look at Cochlear Implants: Why the Problems Outweigh the Benefits” Class 8: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 95 “TO ‘D’ OR NOT TO ‘D’” Informal Fallacies: Appeal to Pity 4 Class 9: Argumentative Research Paper, Continued 97 In-Class Writing: You will write a report on your progress on the argumentative research paper. Checklist for Argument Papers Class 10: Peer Review of Research Paper 104 Peer Review Sheet: Argument Paper The Most Important Things I Have Learned from Writing the Argument Research Paper 109 Appendix A: How Should I Use Quotations When Using the MLA Format? …………… 110 Appendix B: How Do I Write A Works Cited List? ……………………………………. 115 Appendix C: How Do I Use In-Text Citations in My Papers? ……………………………………. 136 Appendix D: How Do I Introduce Quoted Material? ……………………………………. 139 How Do I Introduce Short Passages of Quoted Material? ………………………… 141 How Do I Introduce Long Passages of Quoted Material? ………………………… 142 Appendix E: How Do I Use the MLA Format for Academic Papers? ………………………… 150 Appendix F: Some Important Things I Have Learned……………………………………. 151 Appendix G: Academic Honesty…………………………………………….…………………… 153 Appendix H: Fair Use……………………………………………………………….…………. 156 Appendix I: Some Common Rules of Writing……………………………………………… 157 How Do I Use Affect And Effect? ……………………………………………………… 157 How Do I Use Amount And Number? ……………………………………….……. 158 How Do I Use Apostrophes to Show Possession? ……………………………………. 159 Use Brackets for Editorial Insertions……………………………………….……. 160 Capitalize the Names of Holidays ……………………………………….……. 161 Use a Colon Between Two Independent Clauses When the Second Clause………. 162 Summarizes or Explains the First After an Independent Clause, Use a Colon to Direct Attention to a Quotation….. 163 Use a Colon to Direct Attention to an Appositive ……………………………………. 164 Use a Colon to Direct Attention to a List…………………………………………. 165 How Do I Recognize and Correct Comma Splices? ……………………………………. 166 Use Commas to Separate the Items in a Series of Three or More……………………… 167 Use a Comma or Commas to Set Off Direct Address ………………………………… 168 After an Introductory Element, Use a Comma……………………………………. 169 5 Use a Comma and a Conjunction to Separate Two Independent Clauses……………… 170 Use a Comma or Commas to Set Off Parenthetical Elements ………………………… 171 Use Commas or Other Punctuation to Set Off Speaker Tags …………………………… 172 Use a Dash or Dashes for an Abrupt Break in the Flow of a Sentence or Dialogue… 173 How Do I Recognize and Correct Dangling Modifiers? …………………………… 174 Use Adjective-Forming Hyphens When Combining Two or More Words to…….. 176 Form an Adjective That Appears Before the Word It Modifies When Do I Use Italics for Titles? ………………………………………………………. 177 Use Italics for Emphasis………………………………………………………. 178 Use Italics for Foreign Words ………………………………………………………. 179 How Do I Use It’s And Its? …………………………………………………………. 180 How Do I Use Lie And Lay? ………………………………………………………. 181 How Do I Use Lose And Loose? ………………………………………………… 182 Where do Periods Go When I Use Parentheses? ……………………………… 183 How Do I Use Principal And Principle? ………………………………………………… 184 The American Style is Put Commas and Periods Inside Quotation Marks ………… 185 Use Quotation Marks for Dialogue………………………………………………… 186 When Quoting Part of a Sentence, You May Not Need to Use a Capital Letter…….. 187 Use Single Quotation Marks Within Double Quotation Marks…………………… 188 When Do I Use Quotation Marks for Titles? ……………………………………. 189 Keep Related Words Together……………………………………………………. 190 How Do I Recognize and Correct Run-on Sentences? ………………………………… 192 Use a Semicolon to Join Two Closely Related Independent Clauses…………… 193 How Do I Use Than and Then? ……………………………………………………. 194 How Do I Use Their, There, and They’re? ……………………………………......... 195 How Do I Use To, Two, Too? ……………………………………………………. 196 How Do I Use Who and Whom? ……………………………………………………. 197 How Do I Use Your And You’re? ……………………………………………………. 200 Appendix J: Some Books by David Bruce ……………………………………………………. 201 6 Class 1: Argument Research Paper: Assign the Paper Teacher’s Expectations What are your teacher’s expectations for the Research Paper? What are your teacher’s expectations for the Research Paper? • You will start writing this paper at least seven days before it is due. • You will spend at least seven hours (and probably more) on this paper. • You will revise this paper at least once. • You will get feedback on this paper from at least one other person outside of class. • You will proofread this paper at least three times. • You will run a spelling check on the final draft of this paper. • You will use the MLA format. • You will have a Works Cited List. • You will have between five and fifteen (or more) items in the Works Cited list. • You will write a paper that has between 1,250 and 3,000 words. (You may write more than 3,000 words if you like.) • Use 12-point Times New Roman font. Double-space your paper. • You will write a new paper specifically for this course, not lightly revise your ENG 151 or other old Research Paper. • You will (at least briefly) write about your own personal experience in this paper. Benefits You will write a Research Paper. By doing so, you will have a chance to learn more about how to persuasively write arguments, do research, correctly integrate quotations into your paper, know how to correctly cite your sources, and avoid plagiarism. You also have a chance to investigate a topic of interest to you. I recommend that you choose an argument topic that is relevant to your career. Paper Requirements You may choose your topic for this Research Paper; however, your topic must meet my approval. We will be reading some interesting articles in the next few days that may give you a topic to write about and which may give you facts or ideas you can write about (while avoiding plagiarism, of course). Your Research Paper need not be huge. It will be between 1,250 and 3,000 words. Include a word count on the final draft of your paper. Use 12-point Times Roman font. 7 You cannot plagiarize what someone else wrote. You must use some personal experience (at least briefly) in your Research Paper; for example, you may decide to write for or against the use of school uniforms in high school. In doing that, you may write your personal experience in high school. I don’t want your paper to be a graveyard of quotations from the writing of other people. I want you to care about what you write. You will use the MLA format. You will have a Works Cited list. You must have between five and fifteen items in the Works Cited list. Audience Whenever a paper is written in the MLA format with in-text citations and a Works Cited list, the audience is almost always academic: either your teacher or the readers of a research journal. In this case, your reader is your teacher. You need to convince me (that is, your teacher) that you can write a good argument for what you believe, that you can bring up and rebut objections to what you are arguing, that you can write in an interesting way (writing about your personal experience helps you to do that), that you can do research, that you can use an academic format, that you can use in-text citations, and that you can write a paper using an academic format. Remember: You are writing for an academic audience. Your audience is your teacher. You need to show your teacher that you can do research, make arguments, rebut opposing arguments, be persuasive, argue logically and rationally, proofread, and document your sources correctly. Your reader is your teacher, who majored in English and philosophy, not in science and math and engineering. Do you think that you should write like the below when your teacher is the reader? Or do you think that you should write something that your teacher can more easily understand? By the way, technical writers take complex technical information and make it understandable to intelligent members of the general public. There is strong evidence of an inverse, linear relationship between physical activity and reductions in all-cause mortality, total cardiovascular and coronary heart disease incidence and mortality, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, and colon cancer (Haennel & Lemire, 2002; Rankinen & Bouchard, 2002). This linear relationship suggests that as people move away from sedentary lifestyles, the health benefits of being physically active accumulate immediately and continue to accrue as they become more physically active. For example, physical activity levels that expend 500 kcal/week (about 100 minutes/week) provide slight favorable effects, whereas expending 1000 kcal/week (about 200 minutes/week) provides a 30% reduction in all-cause mortality rates (Rankinen & Bouchard, 2002). In their review of literature, Landers (1997) and Fontaine (2000) indicate that physical activity is associated with moderate reductions in depression, small to moderate reductions in anxiety, and small reductions in panic disorder, as well as large increases in energy and vigor, small to moderate increases in self-esteem, and small to moderate increases in positive affect (i.e., enjoyment, happiness). 8 Source: http://www.fsl.orst.edu/lulcd/Publicationsalpha_files/Rosenberger_etal_2009_JPRA.pdf Note: This passage uses the APA format; you will use the MLA format. My Advice Choose a topic that you can research and then talk about at a job interview. Imagine that you are being interviewed for your dream job. What topic can you steer the interview toward that will show that you are on top of recent developments in your field? What topic can you steer the interview toward that will show that you will be a good employee for your dream organization? What topic can you steer the interview toward that will impress the interviewer? Argument Papers You Can Write You will make a serious argument for or against a particular opinion or position. You may write about the classic argument topics: abortion, euthanasia, etc. Remember that you must use at least a little personal experience in your paper. For example, you may write about your own abortion or about the abortion of a student in your high school. If you are squeamish about doing that, you may need to choose a different topic. Other examples: Abortion: The Right Choice in Some Situations Drug Testing: Ohio University Ought to Implement It for Both Employees and Students Students and Alcohol: Lower the Legal Drinking Age to 18 Advice: If you can, choose a topic that you can talk about at a job interview. Sample Topics Sports If you want, you can argue that athletes ought to be allowed to take steroids after age 18. You could argue this on the basis of personal freedom. Alcohol If you want, you can argue that moderate alcohol consumption by people over age 18 ought to be encouraged because of its health benefits. Charity If you want, you can argue that charity is or not a good thing. Do people with disposable income have a moral obligation to engage in charity? If you wish, you may argue that a certain kind of charity is worthwhile or that a certain kind of charity is worthless. 9 You may want to write a Research Paper that advocates giving money to charity in general. You may want to write a Research Paper that advocates giving money to a particular charity. You may argue that this charity does good work and is worth supporting. Note: If you write about giving money to a particular charity, focus on success stories. Sometimes, people are overwhelmed by bad news. People want to know that if they donate money to charity that it will actually accomplish something. Note: You don’t have to write about donating money; you can instead write about donating time. Classic Argumentative Topics If you wish, you may write about abortion and euthanasia. Be aware that to really make these topics interesting, personal experience is useful. Otherwise, you will be repeating the same old arguments that everyone has already heard. To make a paper about abortion—pro or con—interesting, you may use a beginning such as these: When I was a sophomore in high school, I got pregnant. When I was a sophomore in high school, my best friend, who was also a sophomore, got pregnant. What if I woke up tomorrow and discovered that I was pregnant? True, I’m not having sex with anyone, but what if? What would I do? You have my permission to use one of these openings in your paper. I will not consider that plagiarism. Of course, don’t write that you got pregnant when you were in high school unless you really did get pregnant when you were in high school. To make a paper about euthanasia—pro or con—interesting, you may use a beginning like these: What if—years from now—my father were dying of cancer and asked me to help him commit suicide? What would I do? Last year, my terminally ill mother asked me to help her commit suicide. You have my permission to use one of these openings in your paper. I will not consider that plagiarism. Of course, don’t write that last year your terminally ill mother asked you to help her commit suicide unless that really happened. A Topic About Cars and the Environment Sample Topic: Which kind of car is better for the environment: electric or hybrid? 10 Sample Title: Hybrid Cars are Better for the Environment Than Electric Cars Sample Title: Electric Cars are Better for the Environment Than Hybrid Cars If you write an argument on this topic, use this outline: Introduction: Thesis Statement (what are you arguing?) Background Information Arguments for What You Believe (you may have more than one argument.) An Objection (counter-argument) Someone can Raise Against What You are Arguing Rebuttal of the Objection (why the objection is not a good one) Benefits (the benefits of accepting what you are arguing—for example, what are the benefits of buying the hybrid car, or what are the benefits of buying the electric car) Conclusion How Do I Write an Argument Paper? Here is some important information on how to write an argument paper. The Writing Process The writing process can be described in many ways; however, this is a good way to break down its components: Deciding to Write Setting Goals Planning Drafting Evaluating Revising Handing in the Paper We shall go through the writing process for an argument paper of the kind that can be assigned in a composition course such as the course you are taking now. Deciding to Write For example, in a composition course, you are told to write an argument paper with research. Setting Goals You will do these things: construct a thesis statement, support the thesis statement with arguments and evidence, rebut opposing arguments, use facts correctly and persuasively, and cite sources accurately. You will also use personal experience in this paper. In this paper, you will show that you can do these things correctly: