CRTW Research Paper

Due: Thursday, December 1st

Length: 5-8 pages

For your final paper in this class, you’ll need to think of a current controversy within your major.  Examine what you know about your major so far: what are people in the field arguing about?  If you can’t think of a suitable argument, think of a (current or past) controversial figure.  This person must be controversial not because of any personal habits but because s/he has stirred up controversy within the domain; in other words, the field (judges/colleagues) should be somewhat divided on their feelings towards this person.

Once you’ve got a controversy or controversial figure, do some research.  Your paper will need to incorporate at least four sources, at least one of which must be written from a viewpoint that opposes yours.  For prewriting purposes, go around the circle of elements with each of your sources. 

Next, think out your own opinion on this issue or person.  For prewriting purposes, go around the circle of elements with your own thoughts, the question at issue being, “What is my opinion about this issue/person in my field?”  

• Now that you’ve done the hard work, write a 5-8 page paper in which you explain your point of view on this issue or person (thesis statement) and use your sources to back you up or to argue against. 

• You’re not required to use each and every element and standard when speaking of your sources and your own opinion, but your paper must go beyond simply arguing your case—you’ve got to be evaluating why you feel this way.  Evaluate your sources and your own thinking as you write.

  • I'd like to see at least three elements and one standard represented per source:

    • you may either use the language of Nosich in the body of your paper, underlining it as you do so: Dr. X's purpose in writing this article seems to be...

    • OR add the elements in in parentheses directly following a statement that points to each one: Dr. X seeks to convince us that Shakespeare did not write the plays we accredit to him (Purpose), but I disagree. 

    • OR do some combination of the two: Dr. X seeks to convince us that Shakespeare did not write the plays we accredit to him (Purpose), but his argument rests only on the proof of one historian, which is clearly insufficient evidence.

The final step may be something you complete before, during, or after you write. You're going to need to identify the rhetorical strategies you use while writing about this issue: what have you done to try to persuade your audience or win us over to your way of thinking?  You'll need to append a 1&1/2 to 2 page document, written in paragraph form, that analyzes the persuasive/rhetorical strategies you've used in the paper, where they occur in your argument, and why you employed them. 

S Version of the Assignment:

1. Your thesis/Purpose is to prove your opinion about a controversy within your field

2. Use 4 outside sources.  One has to disagree with you and you'll need to rebut it.

3. You need to use at least three Elements and one Standards per source (see Nosich and above) in the paper as you work with EACH source.

4.  See the bold bullets above for how to incorporate these Elements and Standards.

5. At the end of your Works Cited page, hit page break and begin a 1 1/2 - 2 page rhetorical analysis of the strategies YOU used to persuade your reader your opinion is valid in this paper. (This doesn't count towards the 5 page minimum.)

Helpful hints:

• When you sit down to write the introduction to the paper, you may feel a bit overwhelmed. Think about establishing your Point of View as a student in this discipline early on in the paper, maybe even in this introduction.  Revisit Nosich and class notes about the Logic of your Field, the Fundamental and Powerful Concepts in your Field, and the Point of View of your Field or Discipline.

• Don't freak out when you look at the assigned length of the paper.  Remember that you're not just using sources to help you argue your case, you're also analyzing those sources as you go.  You may, therefore, talk about so and so's Purpose in using a certain Concept in their article and then agree or disagree with that Concept as you argue your case.  (Ex. "Smith's Purpose in saying that Goldilocks is guilty of no crime whatsoever is to get us to sympathize with Goldilocks, but if we reexamine his Concept of crime, we see that that sympathy may be misplaced."