WRITING 102 Dr. Koster
Papers 4 & 5 Spring 2004
These two papers will work together to show me that you can research an issue thoroughly and present an argument. You have a lot of freedom and creativity in this assignment, which will be a good thing for you if you use it wisely.
You may choose virtually any issue about which to write a 7+ page (exclusive of Works Cited Page) documented argument paper. Proposal arguments work best at this length, since they ask AShould we do X?@ or AWhich alternative to X should we choose?@ (See Lunsford chs. 11 & 12 especially, though chs. 9 & 10 will come into play.). But claims involving language/definitions, evaluations, conditions, and causes will also work for this paper. The best topics here are those you really care about, and those you feel you can get an audience to listen about. A few may be too recent to have good material available or may be so emotional that it will be hard to win over audiences, or may not have much good unbiased material available, and those I=ll probably steer you away from. Other than that, I=m willing to trust your judgment.
You also get to choose the audience to whom you are writing, but you must write a classical argument (for a broad-perspective audience). You are also responsible for finding at least five different sources of information to use in building the final paper. Unless I give you permission otherwise, no more than 60% of your sources may come from the Internet as opposed to primary evidence, databases and print sources (see “Two Important Distinctions” on pp. 376-77 of your book to help you search more effectively).
PAPER 4 is a preliminary to the longer documented argument paper. It will be a critical evaluation of at least three of your sources (I will give you an example to review). In it you will establish a set of priorities for making your judgment, then critique at least three of your sources against those priorities to determine how valuable and reliable they will be for your paper. I am the audience for this evaluation. If your sources are relatively long, three will probably be enough for this critique; if they=re short (e.g. newspaper articles, one-page articles from Newsweek), you will probably want to include four or five in your critique. The goal here is to show me how you determine the value of your evidence based on a set of clear criteria. Use chapter 46f in PH as a guide. It is due on April 5 in class. You will turn in hard copy to me and an electronic copy to turnitin.com.
PAPER 5 is the longer, documented (in MLA form) argument paper itself. Because it is longer, it will be easier if we write it in stages. Therefore, there will be some preliminary due dates for you to observe in compiling it.
March 22: Turn in a 3" x 5" card to me with your thesis question and the identity of
your audience by 4 p.m. I will e-mail you my comments by March 23; make sure to include your e-mail address on your card.
March 22-April 7: Conduct a focused search for information and start compiling your
rough draft. Use Lunsford chs. 20 & 21 and PH chapters 46 & 47, especially 46a, to
manage the process. Write the results of the search up as paper #4; draft workshop for
these papers will be March 31 and all papers are April 5.
April 12-14: Bring two copies of your research plan and an outline for paper 5
built on the principles in Lunsford ch. 8 & PH chapters 4, 6, 7, and 47 to my office at
the scheduled time for a conference on the paper.
Friday April 16: Paper #5 is due at my office before noon, along with ALL drafts and working materials, including photocopies of your sources. Also submit an electronic copy to turnitin.com.