Research Activity 1: “Exploring for Topics”

Review Inventing Arguments, pages 194-196, “Exploring for Topics”

Choose two topics suggested in the 7 bullets on page 194.

1. The goal here is to use these 3 activities as a way to find a topic for your claim of value/MA3. Therefore, as you choose 2 topics, keep in mind the topic restrictions for Major Assignment 3:

 

2. Your topic must not be related in any way to the topic that you used for Major Assignment 2.
3. Your claim must be one of value.
4. Your topic should aim toward being specific, instead of general.
5. Your topic should not be related to any of the following areas:  the death penalty, abortion, the drinking age, cell phone use [including cell phone use while driving], marijuana, or the use of performance-enhancing substances by athletes.

 

2. Write your 2 topics in specific/narrow terms—for example, if you wanted to talk about education and dress code, you should be as specific as possible such as—mandatory school uniforms for public elementary schools. The more specific your topic, the easier it will be to find helpful research.
3. Next, for each specific topic you selected, answer the questions in blue raised on page 195 of Inventing Arguments. For your convenience here they are:
4. Who or what does the topic harm?
5. Who or what does it benefit or help?
6. Does the topic promote a particular kind of behavior, thought process, or attitude?
7. What is its purpose or intent? (Is that purpose a good one? Why or why not?)
8. Despite its intent, what are its hidden effects? (How does it impose on others, impede future action, oversimplify thinking, slow action, create frenzy, undermine principles, support core principles, enrich lives, free people, facilitate action?)
9. Despite its intent, what are its hidden effects?

Research Activity 2: “Inventing a Claim”

1. Review Inventing Arguments, pages 197-199, “Inventing a Claim”
2. For one of the topics (the one you prefer) from Research Activity #1, answer the 4 questions on page 197 under “What Do Others Claim?” and then answer the 3 questions under “What do I Claim?”

Research Activity 3: “Writing a Preliminary Thesis”

1. A thesis or claim has 2 parts: your position and your reasons. Write down your position making sure it is a claim of value.
2. Next, write down some preliminary ideas you have as reasons for your position. These should change as you conduct your research.
3. Remember—as your research and writing continues, your thesis/claim may change and your reasons may change. That’s ok so long as your claim is an argumentative claim of value with specific reasons listed to support your claim.

 

Ok, you now have a preliminary claim of value with preliminary reasons as a part of that claim—you are now ready to hunt for sources for your annotated bibliography! Annotated Bibliography sources are some of the sources that you will use for your rough draft of MA3. Sources may change between the rough draft and final draft, but that is a normal part of the advanced research and writing process.

Assignment:

For your third and final major assignment you will be composing an argument of value also known as an evaluation argument (See Chapter 9 in Inventing Arguments).
Topic:

Your topic will emerge from your work in the “3 Research Activities” assignments that you will first complete before you start writing MA3. See the topic restrictions below (reproduced from the “3 Research Activities” assignments):

1. Your topic must not be related in any way to the topic that you used for Major Assignment 2.
2. Your claim must be one of value.
3. Your topic should aim toward being specific, instead of general.
4. Your topic should not be related to any of the following areas:  the death penalty, abortion, the drinking age, cell phone use [including cell phone use while driving], marijuana, or the use of performance-enhancing substances by athletes.

 

Sources:

Your final draft must include a minimum of seven (7) sources. Here are the guidelines for what kinds of sources you must include and where the sources must come from:

 

• Four Sources Must be from databases, Academic Search Complete and/or JSTOR. Each must consist of .pdf articles at least 3 pages long. Both databases are accessible via Maag Library: use the YSU Databases and Resources or the OhioLink
• One Source must be a pdf article [each at least three full pages long] from any Maag Library accessible database other than JSTOR or the Academic Search Complete.
• Two sources can be any of the following: an additional pdf source from a database, from the web, or a print source.

Documentation Style:

All drafts must be double-spaced and submitted as a Word document only.  No other document types (Pages, Notes, pdf docs, etc.) will be accepted. The final draft must make use of full APA documentation style:  for the general format of the paper, title page, for in-text citations, and for the References page.

Length:

Rough drafts must be at least 800 words in length and include an introduction paragraph that contains the claim of value and the beginning of one or two body paragraphs. The final draft must be at least 3000 words long (not counting the References page). Students who do not complete a rough draft within the time limits set forth in the “Deadlines Policy” of your syllabus will not receive credit for a final draft.  Please carefully read the “Deadlines Policy” for rough drafts and final drafts set forth in the course syllabus. Please note that technology failures are the student’s responsibility so please leave ample time to submit your document and have a backup plan in the event of failed technology. No deadline extensions will be given for technology failures. No email or print submissions will be accepted. All submissions must be through Blackboard and uploaded in the appropriate assignment prompts for the rough draft and final draft of MA3 respectively.

Point Value:

The rough draft is worth 30 points. The final draft is worth 320 points [Note: there is no revision option for MA3].

Due Dates:

The rough draft is due to be uploaded in Blackboard by April 16, 2018 at 10 am. The final draft of Major Assignment 3 due to be uploaded in Blackboard on April 27 by 10 pm.