Research Paper Rough Draft

The Introductory Section:

As this is a longer essay than your first one, it may take more than one paragraph to introduce the argument. The intro may be two or three paragraphs, and take a page or so to complete. Still, there are specific elements that need to be included. Quality, in all cases, is determined in terms of accuracy and precision.

1) How well does the intro identify the controversial issue? It needs to be relevant to the public interest, and there should be some current news story about it showing that something is currently at stake.

2) How well does the intro present the nature of the problem, or the dispute over the nature of the problem? How well does it describe the relevant voices in the public conversation? Voices may include those of groups directly impacted by the issue, of media representation and analysis of those groups’ positions, of the authorities with the power to decide what will happen, and of general public opinion.

3) The intro should suggest which voices are more persuasive.

The Body of the essay:

4) Usually, the early part of the essay’s body evaluates the arguments put forth by the various voices in the discussion. How well does the essay present these voices? How methodically does it evaluate them? Does the essay fact check claims (premises), and consider the validity of arguments? Does it consider the relevance, sufficiency, and credibility of evidence provided? In cases of inductive arguments, are Mill’s Methods applied? The essay shouldn’t use term “Mill’s Methods” (or logos, pathos, etc.) but the concepts should be applied when appropriate.

5) How well does the essay express the relationships between the various relevant arguments?

6) As an essay moves forward, it typically examines various proposals for resolution of the problem. How well are the various possibilities expressed and evaluated? How well does the essay make a case for a specific course of action?

7) Does the essay follow MLA guidelines for quotations, in-text citation, and the Works Cited page?

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle, Martin Durkin. 3/8/2007, WagTV. The portion of the film I want to discuss in class runs from about the 20:34 minute mark when the film begins to respond to An Inconvenient Truth, up to about the 32:00 minute mark covering discussion of solar activity. In response to Ian Clark's claims about the 800 year lag between temperature increases and CO2 increases, and about volcanoes producing more CO2 than human activity, please see this response to the film by the British Antarctica Survey (the two paragraphs under "Ice cores and past climate change"). For Carl Wunsch's response to how the film represents his claims about CO2 in the oceans, see his statements here. For claims made about the 40 year cooling period, see this explanation of sulphate cooling. For claims about a link between solar cycles and global warming, see this article about Mike Lockwood's study that argues the film is misleading. The film uses interviews and research of Eigel Fris Christensen, and creates a graph called the "Temp and Solar Activity 400 Years." For his response to how the film represents his work, see his statements here.

Mantsios, Stiglitz, and Pierce

"Class in America--2009" by Gregory Mantsios.

"Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%," by Joseph Stiglitz. vanityfair.com. May 2011

"Charleston Shooting: Speaking the Unspeakable, Thinking the Unthinkable," by Charles Pierce. esquire.com. June 18, 2015.

Annotated Bibliography

Due June 25th.

You can find a definition, along with an example, of an annotated bibliography at the back of the “Using Sources” handout. You can also find guidelines at The Owl at Purdue MLA webpage. Once again, it is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents as they will appear in the “Works Cited” page of your research paper. Here, however, each citation is followed by evaluative and reflective paragraphs, the annotation. Identify thesis and rhetorical methods. Consider the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. In other words, offer some evaluation of rhetoric. Consider how each source contributes to the larger public conversation about your topic. Consider how you might use the source in your research paper. The purpose of the annotation is to begin determining the value of your source material and how you intend to use it in your larger project.

Your bibliography should be a minimum of five full pages, MLA format. Your final research paper (9-12 pages) should ultimately use about 9-14 sources, so try to include a minimum of 7-8 sources in the bibliography, but you might want to have many more than that. Remember, common knowledge does not need to be cited.

Some topics we have discussed:

#blacklivesmatter / police conduct

Obama's executive orders on immigration

King vs. Burwell

Education (funding, reform, testing)

The Supreme Court's decision on Same Sex Marriage Bans

Climate Change

Trans-Pacific Partnership

Minimum Wage

Ta-Nehisi Coates

"The Case for Reparations," theatlantic.com. June 2014.

"The Gangsters of Ferguson," theatlantic.com. March , 2015.

Education

Bill Moyers and Vartan Gregorian interview on state of higher education in America. Bill Moyers Journal. pbs.org. 1/30/2009.

Essay #1

Write a rhetorical evaluation of "Introduction" to Assault on Reason, by Al Gore. Rhetoric is synonymous with persuasion. You are to evaluate how persuasive his argument is. To do so, you need to be methodical.

Your introduction needs to identify, first of all, the author and title of the essay, so your reader knows your topic. Use his full name the first time, and then just his last names for the rest of the essay. Then identify his thesis. A thesis, once again, is the central point of the essay, not the topic. What exactly, does Gore argue in the essay? What does he say, specifically, is the problem, and what does he identify as the solution? The more precise you can be, the better the quality of your evaluation. Be accurate. To identify how the essay attempts to work, you now need to identify one or more of the rhetorical methods. It is not sufficient to say they use logos or pathos, or even deduction or induction, as these terms are too vague. It is not even specific enough to say he provides analogies or compares things. You need to be more precise. What types of analogies? What does he compare? What types of statistics, etc., does he provide? In other words, you need to be precise enough that you are describing just this essay’s rhetoric, and not rhetoric in general. Finally, your intro needs to include some indication of whether or not the methods used adequately support the thesis. This last element is the form your thesis takes.

Major body paragraphs evaluate examples of the rhetoric. Generally, you make a claim about a method used, provide an example of it, and then evaluate it. These paragraphs support what your introduction says about how the essay functions. We have been discussing how to evaluate different forms of rhetoric in class, so be sure to be methodical. Test the truth of premises if you need to. Evaluate validity. Use Mill’s Methods for thinking about induction. Determine if the evidence adequately supports the claims. Consider sufficiency and relevance.

Do not use the first person pronoun (“I will argue,” “In my opinion”) unless you are providing relevant personal anecdotes. If you do provide personal anecdotes, insert them at the end of your essay after you have provided a thorough evaluation of Gore's rhetoric. If you need to discuss reader response, refer to “the reader” or “readers.” Do not use second person (“you”).

Use present tense when discussing their essay. “Gore suggests . . .”

Use MLA guidelines. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Use one-inch margins all around. Double-space all lines. Use Times New Roman, size 12 font. Both the draft and the revision need to be at least three full pages.