essay

RWS 280: Project #1

An Account of an Argument

This paper asks you to identify an argument’s claim and reason. You will also need to explain the general context for the argument, the author’s purpose and audience and how you have been able to determine the context/audience/purpose based on clues from inside and outside of the text. It also asks you to describe the author’s supporting evidence and evaluate the argument in terms of its effectiveness in persuading the audience to the author’s purpose.

Successful essays will include:

1. An introductory section that provides all the information the audience will need to understand your argument. This includes the topic of the writing project and your argument claim and reason about the author’s use of evidence and organization.

2. A statement of the claim/reason of “Students Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Books and Food.”

3. A discussion of the general context, author’s purpose and author’s audience, supported by evidence from inside or outside of the text

4. A description and evaluation of supporting evidence. The analysis in this paper is present in the evaluation of how effective the evidence might have been for the target audience.

A. Do you find facts and evidence in the argument? Direct observation? Statistics? Interviews? Surveys? Primary sources such as eyewitness accounts? Secondary sources such as published research? Quotations from authorities? Hypothetical situations? Analogy? Allusion? Personal Experience?

5. A conclusion that clarifies whether you believe the author has written an effective argument based on the evidence and organization he chose to convince his audience of his purpose.

Due Dates for Project 1

Precis of article due: 9/14

In-class writing: 9/19

Final Draft due: 9/26 Revised length: 4 pages.