Task 2Work through this assignment after we have had our in-class discussion of some topics. I'll give us instructions when the hour begins.
Today we will work to focus and explore our persuasive writing topics. If you don't yet have a topic, you should refer to the previous assignment and come up with one. If you feel like you've got something, be sure to check that the position you are taking is truly arguable. Look at chapter three of our reading packet for more information about viable arguments.
Next we will take our topics and brainstorm with them. The key to this brainstorming exercise is to explore different aspects of your topic as a way of greasing the intellectual wheels before we focus our attention on more specific areas. To do so, we will spend twenty minutes doing a freewrite about the topic. You can open Word or some other editor to do your freewrite. Let the ideas flow and don't worry about how they may or may not fit into the final product. You might keep the notion of differing perspectives in mind as you explore. Think about different viewpoints as you scratch out ideas.
When you are finished with your freewrite, we will work to come up with some research questions. Remember that you need an angle and specific enough topic to write this assignment succesfully. To help sharpen your angle spend some time articulating some of the tricky aspects of your topic as questions. For instance, if you are studying welfare reform, instead of arguing that the current plan for reforming the welfare system should be overturned, you might look at the impact of the plan on children. You could articulate your project as a series of research questions: what will the impact of the current plan be on children? What are some of the determining factors in the current state of children in poverty? What adjustments to the current plan might be made to moderate the impact of the plan on children?
These questions will help drive your research process and keep your project on track. The goal for the end of this assignment will be to come up with three research questions. When you have finished the questions, post them to the class list using the form below:
The form above will send your information to the rest of the class. Please spend some time looking through and responding to the topics of others. Once you have posted your questions, you can take them to some web search engines and try to find the answers. Try the collection of search engines at CompSite.If you have questions, let me know.
