| ||||||||||
|
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
QUESTION TAGS
Monday, February 18, 2019
Friday, February 15, 2019
Ethical Standards, Morals, and Ethics
Ethics and morals relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.
FONT Usage
Stay Consistent
Throughout Your Paper
When drafting any part of your essay, you want to be sure that you are formatting everything in a consistent manner. While you may think it looks better to add in different sizes and styles of fonts, this is contrary to the requirements of MLA, APA, and Turabian formatting.
It is also very important to remember that this 'consistency' extends to your headers, footers, source citation pages, abstract, and any other section of your paper that you craft. It is very common for students to ignore the header and footer formatting as if they were not key parts to the paper.
Every item that you add into your paper is important. For it all to flow as one, professional piece of writing, the FONT SIZE and FONT STYLE must be consistent throughout the whole document.
Establishing the Thesis and then Developing it in the Body-paragraphs
Thesis and Supporting Arguments
Overview
I have provided sample thesis statements for various types of academic argument essays that you might be assigned. After reviewing the sample thesis statements for argument writing, please take the time to see the 'tip sheet' to provide additional guidance on crafting your own thesis statement for your assigned writing. Please keep in mind, though, that it is imperative for you to FIRST understand your audience. If you complete the audience analysis worksheet, you will be extremely close to creating a thesis of your own based on the worksheet questions and guidance. You can find this worksheet HERE.
The main point to consider and learn for your introduction and Thesis: remember that you are not making a general overview announcement on an issue. You are asserting an arguable viewpoint on the issue. To do this in 3rd person voice, be sure to state your argument assertion without writing, "In this essay...".
Proposal Argument:
These sample theses contain the argument as to 'what needs to be done to alleviate the opioid crisis in America,' and they are addressing this issue from the proposed steps for change. The sentences clearly delineate the progression of argument for the body paragraphs and assert a very precise argument viewpoint.
Ethical Argument:
Cause/Effect Argument:
If you are reviewing this tip sheet, then you have probably been assigned an essay to write on a topic that requires clarity-of-thought, purpose, focus, and support. Whether you must write a simple essay (3-5 pages), or if you must create a full, complex essay (7-10 pages), the lessons about thesis statements and supporting arguments—below—will enhance your writing and guarantee you a higher score for your essay: when the lessons are applied correctly. See the content below, but also go to the classroom and read the DRAFTING handout. You can find the DRAFTING handout on our writing website as well: http://learnessaywriting.blogspot.com/
DEVELOPING A THESIS AND SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS: TIP Sheet
The main point to consider and learn for your introduction and Thesis: remember that you are not making a general overview announcement on an issue. You are asserting an arguable viewpoint on the issue. To do this in 3rd person voice, be sure to state your argument assertion without writing, "In this essay...".
SAMPLE THESIS STATEMENTS
Proposal Argument:
- Drug companies who manufacture opioid-based pain killers must take responsibility for the opioid crisis in America by paying for Public Service Announcements (PSAs) to educate the country, using part of the revenue from such medications to pay for free or reduced clinics to assist those addicted, and providing overdose-reversing medications to first responders to help save lives of those who overdose.
- To combat the opioid crisis in America, Public Service Announcements (PSAs), public school curriculum about opioid abuse, and overdose prevention medications must be provided to bring awareness and lifesaving precautions to the public.
These sample theses contain the argument as to 'what needs to be done to alleviate the opioid crisis in America,' and they are addressing this issue from the proposed steps for change. The sentences clearly delineate the progression of argument for the body paragraphs and assert a very precise argument viewpoint.
Ethical Argument:
- Christians in America must oppose all genetic modifications in the scientific communities because it unethically engages in murder, idolatry, and coveting.
- Americans must oppose embryo genetic modification yet allow free-will choices for adults to receive personal genetic modification based on the ethical beliefs of equality and the pursuit of happiness.
Cause/Effect Argument:
- Social media has altered reality for young generations through false popularity, cyberbullying, and increased sexuality, resulting in a more devious and depressed culture of Americans.
- The culture of the American family has been altered by social media through a lack of personal communication and device addiction.
These sample theses contain the argument as to 'the cause/effect relationship between social media and cultural changes in America,' and they are addressing this issue from the cause/effect style argument layout. The sentences clearly delineate the progression of argument for the body paragraphs and assert a very precise argument viewpoint.
This tip sheet content below comes from and was created by Butte College. Refer to the link for the true location of the writing.
DEVELOPING A THESIS AND SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS: TIP Sheet
There's something you should know: Your college instructors
have a hidden agenda. You may be alarmed to hear this-yet your achievement of
their "other" purpose may very well be the most important part of
your education. For every writing assignment has, at the least, these two other
purposes:
·
To teach you to state your case and prove it in
a clear, appropriate, and lively manner
·
To teach you to structure your thinking.
Consequently,
all academic writing, in which you formulate a thesis and attempt to prove it,
is an opportunity to practice rigorous, focused thinking habits that can result
not only in better papers but in sharper analytical skills across the board.
This TIP Sheet addresses the following steps common to any
kind of non-fiction writing:
1. Choosing
a subject.
2. Limiting
your subject.
3. Crafting
a thesis statement.
4. Identifying
supporting arguments.
5. Revising
your thesis.
6. Writing
strong topic sentences that support the thesis.
It is during these early stages of writing, particularly in
the identification of supporting arguments, that students are most likely to
flounder and procrastinate, and when the strength of a paper's thesis is
frequently diluted for lack of rigorous thinking. Here we will adapt
Aristotle's method of "discovering arguments" to help identify and
develop a strong thesis. You may adapt this method to any nonfiction writing,
including essays, research papers, book reports, or critical reviews.
1. Choosing a Subject
Suppose your instructor asks you to write an essay about a holiday experience. Within this general subject area, you choose a subject that holds your interest and about which you can readily get information: you were in downtown Chico on the morning of St. Patrick's Day and witnessed some unusual behavior–a melee broke out, resulting in injuries to bystanders and property damage to nearby cars. You wish to write about this.
Suppose your instructor asks you to write an essay about a holiday experience. Within this general subject area, you choose a subject that holds your interest and about which you can readily get information: you were in downtown Chico on the morning of St. Patrick's Day and witnessed some unusual behavior–a melee broke out, resulting in injuries to bystanders and property damage to nearby cars. You wish to write about this.
2. Limiting Your Subject
What will you name your topic? Clearly, "student behavior" is too broad; student behavior would necessarily include behavior by every kind of student, everywhere, at all times, and this could very well fill a book and require a master's degree in psychology. Simply calling your subject "St. Patrick's Day" would be misleading. You decide to limit the subject to "student behavior on St. Patrick's Day." After some thought, you decide that a better, more specific subject might be "unruly college student behavior such as that witnessed in front of La Salle's in downtown Chico last St. Patrick's Day." (Be aware that this is not the title of your essay. You will title it much later.) You have now limited your subject and are ready to craft a thesis.
What will you name your topic? Clearly, "student behavior" is too broad; student behavior would necessarily include behavior by every kind of student, everywhere, at all times, and this could very well fill a book and require a master's degree in psychology. Simply calling your subject "St. Patrick's Day" would be misleading. You decide to limit the subject to "student behavior on St. Patrick's Day." After some thought, you decide that a better, more specific subject might be "unruly college student behavior such as that witnessed in front of La Salle's in downtown Chico last St. Patrick's Day." (Be aware that this is not the title of your essay. You will title it much later.) You have now limited your subject and are ready to craft a thesis.
3. Crafting a thesis statement
While your subject may be a noun phrase such as the one above, your thesis must be a complete sentence that declares where you stand on the subject. A thesis statement should always be in the form of a declarative sentence. Suppose you believe that some of the student behavior in front of La Salle's on St. Patrick's Day was very bad; your thesis statement may be, "Student behavior such as demonstrated in front of La Salle's last St. Patrick's Day is an embarrassment to the college community." Or, conversely, perhaps you think the behavior of the students was just a little high-spirited, but not really so bad as the newspaper made it out to be. Your thesis might be, "A college town has to expect a certain amount of student glee on holidays such as St. Patrick's Day; cracked auto glass and a couple of bruises are a small price to pay for all the commerce college students bring to downtown."
While your subject may be a noun phrase such as the one above, your thesis must be a complete sentence that declares where you stand on the subject. A thesis statement should always be in the form of a declarative sentence. Suppose you believe that some of the student behavior in front of La Salle's on St. Patrick's Day was very bad; your thesis statement may be, "Student behavior such as demonstrated in front of La Salle's last St. Patrick's Day is an embarrassment to the college community." Or, conversely, perhaps you think the behavior of the students was just a little high-spirited, but not really so bad as the newspaper made it out to be. Your thesis might be, "A college town has to expect a certain amount of student glee on holidays such as St. Patrick's Day; cracked auto glass and a couple of bruises are a small price to pay for all the commerce college students bring to downtown."
4. Identifying supporting
arguments
Now you must gather material, or find arguments to support your thesis statement. Aristotle taught his students to examine any claim by "discovering arguments." You will use some of his techniques to formulate support for your claim. Brainstorm, adapting the questions below as a guide, and writing down even the ideas that don't appear to you very promising–you can sort through them later. [Do not include these questions in your writing, nor should you ask these questions of your reader. You need to present content to your reader with supporting evidence. You will not ask the reader for his/her views.]
Now you must gather material, or find arguments to support your thesis statement. Aristotle taught his students to examine any claim by "discovering arguments." You will use some of his techniques to formulate support for your claim. Brainstorm, adapting the questions below as a guide, and writing down even the ideas that don't appear to you very promising–you can sort through them later. [Do not include these questions in your writing, nor should you ask these questions of your reader. You need to present content to your reader with supporting evidence. You will not ask the reader for his/her views.]
· Definition:
What is good behavior? What is bad behavior? What is appropriate behavior on
St. Patrick's Day? What is appropriate behavior in other settings?
· Comparison/Similarity:
How was behavior last St. Patrick's Day similar to behavior in years past? How
was behavior in front of La Salle's similar to behavior in other parts of
downtown that day? How was this behavior similar to behavior in other college
towns on that day?
· Comparison/Dissimilarity:
How did behavior last St. Patrick's Day differ from behavior in years past? How
did behavior in front of La Salle's differ from behavior in other parts of
downtown that day? How did this behavior differ from student behavior in other
college towns on that day?
· Comparison/Degree:
To what degree was student behavior worse than in years past? To what degree
was this behavior worse than in other parts of downtown? To what degree was
this behavior worse than student behavior in other college towns?
· Relationship
(cause and effect): What causes good behavior? What are the results of good
behavior? What causes bad behavior? What are the results of bad behavior? What
were the specific results of the behavior on St. Patrick's Day? What were the
specific causes of the behavior on St. Patrick's Day?
· Circumstance:
Has this kind of behavior occurred in the past? Should this behavior be
permitted in the future? What is possible–that is, in this case, is it possible
for students to behave appropriately even if bored, drunk, or provoked? Is it
possible for downtown merchants and bystanders to absorb the costs of property
damage?
· Testimony:
What are the opinions of others about student behavior in front of La Salle's
on St. Patrick's Day (for example, students who participated, students who
observed, students who were injured, students who avoided downtown Chico
altogether on St. Patrick's Day, city council members, the police chief, the
proprietor of La Salle's, the owner of the damaged car, nearby business
owners)?
· The
Good: Would the results of enforced good conduct be "good"? Would the
results of enforced good conduct cause unintended or unforeseen problems? What
is fair to whom?
· The
Expedient: Is it desirable to require better conduct next St. Patrick's Day?
Should authorities force better conduct next year? Should St. Patrick's Day
celebrations be cancelled? Should everyone just relax about this incident and
let students celebrate? Should students be asked to improve their conduct
voluntarily next year? Should Associated Students provide an education campaign
about respect for others, provide alternative activities, or additional
patrols?
After brainstorming, you should
have lots of material to support a thesis statement.
5. Revising your thesis
Notice that in the sentence above we used the phrase "a thesis statement" rather than "your thesis statement." This is because, as you examine your thesis statement through the Aristotelian method, you may discover that you were wrong. At this point, you should either revise your thesis or choose another subject and begin again. Revising your opinion in light of convincing evidence is the beginning of wisdom. Besides, even if it is possible to proceed with the essay as you first envisioned it, you will find it more difficult to defend a thesis you have previously discredited in your notes.
Notice that in the sentence above we used the phrase "a thesis statement" rather than "your thesis statement." This is because, as you examine your thesis statement through the Aristotelian method, you may discover that you were wrong. At this point, you should either revise your thesis or choose another subject and begin again. Revising your opinion in light of convincing evidence is the beginning of wisdom. Besides, even if it is possible to proceed with the essay as you first envisioned it, you will find it more difficult to defend a thesis you have previously discredited in your notes.
6. Crafting topic sentences
that support the thesis
Using ideas you gathered using Aristotle's method, construct three to five topic sentences that support your claim. These topic sentences will become the framework for the rest of your paper. You will further support each with examples and citations from personal interviews, newspaper articles, or other appropriate references.
Using ideas you gathered using Aristotle's method, construct three to five topic sentences that support your claim. These topic sentences will become the framework for the rest of your paper. You will further support each with examples and citations from personal interviews, newspaper articles, or other appropriate references.
The melee was not caused by the
students themselves; rather, an elderly homeless man spat on someone's shoe,
causing her to move away suddenly, and a chain reaction occurred in the line
waiting to go into La Salle's. (Example from an examination of Aristotle's
Relationship and Testimony)
Additional policemen would only
increase tension in the downtown area, making altercations more likely.
(Example from examination of Aristotle's The Good and The Expedient)
Trying to keep college students
away from downtown on holidays like this would cause lost revenues for downtown
merchants. (Example from an examination of Aristotle's The Expedient)
As you continue to draft your paper you will, of course, revise these sentences as necessary to more precisely reflect your ideas and the support you gather for them. By this time you should have a good knowledge of your subject and know where you want to go with it. It will now be possible for you to find enough additional supporting material to complete your essay.
The Tip Sheet content does not belong to me, nor is it of my own thoughts. The only content that is mine is the opening introduction to the writing prior to the tip sheet as well as additional content in red. The tip sheet content comes from and was created by Butte College. Refer to the link for the true location of the writing. J. Dick
The Writing Process| Writing Structure| Writing Content| Using Sources| Formatting Papers| Understanding Assignments| Standard English| Writing Style| Revision Guides| Editing Guides
JDick13@liberty.edu
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Wikipedia as a Spring-board for Topic Ideas
When conducting research for yourself or others (such as in an article or essay), you can use Wikipedia to spring-board your ideas on the topic. However, since Wikipedia is not always reliable—meaning that the content is not always properly verified or accurate—it is best to not use any content from Wikipedia to construct your opinions or arguments on a matter. Instead, peruse the content on Wikipedia, gather ideas, write down some notes about keywords, people, or issues, and then get ready to search the library for scholarly sources to learn as much accurate content as possible.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Source Sandwich: Table of Contents
Using the SOURCE SANDWICH:
Strengthen the Argument in Body-paragraph CONTENT
The Source Sandwich Tutorial—Extra Help, 8
Page 8
More Help:
Structured BODY-PARAGRAPHS (Arguments)
Structured BODY-PARAGRAPHS (Counter-Argument)
The Source Sandwich Tutorial—BEGIN
Page 1: NEXT
The Source Sandwich Tutorial: Wrap-Up, 7
Using the Source Sandwich Strategy
Internal Content Placement Strategies to Have a Flawless Argument
You have finally found a source that will support the sub-point topic of one of your body-paragraphs. The paragraph—as a whole—will be filled with source sandwiches that properly argue your overall point of the body-paragraph—which stems from the THESIS statement.
Using Sources:
You will embed reworded source content through paraphrasing or summarizing. Rewording source content is most beneficial for your argument because:
1. It allows you to smoothly integrate the support into your sentence using your voice and pattern.
2. It helps you to fully understand the support for the argument in your writing.
3. It helps you to LEAD the writing (argument) with your own content ideas and peppered-source-support in the form of integrated, scholarly ideas.
The Source Sandwich Tutorial, 6
Page 6
Examples:
· GETTING THERE—NEEDS WORK: Here is a section of a body-paragraph that introduces and quotes a source well, but there is no explanation of how that quote relates to the paper. The paragraph simply continues on addressing different aspects of the overall topic.
According to the article “What do we mean by ‘sex’ and ‘gender’?" by the World Health Organization, gender roles are defined as, “A set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship” (Eisend).Traditionally, men are the ones putting the bread on the table. Women stay home to clean and take care of the children. But this is a new century with new ideas and new technology. These so called “gender roles” are hardly existent now and yet are still focused on so closely today when they shouldn’t be.
· MORE ON TRACK—ACCEPTABLE SANDWICH: Here is a better example that introduces the source, quotes it, and then explains how it is relevant.
[introduces the topic] An ideal option is for the U.S. to work jointly with the U.N. on anti-terrorist drone attacks. [introduces the argument to lead to the source] The U.S. could enjoy many benefits from a relationship with the U.N. for drones. [introduces the source] In article 43 of the U.N. charter, it states one of the primary obligations of the U.N. is to [quotes the source] “maintain or restore international peace and security” (Barrett). [explains how the source is relevant to the overall topic/argument] This article indicates that the U.N. should have an interest in the war on terrorism.
Please keep in mind that the source sandwich method does not constitute the whole paragraph. The body-paragraph consists to additional parts, yet when a source is going to be used, it needs to be set up—within the body-paragraph—in the proper sandwich format.
Page 7: NEXT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)