Argument Essay

          Without knowing it, those of you who contributed to the wiki conversation last week about “A Scary Time to Raise a Daughter” were doing a pre-writing exercise for your Argument Essay. Similarly, every time you've submitted assignment based on the readings in our textbook, you've been examining another author's argument for strengths and weaknesses. All that preparation will be very helpful as you write the first draft of your Argument essay..

Academic Essays

          Next semester, in Composition I, when you write academic essays in English, you’ll join the long tradition of responding to the essays of those who come before you. Academic work, like science, never ends. Every participant is both a reader and a writer who blends old ideas with new thinking and guides her readers toward a new and better understanding.

Citing Source Material

          Very often, a new academic paper responds directly to an earlier essay, by a different author, for a specific reason. Some of you earlier this semester wrote essays to respond directly to Casey Banas' essay "What's Wrong with Schools?" In your responses, many of you also referred to Beth Johnson's "The Professor Is a Dropout." In fact, you already have significant experience citing the works of other authors. 

A Specific, Arguable Claim Defends a Controversial Position

          Your textbook offers much good advice about argument. Nothing it says is more important than what an argument essay does.

          In this assignment, the chapter suggests, you'll be asked to write an essay in which you defend a position with a series of solid reasons. The difference between this and earlier essays you've written for this course is that argument advances a controversial point.

Choosing Your Argument

          Be sure to read the textbook sections called Developing an Argument Essay, beginning on page 358, and Molly Ivins' "Ban the Things. Ban Them All, " an excellent argument essay on the topic of gun control.

          Then take another look at Steve Lopez's essay and consider the arguments he makes. He argues that parents have to be crazy to have children in the modern world. Do you agree with him? He argues that modern culture bombards young people deliberately with direct and troubling messages about sex. Do you agree?

          We talked in class about several other themes and arguments to be found in this essay. I hope you took notes. You can find and defend a controversial point about parents and their children. You can defend a controversial point about the responsibilities of advertisers whose ads seem to promote early sexuality. You can compare how parents in different cultures have different fears for their daughters, or how mothers and fathers differ in their treatment of sons and daughters.

          If you need help finding making an appropriate argument, send me a summary of your brainstorming and I will gladly help you develop one. (Don't wait until Sunday night!)

Providing Background

          We talk a lot about how to write for specific audiences, a problem that is particularly relevant when your writing refers to the work of others. You can’t assume that your reader knows the background; in fact, you must assume your reader is not familiar with Steve Lopez's essay. That means you’ll have to provide the necessary background as part of your essay. You don’t need to summarize "A Scary Time to Raise a Daughter." Instead, you'll quote, paraphrase, or summarize only the parts that are relevant to your argument. 

Direct Citation of the Original Essay

          At least once, you’ll need a sentence that identifies the essay you’re responding to. It might look like the following.

          Steve Lopez, in his essay, “A Scary Time to Raise a Daughter,” says that everything about modern media scares him as a parent because it's all directed at young people and "it's all about sex."

          That sentence contains a quotation and a paraphrase from an essay, with a particular title, by a particular author. It names the author with first name and last name only, no titles. You may refer to the same author several times in your direct response. The next time you refer to the same author, you will use his last name only.

Sources for Your Argument

          Our textbook contains another essay you may wish to cite. "Is Sex All That Matters?" considers many of the themes Steve Lopez covers: youth, advertising, suggestive themes in media culture, teen pregnancy. I invite you to respond to Joyce Garrity's essay, or Steve Lopez's essay, or both.

               "Is Sex All That Matters?" (page 767)

               "A Scary Time to Raise a Daughter" (page 775)

               "Propaganda Techniques in Today's Advertising" (page 706)

Need More Help?

          For more information about citation technique, refer to "Citation Within a Paper" on page 432 of our textbook.

          For a review of the important components of an Argument Essay, follow the link to the Argument Essay Checklist

THE ASSIGNMENT

• ASSIGNMENT: 5 Paragraph Argument Essay (can be longer) with citations.

• TOPIC: Not Optional! You must respond to arguments made in “A Scary Time to Raise a Daughter” by Steve Lopez, or "Is Sex All That Matters?" by Joyce Garrity, or both. .

• PERSPECTIVE: You may adopt any point of view you like, (devoted child, recent teenager, frightened parent, spouse of a worried parent) as long as you write a respectful academic essay from that perspective.

• AUDIENCE: You must assume that your reader is not familiar with the essays you cite. This means summarizing or paraphrasing their arguments to provide readers with necessary background. 

• DUE DATE FIRST DRAFT: MON, APR 12, 2010, ON PAPER, AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS