Online Guide to Writing and Research

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

The Guide to Writing and Research focuses mainly on the challenges of writing research papers, and as part of that interest it explains how to write summaries, abstracts, and critiques. It also has a section in Chapter 3 on "Writing Essay Exams." These writing genres certainly do not exhaust the wide variety of assignments you may be faced with in your undergraduate course work.

Two kinds of writing assignments that are frequently seen in the UMUC Online Writing Center are the Argumentative Assignment and the Article Review or Reaction Paper. The following instructions are intended to help you address the challenges of these two commonly seen assignments.

Writing Arguments

Most writing is argumentative in some way. In business and professional writing, proposals, problem-solutions and analyses, political and ethical debate, advertising—argumentation and persuasion are essential elements of discourse in all walks of life. We write to persuade the reader that what we have to say is correct, intelligent, and rational and that our explanation or position makes sense and is appropriate. We present arguments in any kind of persuasive writing. We may argue that one position is superior to another, or we may present both sides of an argument fairly, leaving readers to come to their own conclusions.

Writing to argue does not mean winning at any cost or simply taking sides. To argue means to present issues and ideas in a fair-minded and rational way—to appeal to the reader's open mind and judgment. Your readers may be receptive to your point of view, but they expect you to present your argument in a logical, rational way that links evidence with your claims. Whether your argument supports one position or presents the issues on both sides even-handedly, you need to support what you say with evidence.

Writing Arguments

Types of Argument

There are basically two types of arguments: Aristotelian or adversarial, and Rogerian or consensus-building. Aristotelian argument is made to confirm a position or hypothesis or to refute an existing argument. Using the techniques at hand, the writer attempts to persuade the reader to a particular point of view. The writer uses logic, appeals to the rational in the audience, and provides empirical and common sense evidence to persuade the audience members to change their beliefs, attitudes, and actions.

Rogerian argument is a bit different—its goal is to develop consensus among readers rather than establish an adversarial relationship. The idea is that a successful argument is a winning situation for everyone. Avoiding all emotionally sensitive language, the writer phrases statements in as neutral a way as possible to avoid alienating readers by minimizing threat and establishing trust. The analysis of the opposition's point of view is carefully and objectively worded, demonstrating that the writer understands the position and reasons for believing it. In preparation for the conclusion, the writer points out the common characteristics, goals, and values of the arguments and persons involved. Finally, the writer proposes a resolution that recognizes the interests of all interested parties.

Writing Arguments

Purposes of Argument

Primarily, argument has two purposes: argument is used to change people's points of view or persuade them to accept new points of view; and argument is used to persuade people to a particular action or new behavior.

Since people don't always agree on what's right or reasonable, appropriately constructed argument helps us arrive at what's fair or true. It is used to settle disputes and discover truth. Teachers assign argumentative writing so students can learn to examine their own and other's ideas in a careful, methodical way. Argument teaches us how to evaluate conflicting claims and judge evidence and methods of investigation. Argument helps us learn to clarify our thoughts and articulate them honestly and accurately and to consider the ideas of others in a respectful and critical manner.

Writing Arguments

Steps to Writing an Argument

Introduce Your Argument

When we prepare an argument, we have the opportunity to critically analyze our own ideas and the ideas of others, to weigh evidence and claims and make judgments about them, to examine our methods of thinking and investigating, and to present our ideas effectively and persuasively. Writing an effective argument follows certain steps:

Introduce your argument by setting the context.
Your introduction should draw your reader into your subject and build common ground for your argument. Establish your context for writing the argument and the context for your topic. In your introduction, establish your tone, style, and credentials—tell the reader why you are competent to write this argument. Clarify the issues; explain why the topic is important.

Writing Arguments

Steps to Writing an Argument

State Your Thesis or Proposition

In argument, the thesis is called a proposition. Your proposition should define your argument's scope by stating its situation or context and make clear what assertion you are going to debate. Although you may be presenting both sides of the argument to let your reader decide, you may "hook" your readers by stating your argument as a question. Because many questions lack a point of view, however, be sure a question you use as a hook leads to a proposition and that your proposition makes a claim that is open to debate. Your proposition should state something that your readers feel uncertain about and about which you find arguments for both sides of the issue.

Sometimes students have an opinion they intend to address and support. Then, after reviewing information on the topic, they decide that their opinion has to be modified or changed. This event can enhance your presentation, since you probably have gained valuable insights into how people have formed opinions on the topic. Since your proposition starts out as a working proposition, it can be modified as you write your draft, collect your evidence, and evaluate your information.

To help you get started at this stage, brainstorm and freewrite about what you already know about the topic. Asking—and answering—the following questions can give you a start to your assignment:

• What do I already know about this topic? What do need to learn about this topic?
• Why is this issue important to me? Why do I want to write about it?
• Where can I find more information on this subject?
• Am I concerned more with the causes of this issue, the effects of this issue, or both?
• What other related issues need to be examined for me to address the topic thoroughly?

Writing Arguments

Steps to Writing an Argument

Anticipate Active Opposition

To examine and rebut the opposition's arguments, you need to question the evidence and the general conclusions drawn from that evidence. Address whether the opposition oversimplified or understated the alternatives. Question how the opposition used the logical and ethical arguments and plays on the readers' emotion to build their argument. Question the conclusions drawn by the opposition and how they persuade their audience to a specific course of action.

Since you will need to present all ideas in a fair and rational way, you need to anticipate the arguments on both sides of the issues. When you argue for the superiority of one position over another, you need to present its strengths and weaknesses. This usually entails addressing the opposition's perspective on the topic in detail, using your superior position as the reference point. If you are presenting the facts and not taking one position or another, you need to present the strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the argument, critically evaluating the ideas, evidence, claims, methods, and conclusions.

Making a list of strengths and weaknesses for each position is a good start to understanding the problem at hand. As you make your list, be sure to take notes about where you found the information and whether what you have written is a quote, paraphrase, or summary.

Writing Arguments

Steps to Writing an Argument

Develop Your Argument

When you develop your argument, you are confirming your own position, building your case. Use empirical evidence, such as facts and statistics, to support your claims. Appeal to your audience's rational and logical thinking. Argue your case from the authority of your evidence and research.

Your list of strengths and weaknesses can help you develop your argument. Prioritize the strengths and weaknesses for each position; decide on the top three to five strengths and weaknesses. Then, using a technique for developing content ideas, e.g., clustering, association, journalist's questions, [see Chapter 2: Techniques to Get Started], begin to expand your understanding of each of the items on your list. Evaluate each item as to how you can support it—by reasoning, providing details, adding an example, by using evidence. Again, prioritize your list of strengths and weaknesses, this time noting what supporting comments need more work, more evidence, or may be irrelevant to your argument. At this stage, it's better to overlook nothing and keep extensive notes for later reference.

As you develop your ideas, remember that you are presenting them in a fair-minded and rational way, counting on your reader's intelligence, experience, and insight to evaluate your argument and see your point of view.

Techniques for Appealing to your Readers

The success of your argument depends on your skill in convincing your reader—through sound reasoning, persuasion, and evidence—the strength of your point of view. There are three fundamental types of appeal in presenting an argument: reason, ethics, and emotion. As a writer, your task is to weave these three types of appeal skillfully into your argument in a balanced and sensible way.

• Reason
  
  Clear thinking requires that you state your claim and support it with concrete, specific facts. This approach appeals to our common sense and rational thinking. Formal reasoning entails following certain established logical methods to arrive at certain pieces of information or conclusions. Generally, these logical methods are known as inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.
  
  When our logical thinking states specific facts (called premises) and then draws a conclusion, a generalization, we call this inductive thinking. Inductive reasoning enables us to examine the specific details in light of how well they add up to the generalization. When we think inductively, we are asking whether the evidence clearly supports the conclusions.
  
  

  An example of inductive reasoning Our marketing study proves that citizens are concerned about information privacy and won't visit certain Web sites.

  
  In deductive reasoning, our logical thinking starts with the generalization. As we apply our generalization to a specific situation, we examine the individual premises that make that generalization reasonable or not. When our logical thinking starts with the generalization, or conclusion, then we may apply the generalization to a particular situation to see whether that generalization follows from the premises. Our deductive thinking can be expressed as a syllogism or an enthymeme, a shortened form of the syllogism.
  
  

  An example of deductive reasoning Syllogism (long form) Aggressive marketers speak of invasive data collection as simply "getting to know the customer," and ABC corporation is actively assembling a database of private client information. Despite their claim to be interested in providing better customer service, we may be concerned that ABC will not protect our privacy. Enthymeme Because ABC corporation is assembling a database of private information about their clients, their customers are concerned about identity theft.

  
  
  
• Ethics
  
  Think of ethics as the force of character of the speaker as it is represented in oration or writing. If you misrepresent the evidence or one of your sources, your reader will question your ethics. In any situation where you must rely on your reader's good will and common sense, you will lose your reader's open-minded stance toward your argument when you use unethical methods to support your argument. This can happen intentionally, by misrepresenting evidence and experts and by seeking to hurt individuals or groups. You may also undermine your argument by unintentional misunderstanding of the evidence and the implications of your position. This can happen when you don't research the evidence responsibly, preferring instead to express your own and others' unfounded opinions.
  
  
• Emotion
  
  Using emotions as a support for argument can be tricky. Attempting to play on your readers' emotions can smack of manipulation and is often mistrusted. To use emotional appeal successfully, you need to apply discretion and restraint. You need to choose examples that represent and illustrate your ideas fairly and then present your arguments as objectively as possible. The writer must carefully draw the connections between the ideas and illustrations, choosing diction in such a way that readers don't question motives as manipulative and sensational. Strong evidence accumulated by careful research often addresses this potential problem well. An example of an appeal to emotion is presented here: Rather than continuing these tax-and-spend policies, we plan to return your hard-earned tax money to you.

Writing Arguments

Steps to Writing an Argument

Determine Your Organization

Classic and Rogerian arguments have organizational structures, frameworks that support their discursive aims. They are presented here.

Suggested Organization for a Classic Argument

1. Introduction: Give the context and background of your issue. Establish style, tone, and significance of your issue.
   

2. State your Case: Clarify your issue here. Give any necessary background for understanding the issues. Define any important terms or conditions here.
   

3. Proposition: State your central proposition. Be sure that your hook presents an issue that is open to debate. Present the subtopics or supportive points to forecast your argument for your reader.
   

4. Refutation: Analyze the opposition's argument and summarize it; refute or address the points; point out faulty reasoning and inappropriate appeals.
   

5. Substantiation and Proof: Present and develop your own case. Carefully plan your disclosure; avoid logical fallacies. Rely primarily on reasoning for your appeal and use emotional appeals carefully; use examples, facts, experts, and statistics. Develop your argument using the appropriate prose strategy, e.g., causal analysis, comparison, analogies, definitions.
   

6. Conclusion: Conclude with conviction. Review your main points and state your claims strongly. Make a strong plea for action, or invite your readers to refute your argument.

Suggested Organization for a Rogerian Argument

1. Write a brief objective statement to define the issue.
   

2. Analyze and state the other's position in a neutral, objective way. Demonstrate that you understand the other's position and their reasons for holding it. Avoid moralizing or judging the other's position or reasons.
   

3. Analyze and state your own position in a neutral, objective way. Avoid moralizing about your own position or reasons.
   

4. Analyze what the two positions have in common; find commonly shared goals and values.
   

5. Propose a resolution to the issue that recognizes and incorporates the interests of both positions.

The order of your strongest and weakest points—called the order of disclosure—is important to think about as well. How do we know which order will work? One effective way to order your points is this: start with the second most important point, go to the next points of lesser importance, and then conclude with your strongest point. When you place your two strongest points first and last, you give your important points the two most memorable and emphatic positions, at the beginning and the end of your discussion. When you wrap up your discussion with the strongest point coming last, you emphasize the strength of your argument and give it punch. This pattern is considered powerful for overcoming the initial resistance of the reader/audience. However, many arguments use the order of the weakest points to the strongest points.

Writing Arguments

Steps to Writing an Argument

Write Your Conclusion

Your conclusion should state your conviction strongly. Review your main points and tell your audience what action you would like them to take; address and resolve the main points from your introduction.

Writing Arguments

Adapting the Argument Structure

Informal writing often calls for a modified form of the classic argument structure described above. Once you have an introduction and a conclusion, you can combine and move any of the other parts around to suit your audience and purpose. For example, you can combine the introduction and the statement of your proposition, refute the opposition's major and strongest point, state your case and confirm your proposition, refute the opposition's weaker points, and end with your conclusion.

We understand the way in which audiences assimilate new information and come to understand and accept new points of view. Your argument can reflect this. Readers usually start with a state of ease and comfort with their own understanding and points of view. As you introduce new information and question their beliefs and understanding, your readers enter a state of discomfort and a cognitive disorientation. At this point, the writer can help the audience assimilate new information and new points of view by providing relevant examples and clear evidence that builds on what they already know.

Writing Arguments

References to consult for writing arguments

• Fahnestock, J. (2000). A rhetoric of argument. New York: McGraw Hill.

• Hairston, M. (1982). A contemporary rhetoric. 3^rd edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

• Paradigm Online Writing Assistant. Available online at http://www.powa.org/.

• Trail, G. (2000). Reading writing: An argument rhetoric & reader with rhetorical terms and concepts: A contemporary glossary. Harcourt Brace.

Reviews and Reaction Papers

Article and Book Reviews

Some assignments may ask you to write a review of a book or journal article. Where book reports summarize the contents of the book, book reviews are a critical analysis of the book that describes, summarizes, and critiques the ideas in the book. Reviews are a means of going beyond the literal content of a source and are a tool for connecting ideas from a variety of academic sources. Reviews provide an objective analysis of ideas, support for opinions, and a means of evaluating your own opinions.

Some teachers like to assign book reviews to help students broaden their view of the subject matter and to give students practice critically evaluating ideas in the subject area. Teachers often require that students follow existing review formats modeled in the journals in their disciplines. If you are asked to use such formats, keep in mind that citations for books and journal articles differ from discipline to discipline. Find out which style guide is appropriate for the discipline in which you are writing. (Refer to the guide's discussion of style manuals for more information.)

Reviews enable you to interact with the author and agree or disagree with the author's ideas. A review enables you to examine your understanding of a subject area in light of the ideas presented in the reviewed book and interact with the author and his or her ideas. Also, a book review helps your teacher evaluate your understanding of the subject matter and your ability to think competently in your discipline.

Some questions to keep in mind when you are writing a book review are:

1. What exactly is the subject of the book? What are the author's credentials for this writing on this subject? Is the title suggestive? Does the Preface contain information as to the author's purpose?

2. What is the author's thesis? Is it clearly stated or do you have to dig it out of the facts and opinions? Does the author present the ideas in a balanced way? What are the author's biases?

3. What organizational approach does the author use? Does the chosen organization support the author's thesis effectively?

4. What conclusion or conclusions does the author make? Does the conclusion agree with the thesis or stated purposes? How does the conclusion differ from or agree with your course textbook or other books you have read?

5. How has this book helped you understand the subject you are studying in the course? Would you recommend the book to your reader?

As you write your review, ask yourself these questions:

1. Have I represented the author and the ideas presented in the book in a fair and balanced way? Does the ethical tone of my review prompt the reader to trust my judgment? (You may want to review the discussion on writing arguments.)

2. Does my review reflect the interests of my readers and fulfill my reasons for writing the review?

3. Have I demonstrated my understanding of the content of the article or book I'm reviewing? Have I clearly addressed the major issues in the subject area?

4. Have I clearly stated my own biases as a reviewer?

5. Have I clearly expressed my position about how much or little the author has contributed to my understanding of the subject in question and recommended or not recommended the book to other potential readers.

6. Have I checked my review for organizational, grammatical, and mechanical errors?

Reviews and Reaction Papers

Reaction Papers

Some assignments may require you to formulate a reaction to your readings, to your instructor's lectures and comments, and even to your classmates, including in your online classes. You may even be asked to write a reaction assignment in a journal. Reaction writing may be informal or formal and is primarily analytical; reactions may be included in critiques, reviews, illustrations of ideas, or judgments of a concept or theory.

Reactions require close reading of the text you're reacting to. Like reviews, reactions go beyond the literal content of the text, requiring you to bring to the text meaning not explicitly stated, to elaborate on or explore the implications of the author's ideas. Your reactions may include your subjective interpretations; you may even use the first-person narrator "I." Your reaction paper is not required to follow the organization and ordering in the text. In fact, reactions can start with the final point made by the author and move to other points previously made. Reactions can be about one point or many points in the text. Although the reactions are focused on your own thinking, you can also include summaries, paraphrases, or quotations from the examined text.

The organization of a reaction varies according to the audience, purpose, and limitations for your assignment. You may use a general-to-specific or a specific-to-general organization. You may use a structured format, such as those for argument, or you may use an informal one of your choosing. However you organize your reaction paper, be sure that your approach emphasizes and reflects your analysis and serious consideration of the author's text.

Writing reactive assignments enables you to examine relationships of ideas among the various parts of the passages, and between the author's ideas about a given topic and your preexisting knowledge and experiences about the topic. When you relate your own ideas to those of the author, you can bring your personal knowledge and experience to bear on the topic in such a way as to analyze the author's message in a familiar context. When you carry on a dialogue with the author, you are expanding and speculating on the author's ideas - entering into an academic conversation with the author.

Writing reactions usually calls for an expressive writing style, where you can let your thoughts flow, be imaginative, and experiment with language. Although reactions often seem like freewriting or reacting in continuous writing, you want to organize your thoughts with a thesis, introduction and conclusion, and supporting statements. In fact, your reaction may take the form of a formal or informal argument. (Refer to the discussion on Writing Arguments for more details.)

Consider these general steps as you plan your writing:

1. First, freewrite in order to expand and speculate on the author's ideas.

2. Decide on your working thesis statement.

3. Select and prioritize the particular reactions you want to include.

4. Decide on your organization and format (e.g., online or formal writing assignment).

5. Draft your reaction paper.

6. Write your introduction and concluding paragraphs.

7. Revise your final thesis statement and draft.