Essay IV: Policies & Fear
A proposal argument answers the question, "What should we do?" You will probably argue for an action that a group or person should take, but you might also argue against taking a particular action. To prepare for this paper, you will first identify a problem.
- Does something at UT or in your hometown need to change?
- Does a group that you belong to need to figure out how to get more members?
- Has someone proposed a solution that you think won't solve a problem?
After you've identified a problem, you'll want to think about a solution. Is it something we can live with? Or do we need to address it immediately? You'll need to consider a variety of solutions, including steps that might already have been taken.
Once you've examined several options, you'll want to propose the solution that you think is best and give good reasons. Things you should take into consideration:
- Would it be a good idea to do nothing? Why or why not?
- Does your proposal do the best job of correcting the problem?
- Is your solution feasible--is it doable, practical, and affordable?
Finding a Topic
- Consider local policies, procedures, or tendencies that you find ineffective in some way. If the Top Ten Percent law has bad effects, what can we do to solve the problems the law creates?
- Consider local version of general issues discussed in The Culture of Fear. If you take one of the many problems Glassner identifies, how can we begin to solve it at the local level?
Developing Your Content
- Specific Problem: To write an effective proposal, you'll need an effective problem statement. You have to argue to establish the existence of a problem, its significance, and its major causes.
- Clear Solution: You'll also need to make it clear that you are arguing for a particular solution. You will argue that a solution will reduce or eliminate a problem and that the solution will be desirable, affordable, and feasible to implement.
- Focused Justification: Remember that your solution doesn't have to solve the world's problems. Your proposal should solve your problem, but don't get carried away with the idea that your solution might solve all problems.
- Attention to Alternatives: You'll need to have fair consideration of alternative positions on the problem and on the solution, with responses in the form of concession and rebuttal.
Choosing an Audience
For this paper you will choose the best audience for your proposal. This audience might be an individual or group with the authority to enact your proposal. (You may need to do some research to determine who this is.) Or, you might choose an audience that is indirectly involved with the actual decision making. For example, you could aim to persuade a relevant group to attend a particular event or write their own letters to an authority suggesting a particular course of action. Be sure to write this essay so that this specific audience will find it persuasive. Along these lines, you'll need to choose an appropriate forum for reaching this audience (letter, essay, business memo) and choose appropriate appeals, style, and tone.
Choosing a Format
Your choice of audience will determine your writing style. For instance, proposals directed to a business might have a cover letter and use headings for different sections.
You might try breaking your argument into sections with clear headings and subheadings. Likewise, you might experiment with using bulleted lists, tables, and charts as appropriate in this paper.
Additional Requirements
FORMAT: Your paper should be 4 to 5 pages long, typed, double-spaced, and carefully proofread. You should use MLA guidelines for documenting sources.
SOURCES: You must use a sufficient number of appropriate sources to make your argument persuasive. Because you will be dealing with a local real-life problem, you are expected to use at least 1 primary source of evidence, i.e. conduct a survey, observation, or interview. Use outside sources to support virtually any part of your argument and to provide alternative positions that you will respond to.
SUBMIT: To submit your assignment, you need to upload the MSWord file to our blog and post an entry with a link to that file.
Grading Criteria
I will evaluate your essay according to these criteria:
- Demonstrated ability to construct a proposal argument.
- Choice of a significant and arguable claim.
- Demonstrated ability to use well-chosen, fair and sufficient appeals to ethos, logos and pathos to support your claims (including appropriate graphics)
- Serious consideration of alternative solutions, with appropriate use of concessions and rebuttals.
- Effective and fair use of other authors as allies or as opponents.
- Confident but civil advocacy of your own position.
- Proper use, citation, and documentation of source material.
- Effective essay organization to create a clear line of argument.
- Clear and precise sentence-level rhetoric (grammar and style).