Choose an argumentative topic….there are examples from the Paper Details I provided for you. Something that is interesting to teenagers and this time-period.
“Think outside the box; collapse the box.” This is me collapsing the things about writing assignments that box in student writers and asking you to think for yourself and set yourself to writing something truly thoughtful and truly meaningful. This is your chance to impress me and leave a lasting last impression. Nearly nothing is defined. You can write about something that you read in DISC 1312 this semester. Explore the literature a little more! You can write about something that you read or learned in some other class this semester. You could also write an argument about how Kim Kardashian’s Paper cover in 2014 was a step backwards for women’s rights or how the National Junior Bull Rider’s Association should be outlawed. You could argue that Umphrey Lee Cafeteria should offer more vegan options to be true to current diet trends or that Anti-Vaxxers are the greatest threat to public health since the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918. You could write that the Bible is the best grief management guidebook out there or that The Notebook is the only movie to capture both the volatility of young love and the endurance of love. You can argue whatever you want to argue and I will grade it on its merits. I want you to be arguing for something that you believe to be true, and, along with that, I want you to be responding to something: a novel, a short story, an essay, a poem, a movie, a television show, a painting, a drawing, an article, a Tweet or Instagram post, a play, a Barbie you owned and played with as a child, aa menu, origami crane that you once saw on a friend’s desk that led you your fascination with Asian art forms and paper art. You get the idea. The reader should be clear what you are responding to. You want to quote from something? Go for it. You want to include some images into your paper so that I can see what you are talking about? Go for it. Like every paper you have written this year, you will be judged on whether or not you have produced a clear, compelling argument that makes impressive use of evidence. All I want: 1. That you write about something that actually matters to you…without it all being personal anecdote or story. 2. That it is an argument with a thesis, not just stream-of-consciousness ‘thinking out loud’ about a topic. 3. That you turn it in by Monday, December 3 by 11:59 P.M. MLA formatting and cite your sources, please. There are no other guidelines at all. So, my true individuals, start readying yourself to write a paper that is truly individualized from that of your classmates. This should be the best paper you have ever written.
