Class 23: Intro to the last major essay: the Research Paper
Quiz on THURSDAY: For 11/8 R READ “Selling Walmart” : 72-86
Do you think being public in political agendas is worth the risk (increase customer
points of contact or purchases) or can alienate too large a reactionary demographic.
Think Chik-Fil-A...
“
HAND IN COMP/CONT 200 pt papers after class or by
email:
If by email  send to both addresses and wait for
RECEIVED reply!
GRADED by next Tuesday…..
QUIZ vs FINAL exam: only 1 more quiz left!
If your quiz score + extra credit points are not near 80, you are likely
tAKING the final exam on 11/21! Unless by almost magic…
Each Learning Workshop adds + 5 pts to QUIZZES….
Learning Center workshops: Last workshop Nov 19
http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/Academics/LearningCenter/Pages/EventsCalendar.aspx
Another for quizzes: (+5) Vet’s letter by 11/16 for Packages from
home… http://www.packagesfromhome.org/index.php/letters/guidelines
I.
And now…the research paper (200 pts)
II. Thesis: your paper’s topic, as a sentence. NEVER A QUESTION if your
thesis is an argumentative thesis.
WHAT IS AN ArgumentativeTHESIS? A single sentence summary of an
argument you are going to make or point of view you are going to take.
1)NOT A QUESTION / DOES NOT END IN QUESTION MARK.
BAD: Could drinking tap water in former Arizona industrial lands increase risk of cancer?
BETTER:Drinking tap water from former Arizona industrial lands will increase risk of
cancer.
2)NOT mostly SUBJECTIVE, not a preference, but something that could be argued
:
BAD: The Cardinals are the best football team
BETTER: The 2010 Cardinals were the best team that year for the 4-3 Defense.
BAD: Jedi is the one and only true religion
BETTER: Jedi meets the 6 basic tenets of being recognized as an organized religion.
BAD: The right hand index finger is the best digit to pick your nose.
BETTER:????
2)PHRASED SO SOMEONE CAN DISAGREE WITH YOU/ TAKE THE
OPPOSITE SIDE, otherwise it’s not argumentative.
Test for argumentative form: what is the opposite side of your topic – the ‘con’ to
your ‘pro’? If you can’t easily find / phrase the ‘con’ side, you have an informational
topic, not an argumentative one.
BAD: Plastic Surgery in teenagers.
BETTER:Plastic surgery in teenagers is a growing trend caused by peer and media
image pressure
BAD: Preparing a car to win a street race.
BETTER:Chip modification is the most important way to prepare a car for a street race.
BAD: Misdiagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder
BETTER: Misdiagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder is leading to overmedication of
school age children.
3)NARROWED TO MATCH AUDIENCE
(See narrowing lesson)
4) SPECIFIC and TAKES A SIDE FIRMLY, NOT JUST uses weak words like “possibly,
sometimes, might, could, etc.
BAD: Video games might increase violence in pre-teens.
BETTER: Video games increase violence in pre-teens.
BAD: Sometimes it is possible to use supplements to win bodybuilding contests.
BETTER: Supplements are now a necessity in order to win bodybuilding contests.
5) IT ALSO CANNOT BE a COMMON SENSE argument”
BAD: Crime should be stopped before it overwhelms the justice system
BETTER: The justice system has become overwhelmed because of enforcement of
“non victim” laws
BAD: People who do not breathe tend to be less successful in life.
BETTER: Masters of the Qi Gong technique use mental will to overcome or delay body
functions.
6) BE CAREFUL in choosing the words of your THESIS: EVERYTHING YOU SAY
YOU ARE GOING TO COVER IN YOUR APPROVED THESIS, MUST BE COVERED
IN YOUR PAPER.
For example: If your approved thesis is:
Grappling is the most effective mixed martial arts technique in Ultimate Fighting
competitions
THEN….
You must compare it to all other major techniques, and discuss it for defense, offense
and counter moves….
MORE SPECIFIC means less to cover: Grappling is the most effective mixed martial
arts technique for dealing with reach-based attack styles in Ultimate Fighting
competitions
QUICKEST TEST: If you can't find any possible
opposite/opposing point of view to your argument, you
probably don't have a thesis in argumentative form.
EXAMPLES:
1)WRONG: Effects of nerve gas on soldiers who survive chemical attacks
OK but weak: Nerve gas has negative effects on soldiers who survive chemical attacks
OK/ARGUMENTATIVE FORM: Nerve gas exposure continues to harm the health of
survivors long after the attack
2)WRONG: Problems in treating Alzheimers’ patients
OK but weak: There are problems in treating Alzheimers’ patients
OK/ARGUMENTATIVE FORM: Alzheimers victims in nursing homes face more severe
problems than those who receive home care.
3)WRONG: Robots and the car industry in the United States
OK/ARGUMENTATIVE FORM: ????
4) WRONG: Gambling and corruption at the Wild Horse Pass Casino
OK/ARGUMENTATIVE FORM: ????
V.TPEOEO
WHAT does an argumentative paragraph look like?
*Each content paragraph in an argumentative paper is TPEO or TPEOEO or
TPEOEOEO
Topic Sentence: one sentence in EACH paragraph – what the paragraph
is about or paper’s subtopic – in an argumentative paper: a specific argument
under paper’s thesis.
Point: In your own words, how the topic sentence/subtopic/this paragraph
is important to, argues for the paper’s thesis. ‘Point’ is necessary in
paragraph to prevent lack of clarity or misinterpretation by audience different
POV
Evidence or Example: one of TWO quotes or paraphrased details
and expert knowledge from an outside source that supports your
paragraph’s topic sentences. ALWAYS with a citation
Optional explanation of Evidence: in your own words, commentary
or how the evidence you quoted is important or supports your topic
sentence and/or your paper thesis. Not always required if your
evidence (quote) is straightforward.
SAMPLE PARAGRAPH SHOWING EACH PART AND ESPECIAL THE ‘E” of evidence/expert
knowledge
Thesis: Adopting the aluminum bat instead of the wood
bat in amateur baseball fundamentally changes the game.
YELLOW:
T
BLUE:
P
grey =
E(vidence/xpert knowledge)
green: Optional comment
Safety issues on the playing field increase immensely when aluminum bats are present. In any
competitive sport, no one wants anyone to get hurt. Unfortunately aluminum bats increase the
risk in baseball. Teams across the country are beginning to return to the traditional wood bat;
one of those teams is the Wellesley Raiders. Eric Winer, president of the Wellesley American
Little League, said in the July issue of Greater Boston Magazine, “We had an incident last
year…when one of our top pitchers, Billy Hughto, got struck by a line drive of a metal batted
ball and was out for the season” (22). This incident easily helped Eric Winer make the decision
to switch from aluminum to wood. Winer was not alone in making the safety choice: “The
Millburn Mullvers tried aluminum bats, but quickly switched back after a line drive broke the
hand of the first baseman despite gloves. This kind of line drive with wood bats had never led to
an injury” (“Millburn Mullvers website”).
THE LAST ESSAY:
ENG101: MAJOR ESSAY: FULL ARGUMENTATIVE WITH
SOURCES 200 pts:
Write a 4 page minimum argumentative essay on one of these
three thesis:
1)The collapse of World Trade Center was primarily due to the heat
of burning fuel and inadequate construction materials and design;
or
2)The collapse of World Trade Center was due primarily to impact
from the planes & poor design; or
3)The collapse of the World Trade Center was a conspiracy and not
due primarily to the planes’ crash
*Must have 3 arguments+ 1 conterargument, and use 4 sources
minimum!
___*Paper must be double spaced, Times Roman 12 font, and no
larger than 1 inch margins.
1)Title page should have a)Title, b) Your name, c) Class and section #,
and d) Date CENTERED ON PAGE.
2)Paper should be 3 pages + Works Cited (all the way to the bottom – if in
doubt have paper end on 4th pg)
3)) At least four sources. One must be a book, one must be a peer
reviewed journal, the other two can be anything EXCEPT Wikipedia or
interview (eg websites, magazine articles, another journal, etc).
4)At least 3 different arguments for your side, in TPEOEO paragraphs as
taught in class. Each paragraph must have at least two direct word-forword quotes that support your argument from 2 different sources. Each
quotes should be trimmed or naturally be less than 4 lines!
5)Have at least one counterargument paragraph (at the end of your
paper, right before the conclusion), where you weaken/point out the fallacy
or problem with the opposition/ either of the two thesis you didn’t choose.
2 quotes for counterargument OR 2 quotes for your attack on the
counterargument.
IMPT: Any time you use a quote in a paragraph to support a point, make
sure to give a citation or an in-text reference to the source
Below is an example using the same quote, but in A)the quote is followed
by a citation, and in B)the quote is used as an in-text reference to the
source. ONLY use part of the TITLE as citation IF NO AUTHOR
LNAME is available!
Citation example: The top 5 American engineers agreed that the force
of impact was a factor, but not the main reason for building
collapse: “Impact is not enough of a kinetic force to cause a total
girder collapse on the scale of the WTC” (“Ben Elton’s Physics”).
INTEXT example: As a representative of America’s top 5 engineers
stated in the anonymous article titled “Ben Elton’s Physics” on the
Conspiracy Architecture Website, impact could not have been enough
for a building collapse: “Impact is not enough of a kinetic force to
cause a total girder collapse on the scale of the WTC”
6)At the END of your paper, attach a single NEW page, a WORKS
CITED page (counts as 4th pg) that lists your sources used.
http://www.easybib.com will GENERATE your Works Cited page so
use it!
RESEARCH STARTER KIT (optional)
Two journals: http://www.jod911.com/ (Journal of Debunking 9/11
Conspiracy Theories)
http://www.journalof911studies.com/ (Journal of 9/11 Studies)
1) http://www.ae911truth.org/
5)
http://serendipity.nofadz.com/wtc.
htm
2)
6)
http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/n
lavello_050503_bombs.html
ewyork/
3) http://www7)
math.mit.edu/~bazant/WTC/WTChttp://www.notbored.org/wtc.html
asce.pdf
4)
8)
http://www.debunking911.com/paper.h http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/
tm
JOM/0112/Eagar/Eagar0112.html