Pet-Peeve Argument Exercise
(20 points)
The purpose of this exercise to craft a well-structured argument in a
short period of time. Follow the prompts below, which will lead you
from brainstorming to final product: an essay. To see an example of a
completed exercise, with finished essay, click here.
I: Top-Ten List of things that make me angry
List your top-ten pet peeves:
II: Brainstorming Assertions
Write a bunch of assertions for a few of the things you listed above.
Use the words “should” or “should not.” Examples:
Golf should be banned.
People who say “think outside the box” should be fined ten dollars
each time they say it.
Retail clerks should be banned by law from saying “Will that be
all/everything?” just before they ring up your purchase.
People who say “outside of my comfort zone” should be required by
law to sleep outside in freezing weather, for two nights.
III: Freewrite.
Choose One Assertion from your list in II, write is as a first line, and
freewrite, offering reasons to support the assertion. Don’t worry about
structure, just jam, riff, improvise. If you digress, that’s okay.
IV: Scratch Outline
Look through the chaos of your freewriting and locate three main
reasons that support your thesis. Circle or highlight them and move
them into scratch outline form along with your thesis. The scratch
outline should look like this:
Thesis:
Premise 1:
Premise 2:
Premise 3:
My scratch outline would look like this:
Thesis: Retail clerks should be banned by law from saying “Will that be
everything for you?”
Premise 1: Using the phrase puts selling-pressure on the customer.
Premise 2: The phrase doesn’t make logical sense.
Premise 3: My buying habits aren’t the clerks concern.
V: Write a Draft
Based on your scratch outline, write your argument as a developed
essay in Basic Essay Structure.