Argumentative Essay Assignment | Get Paper Help

This essay is the culmination of all you have learned in the course and should be written in an argumentative form. This is the form you will primarily use in the majority of your essays at the university. Take a specific side to a given topic and prove your thesis, based on the research you conduct.

Along with the other requirements already discussed involving academic papers, this essay should, at a minimum, include:

• a proper title which reflects the thesis
• an argumentative tone
• proper structure and paragraphs (including introduction and conclusion)
• a minimum of two peer-reviewed journals
• proper documentation of secondary source material
• be 3-4 pages double-spaced

Suggested topics:

What is the effect of outsourcing on the Canadian economy?

How should the federal government deal with the issues in the Canadian north? Consider mineral rights, the Northwest Passage, water or any other aspect you wish to explore.

Do public/private partnerships work for the taxpayers of a given sector?

Are Canada’s Olympic athletes properly trained and economically supported?

Is President Trump correct when he argues that coal is a sustainable resource?

Are boycotts/political interventions acceptable/ effective or not?

Is Canada a multicultural society? Choose one specific aspect and argue it through.

Many experts say it is time to introduce alternative forms of energy into our daily lives. Choose one sector of the economy and show how this could, or could not, be effective.

Is the Gateway/Keystone pipeline a positive or negative venture for the future of Canada?

Is foreign aid effective?

Choose a topic of your own design.

For this assignment, you must utilize and properly document at least two peer-reviewed journal sources. Proper documentation is expected.

Lecture on Argument/ Persuasion

Argument/ persuasion is used in a variety of writing formats and, as the term(s) implies, is used to convince the reader of your position/ ideas.

In fact, it is used in almost every form of communication where argumentation will be employed.

The terms argument and persuasion are often used interchangeably.

That is why argument and persuasion are usually taught together, since effective writers are constantly adjusting a variety of elements to the purpose and audience of a particular writing task.

Sometimes, the thesis in certain persuasive pieces is not stated until near the end and is commonly used in speeches and other forms of communication where the audience may not initially agree with your point of view.

To persuade your readers is to convince them to think, act or feel a certain way.

In a sense, some degree of persuasion propels almost all writing.

Specifically, persuasion appeals to one or more of the following:

1: Reason: An appeal to reason relies upon logic and intellect and is usually most effective when you are expecting your readers to disagree with you in any way.

2: Emotion: Emotional appeals, however, attempt to arouse your readers’ feelings, instincts, senses and biases.

3: Ethics: Ethics are usually associated with philosophical attitudes (although the term has profound meanings for different individuals).

For examples of persuasion pieces, see the editorial section of any newspaper.

Sometimes, persuasion does not utilize documentation, but documentation will be necessary for the final assignment in this course (sources).

Also, the grade for the persuasion assignment will be based on whether or not you are convincing and not just on structure and paragraphing.

Finally, persuasion is the foundation of argument, the next, and most important, section of this course.

What? The Definition

We all know what is meant by the word persuasion. It is bringing someone over to our side usually with words.

An argument may occur when someone resists our attempts at persuasion.

Persuasion is more than encouraging someone to come on side.

Argument means more than disagreement.

In the context of writing, argument and persuasion refer to a kind of writing that has a particular purpose- one that differs in degree, if not in kind, from the purpose of expository (to explain or describe) prose.

Argument and Persuasion attempt to lead the reader to share the writer’s belief and, perhaps, even to act on this belief.

Here is the subtle difference between the two terms:

Argument is the term often applied to the logical approach, convincing a person by way of the mind.

Persuasion is the term often applied to the emotional approach, convincing a person by way of the heart.

Sometimes, we can use both routes. We decide which approach to use; logical or emotional, or a combination of the two, depending on the issue we are discussing.

An important part of convincing the reader is getting the facts straight. An argument is only as strong as the logic behind it.

Even when appealing primarily to the reader’s feelings, the writer must do so reasonably or risk producing a paper that is either sentimental or bullying and, therefore, not persuasive.

To be convincing, the reasoning must be sound; if it is not, readers are likely to be confused or insulted, rather than convinced.

There are two fundamental ways of reasoning: induction and deduction.

Inductive reasoning: the logical process of examining a number of individual cases and coming to a general conclusion.

Example: I ordered a number of pizzas from Fido’s that were horrible and concluded that their pizza was crap.

Deductive reasoning: Instead of considering specific cases to come up with a general statement, deduction applies a general statement to a specific instance and then reasons through to a logical conclusion.

Deduction is the formal logic of the syllogism, a traditional three-part formula:

Major premise: All humans are mortal
Minor premise: Socrates is human
Conclusion: Socrates is mortal

Deduction is only as solid as its premises. Deducing specifics from faulty generalizations is dangerous reasoning, as the next example shows:

Major premise: All Iraqis are terrorists
Minor premise: Yusuf is Iraqi
Conclusion: Yusuf is a terrorist

Given the flawed nature of the major premise, the conclusion is erroneous (and the product of a bigoted mind).

In short, any writing intended to convince must be grounded in sound logic. Both inductive and deductive reasoning are only as sound as the observations or the premises on which they are based.

If your readers are able to detect logical gaps, faulty premises, or unsupportable generalizations in your reasoning, they will not be convinced of anything you have to say.

Why? The Purpose:

We write arguments to make a case for something and to prove that case through a critical analysis.

Keep in mind that “critical” means to make a judgment for or against; not just find fault.

Learning about the logical processes that underlie argumentation and persuasion has another purpose, one that extends beyond the act of writing.

The “hidden agenda” in mastering this rhetorical mode is that learning to reason well enables you to detect other people’s attempt to pull persuasive wool over our eyes.

If we know the rules of sound, logical argument, we can see through the tricks of those who would like to manipulate or lie to us (think of advertising).

For example, President George W. Bush stated,

Saddam Hussein had “Weapons of Mass Destruction” and the 9/11 (2001) attacks were connected to Iraq. Not true, but it sounds impressive (and scary).

Some people can be persuaded: by being told large lies and playing on fears.

Obviously, that will not work if you are writing arguments for professors who are experts in their fields.

Any person aware of the principles of sound reasoning is not easily swayed by lies, big or small.

How? The technique

Two patterns are specific to argument and persuasion. One is the classic “their side-my side” strategy, which is useful when you are arguing a controversial position that will provoke serious dispute.

This pattern involves presenting the “con” (or “against”) points of your opponent first, then refuting them with the “pro” (or “for”) side of your argument.

It may work in speeches or editorials. Avoid that in academic papers.

You may have been taught to always take the other side of the argument into consideration, but not at this level, as it gets you into a comparison/ contrast model that I have warned about.

There is an easy way to get around that and it can be done in one sentence:

“While deregulation has benefited many large corporations, it has actually endangered the public good.”

If, in your paper, you feel the need to include proofs that work against your side, work them in and then argue against in the same paragraph.
The structural pattern specific to academic arguments makes use of the familiar thesis statement.

The first step in this procedure is discovering, examining and stating an opinion about an issue.

Of course, the logic of your opinion must be carefully scrutinized before the opinion can serve as the subject of a persuasive paper.

The crucial test for a satisfactory statement of opinion is, as we have seen before, that someone could argue the contrary point of view.

Once you have ensured that your reasons are accurate, relevant and complete, the next step is to arrange these reasons in order (remember our 15 steps here).

The last step is to link the opinion to the reasons in a grammatically parallel thesis statement.

Here is a different, and more sophisticated, example from what we have seen so far:

Censorship of books is dangerous because it restricts the individual’s right to read, impedes artists’ ability to create and jeopardizes society’s freedom of expression.

Bringing someone over to our side through well-chosen words is a challenge.

Argument and persuasion are probably the most formidable writing tasks that we undertake, yet they may also be the most important.

Finish with “The Changing Face of Literacy”