For this week’s post, I ?want you to choose a topic for your Think Piece and discuss what your argument will be, and how you will begin to organize some of your thoughts about the paper. I want you to answer all of the following prompts below:

1. First, give us your topic/opinion on an issue and then state why you chose this topic- why is it important to you and what experience do you have with this issue?
2. Next, discuss your stance on the issue – where do you stand on this topic specifically? What is your argument? And, what is one reason you believe your opinion?
3. Then, try to come up with the big debate or main argument that surrounds your topic. What is the debate or controversy that surrounds this issue? (Hint – If you can’t think of a debate or controversy, then maybe do a little Google research and see who might be arguing and what are they arguing).
4. Finally, discuss who you think is the ideal audience for this argument? (I don’t want you to say everyone, try hard to consider who this topic appeals to the most). For example, if your argument is that everyone should eat pizza, then who are the people you are trying to convince? Or, if your argument is that students in college should not eat pizza everyday, then who are you talking to specifically? Think hard about this last example, its not everyone right?

Week 3 Overview

This week we will

complete

the last two genres charts, and for our

discussion

this week, I want you to choose a topic for the Think Piece

Assignment

. The following are some typical topics that

students

choose to write about, but I have found they rarely know much about these topics in any detail.

The following lists some kinds of topics I want you to avoid –


unless you really have some background knowledge on this subject

. Remember, this major writing will be based mainly on your prior knowledge and opinion on a topic, so there won’t be much in the way of research to inform your paper or that will be used to support your claims.

You will need to have some knowledge of the subject in order to write thoughtfully and thoroughly about your topic. So, here are example of topics I want you to avoid:

• Medical Marijuana
• Abortion
• Global Warming
• Gun Control
• Immigration (unless you have experienced this yourself or know someone who has)
• 
  Technology/Social Media is Bad
  
• 
  Technology/Social Media Good
  

Now, these last two are areas you might be familiar with, I mean we all are involved with social media today; however, what I typically see in these papers are pro or con essays that state social media is either bad, and then simply lists all the ways its bad, or that social media is good, and then lists all the reasons why.

What you are doing for this paper is arguing about something specific,

so if you did write about social media, I would want you to look at it in terms of your own experiences – not just what the internet says about all the ways it is affecting young people today. We will discuss these ideas more in

class

this week, but in the meantime, be thinking about what you know, and how much you know, about the topic you want to write about.

THE GOAL IS TO TRY AND FIND A TOPIC YOU WILL THEN USE FOR THE RESEARCH PROJECT LATER. All the assignments in this



course



are connected, and will eventually lead to the Research Prospectus, Outline, and Presentation.

TO DO WEEK 3

Readings and Resources:

1. Read link – ?
   
   
   Think Piece
   
   (Links to an external site.)
   
   ? Definition from Merriam-Webster
2. Read link – ?
   
   
   Why ?Think Piece? Is Pejorative
   
   (Links to an external site.)
   
   ? from Slate.com
3. Read Teller?s
   
   
   ?Are We Teaching Composition All Wrong?? – link to article here