Activities for Week 12

Composition II -- Activities for Week 12 -- Apr. 5-9, 1999

Monday:

Discuss Argumentative Synthesis essay
Activity 1 -- Position Statements:
- Here is a list of five topics:
  - Cloning
  - Television violence
  - Day care
  - Recycling
  - School prayer
Right now, there is nothing argumentative about these topics; however, as you read them you should be able to form an opinion about most if not all of these topics. The first step in writing an argumentative essay is not just thinking of a topic, but coming up with an opinionated position on that topic. Write a position statement for each of the five topics above. You will know that you have an opinionated position statement if you can imagine another person taking a different position than yours. Turn in your position statements when you are finished.
Activity 2 -- Class Debate: To help us come to a better understanding of the argumentative synthesis assignment, we will have a verbal class debate on the issue of concealed weapons -- an issue that Missouri will vote on tomorrow. Half of the class will take a position for Prop B; the other half will take a position against Prop B. After some group discussion, we will present our positions to the class and create outlines on the board. Your group should keep in mind the three appeals when developing argumentative reasons.

Wednesday:

Turn in homework at the beginning of class. Check the essay assignment for the homework.
Discuss different organizational strategies ways of supporting arguments for Argumentative Synthesis.
Group Activity: Create a web page that attempts to persuade readers that television is either good or bad for children.
- Your web page must make use of outside sources and appeal to pathos, logos, and ethos.
- When looking for outside web sources try to find both pictures (examples of good/bad shows, characters, etc.) and text (quotations from experts, TV execs or slogans for networks).
- Try to find at least two reasons to support your position and at least one counterargument.
- Try to use two sources for each reason and the counterargument.
- When your web page is finished, we will look at them on the big screen and evaluate how effectively the group defends its position.

Friday:

All prewriting activities should be completed by the end of class.
Class will be devoted to drafting a drafting workshop.
By the end of class, show me your outline and at least one paragraph of your essay. Here is a sample outline.
Homework: Complete a rough draft for the peer review workshop on Monday. Note: This is our next-to-last peer review session. A few students have not participated in the previous three peer reviews. If you do not participate in the peer review workshops, you are not fulfilling course objective 1.D., and thus you can fail the course regardless of the points you might have accumulated in class.