ENGL3080: Formal Academic Argument

ENGL3080: Formal Academic Argument
For this final large assignment, you will complete two parts: a formal, 8-10 page academic argument with about a page of entries on the works cited page. Then you will complete a short reflection that 1) lets me know what was good and what wasn’t so good about this class so that I can make revisions in future classes, and 2) what your intention was in terms of persuasion behind your formal argument.
The second part requires a little bit of thinking beforehand. What is the purpose of this assignment? Do you want to use this as a writing sample for graduate school (even if it’s 10 years down the road; I used a revised version of a sophomore paper on a Salman Rushdie book exploring the way the Indian practice of sati functioned in the text for my MA writing sample about 8 years after I wrote it originally)? Is this a policy paper to urge change in approach to something that affects individuals, communities, states, or the nation? Do you want to explore the theory behind a concept we’ve learned about rather than create a more practical argument?
Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to determine your audience—a graduate admissions committee, a public employee, a faculty member, etc. This will allow you to determine the types of sources that will be found credible, relevant and useful, as well as determine content and delivery (including whether images are useful, as are used in many graduate program papers as well as medium of publication).
Because we are focused on the means of persuasion, I do not want to prescribe the topic for you, but I’d like to spend a little time exploring what can be written about based on your purposes.
You’ll want to refresh on earlier concepts in our text, particularly logic/logos and reading against the grain.