You completed a PRO/PRO assignment that required you to take two different positions on an issue. Now, you can choose one of those positions to argue for, or perhaps a third position that you have discovered or constructed about your topic.
This paper will be one sustained argument in which you forcefully argue your position and propose a solution for it. It will require you to take other positions into account in order to maintain a thoughtful substantiated position of your own. Once you recognize competing or alternative viewpoints, you will either absorb, concede or refute those other arguments.
This is your final opportunity to demonstrate your research are argumentative abilities. Consider the following:
What kinds of exigence can you provide to convince your audience of the seriousness of your issue?
How will you establish ethos for yourself in your essay?
What sorts of emotional appeals would work best for your audience?
What are the critical facts or definitions that you must establish or account for?
What research can you use to support your claims?
What research should you take into consideration with your claims? Which should you concede?
What research or points of view should you expressly refute?
What is the logic of your argument?
What are some warrants for your evidence that you may need to provide?
What is the most effective order for making arguments that flow logically?
What is your proposal for action regarding this issue?
How will you garner and maintain reader interest?
Purpose
To persuade your audience that your point of view is correct, and that your proposal is a reasonable call to action.
Audience
Your hypothetical readers for this paper are those who have NOT read either of your PRO arguments. Conceptualize your audience as a group that needs convincing – neither as a group that agrees with you, or one that vehemently opposed. Your audience should not be inclined to agree with you. Rather, your audience should be one that is inclined perhaps to either disagree or remain neutral on your topic. While your goal is change minds, you will be looking first to establish that a well-reasoned argument for your position exists, and that a reasonable moral person can hold an opposing view.
Your audience should be an interested party somewhere in the middle or with a tendency to hold an opposing (if unexamined) view. Consider possibly some stakeholders or other interests that you could persuade to agree with you. It may be beneficial to imagine the kind of publication you would be writing for. Likewise, your paper could be imagined as a companion piece for an article you’ve read in your research.
Your paper will contain an audience analysis on the title page your final paper. In your analysis, describe the audience you are writing for and why you believe your audience may sway toward your position.
Research
Your final paper must demonstrate competence in using and citing sources properly in ways that support your position and purpose. Think carefully on what should be quoted, what should be paraphrased, and what should be summarized. Select the most persuasive arguments for your paper.
8 sources are required. 2 of those sources may be interviews. 4 must be from peer reviewed academic journals.
