WR122 Winter
2006 Michael
Dembrow, Instructor
ESSAY 3: AN ARGUMENT ON ANOTHER HEALTHCARE-RELATED ISSUE
Controversies, controversies—the
world is so full of them! Each one
engenders a number of positions, a plurality of arguments to be considered and
debated, analyzed and rebutted, as we try to decide where we stand, try to take
positions as voters, as members of a community of thinkers and active citizens. In your last paper, you all looked at one
area of controversy: the question of how healthcare should be funded. In this essay, I also want you to look at a
healthcare problem. Here, however, you
are free to choose the specific topic of concern. It should be a controversial one (i.e., an
area over which intelligent people might disagree), and you should take a
position on it. It may be something that
you touched on in your second essay, but now want to get into more deeply.
There are many healthcare controversies
swirling around us these days:
For your final essay
of the term, I’d like you to choose one of these topics or one of your own
choosing, and do something similar to what you did for the second essay:
read, research, and write an argument on it. Your research and reading will allow you to do
three things: (a) gain a better
understanding of this particular issue, (b) understand the different viewpoints
of people writing or speaking on this subject, and (c) take a position yourself
on this subject and argue it effectively.
For research purposes, you can again
restrict your searches to the internet. You
won’t have much time to do this research, since the draft is due next week. Take advantage of the link to healthcare
sources on our class website. Use Ebscohost or one of the other databases accessible through
the PCC library.
Altogether, I'd like you to locate
and use at least 4 credible sources for this paper. Again, I want you to select arguments,
not news stories. You should be
surveying credible opinion pieces, position papers, editorials, that kind of
thing. At least one of your sources
should again be an argumentative essay that you’ve obtained via Ebscohost.
Again, be sure you record the internet addresses for the sources, and
the dates on which you found them (it’s crucial for bibliographic
purposes).
The paper itself should make use of
each of these sources, with at least one quote and/or paraphrase from
each. But remember, this is not a
report; it’s an argument. You’re not
just stringing together a series of summaries of sources. Your goal is to make the reader interested,
concerned, and intrigued by the controversy, and of course to move the reader
to agree with you.
You might think about writing your
very first draft of the paper without sources, in order to make your own
argument, then go back and strengthen the argument by using the sources to
amplify and support your statements. However,
the paper that you bring to the draft workshop should already have quotes and
information from your sources, as well as a Works Cited page.
Again, you will need to make it clear to the reader
that you have considered, carefully considered, the arguments of the other side
and acknowledge their good points. None
of the issues here will be a simple right/wrong subject; there will be merits
to the arguments of both sides. When you can accept parts of their argument,
do so; that will make your argument more comprehensive and sophisticated, and
will actually strengthen it. Quote them
when appropriate.
On
the other hand, you do want to take a clear position on the issue. The reader should have no trouble knowing
exactly where you stand. Make sure that
every paragraph in the body opens with a good topic sentence that somehow
relates to your main argument.
Don’t forget to include all three
appeals in your argument: rational, ethical, and emotional If possible, include
a brief human-interest example, ideally (but not necessarily) your own or that
of someone you know.
To help you formulate the arguments
on both sides, I’d again like you to do a dialogue and hand it in with your
draft.
We’ll have a draft workshop on March
6, and I’m expecting completed drafts (with references and Works Cited) on that
day, or else--absence no excuse!!! I’ll
get you some feedback by the end of the week (i.e. by Friday, March 10), and
your final draft will be due a week later (i.e., by Friday, March 17).
Typed draft
due: Monday, March 6
Typed final
draft due: Friday, March 17
Length: 4-5 typed pages