Download Writing an Informative Article with Visual Commentary: Third Essay - Prof. Laura A. Hartma and more Papers English Language in PDF only on Docsity! Third Essay | Source-Based Argumentation What It’s All About | For the final paper in this class, I want you to write an informative article, a piece that focuses sharply on a very specific topic that others in the writing community have commented on. The writing community is comprised of people who publish articles that can be found in periodicals like National Geographic, Scientific American, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and Smithsonian, among others. I prefer that you distance yourself from ephemeral writing such as newspaper reports. Although some articles are critical to the context of a topic, they provide little opportunity for a critical dialogue. I want you to partake in a dialogue, not a monologue. Let me give you an extreme example of what you would NOT want to do: prove that we live in a violent world by citing a plenitude of homicide and robbery reports found on the evening news, or argue that Hillary Clinton really should be president and the Washington Times is wrong since they’re biased anyway etc. etc. John Trimbur, author of Call to Write, provides some helpful goals that I’d like you to adopt when working with sources: Use various perspectives/prior work to establish a context of issues Use differences to explore an issue or problem: identify underlying assumptions, strengths and weaknesses, advantages and disadvantages of various perspectives and interpretations. (John is right: don’t be that person who assaults his readers with a laundry list of reasons why you are Right and others are Wrong. Instead, entertain the idea of someone else being “right,” diplomatically suggest alternatives, and position yourself with those alternatives.) Concede validity of a perspective but go beyond or around it: the yes-but function. I’d like you to choose a topic that interests you. There are a couple stumbling blocks to choosing topics that interest you: 1. You think you already know everything to write a paper, and produce inferior work lacking depth; and 2. You exclude other voices because your position has already been established firmly. Be aware of these stumbling blocks, and overcome them. By exploring something you care about, you should have the energy to move forward with your research and create fresh knowledge for your readers. You will also need to attach a visual commentary, created by you. The visual should be a clear commentary on the subject of the informative article (i.e. no black dots on white sheets of paper). It should be on an 8 ½ by 11 inch sheet of paper. It can be a flyer, a billboard, a political cartoon, a collage (although the sources of the collage should be written on the back), a comic, etc. The visual will be graded not on artistic ability, but on its relevance and comment on the subject. Structural Requirements | Aim for 7-8 pages, incorporating at least 8 outside sources. (Note on sources: at least 2 sources need to be printed books, and reliable1 Web-based resources cannot exceed 3.) Formatting Requirements | Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins on all sides 1 We will go over Web site evaluation in class. Some reading from CVT and Penguin Handbook will supplement our discussion.
