Crafting an
effective argument is an essential skill to sharpen as you pursue any career,
and it also affects interactions within your personal life. In this assignment,
you’ll use both logic and emotion to prove an absurd argument in a few
paragraphs. No research is needed for this assignment, just good writing and
thinking, but it must be set up in APA paper format (cover page,
double-spaced, margins, etc.).
This assignment taps into your ability to write to a
specific audience and apply a process to plan, draft, edit, and share your
writing. It also provides an opportunity to practice writing about a topic you
are interested in.
Avoid making yourself the
topic or the focus with phrases such as “I think…”, “In my
opinion …”, and “I believe…” etc. Self-reference pulls the
focus from the topic and detracts from an objective, academic tone and
credibility. The writer is not the topic. Consider the difference
between “In my opinion, happiness is more important than money” (Who
else’s opinion would it be? Of course it’s your opinion!) and “Happiness
is more important than money for the following three reasons: …”
Also, phrases like “This essay will show” or
“This paper discusses” are announcements, not thesis statements.
The thesis should be about the topic, not about you writing the essay. Here are
some sample thesis statements from past assignments:
Complete physical health means mental and
social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
To paraphrase a famous speaker, on their
deathbed, no one has ever said “I wish I’d spent more time at the
office.”
Frederick Douglass said, “You might not get
everything you work for, but you must certainly work for everything you
get.”
These thesis statements served as the guide for everything
else the writer included in the paper.
Choose one absurd question to argue for this assignment
by using one from the list below. Your finished assignment should sound like an
academic argument, so ensure your topic is debatable.
Is Marvel or DC the best franchise?
Is it better to work to live or live to work?
Is American football or soccer better?
Should pizza be classified as a sandwich or a
pie?
Are movies or music better?
Is it more important to be wealthy or happy?
Provide your own creative debatable idea but
discuss it with your instructor before proceeding to make sure it is (a)
absurd (b) classroom appropriate and (c) debatable.
(Review
“Narrow Your Topic” in preparation for creating your absurd argument. ” Hi, I’m back with another
tip, and this week’s tip is going to help you complete the week three
absurd argument.
Here’s my tip: narrow your argument.
Now, you might be wondering what an absurd argument is.
And when you see the assignment directions, they might seem
a little strange, but absurd arguments are something that we do in
our daily lives.
Maybe you play a game like Apples to Apples ®, or you like
to debate with friends who’s the best quarterback in the NFL, or is a
hot dog a sandwich? Silly arguments like these help us have fun, and
that’s what we’re going to do this week.
We’re gonna help you build your persuasive skills by
keeping the topics light and fun so you can focus on your writing and
not some of the more complicated parts of an academic argument.
So I said my tip this week was to narrow your topic, and
the topic I’m most excited about exploring is the DC versus Marvel
argument.
And I was thinking about how to approach this writing
task, and it hit me that I haven’t read the comic books, so I’m going
to need to narrow my argument down to the films.
So I looked at the list of the films, and there’s a lot, so
I need to narrow that topic even further.
And I think I’m going to apply my feminist lens, and I’m
gonna think about how DC and Marvel represent women.
And an easy way to do that in an absurd argument would
be to compare maybe the “Wonder Woman” movie to the
“Captain Marvel” movie.
And that would take my argument down to a manageable size.
So as you’re considering topics this week for your absurd
argument, think about how you can narrow it to make it
manageable, and it will be much easier to write about.
Now, remember, the goal is to build your
persuasive skills while having a little fun.”)
Using your classmates as the audience, write a 350- to 525-word
argument for your chosen topic in which you address the following:
State the absurd argument topic.
Define and explain any terms that are needed
to proceed.
Based on your definitions, determine which
position is correct.
Explain “objective-sounding”
reasoning in paragraph form, without self-reference.
Format your assignment in a Word document by doing the
following:
Creating paragraphs that make your
perspective and reasons evident
Including a clear introduction, middle, and
conclusion
Presenting your position at the start of your
argument and reviewing it at the end of your work
Writing, proofreading, and editing your
response.
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