08 Dec An Account of an Argument

Order Instructions

Ling 281: Project #1

An Account of an Argument

This paper asks you to identify an argument’s claim and reason. You will also need to explain the general context for the argument, the author’s purpose and audience and how you have been able to determine the context/audience/purpose based on clues from inside and outside of the text. It also asks you to describe the author’s (4) supporting evidence and (5) overall structure, and finally, evaluate the argument in terms of its purpose and audience.

Successful essays will include:

1. An introductory section that provides all the information the audience will need to understand your argument. This includes the topic of the writing project and your argument claim and reason about the author’s use of evidence and organization.

2. A statement of the claim/reason of “How to Monitor Your Employees—While Respecting Their Privacy” by Reid Blackman

3. A discussion of the general context, author’s purpose and author’s audience, supported by evidence from inside or outside of the text

4. A description and evaluation of supporting evidence (2 different types).

A. Do you find facts and evidence in the argument? Direct observation? Statistics? Interviews? Surveys? Primary sources such as eyewitness accounts? Secondary sources such as published research? Quotations from authorities? Hypothetical situations? Analogy? Allusion? Personal Experience?

5. A description and evaluation of the organizing structure. To evaluate the article’s structure, you may want to ask yourself these questions:

A. Is the information presented in a logical order? Does the author use chronological order, cause/effect, problem/solution, general to specific, or other ways of organizing information? Do those structures help make the argument more persuasive?

6. A conclusion that clarifies whether you believe the author has written an effective argument based on the evidence and organization he chose to convince his audience of his purpose.

Notes:

-Make sure you follow the paper and paragraph structures from the powerpoint. Papers that do not follow the paper and paragraph structures receive lower grades because they do not respond to the prompt.

-Do not plagiarize in your paper. This includes copying any information found online or from other sources about the topic, article, and author. Any instances of plagiarism will lead to you being reported to the school and may result in you receiving 0 points for the exam.

Paper Format (standard essay format, MLA or APA):

-12 pt. Times New Roman font, double spaced, 1-inch margins on all sides, left aligned, first line of each paragraph is indented, no extra spaces between paragraphs, appropriate citations, and a reference or work cited page)