In the latter weeks of the semester, you will direct your research toward creating either a traditional academic argument essay OR the creation of an object that represents an argument or issue you’ve learned about. For the essay option (assignment, rubric), you will write an argument essay, drawing on a small number of sources, in which you develop a position on a topic or an issue that you have been continuously researching/learning about, and build a case for understanding or action. The essay is not a research report; it is a researched, academic argument and it will require you to take an explicit position in relation to your topic, to analyze and complicate your topic, and to engage in conversation with a small number of other writers/thinkers—not to simply report a huge collection of data or facts.
For the project option (assignment, rubric), you will develop an object that reflects or responds to the course theme in a particular way—you will want your object to educate or make an argument of some kind. Your object must have practical use for an audience that you specify. You are encouraged to be very creative and innovative as you invent your object. This project will require a written statement, which will account for your design choices, the sources you used in your research, and a justification of what issues/arguments your object defines.
During the unit we will:
- Learn about the genre of the researched argument
- Continue “exploratory” and secondary research about our topics
- Learn about conducting, analyzing, and writing about primary research
- Narrow down our research question into a specific, localized topic of investigation
- Develop claims FROM the research itself, or the research process, for our arguments
- Workshop our writing-in-progress and projects-in-progress collaboratively
- Work with rhetorical appeals and imaginary audiences as we invent our arguments and our objects
It will be important, as a starting point for your Argument Essay/Project, to develop a research plan, narrow your topic, and devote a lot of effort to your initial research. You will also want to continually revisit your topic and see how ongoing exploratory research can help you narrow down your investigative focus. For the project, it is important to start thinking about what you might like to create, and jot down ideas as you have them. You can discuss preliminary ideas for the project with me at any time.
The Symposium
Bruce Ballenger states in The Curious Researcher: “The purpose of research writing is not simply to show readers what you know. It is an effort to extend a conversation about a topic that is ongoing, a conversation that includes voices of people who have already spoken, often in different contexts and perhaps never together” (16). Your audience for this project is, in part, your colleagues in this class and I. Your work will be held accountable by us. Like most academic communities, we are community of learners who are becoming knowledgeable about these issues, and developing our own opinions about them. Now, it’s time to develop a narrowed, focused, “expert” position on a relevant topic about disaster politics that you can confidently and genuinely present to us.
As you are finalizing your papers, our class will hold a symposium (over the course of a few class meetings) where you will share your work-in-progress with everyone else. This will be a way to close our discussion of our subject matter and to workshop our hypotheses. Please anticipate this event—it’s listed on the calendar.