One challenge some students have with WP One is making a strong argument. Because of their own expertise, they tend to write informative papers. An informative paper tells readers about something—it provides information without asking anything from its audience but understanding. However, an argumentative paper tries to persuade readers. It offers a stance, and asks its readers to accept that stance. When you write an argument, you want readers to agree with you, and often, act upon that agreement.
In composition, we focus on teaching argument because we’re preparing students for potential writing in other disciplines, where they may be required to take positions and defend them, or make claims based upon their research. In the next module, the scholarly articles you’ll find are offering arguments based upon their research/experiments. You may think “argument” sounds negative, but it’s really about finding answers to issues for which there aren’t clear solutions, about which reasonable people can disagree.
Here’s an outline of this type of argument. If I were a student writing this paper, I would make an argument about Paris, because it’s one of my favorite vacation destinations.
Thesis Statement: Paris is the best destination for a traveler’s first trip to Europe.
Supporting Reasons: Each of the following sentences would be topic sentences for the paper’s body paragraphs.
Paris is home to many famous monuments.
Along with monuments, the museums of Paris house some of the world’s best art.
Parisian restaurants offer great food for any traveler’s budget.
If you’re a shopper, Paris has a wide variety of shopping venues.
While the language can be a barrier, knowing a few basic words/phrases make navigating the city and its attractions easy. (this is more of a rebuttal to an opposing view)
(conclusion paragraph encouraging readers to book a trip to Paris)
Don’t Forget the Annotated Bibliography
Each of your Writing Projects requires you to write an Annotated Bibliography. While you don’t have to use sources for WP One, you are required to create an Annotated Bibliography with at least three sources. Review the sample documents in the MLA Templates folder in Blackboard. An Annotated Bibliography is a list of resources, like a Works Cited page. Each source in an Annotated Bibliography is accompanied by a summary paragraph.
