Assignment Instructions
In this unit’s assignment, you will develop ideas to support the persuasive thesis statement you worked on in the Units 3 and 4 Discussion Boards. This thesis statement advocates a solution to a problem in your community, and you will consider the various stakeholders, common ground you share with your audience, possible rival hypotheses, and ways you can use the logical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos to convince your audience that your proposal should be implemented.
You will complete a chart for this assignment. Download the file, save it with a name like LastNameUnit 4 Assignment, and fill in the chart.
In Part I, you will revise the provisional thesis statement that you generated in the previous unit’s discussion and identify the underlying assumption. What is the common ground you believe you share with your audience?
Make sure the thesis is concise (1–2 sentences) and clearly expresses a persuasive argument that offers a solution to a problem in your community. Use the enthymeme format (claim + reason/s).
In Part II, describe your purpose (what is the problem you want to solve and how do you plan to solve it?), audience (key stakeholders), and setting. You will provide details about whom you need to convince to bring about change and explain the community you are writing about.
Finally, in Part III, you will evaluate your argument based on the three rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos). For Part III, be sure to use complete sentences and offer specific examples. Aim for 5–7 sentences per section.
You will want to discuss rival hypotheses and how you plan to address them, research you will need to conduct to support your claims, and strategies you can use to connect with your audience. Be sure to discuss at least one source you can use to support claims and to identify a specific logical fallacy your argument could be susceptible to and how to avoid that fallacy.
| Developing an Argument for Change | Unit 4 Assignment |
| Part I: Thesis | Review the Unit 3 reading on thesis statements and identifying the underlying assumption and common ground. You may also want to review the Writing Center’s Writing a Thesis Statement. |
| What is your thesis statement (claim + reason)? | |
| What is the underlying assumption (major premise) for your thesis? | |
| What common ground do you anticipate that you will share with your audience? | |
| Part II: Rhetorical Situation | Review the Unit 1 reading on the rhetorical situation. |
| What is your purpose? How would you describe the problem and what are examples that illustrate the problem? | |
| Describe your audience. How does the issue affect different community stakeholders? Who would be underrepresented stakeholders? Who can implement your proposed solution? | |
| How would you describe your setting? What are key elements of the setting that affect the problem? | |
| Part III: The Appeals | Review the “Three Appeals of Argument” podcast in the Unit 4 reading. Respond in full paragraphs for each of the appeals and include specific examples to illustrate how you will use those appeals. Reference at least one source that you can use to support your claims, and also be sure to identify a particular logical fallacy and how you will avoid it in the logos section. For more on fallacies, review How to Support an Argument and Avoid Logical Fallacies. |
| How will you use the ethos appeal? How will you ensure your audience trusts you? Who might be stakeholders that may have reservations or negative results from the proposed solution? What is at least one rival hypothesis you will need to address and how can you overcome that challenge to your argument? | |
| How will you use the pathos appeal? What are ways you can connect with your audience? What might be specific examples that you could use to illustrate the problem? | |
| How will you use the logos appeal? What evidence supports that this is the best solution? What research will you need to conduct? What is one source you have found that will help you support your claims? | |
| What is a specific logical fallacy (like a hasty generalization) that you will need to avoid and how do you plan to avoid that fallacy? |
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