COSCI58 Friday Assignment 5: Argumentative Paper Plan and Ambiguity

Due April 9. Late deadline April 16.

Reading:

In this assignment, you will select an issue to write a paper about. In a later assignment you will write the paper and a PowerPoint presentation. The paper will be argumentative. The description below was taken from http://www.rscc.cc.tn.us/owl&writingcenter/OWL/Research.html , a site with great resources for writing different kinds of papers:

A research paper may be argumentative in nature. In other words, the student may take a stand on an issue and then research others who agree and disagree with the stand and cite them (quote them in the paper). In this type of paper, it is generally expected that students will learn how to anticipate the objections of others and make concessions.

Part 1: Issue Selection Discussion (5 points)

1. Each of the issues below is a forum in Discussions. Choose one of these that you would like to write a paper taking a side on. If you have an alternative issue you are interested in that is related to technology, post that in the Assignment 5 Other Topics forum.

Are RFID devices a threat to privacy?

Are genetically engineered foods dangerous?

Will nanotechnology be used to benefit mankind or hurt it?

Are electronic voting machines accurate and secure?

Do video and computer games contribute to violence?

Are social networking sites beneficial?

Should cloning human organs be allowed?

Should there be a sales tax on Internet purchases?

Is the Internet leading people to commit suicide?

Should digital billboards be outlawed?

2. Go to the Discussion forum for the issue you chose. Locate a web page with information about the issue that no one has posted about yet.

3. Start a New Topic in the forum for the issue. Put the title of your page in the Subject line. In the body of your message, copy and paste the URL. Below it, give a brief description of the type of information on the page.

4. Create an "MLA style" reference for the page. You can't format it with hanging indent and double spacing in the discussion, but you can include all of the correct information in the right order. The reference should include the items in the following list. If an item is missing (no author, no publication date), just skip that and go on. Each item is separated by a period.

author's last name, author's first name.

title of the page in double quotes.

name of the site in italics.

publication date in day month year format.

date you visited the site in day month year format.

URL pointing directly to the page.

See my examples posted in the Other topics forum. The grade for the discussion will be recorded in the Discussion and Private Messages area.

Part 2: Research Paper Plan and Works Cited Page (15 points)

In this part of Assignment 5, you will start to work on your argumentative research paper. See the attached document for a sample from a previous semester. The sample includes only 2 references, you should have 3. Do not copy this paper or the references it uses.

Start a new document in Word.

1. Type the issue you chose.

2. Type the conclusion of the paper you will write.

3. Write a summary of the reasoning that will be in your paper. It should be at least one paragraph.

4. Create a properly formatted Works Cited page for 3 references from the Web. Click the link for instructions for creating a Works Cited page with Word.

Save as Asn5Paper and upload.

Part 3: Ambiguity Study Questions (10 points)

Type your answers in the answer box in Etudes or start a new document in Word and save it as Asn5Ambiguity.

Click the link and read the article "If we could learn to communicate, we could teach the world to sing" by Adell Shay (a former LAHC Business instructor).

1. She describes an incident where an ambiguity led to a bad result. What happened?

2. What would be the best way to avoid this ambiguity? Why wasn't that method used?

3. Find a phrase in her writing that could be interpreted in different ways and might lead to confusion in someone who is not a native English speaker. What is the phrase and what are two meanings?

4. What is her conclusion? Warning! Read carefully. Her writing style makes it a little difficult to find. When you think you have it, ask yourself, "Do the reasons provided support that conclusion?"

5. Use clipart or Google image search to find a graphic related to the story like farmer, farm, school, pregnancy, baby, condom (please not sex acts or penises). Insert the graphic into your document.

Upload your Asn5Ambiguity document or copy/paste the text to the answer box.