First draft due: Friday, March 12th
Final draft due: Wednesday, March 24th.

What's it all about?
Being able to define key concepts is an important skill in argumentative writing as well as in writing in many other disciplines. In argumentative writing, a definition must take into account both the needs of the writer, who will use the specific definition to advance and support a specific claim. However, a definition in argumentative writing must also take into account the amount of support that an audience is willing to give to it. In this assignment, you, as a writer of an argument, must acknowledge both what you wish your definition to do as well as attempt to accomodate your audience.

And it's gotta be how long? And look like what? And what do I do about sources?

4 word-processed double spaced pages (approximately 1000 words), maximum 12 point font.

Sources in Modern Language Association Format: this means references to work in the text will use paranthetical citations, and there will be a separate works cited page at the end of the paper listing all sources used. For more about formatting, see Writing Arguments, The Prentice Hall Guide to Grammar and Usage, or Purdue's Online Writing Lab at owl.english.purdue.edu

What can I write about?

1) Take the topic you wrote about for the last paper, and determine a key concept about it that needs to be defined. In this paper, define this concept by creating criteria for it and matching cases to it just like Rammage and Bean describe in chapter 10. For example, many of the arguments about lowering the drinking age to 18 rest on the definition of adulthood. If (and only if) your topic for the last paper was lowering the drinking age, you could write a paper for this assignment which offered a definition of adulthood.

2) Take a topic that you would be interested in writing your research paper on and determine a key concept about it that needs to be defined. (The controversial claims exercise in chapter 10 may help you with this.) In this paper, define this concept by creating criteria for it and matching cases to it just like Rammage and Bean describe in chapter 10. For example, if you were interested in writing a paper about television violence and children, a key concept to be defined (among many) would be what exactly constitutes an "act of violence" on television.

3) Write a dialogue in which your two characters attempt to agree upon a definition related to a topic that they both disagree on.

So how are you gonna grade it?

By how well you construct your definition: is it specific enough? Have you clearly explained your criteria and used specific details? Do your cases match your criteria? Have you considered the cases that don't work and rejected them or made them work some how?

By how well you organize your paper: it doesn't have to be in classical argument format, so now your organizing skills will be even more important. Does your opening set up your issue? Does your thesis set up your defiinition? Do the subsequent paragraphs expand your criteria for definition and then offer test cases? Does your conclusion sum things up?

By how well you use specific details and sources: are things clearly and vividly described? Do you integrate the voices, definitions, and work of others into your paper? Do you give proper credit when you do so?

By your attention to lower order concerns: have you proofread for sentence structure, spelling, and other minor grammatical errors?