Writing Assignment Three: Causal Argument

First draft due: April 12th
Final draft due: April 16th

Another important kind of argument is a causal argument. In a causal argument, you speculate about the major reasons as to why an event, a phenomenon, or a trend happened or is happening. Like any other kind of argumentative paper, your claims must be supported by well explained chains of reasoning and/or evidence, and you should, as always, address any opposition which you feel your audience may have to the claims you are advancing.

So what do I get to write about?

For this paper, you will be asked to speculate about a phenomenon, event, or trend related to your research paper topic. Since you will already have written the prospectus for your research paper and be working on it while you work on this paper, this should not be too difficult.

Choose a major event/phenomenon/trend related to your topic and write a four page paper (12 point font, double spaced, normal margins) which speculates about some of the major causes of this event/phenomenon/trend. For example, if you were writing a research paper about the Asian economic crisis, your paper would attempt to explain what you felt were the major causes behind this crisis. If you were writing a paper about eating disorders, your paper would attempt to speculate about some of the major causes of anorexia and bulimia. You do not need to address every cause in the paper; confine yourself to what you feel are the major cause or causes.

The work which you do in this paper, as well as the work from your definition paper, will be reused in your research paper.

How're you gonna grade it?

Higher order concerns:

• The paper chooses a specific event/phenomenon/trend related to your research paper topic.
• The paper has an apparent and identifable thesis.
• The paper identifies a major cause or causes for this trend/phenomenon/event and argues persuasively for them as the explanation.
• The claims in the paper are backed up with chains of reasoning or solid evidence.

• The paper is well organized; there is a clear introduction and conclusion, and transitions are made between sections and paragraphs.
• The paper pays attention to conventions for paragraph and sentence structure.
• The paper is proofread (either by you, or preferably, by someone else) to make sure it conforms to convetions for spelling and homonym use.