November 30th

1. Mini-Socratic seminar over Persuasive and Argumentative Writing.  2 groups.
To discuss:

• Major points in the reading. 
• Differences between argument and persuasion.
• What makes an arguable claim/thesis.
• Two writing samples. How do they differ from each other? What are the persuasive techniques you see? Argumentative?

2. Thesis/Claim writing instruction.

3. Review the fallacies... this is a good link that can help them resonate before building a claim.
Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical Fallacies  You will have a Fallacy Quiz on MONDAY.

Write a CLAIM for the following class/paper scenarios:

Paper #1: given no information from prof. You come up with the class and topic.
Paper #2: Drinking alcohol
Paper #3: Who is the most influential person in a teenager's life?
Paper #4: Abortion
Paper #5: Math class (not as the topic.. this is the class you are being asked to write a paper for)
Paper #6: What is the most important issue of the upcoming political year.
Paper  #7: Art, PE, Band (You pick the class and you are to write a paper in that class)
Paper #8: Given no information from prof. You come up with the class and topic.
Paper #9: Sex

You will need to have your 9 claim statements when you come to class on Friday. Do you recognize the writing scenarios? However, realize that there are many things that have to happen before the final claim statement. What do you need to consider?
- Who is my audience? (Academic/formal)
- What is academic debatable versus statement of fact?
- How would I go about proving this point?
- How would I narrow my topic down to be manageable?

A few of these are designed to be very difficult in developing an ARGUMENT... remember, argument, not persuasion.

This assignment is to practice the following things: 1. Recognizing a writing situation and being able to move forward in the writing process.   2. Recognizing the difference between persuasive writing and argumentative writing.  3. Developing a solid argumentative claim.