Week 8 Project Execution Seminar 1: Arguments Richard Nowell ¨Structure ¨ ¨Argumentation and Everyday Life ¨ ¨Argumentation and Academic Work ¨ ¨Targeted Learning Outcomes ¨ ¨Argument-driven work ¨ ¨ ¨What did you disagree with someone about? ¨ ¨What did you contribute to this discussion? ¨ ¨What did your “opponent” contribute? ¨ ¨Did either of you revise change your views? ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨In my experience, there is one surprising quality that distinguishes the very-top students from others who find their studies more of a struggle ¨ ¨Top students do not approach academia as a hermetically sealed bubble that operates to different rhythms than the outside or the “real” world ¨ ¨After all, we all spend some of our free time discussing the world as we see it, often disagreeing with others, sometimes learning from them ¨ ¨Through are disagreements, reconciliations, and revisions we are all clearly well-versed with the minutia of argumentation and positioning ¨ ¨Yet, most students and scholars leave this aspect of everyday life at the classroom door, assuming they must relearn things: they are wrong!! ¨Having formulated our topic and research question, we need to think about the most important aspect of academic work: argumentation ¨ ¨Without argumentation there is no scholarship – instead we will have are some disconnected observations partially commenting on a topic ¨ ¨This sub-wikipedia quasi-encyclopedic collection of musings perhaps better represents the start of the process than the end of it: it is our notes ¨ ¨Instead, we should aspire to the production of focused, direct, argument-driven work wherein all content supports a main hypothesis ¨ ¨We are talking her about an assertion that is supported by evidence: this is argumentation in a nutshell - “In this paper I will argue that …” ¨It is nice to dance alone, but it is better when you have a partner to dance with; and in much the same way your argument needs a partner ¨ ¨Your argument ideally needs a “foil”; by which we mean that it is elevated if you can also find a counter-position to argue against ¨ ¨By doing this, you can demonstrate how your own argument – your own thesis statement, and your paper – teaches us something new ¨ ¨This does not have to be a counter-position derived from existing academic work, it may better still if it derives from everyday life ¨ ¨Therefore, explain to folks why this counter-position is limited or even inaccurate, so you can spotlight how your position enlightens us ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨Foil: Understandings of gangsta rappers largely derive from their personas as young performers, and controversies these provoked ¨ ¨Limitations: This tendency has resulted in their being associated with antisocial traits: namely violence, misogyny, and criminality ¨ ¨Thesis Statement ¨Snoop at the Olympics shows how gangsta rappers rehabilitate their personas as they age away from their initial youth market ¨ ¨Contribution: This paper expands the terms under which a key aspect of popular culture has newly developed as performers age ¨1. Decide on something you care quite strongly about ¨ ¨2. Tell us what the people you disagree with think ¨ ¨3. Tell us why you feel their view is wrong/incomplete ¨ ¨4. Tell us what you feel is a better way of seeing things ¨ ¨5. Tell us why the other people should share your view ¨With our research topic and question in place, we now need to think about what we want in a general sense to say in our research paper ¨ ¨Top papers are organized around argumentation wherein they offer a clear, focused, and direct response to our research question ¨ ¨This involves an assertion or thesis statement – “In this paper I argue that …”, ensuring all of the paper supplies evidence in support of it ¨ ¨Ideally, this part of a paper should be positioned against a perspective different to ours, so we can offer an expansion of or corrective thereto ¨ ¨And, don’t forget, you are already an expert of argumentation; you do it whenever you try to persuade folks of your perspective in everyday life ¨Date: 14 November ¨ ¨Instructor: Richard ¨ ¨Topic: Project Execution Seminar II: Organization ¨ ¨Outcome: Arranging our work into manageable parts ¨ ¨Preparation: Think about the major points you want to make in your paper ¨