Essay Four: Visual Proposal Argument

English 102: Assignment Four
Visual Proposal Argument

The Assignment:
In this assignment you are asked to advocate that something be done (or not be done) about an issue, or to argue that some procedure be changed. You can argue for or against specific proposals that have actually been made, or you can propose (and argue for) one of your own. Your response must include a significant visual component.

Written Component:
Your starting point might well be something that bothers you and that you feel should be changed. Of course, you might have to convince your readers that it is a problem for them too, if that is not obvious. As you work out the rhetorical situation for this assignment, pay particular attention to the audience for your proposal. You should be able to specify an actual audience and a forum within which you would present the proposal. Consider what your purpose is—your audience should be asked either to undertake the action proposed or to support the action proposed.

Visual Component:
The visual component of this assignment could take many forms. As with written arguments, visual arguments make use of the three rhetorical appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. A visual ethical appeal might show the picture of scientists working out the cure for cancer in a laboratory, or it might show the image of an American icon that supports your cause. A logical visual appeal might be a pie chart that shows revenue spent on education in relation to other expenditures. A visual representation of the processes that lead to global warming would also be a logical appeal. We are probably most familiar with pathetic visual appeals: the image of an emaciated child that needs our help or the crime-scene photograph from the drunk-driving accident that shows two cars reduced to scrap. The argument may also make use of any of a number of genres: pamphlets, posters, websites, flyers, advertisements (including video and print ads), or works of art.

Goals:

• Discover and incorporate credible sources in written argument
• Analyze visual arguments
• Design and develop effective visual proposal arguments
• Draft and revise effective written proposal arguments
• Appeal to specific audiences

Composition:
The audience for this essay will be the person or people who have efficacy (the ability to effect change) in relation to the issue. Audiences might include: the voting public, legislators, administrators, consumers, etc.

Here is a list of the features that usually appear in a proposal:

1. Statement and discussion of the issue, including background and causes
2. Statement and discussion of the problems related to the issue
3. Statement and discussion of the proposed solution
4. A point by point explanation of how the solution can solve the problem
5. A demonstration of the feasibility of the proposal (this often includes costs, personnel, equipment and facilities, and a timeline for implementation)
6. A response to the conditions of rebuttal
7. Description of the possible futures—scenarios describing what will happen if the proposal is accepted, and the consequences if it is not.
   

What It Should Look Like--Constraints:

• Length: The written component should be long enough to satisfactorily fulfill the assignment; most successful papers are between three and five pages, but remember: a two-page paper could hypothetically receive a passing grade and a fourteen-page paper could fail. Both scenarios seem to be anomalies. The visual component may be integrated into the written essay, or it may be a standalone piece. A standalone visual argument may include some text.
• The completed paper should utilize at least seven of the ten credible sources collected in your annotated bibliography. It should include at least one primary source.
• All sources should be documented using MLA style.
• Please type (12 point font) your paper and double space it using one inch margins; this requirement is not an arbitrary obsession with form. Studies have shown that teachers react in different ways to different formatting. By standardizing your paper format, I can guarantee us both an equitable reading of your work.
• Give your work a title.

Essay Three: Annotated Bibliography

Assignment Three:

The Annotated Bibliography

Description:
To prepare to write the proposal argument, you will first compile an annotated bibliography of at least ten (10) sources that summarizes current research on your proposal topic. This means that you will find, summarize, and evaluate ten different sources that provide information on your topic and arrange this information into an organized list BEFORE you begin to write the actual proposal argument.

Composition:
If you’ve never seen an annotated bibliography before, you’ll want to follow the links below and consider some different models and examples. Annotated bibliographies focus on one research topic, pulling together and listing different sources related to that topic (web sites, print and online journal articles, books, historical documents, primary documents, and other materials). In addition to providing full bibliographic information about each source (where and when it was published, for instance), annotated bibliographies also extract key information about the ideas in each source for readers, summarizing main points and also evaluating each source’s credibility and relevance. They provide researchers with up-to-date summaries of what’s been written on topics they wish to explore. Compiling your own annotated bibliography will 1) familiarize you with existing research on your proposal topic, and 2) prepare you to research and write about any topic in the future.

For our project, you’ll need to find varied sources of information: books; newspaper, magazine, or journal articles; web sites; personal interviews; notes from lectures or films; or historical documents (speeches, correspondence, etc). You should find sources that are not already required reading for this course, and at least one should involve primary (firsthand) research, such as interviews, surveys, questionnaires, or observations. Annotated bibliographies generally follow style guidelines (such as APA, Chicago, or MLA). We will use MLA style guidelines (as explained in the Prentice Hall Guide) for ours.

Many annotated bibliographies simply list sources in alphabetical order. You can choose your own system and categories if this seems helpful to you. Whatever you do, organize your sources so that your readers can understand how you are thinking about the information, keeping sources within any sub-categories in alphabetical order (for ease of reading). For example, you can group your sources by subject, by the position the authors take, by the type of source (article vs. book), by date, by the kind of information presented (qualitative, quantitative, anecdotal), etc. Choose the organizing principle that makes the most sense and corresponds most closely to the way you are thinking about the material. Each annotation should be preceded by the complete bibliographic information for the source (see samples).

The following websites provide further explanations and samples of annotated bibliographies:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_annotatedbib.html

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_annotatedbibEX.html


Format for Turning in the Annotated Bibliography

Part 1: The Rationale
Before your list of sources, your bibliography needs a brief introduction (500 words minimum) that explains your rationale for the project. Start by listing your research question, but also explain the following— the scope and range of your sources, how you organized them in your bibliography, where you located them, any problems you encountered while conducting research, any sources that you did not manage to include but would still like to use in your final project, any gaps that you noticed in the research, and any preliminary conclusion you have reached based on your research thus far.

Part 2: The Annotations Themselves
In addition to complete bibliographic information, each annotation should contain 1) a summary of the source, and 2) an evaluation of the source (using criteria such as completeness, comprehensiveness, clarity of presentation, point of view presented, level of detail, quality and quantity of research). Annotations should be approximately 100 to 150 words each. Be selective about how much information you include so that you give readers a clear idea of what the source is about without overwhelming them with too much detail.

Begin each annotation by briefly summarizing the overall claim, scope, and subject of the source. Next, evaluate the source in terms of how well it fulfills its purpose and point out any limitations that it might have. Consider questions such as:

• How complete is the information presented?
• Is the author an expert on the subject?
• What kind of information does the author present: statistical, personal/anecdotal?
• How does the kind of information presented affect the quality and significance of the work?
• Does the source present flawed information?
• Are the conclusions reached consistent with the information presented?
• Does the author support all the claims made with evidence?
• Does the source present accurate and up-to-date information?
• Does the source cite information from other sources?

The sources you collect will help you draw conclusions about your research topic and support the argument you will make in your proposal. You might not quote or paraphrase from every annotated source in your final project, and you might add others that you did not include in the annotated bibliography. Don’t worry too much about that now—just focus on finding good information and demonstrating that you can critically evaluate the usefulness and relevance of what you find. We will discuss your ongoing research progress regularly in class.