Textbook Chapter 9: Rogerian Argument & Common Ground

6. Describe the basic strategy of Rogerian argument.

7. Describe some of the advantages and disadvantages of Rogerian argument.

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8. Recall the last time you were in an argument in which you were angry and no one seemed to win. Write a 2-3 paragraph letter to the individual with whom you were arguing. Use Rogerian strategy. (See Achieving Common Ground in Rogerian Argument, and Writing Rogerian Argument for guidelines and ideas.)

Handbook, Chapter 33: Revising and Editing Essays

9. What constitutes a unified paragraph?

10. For the sake of simplicity, in this course, the topic sentence will always appear at the beginning of paragraphs. Looking back at your letter in #8, does your first paragraph have a topic sentence? (Important: You must respond to one of the Response Options below to receive credit for this question.)

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Response Option 1: If your paragraph is in need of a topic sentence, revisit the information in the paragraph and write a sentence below that is general enough to encapsulate the information in your paragraph, and yet specific enough to achieve unity in meaning. You may need to rearrange the points in your letter to work well with the topic sentence. (See Chapter 34C of your handbook for examples of strong topic sentences.) Write your topic sentence here:

Response Option 2: If your paragraph already has a topic sentence, revisit the sentence and consider an approach to editing and revision. How can you make this topic sentence state the main idea of your paragraph? How could it be more coherent? More concise? Less wordy? Write your revised topic sentence here:

11. Take a look at the rest of the first paragraph of your letter in #8. Does every sentence in the paragraph relate to the main idea (topic sentence)? If not, work on unifying the paragraph. Be sure to arrange your ideas clearly and incorporate effective transitions to foster coherence in your paragraph.

12. Now, cut and paste your revised letter below. This time, add a few details or examples that support your topic sentences in each paragraph, using the same techniques you used to revise your opening paragraph. Highlight the additions in yellow. (Important: You must paste in your revision below to receive credit for this question.)

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