Argument Papers: You will write two Argument Papers of 1 ½ to 2 pages. You will identify and address an issue related to your own everyday experience or interests – sports, jobs, family, school, health, community or local concerns. In writing your papers you will concisely and explicitly express (a) the issue being addressed, (b) the position you are taking on the issue as you have expressed it, and (c) three primary premises in support of that position. Once you have written this skeletal form of the argument, you will then (d) write paragraph-length justifications for the premises, showing how they support your position, the argument conclusion. The numbered premises of the skeletal argument are in effect topic sentences for the support paragraphs. Use only simple declarative sentences to express the skeletal argument. Each paper must follow this format, illustrated below:

Issue: Whether the 1965 Minnesota Twins could have beaten the 2010 New York Yankees in a 7 Game Series.
Position: 1965 Minnesota Twins could have beaten the 2010 New York Yankees in a 7 Game Series.

Premise 1: The Twins 4 man pitching rotation, lead by Jim Kaat, stacks up better in a seven game series.
Premise 2: The Twins defense was stronger at every position.
Premise 3: The Twins had better all around hitting, with sluggers like Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, and Tony Oliva (A.L. Rookie of the year in 1964) and great contact hitters like Zoilo Versalles (A.L. MVP in 1965).

(Paragraphs with the numbered premises as topic sentences go here.)

These argument papers must be developed based on your own ideas and thinking, and should not be considered research papers. In that light, argument papers which report information from the internet or other outside sources will not be accepted.

For additional guidance, see Constructing Your Own Argument and Argument Evaluation in the Fundamentals of Argument document in Georgia View or on my webpage at http://a-s.clayton.edu/jackson.