English 108

Long Assignment 1: Due Friday September 18th

In class, we decided on the following three broad topics:

1. Movies

2. American "Idols"

3. Teaching Strategies/ Pedagogy

4. Conspiracy Theories

What you will be required to do is, in a 4-5 page paper:

1. Present a specific, focused, value-based claim that relates to one of the topics. Your claim MUST be a value claim - this is covered in the Structure of Argument text, and will be discussed thoroughly in class.

2. Analyze your claim, using specific details as support. Detailed support should take the form presented in class thus far. Analysis can be in the binary mode, or multi-modal.

3. Come to a synthesis of your analysis that reveals something new in your understanding of the topic, that relates to your claim. Your conclusion should be synthetic, or, in other words, NOT just a summary of what has come before, but present a new perspective of what has come before.

Research is NOT required, but may be used, if appropriate; talk to me about what is appropriate and how to cite information, if necessary. Consider all the relevant rhetorical concepts learned in class thus far, and make use of any that could be helpful (ethos, pathos, logos, audience, context, claims, introductions, etc...)