Anker Susan. Real Essays with Readings with 2009 MLA Update

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 17 • Cause and Effect 287

ASSIGNMENT 3 WRITING TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

THE PROBLEM: Your child has been diagnosed with attention-deﬁ cit/hyperac-

tivity disorder (ADHD), and the doctor has recommended that he take the

drug Ritalin. The doctor assures you that Ritalin is very commonly prescribed

for children with ADHD, but you are uncomfortable giving your child a drug

that you know little about.

THE ASSIGNMENT: Working on your own or with a small group, write a paper

that discusses the effects of Ritalin on children with ADHD. In your conclu-

sion, indicate whether you will put your child on Ritalin or not, based on what

you now know.

RESOURCES: Review the chart on pages 868–69 for general advice on problem

solving. Also, type effects of Ritalin on children with ADHD into a search engine

and view some of the Web sites on the subject. Make sure that the Web sites

you consult are sponsored by medical organizations rather than drug compa-

nies. List any Web sites you use.

ASSIGNMENT 4 WRITING ABOUT READINGS

Society’s (or a group’s) standards of who and what are good or bad are

reﬂ ected in television, magazines, music, and virtually every other type of

media. Media images affect us all, whether or not we are aware of it, and

several of the readings in this book deal with how people can be harmed by

them. Choose one of the reading pairs below, and write an essay on the topic

that follows it.

1. Amy L. Beck’s “Struggling for Perfection” on page 829 and Don H.

Hockenbury and Sandra Hockenbury’s “When the Regulation of Eating

Behavior Fails: Anorexia and Bulimia” on page 257

• Discuss the issue that Beck raises and how the Hockenburys’

piece on anorexia and bulimia supports her point. Refer to

both readings, and bring in your own experiences with media

portrayals as well, including how you or people you know have

been affected.

2. Amy L. Beck’s “Struggling for Perfection” on page 829 and Tiffany

Shale’s “Lasting Lessons in The Bluest Eye” on page 340

• Discuss how both Pecola Breedlove and women today are affected

by standards of beauty. What do they hope to gain? Refer speciﬁ -

cally to both selections in your response. How have you been af-

fected by society’s standards of physical perfection?

ANK_47574_17_ch17_pp272-289 r3 ko.indd 287ANK_47574_17_ch17_pp272-289 r3 ko.indd 287 10/29/08 10:10:53 AM10/29/08 10:10:53 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

288 Part Two • Writing Different Kinds of Essays

WRITING GUIDE: CAUSE AND EFFECT

STEPS IN CAUSE AND EFFECT HOW TO DO THE STEPS

Focus.

■

■ Think about an event or situation that matters to you

and whether you want to describe its causes, its effects, or

both. Review the four basics of good cause and effect on

page 272.

Prewrite to explore your

topic.

See Chapter 4 for more on

prewriting.

■

■ State what your purpose for writing is — to explain the

causes, effects, or both.

■

■ Use the ring diagram or clustering to get ideas about the

causes or effects of your topic.

Write a thesis statement.

The thesis statement in a cause

and effect essay often includes

the topic and an indicator of

whether you will be discussing

causes, effects, or both.

Topic + indication of cause /

effect =

Thesis

A blog ruined my marriage.

See Chapter 5 for more on

writing a thesis statement.

■

■ Write a thesis statement that includes your topic and an

indicator of cause, effect, or both.

3. Amy L. Beck’s “Struggling for Perfection” on page 829 and Dave

Barry’s “The Ugly Truth about Beauty” on page 817

• Discuss the authors’ different approaches to a similar topic. Analyze

the differences, and discuss which piece is more effective to you

and why.

4. Amy L. Beck’s “Struggling for Perfection” on page 829 and Brent

Staples’s “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” on page 834

• How have the two different groups the authors portray been

negatively affected by portrayals in the media? Bring in references

from each reading along with your experiences of how the media

can cause people to have incorrect, and sometimes dangerous,

perceptions of themselves and others.

Follow the steps in the Writing Guide below to help you prewrite, draft, revise,

and edit your cause and effect essay. Check off each step as you complete it.

■ RESOURCES

Additional Resources

for Teaching REAL ESSAYS

has visual planning

forms for cause and

effect and the other

essays covered in

Part Two. These forms

are also online at

bedfordstmartins

.com/realessays.

ANK_47574_17_ch17_pp272-289 r3 ko.indd 288ANK_47574_17_ch17_pp272-289 r3 ko.indd 288 10/29/08 10:10:53 AM10/29/08 10:10:53 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 17 • Cause and Effect 289

STEPS IN CAUSE AND EFFECT HOW TO DO THE STEPS

Support your thesis

statement.

The major support for a cause

and effect essay consists

of the explanations of the

causes or effects.

See Chapter 6 for more on

supporting a thesis statement.

■

■ List the most important causes and effects of the event or

situation mentioned in your thesis.

■

■ For each cause or effect, give an example and details about

how it caused or resulted from the event or situation.

■

■ Add other causes or effects that you think of, and delete any

that are weak or won’t make sense to your readers.

Make a plan.

See Chapter 7 for more on

planning.

■

■ Make a plan or an outline that presents your causes or

effects according to order of importance or some other

logical order. (See the diagram on p. 276.)

Write a draft.

See Chapter 8 for more on

drafting.

■

■ Write an introduction that includes your thesis statement.

See if you can use one of the introductory techniques in

Chapter 8.

■

■ Write topic sentences for each paragraph, and give detailed

examples or explanations of the cause or effect that you are

presenting in that paragraph.

■

■ Write a concluding paragraph that makes an observation

about the topic and its causes or effects, based on the points

you have made in your essay.

■

■ Title your essay.

Revise your draft.

See Chapter 9 for more on

revising a draft.

■

■ Ask another person to read and comment on your draft.

■

■ See if your thesis statement and introduction could be

clearer or more interesting to your readers.

■

■ Reread the body of your essay to make sure the causes or

effects really have caused the topic or resulted from it.

■

■ Reread your conclusion to make sure it reinforces your main

point.

■

■ Add transitions to connect your ideas.

■

■ Make at least ﬁ ve changes to your draft to improve unity,

support, or coherence (see pp. 127–40).

■

■ Check to make sure the draft follows the four basics of good

cause and effect.

Edit your draft.

See Parts Four through Seven

for more on editing.

■

■ Use the spell checker and grammar checker on your

computer, but also reread your essay carefully to catch any

errors.

■

■ Look for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Focus

ﬁ rst on fragments, run-ons, subject-verb agreement, verb

problems, and other areas where you often make mistakes.

■

■ Ask yourself: Is this the best I can do?

ANK_47574_17_ch17_pp272-289 r3 ko.indd 289ANK_47574_17_ch17_pp272-289 r3 ko.indd 289 10/29/08 10:10:53 AM10/29/08 10:10:53 AM

290

You Know This

Whenever you try

to convince some-

one to do or avoid

doing something,

you use argument.

• You persuade a

friend to lend

you some money.

• You understand

the argument

being made in a

public-service ad.

Argument

Writing That Persuades

Understand What Argument Is

Argument is writing that takes a position on an issue and offers reasons

and supporting evidence to convince someone else to accept, or at least

consider, that position. Argument is also used to persuade someone to

take an action (or not to take an action).

FOUR BASICS OF GOOD ARGUMENT

It takes a strong and deﬁ nite position on an issue or advises a

particular action.

2. It gives good reasons and supporting evidence to defend the

position or recommended action.

3. It considers opposing views.

4. It has enthusiasm and energy from start to ﬁ nish.

In the following paragraph, each number corresponds to one of the

four basics of good argument.

1 The drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen.

2 The government gives eighteen-year-olds the right to vote. If they are

adult enough to vote for the people and policies that run this country,

they should be mature enough to have a drink. 2 The U.S. penal system

■ ESL: Be aware that

some students in your

class may come from a

background in which

direct argument is

perceived as rude and

points are therefore

made indirectly.

■ IDEA JOURNAL

Write about a time

that you got some-

thing you wanted by

giving someone good

reasons and making a

good case.

ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 290ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 290 10/29/08 10:11:23 AM10/29/08 10:11:23 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 18 • Argument 291

also regards eighteen-year-olds as adults. If an eighteen-year-old commits

a crime and goes to trial, he or she is tried and sentenced as an adult, not

as a minor. That means that if the crime is murder, an eighteen-year-old

could receive the death penalty. Eighteen-year-olds are not given spe-

cial treatment. Most important is the fact that at eighteen, individuals

can enlist in the armed forces and go to war. The government considers

them old enough to die for their country but not old enough to have a

drink? This makes no sense. 3 Opponents to lowering the drinking age

justify their position by saying that if the age is lowered, teenagers will

start drinking even earlier. However, there is no evidence to show that

legal age is a major inﬂ uence on teenage drinking. Other factors involved,

such as peer pressure and the availability of fake IDs, have more impact

on whether teenagers drink. While the government does need to address

the issue of teenage drinking, forbidding eighteen-year-olds to drink while

granting them other, more important rights and responsibilities at the

same age is neither consistent nor reasonable.

Putting together a good argument is one of the most useful skills you

can learn. Knowing how to argue well will equip you to defend effectively

what you believe and to convince others to agree with you. We present

an argument to persuade someone to give us a job, to buy something

we’re selling, or to give us more time to ﬁ nish a task. And we argue when

something important is at stake, like keeping a job or protecting our rights.

To argue effectively, we need to do more than just say what we want or

believe; we need to give solid reasons and evidence.

Argument is the method you use to persuade people to see things your

way or at least to understand your position. Argument helps you to take

action in problem situations rather than to stand by, silent and frustrated.

Although knowing how to argue won’t eliminate all such situations, it will

help you to defend your position.

Many situations require good argument skills.

COLLEGE An exit essay from a writing course contains the follow-

ing instruction: “Develop a well-balanced argument on

the subject of free speech on the Internet.”

WORK You present reasons why you should get a raise.

EVERYDAY You convince a large company that it has made a mistake

LIFE on your bill.

■ DISCUSSION

Ask students to identify

some issues — whether

local, national, or

international — that

have more than two

sides.

■ DISCUSSION

Ask students to give

examples of situations

in which they needed

to defend a position.

4 Writing is

enthusiastic

and energetic

ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 291ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 291 10/29/08 10:11:23 AM10/29/08 10:11:23 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

292 Part Two • Writing Different Kinds of Essays

Main Point in Argument

Your main point in an argument is the position you take on the issue you

are writing about. When you are free to choose an issue, choose some-

thing you care about strongly. But even when you are assigned an issue,

ﬁ nd something about it that you feel strongly about and take a deﬁ nite

position. You should approach your argument feeling committed to and

enthusiastic about your position. To help you get there, consider the tips

below:

Tips for Building Energy and Enthusiasm

• Imagine yourself arguing your position with someone who holds

the opposite position.

• Imagine that your whole grade rests on persuading your teacher

that your position is correct.

• Imagine how this issue could affect you or your family personally.

• Imagine that you are representing a large group of people who

very much care about the issue and whose lives will be forever

changed by it. It’s up to you to win their case.

Take a few minutes to think about the issue, talk it over with a partner,

or jot down ideas related to it. Once you have decided on your position

and have built up some energy for it, write a thesis statement that includes

the issue and your position on it.

Issue + Position = Thesis statement

The drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen.

Issue + Position = Thesis statement

The current minimum wage is not enough to live on.

Issue + Position = Thesis statement

The most important thing about a marriage is that two people love

and respect each other, not what sex they are.

ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 292ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 292 10/29/08 10:11:24 AM10/29/08 10:11:24 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 18 • Argument 293

Sometimes the thesis combines the issue and the position, as in the

following statements:

Issue/position = Thesis statement

Soldiers should not be forced to stay in war zones beyond their terms.

Issue/position = Thesis statement

All eighteen-year-olds should be drafted into the military.

Try to make the thesis statement for any argument as speciﬁ c as

possible to help guide your writing and your readers.

VAGUE Our health-care system is disgraceful.

MORE SPECIFIC Two key reforms would make health care more

affordable for all.

[The paper would detail the two reforms.]

Many thesis statements for arguments use words such as the following

because they clearly express a position:

could (not) ought (not)

must (not) requires

must have should (not)

needs would

PRACTICE 1 WRITING A STATEMENT OF YOUR POSITION

Write your position on the following issues:

A ban on junk food and sugary drinks at elementary and high schools

Answers will vary.

Mandatory drug testing as a requirement for employment

Free college courses for prisoners

■ TEACHING TIP

Have students write at

least three different

versions of a position

statement and then

evaluate which they

think is the most effec-

tive, and why.

■

ESL: Ask students

how differences in

languages and cultures

help shape the presen-

tation of an argument.

■

DISCUSSION

Ask students to identify

a good argument or

speech they have heard

and explain what made

it effective.

ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 293ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 293 10/29/08 10:11:24 AM10/29/08 10:11:24 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

294 Part Two • Writing Different Kinds of Essays

Now, take one of the position statements that you just wrote, and put more

energy into it.

Answers will vary.

Support in Argument

However strongly you may feel about an issue, if you don’t provide solid

support for your position, you will not convince anyone to see it your way.

As you develop support for your position, think carefully about your read-

ers and the kind of information that will be most convincing to them.

Reasons and Evidence

The major support for your position consists of the reasons that you give

for that position. These reasons must be backed up with evidence, such

as facts, examples, and expert opinions. The success of your argument

depends on the quality of the reasons and evidence that you present to

support your position.

Facts are statements or observations that can be proved true.

Statistics — numerical facts based on research — can be persuasive evi-

dence to back up your position. Examples are speciﬁ c experiences or

pieces of information that support your position. Expert opinion is the

opinion of someone who is considered an expert in the area you are writing

about. Note: The fact that a person’s opinion appears on a Web site does

not necessarily mean that he or she has any expertise. When in doubt about

a source’s authority, consult your instructor or a research librarian.

POSITION It pays to stay in college.

REASON College graduates earn more than high school graduates.

EVIDENCE/ College graduates earn 68 percent more than high school

FACT graduates and 320 percent more than high school

dropouts.

REASON Students learn up-to-date skills that they will need to

ﬁ nd a job.

EVIDENCE/ Understanding how to use technology in your ﬁ eld may

EXAMPLE make the difference between getting a job and coming

in second.

■ TEACHING TIP

Have the class choose

an issue, bring in evi-

dence (facts, examples,

expert opinions), and

compare what they

ﬁ nd.

■ For online exercises

on main point and

support, visit

Exercise Central at

bedfordstmartins

.com/realessays.

■ For more on ﬁ nd-

ing sources, using

quotations, and

citing sources, see

Chapter 21.

ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 294ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 294 10/29/08 10:11:24 AM10/29/08 10:11:24 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 18 • Argument 295

REASON An increasing number of jobs require college degrees.

EVIDENCE/ John Sterling, president of one of the largest recruiting

EXPERT agencies, said recently, “Ten years ago, a college degree

OPINION was perceived as an advantage. Today, the college degree

is the basic ticket of entry for the majority of jobs.”

[Note: When you use expert opinion, you need to identify

the source of the quote.]

As you choose reasons and evidence to support your position, consider

your readers. Are they likely to agree with you, to be uncommitted, or to

be hostile? Choose the support that is most likely to convince them, draw-

ing on outside sources (such as the library or Internet) as needed.

Opposing Positions

Part of your support for your position involves the opposing position:

Acknowledge it, and present some evidence against it. If, for example,

you are arguing in favor of lowering the drinking age to eighteen, you

should not ignore the position that it should be kept at age twenty-one. If

you don’t say anything about the other position, you are leaving your ar-

gument unprotected. To defend your own position, show some weakness

in the opposing position.

The writer of the paragraph on page 290 might consider the opposing

position as follows:

POSITION The drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one to

eighteen.

OPPOSING The drinking age should not be lowered because

POSITION people begin drinking before the legal age. If the age

were lowered to eighteen, more sixteen-year-olds would

drink.

ACKNOWLEDGING THE OPPOSING POSITION: First, laws should not be based

on the extent to which they are likely to be abused or broken. They

should be based on what’s right. Even so, there is no evidence to show

that legal age is a major inﬂ uence on teenage drinking. Other factors

involved, such as peer pressure and the availability of fake IDs, have

more impact on whether teenagers drink.

■ TEACHING TIP

Critique a misleading

ad that uses weak evi-

dence (such as a diet ad

that promises instant

weight loss). Ask stu-

dents to bring in other

examples.

䡲 DISCUSSION

Ask students to suggest

a topic, a position, and

some evidence. Then

ask for ideas about

how the opposition

would try to knock

down the evidence.

ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 295ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 295 10/29/08 10:11:24 AM10/29/08 10:11:24 AM

WRITING ESSAYS

296 Part Two • Writing Different Kinds of Essays

PRACTICE 2 ACKNOWLEDGING AND ADDRESSING

THE OPPOSING VIEW

For each of the following positions, in the spaces indicated, state the op-

posing position and at least one point someone holding the opposing view

might make against your position. Answers will vary. Suggested answers follow.

ISSUE: The “Three Strikes and You’re Out” rule in some high schools

that requires students to be expelled after three serious offenses

POSITION: Against it

OPPOSING POSITION:

In favor of the rule

POINT THAT SOMEONE HOLDING THE OPPOSING POSITION WOULD MAKE:

The rule serves as a deterrent.

ISSUE: Mandatory retirement at age sixty-seven

POSITION: In favor of it

OPPOSING POSITION:

Opposed to mandatory retirement at age sixty-seven

POINT THAT SOMEONE HOLDING THE OPPOSING POSITION WOULD MAKE:

People live longer these days than they used to.

ISSUE: Stricter gun control laws

POSITION: Against it

■ TEAMWORK

Practice 2 works well

in pairs.

Tips for Supporting Your Position by

Addressing the Opposing Position

• Visualize someone who holds the opposing position and what that

person would say to defend it.

• In part of the body of your essay, acknowledge the opposing

position. Do so politely; if you try to ridicule the opposing view,

you will alienate people and immediately weaken your argument.

• Poke some holes in the opposing position by addressing it directly

and showing what’s wrong, or misguided, about the position.

Again, do this politely; don’t make your opposition look foolish.

• Return to the reasons and the evidence that support your position.

ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 296ANK_47574_18_ch18_pp290-316 r3 ko.indd 296 10/29/08 10:11:25 AM10/29/08 10:11:25 AM