Inven%on Tasks for Formal Assignments Use these eight ques+ons to develop your thesis and organize your paper. Eight Explora%on Tasks for an Argument Addressing an Issue:

1. Write out the issue your argument will address. Then write out your tenta+ve answer to your issue-ques+on. This will be your beginning thesis statement or claim. 2. Why is this issue controversial? Who are the stakeholders in the controversy? Why don’t they agree? (For example, is there not enough evidence to resolve the issue? Is the current evidence ambiguous or contradictory? Are defini+ons in dispute? Do the par+es disagree about basic values, assump+ons, or beliefs?) 3. What personal interest do you have in this issue? What personal experiences do you have with it? How does the issue affect you? 4. Who is the audience that you need to persuade? What values, beliefs, and assump+ons cause them to take posi+ons different from yours? What evidence do they use to support their posi+ons? 5. Through idea-mapping or freewri+ng, begin planning your own argument. What are the main reasons and evidence you will use to support your posi+on? As you generate reasons and evidence, you are likely to discover gaps in the knowledge. Where could your argument be bolstered by addi+onal data such as sta+s+cs, examples, and expert tes+mony? Where and how will you do research to fill these gaps? 6. Role-playing your readers, imagine the counterarguments that your audience might make. Where does your claim threaten their beliefs, discount their own values, or otherwise cast them as losers rather than winners? 7. How can you respond to these objec+ons and counterarguments? Take them one by one and brainstorm possible responses. 8. Finally, explore again why this issue is important. What are its broader implica+ons and consequences? Why does it maWer?

Created by Heather Mir for the Writing-Across-the-Curriculum Program at Bronx Community College, 2017. For more on how to create a resource like this for your course, contact us at http://cuny.is/bccwac