This assignment asks you to produce a blog post using WordPress, the platform I use for my class website. Your post should be 800-1200 words and include at least three links to outside sources and at least one visual element (image, video, social media post, etc.). You have two different options for the content of your post; read through the following options to see what approach works best for you. While you can focus on the same topic from Paper 1 and draw on the same research, all writing for Paper 2 should be entirely new. You do not need a citations section; for digital writing, linking to your sources serves as a form of citation.
Argument
One option would be to continue your work from Paper 1: while that paper focused more on analyzing sources and the overall conversation, Paper 2 could focus more on your argument and perspective on the topic. As you develop your argument, you should be mindful of our concepts from Toulmin and stasis theory and consider the following prompts:
- What is your main claim? Following stasis theory, remember that you can make different types of claims and perhaps multiple claims that build upon each other. You can make claims about the facts, causes and effects, definitions, evaluations, and policies.
- How can you support your claim(s) with reasoning, evidence, examples, counterarguments, and outside sources? How does your visual element add to your argument?
To give some sort of context to your argument, you need to ground it in some way. You can respond to a recent event, to another text (including a source from Paper 1), or any other reference point. In other words, even though you are welcome to advance your own argument, you still need to frame your thinking in terms of a broader conversation around this issue.
Visual Analysis
A second option for Paper 2 is to perform an analysis of a visual text related to your topic: an image, video, social media post, or something else along these lines. Your goal would be to help us better understand the topic by analyzing a specific visual text. We would still be interested in our main analysis questions:
- What is the main purpose or argument of the text?
- How does the text achieve its purpose through specific visual details and design choices?
- What assumptions, values, or beliefs does the text speak to?
- How does the context shape our understanding of the text?
- What is the larger significance of the text? How does it shape or contribute to our understanding of this issue?
New Topic
You are welcome to switch to a different topic for Paper 2 if you prefer. You could make an argument or do a visual analysis on something new if you want to move on from your work on Paper 1. You will still need to draw on outside sources, so you will need to do research related to the new topic. If you take up a new topic, you would still complete either the Argument or Visual Analysis option as described above.
Matt King 