Pre-writing for Project3
ENGL 2367
ENGL 2367
Writing Project 3 Prewriting Sheet
1. Explain the current social issue you picked and why. (Make sure it affects a particular community you are familiar with [students, parents, families of drug addicts, etc.], so that you can easily develop an audience to write to and a purpose for your research.)
2. Explain what community you could write to. You should be making choices based on them and on your purpose for them. think about who could act on what you’re saying and freewrite about their questions, concerns, areas of resistance, preferences, background knowledge, likes/dislikes, etc.
3. What “springboard” article/speech or policy or law or event did you pick to inspire your research? (You could choose to use the TED talk you discussed for Writing Project 1 or the speech you analyzed for Writing Project 2 as your springboard, or you could pick something else—make sure it’s approved by the instructor.) Provide the citation for what inspired your choice and explain here how and why.
4. Write your research question here. (It’s important that the question be specific, focused, thorough, current, and relevant to a particular issue that real people in a community you are familiar with are facing.)
5. Explain what you have done or will do in terms of primary research for this project (interviewing some members of the community you chose, or some people who have relevant information on your subject) and what you are hoping to be able to ask them.
6. There should be a persuasive element to this project, as you try to convey your purpose to readers. You’ll be convincing them of the relevance of this issue to their lives, convincing them to take the time to listen to the importance background about the issue, and convincing them to do something—whether it involves changing their minds or changing behaviors. Freewrite about what you think you want your purpose to be and why. Ground your purpose so that it has some kind of practical application, that it helps the community you chose in some specific way.
7. Freewrite about how you will use the rhetorical appeals (ethos/paths/logos) in your paper to engage your audience and further your purpose.
· Ethos: how will you establish your credibility as an author/speaker on this issue? What kind of tone/style should you adopt?
· Pathos: how will you engage readers’ emotions? What do you want them to feel and at what points in the paper? What could help them to feel that way?
· Logos: what points should you make and support to help your readers understand your purpose and agree with you? What kinds of evidence/source material would be helpful and persuasive for readers? What kinds of information would readers want/need to know? What might they already know?
8. Persuasion means trying to convince readers to do or think something, and successful arguments craft careful reasons/supports of your thesis with concrete examples as evidence. Persuasive writing also fairly, reasonably, and thoroughly considers and presents other sides of the argument (counterarguments) and responds to those ideas (rebuttals) to increase the writer’s credibility. What counterarguments or questions/concerns of your readers should you raise and respond to in your paper?
9. Which of the CSCC library databases have you tried so far?
10. Which has been most useful and why? What types of sources have you found?
11. Which (if any) have you had trouble with in terms of finding useful sources?