Humanities Homework Help

Counterargument and Refutation: Practice

1. Pretend you are writing an essay in favor of allowing smoking on campus. You think students should be allowed to smoke on campus. To make your argument, you need to defeat the arguments of people who hold the opposite view (the counterargument). Your thesis is “Smoking should be allowed on campus.”

Thesis: Smoking should be allowed on campus.

Counterargument: Some people say that smoking should NOT be allowed on campus because _

Refutation: (Think of an argument that will destroy the counterargument above.)

1. Pretend you are writing an essay in favor of allowing students to use iPhones in class. You think students should be allowed to use their iPhones in class. To make your argument, you need to defeat the arguments of the people who hold the opposite view (the counterargument). Your thesis is “Students should be allowed to use iPhones in class.

Thesis: Students should be allowed to use their iPhones in class.

Counterargument #1: Some people say that students should NOT be allowed to use their iPhones in class because _

Refutation: (Think of an argument that will destroy the counterargument above.)

Counterargument #2: Yet other people say that students should NOT be allowed to use their iPhones in class because _

Refutation: (Think of an argument that will destroy the counterargument

2)

Research Paper Proposal

You will be writing a paper proposal that informs me of the topic you wish to research for your research paper. The proposal will be a minimum of two pages long and will be comprised of several different parts.

Your proposal must include:

-An introduction to the topic of the proposal

– What do you want to write about?

-An explanation of the significance and a statement of goals

– Why is this topic important to write about? What will you accomplish by

completing this research?

-1-3 Research questions

-What are you trying to learn or prove or argue?

-What questions are you trying to answer with your research?

– Statement of Intended Audience

-Who is this research for? How will the audience influence your

research and or writing?

-Description of Methodology

-How are you going to complete this research? What sources or types of

sources will you use? What terms can you use to conduct searches?

Each of these sections should be a minimum of a paragraph long. Use this assignment to really begin to think about what you will be writing about in your research paper. You may arrange the proposal in any order that you feel makes sense.

Due Date: __________________

Notes about the assignment:

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