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From Purdue OWL: "An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this
claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a
cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to
convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided."
You've considered how gender in media has affected you personally. You've read and analyzed
the opinion of someone else on this topic. You've considered your own views in Writing
Responses. Now is your time to make your own argument about gender in media. Please note
that a paper can only be successful if it considers both gender and its portrayal in media. If the
argument only focuses on a gender issue and doesn't relate to media, or if it is an argument about
media with nothing concerning gender roles, it does not fit the assignment guidelines.
There are multiple angles, opinions, approaches, views, and discourse communities to consider.
Do you want to make a statement about the way gender is portrayed in media in general? Do
you want to discuss the way gender is portrayed in a particular TV show/movie/video game/etc.?
Do you think the portrayal is good or bad? Do you want to concentrate on males or females or
both? Do you want to focus on a particular trope that you either love or are tired of seeing? The
possibilities are wide and varied here. Please, for your own sake, pick something that interests
you and that you can see yourself writing several pages on.
Consider the discourse community you want to have this conversation with: UCA Freshmen?
Policy makers? People who create media? Maybe a group of your fellow majors here at UCA
who don't know much about the topic? Remember that the conversation you're joining will
affect everything from the type of argument and appeals you use to the language you choose and
the counterpoints you might consider!
The emphasis for your argumentative essay is building a strong claim. Make sure you believe
the claim you're making, and that you'll be able to build a strong enough case to be taken
seriously by your discourse community. Think about the kinds of things you examined in your
analysis essay: Did it hurt the author's argument when they didn't use sources effectively? How
did considerations for the author's discourse community affect the appeals they used? What
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kinds of techniques did they use that worked--or didn't? What sorts of techniques can you steal,
use better, avoid?
You'll incorporate what we've learned so far this semester--working globally to locally, honing
your personal writing process, peer review, journaling, revision and invention strategies, etc.--to
help you craft this paper. We will also go over argumentative essay-specific strategies that you'll
be able to use going forward.
You must use at least 3-4 sources. These sources can support your thesis. Alternatively, you can
use them to represent a view different from your own and argue against them. (You do not have
to agree with the source! You can challenge the source as long as you back up your claim.) Or
you can use a source purely for facts. You must engage with these sources within the paper.
This means you're not just adding articles to your Works Cited/References page or dropping in
irrelevant block quotes. Use the sources to enhance what you're saying.
Papers that excel as argumentative are ones which offer strong supporting details and evidence to
back up their thesis.