ENG 106: Composition 2

ENG 106: Composition 2 Lesson 8: Proposals Week: March 10-16, 2003 Place: Dial 147 Objectives By the end of this lesson, you should be able to do each of the following: Identify problems or obstacles that call for action. Construct a proposal that addresses these problems or obstacles. Define relevant terms. Assignments Read Chapter 12 of Everything’s an Argument and excerpts from John Winthrop’s A Modell of Christian Charity (108-112) and Roger Williams’s The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (194-195) before you come to class on Tuesday. Write an outline of your proposal before you come to class on Thursday. This outline should contain a claim, along with notes for your introduction, discussion of the problem, solution, and conclusion. Activities Think Fast: React to John Winthop’s and Roger Williams’s proposals. What problems or obstacles are they addressing? Evaluate their solutions. Presentation: Proposals (Professor Canada) Cooperative Learning: Discuss the arguments with your classmates. Discussion: During this time, we will discuss the insights and questions that have emerged during our “Think Fast” exercise, my presentation, and cooperative learning. Workshop: Use various prewriting strategies to explore a problem and possible solutions. Make sure you consider any possible connections with colonial America. Think Again: Using what you have learned or reviewed in this lesson, write a claim for your proposal. Conferences: During these one-on-one conferences, I will review some of your writing, orally quiz you on lesson objectives, and field your questions. Announcements: We will wrap up this lesson with announcements regarding upcoming lessons, as well as other relevant subjects. Terms Make sure you know the meaning and significance of each of the following terms: obstacle problem proposal solution Resources Everything’s an Argument contains detailed guidance on drafting a proposal. Updated March 4, 2003 © Mark Canada, 2003 mark.canada@uncp.edu

Introduction Having completed the first half of our semester, we will now devote much of the remainder of the semester to producing one lengthy and complex argument, a proposal. In this lesson, we will learn about the purpose and structure of a proposal, and you will begin to construct your own. In future lessons, you will gradually develop this proposal as we explore library research and other subjects. Discussion The Purpose and Structure of Proposals One of the most common kinds of argument, especially in the fields of politics and business, is the proposal. The author of a proposal argues that a person or a group should or should not take a particular action. A member of the United States House of Representatives, for example, might propose a law to control the sale of handguns, or an advertising firm might propose a new plan for promoting a company’s products. Even a couple of friends who advise you to live on campus are making a proposal argument. The word “should” is often a clue that the argument you are reading or hearing is a proposal: “The United States should take military action against Iraq.” “Our corporation should move its headquarters to Raleigh.” “College students should not work more than 20 hours per week.” In making proposal arguments, authors often draw on other kinds of argument. Take the example of some friends’ proposal that you live on campus. These friends may begin by arguing that residence halls are less expensive and more convenient than off-campus apartments; in doing so, they are making an evaluation argument. They then may go on to argue that being close to the library and having quiet hours will cause you to get better grades, thus making a causal argument. They might even make an argument of definition by claiming that living in a residence hall is an academic experience, a king of college course in itself. Thus, to support the proposal claim that you should live on campus, your friends have actually used three other kinds of argument. Creating a Proposal When planning a proposal, you should begin by looking carefully at the evidence surrounding an issue. Often this issue will involve some kind of problem: handgun violence, for example, or declining profits. In other cases, there may be no obvious problem that needs immediate action, but rather the usual sorts of obstacles that nations, organizations, and individuals encounter on their way to their goals. When you enrolled in college, for instance, you probably did not already have a problem regarding your place of residence. Still, you had to decide what action to take: to live on campus, to rent an off-campus apartment, or to commute from home. A proposal that you live on campus would take into account your goals and the obstacles that you will face, and it would spell out the reasons why living on campus would help you to overcome those obstacles and achieve your goals. Thus, the prewriting you do for your proposal might include listing problems, doing a clustering diagram of obstacles, and freewriting solutions. Once you have explored the topic through prewriting, you are ready to begin writing your proposal. Begin with a claim that proposes some action or the avoidance of some action. Outline a discussion of the relevant problems, obstacles, and solutions you explored in your prewriting. Finally, convert the points in this outline into a draft in paragraph form. As always, you will want to spend a lot of time revising your argument. In particular, make sure that you have clearly stated a claim that proposes a course of action, accurately described relevant problems or solutions, and thoroughly discussed a realistic, feasible solution. Conclusion In this lesson, we have examined a fourth brand of argument, the proposal. In our next lesson, we will begin looking at the world of research, beginning with monographs.