Outside Research: No minimum, use whatever level of research is necessary to support your argument
Task: Construct a persuasive argument with a proposal claim advocating a specific change or course of action. Make sure you:
Identify the problem you want to address and explain why the audience should be concerned about it.
Propose a solution, stating it as clearly and specifically as you can.
Examine the feasibility of your proposal; explain how it can work, who would be affected by it, what resources it would need, etc. Provein as much detail as possiblethat your proposal could work in reality, not just in theory.
Consider other solutions to the problem and explain why you prefer your solution.
Also make sure that you have a specific audience in mind as youre writing your proposal and gear your argument toward that audience. For example, if youre proposing moving Fall break to Thanksgiving so that students can go home for the holiday, you might frame your argument one way for presentation to university officials and another way for your fellow students.
Tips: Focus on crafting you own argument. It is not advisable to travel well-worn paths, but rather to choose something unique that matters to you and you believe will matter to your audience. Remember that these are short papers, so choose a topic that can fit into 3-4 pages. I suggest thinking locallywhat problems do you see on campus or in your hometown or within your own experience that you think are fixable?
Do NOT pick a topic on the national or international scale as you wont have room to prove feasibility. For example, 3 to 4 pages is not enough room to propose reworking the whole US tax system or to propose that every school in the country have the same classes. Also, if your proposal will cost more than a couple hundred dollars to implement make sure that you explain where that money would come from.
For more help see chapter 6 of our textbook and the power point slides Ive loaded onto Moodle.
