Literature and Philology

In a typed essay of 1 ½ to 2 pages, offer concrete, specific suggestions about how your problem might be solved. Use at least two outside sources, which may include course texts.

Purpose: Up until now, you have described your problem, outlined its history, and refuted a position related to the problem. Now you will offer plausible solutions. While refuting another point of view can help clarify and strengthen your position, refutations are more effective if you also propose your own ideas to strengthen your position. Take this opportunity to apply what you’ve learned about your problem by offering one or more reasonable, clear, and detailed solutions.

Suggestions:
A compelling solution must be three things:
●Specific, Detailed, Practical
The opposite of this would be a solution that is generic, vague, and unrealistic. Generic solutions are unsatisfying because they are either obvious or so common that they hardly need to be argued. For example, if you argued that to solve world hunger “starving people need to be fed,” that may be true, but it hardly gets to the point. Ask yourself questions about the nature of your problem. Why aren’t they fed? What causes them to go hungry? Are the causes more political, economic, or social? When you have answered questions like these, you will be closer to your solution.
For that reason, you may want to refer back to your second essay as you develop your solutions. Practical solutions often address the causes of a problem. For example, if your problem is the use of bots and sock puppets to change public opinion, ask yourself, “What caused this problem?” You might argue that it’s the lack of government regulation and oversight, which would suggest new laws may be necessary. You might argue that it’s caused by political corruption, which could require any number of reforms. Maybe you think it’s too easy for these fraudulent accounts to spread misinformation, and the public should be better equipped to recognize online fraud of this kind. How would you solve a problem like this? Does your solution require more from individuals, or more from institutions?
It’s OK to have more than one solution, and to see more than one cause of a problem. Maybe all of these seem like potential causes in the above example. That’s fine. The important thing to keep in mind–when you see multiple solutions necessary for multiple problems like this–is that your essay has a clear thesis, which may take the form of a complex sentence in the above example. For instance, you might write something like this:
The best available solutions to the rise of politically motivated online misinformation campaigns are as follows: to better educate the public about the tactics and purposes of social media propaganda; to put public pressure on disingenuous political and governmental groups to end such campaigns, and; to allow the government to oversee new media platforms in much the same way they oversaw traditional media through the Federal Communications Commission.

The more you think about the details of your solution, the more thought-out it will be, and the more convincing it is likely to be. What are the costs involved? Who will benefit, and who might not? Are there certain basic human principles involved that you are defending with your solution? Are they worth whatever costs might be paid by society, or by groups or individuals?

In order to strike an even, thoughtful tone, your solution should also be practical. To show that your solution is viable and practical, be sure to provide support from research sources. If you encounter a reasonable proposal in one of your sources, don’t be afraid to include it in your essay (with an appropriate citation, of course).