- 15 Mar, 2021
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Should contraception be available for minors without parental consent?
In rhetorical studies, invention refers to the systematic search for ideas that can be
shaped into an effective composition. (The term “prewriting” is sometimes used to refer
to the concept of invention.) This section of the assignment, then, is designed to help
you generate the required content for your Researched Position Paper. Please note
that the following steps are not intended to serve as an outline for your paper. Rather,
these steps will help you produce the “raw materials” that you will then refine into a
well-organized analysis, and these steps are likely to produce more material than you
can actually use in the draft you submit to readers.
1. Once you’ve settled on an audience, construct a claim that advances the
conversation about your issue, turns it in a new direction. You might disagree with a
claim made by an author (They Say/I Say , pp. 58 – 61), you might agree with a
claim but with a difference ( They Say/I Say , pp. 61 – 64), you might agree and
disagree with a claim simultaneously (They Say/I Say , pp. 64 – 66), or you might
generate an entirely new claim that addresses an aspect of the issue that has not
been addressed in the sources you’ve found.
2. Next, attach as many reasons as are necessary to fully support your claim. Your
claim+reasons, also known as “enthymemes” (Everything’s an Argument, p. 65), will
form your thesis.
3. For each separate enthymeme in your thesis, identify the implicit warrant and
determine whether it represents an assumption that your audience shares with you.
If so, there’s no need to address the warrant explicitly in your argument. If the
warrant represents an assumption some readers might resist, however, consider
how you might persuade them to accept it. If you think it would be impossible to
persuade your audience to accept the warrant, then you might consider changing
the reason so as to produce a warrant that relies on an assumption that you and
your readers share. Please note: each reason in your thesis will produce a different
warrant, and you must assess the audience’s response to each one.
4. For each of your reasons (and any warrant that needs explicit support), provide
sufficient evidence to convince your audience that your reasons are true
statements. Your personal experiences, observations, and reasoning count as
evidence, but you should also draw extensively on outside sources for evidence to
support your reasons.
5. Make sure you anticipate objections to your argument by planting at least one
naysayer in your paper. This naysayer might be hypothetical or might be the actual
author of an outside source. To engage effectively with a naysayer, you should:• name and describe the naysayer (They Say/I Say, pp. 82 – 84).
• represent objections fairly (They Say/I Say, pp. 86 – 87).
• make concessions when possible (They Say/I Say, pp. 88 – 90).
• answer objections (They Say/I Say, pp. 87 – 90).
6. The previous five steps will help you construct effective logos appeals. You should
also make effective ethos appeals in order to come across to readers as a person
of good character, good sense, and good will. To make effective ethos appeals,
make sure you:
• know what you’re talking about. Draw on all those outside sources you’ve been
reading over the course of the semester, and provide ample evidence for your
reasons.
• show regard for your readers. Try to come across as approachable and thoughtful,
not arrogant or insensitive.
• are careful and meticulous in your writing, not sloppy or disorganized.
7. 7. Finally, make pathos appeals to readers by connecting with their emotions,
values, and imaginations. To make effective pathos appeals, make sure you:
• evoke emotions (sympathy, outrage, anger, delight, awe, horror, etc.) in your
readers that make your paper more moving.
• evoke sensations (seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling) in your audience that
make your writing vivid and help readers experience things imaginatively.
• appeal to values (freedom, justice, tolerance, fairness, equality, etc.) that your
readers and you share.
Arrangement
In rhetorical studies, arrangement refers to the selection of content generated during
the inventional stage and the organization of that content into an effective composition.
To begin your paper, follow the advice offered in Ch. 1 of They Say/I Say: “To give your
writing the most important thing of all — namely, a point — a writer needs to indicate
clearly not only what his or her thesis is, but also what larger conversation that thesis is
responding to” (20). In this case, the conversation you’re responding to is the one
surrounding your issue. Indicate at the beginning of your paper that you’re writing
in response to that conversation; then state a thesis that consists of your claim
and supporting reasons.
Also, mind the lesson of Ch. 7 in They Say/I Say: “Regardless of how interesting a topic
may be to you as a writer, readers always need to know what is at stake in a text and
why they should care. . .. Rather than assume that audiences will know why their
claims matter, all writers need to answer the ‘so what?’ and ‘who cares?’ questions up
front” (92 – 93). Don’t assume that your readers will care about your take on the issue — make them care by explaining why your argument is significant. Feel free
to use the templates in Ch. 7 of They Say/I Say.
After you’ve completed these introductory moves, the arrangement of your argument is
up to you. You should include material from each step in the inventional stage, but your
selection and organization of that material should follow your own judgment as to what
will prove most effective with the audience you have selected.
Style
In rhetorical studies, style refers to the appropriate language for the occasion, subject
matter, and audience.
Readers appreciate coherent, unified paragraphs, even when reading an informal piece
of writing. Your paragraphs should include a topic sentence that clearly states the main
idea of the paragraph and supporting sentences that cluster around the main idea
without detours.
You should format your paper and cite your sources according to MLA formatting and
citation guidelines.
Proofread carefully; avoid errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics.
Visit the Purdue OWL website (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ ) for questions you
have regarding style.