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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Persuasive/Argumentative Writing: Halloween Debate

Objective:

The objective of this assignment is to engage in a professional discussion with your peers about Social Norms.  As discussed in class, social norms are the unwritten rules, or normalities, that society has for its citizens.  One of these norms begs the question: What age should children stop Trick-or-Treating during Halloween?  

Assignment:

This is a three part assignment in which you are to: (1) Post your belief about the age range for children to begin phasing out of the Trick-or-Treating tradition; (2) Argue, using proper netiquette, against one of the other age groups and; (3) Rebuttal Post against someone that disagreed with your age range.

Your initial Post about your beliefs should have at least three solid, well developed main ideas.  The Posts should be well organized in order to refrain from wordy rambling.  The Post should be three and a half paragraphs (see examples below).

Please watch the following tutorial on how to make a post using only your first name, first initial of last name, and A.M. or P.M. Core.  Please watch here.

Resources:

When crafting an argument, it is almost always necessary to discover what others' beliefs are about the subject.  By referencing articles, books, websites, etc., one's arguments may come across as more developed and thorough.  In order to divert you from using answers.com, I have compiled a small list of resources to read and reference before making your initial post.  




NBC.com

Examples:

This is a traditional outline in which you should follow for your prewriting.  Your Post(s) will be written paragraphs:
I. Halloween Trick-or-Treating
A. Introduction
a. basic belief and list reasons
B. Reason #1
a. supporting detail #1
b. supporting detail #2
C. Reason #2
a. supporting detail #1
b. supporting detail #2
D. Reason #3
a. supporting detail #1
b. supporting detail #2
E. Conclusion 
a. Restate belief and reasons

Timeline (subject to change):

Monday 10/21: Initial Belief Post
Thursday 10/24: Read other beliefs and Post Argument
Tuesday 10/28: Read Posted Arguments in your Age Range and Write Rebuttal
Wednesday 10/29: In-Class discussion

Notes:

* Homework coupons are only allowed for Initial Post and Argument
* 2 post will be graded as Formative and 1, of your choice, will be graded as Summative 
* Anything not finished in class will be homework; the library is available after school for computer use



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