RAFT – Assignment – Composition & Rhetoric- Professor Brady- Fall 2010

Choose to be a Psychologist or a Parent- From your perspective, write a letter to the editor of Time Magazine in response to
the article published by Tiffany Sharples on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008. Your letter will be read by the Chief Executive Editor of
the publication and will be published in the following issue in the section Letter To The Editor.

Role- Parent OR Psychologist

For example: Dr. J. Scalzo Psychiatric Center for Research NY. OR Mrs. Johanna Riviera

Audience: Editor of Times Magazine to be published in the Letters to the Editor section of the newspaper.

Format- Formal letter Format (see formal letter format handout posted on blog)

Topic- (Choose one of the following to write about) You will write your letter in Response to one or more of the following
topics in Sharple’s essay. Your letter must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain formal letter writing format.

 Development and love in infancy and babyhood

 Development and love in toddlerhood and pre-school
 Gender Differences-“The Gender Worlds” and Sexuality
 Any argument by Sociologist Wendy Manning

Task & Steps

 Decide on your topic. If you cannot decide on a topic above create one based on our class discussions from
Thursday 10/7
 Re-read the article and find out what you may agree or disagree with. Take a position and write from your
perspective. You may decide that you want to agree and add your ideas as a well-renowned published
psychologist OR disagree based on your expertise. The choice is yours. At the end of your letter you may
want to mention what you liked about the article if you are choosing to disagree with a particular point. Be
sure to maintain etiquette when addressing your audience. Be clear that your letter will be published in the
following issue!
 Get into character.
 Research – Find information about love and YOUR TOPIC and use the research to aid you in writing your
letter.

Recommended websites : http://www.pbs.org/parents/?gclid=COm825XLwaQCFctw5Qod1QUOjA

http://www.psychology.org/links/Environment_Behavior_Relationships/Child/
http://refdesk.com/
http://www.psychologytoday.com/

*Remember - You can use the databases from the college library! Just log on to Farmingdale.edu to access all of the
databases available!