Classic argument assignment:

Your next writing task is an 800 word argument (2.5 to 3 pages) justifying your claim
about the subject you have selected for the assignment ( a subject from the list in
the audience analysis assignment).

The objective here is to assess your progress in learning the elements of argument
and steps of the writing process as they relate to technical writing: comprehension,
accuracy, conciseness etc. You have had enough ideas and specific details
presented to you that your understanding should be sufficient to apply these ideas to
this task. If you are not clear about these elements and these steps then the task
will be more difficult, but not impossible. It just means you will have to clarify what
you know about Toulmin’s ideas and about achieving each measure of excellence for
a technical document.

The new task in this assignment is actually working with Toulmin’s ideas to craft an
effective argument and putting those ideas into a formal structure. You did
something like this with your analysis of the opinion piece. A second new task is the
searching for evidence to justify your claim. This you will do through locating
sources for evidence or commonly held warrants that can justify your claim. (see
page 182 in text re evidence for more details)

The formal structure for your justification is a basic essay: introduction, body and
conclusion. In the introduction, you will present the rhetorical context: the subject,
the purpose, background to set the stage for your claim and your narrow claim about
the subject. The body is where you present your evidence and warrants; your
conclusion closes the essay with a final point about why the claim is justified.

In developing your body paragraphs, remember each body paragraph should be a

well developed justification for the claim. This means you present all the evidence
related to that warrant that grounds or connects that evidence to the claim. This
warrant may be implied by the amount of specific evidence you present, that is an
implicit warrant; or the warrant may need to be stated and explained to show how
this evidence relates to the claim, that is an explicit warrant. You should have at
least three of these well crafted paragraphs to justify your claim.

In addition, you may want to refute objections to your claim. That simply means
presenting the objection and providing additional evidence and warrants to knock
down the objection. Refutation, generally, comes just before the conclusion. This
could be one of your well-crafted body paragraphs.

In completing the assignment, you should follow a writing process: gathering,

drafting, revising for content, revising for beauty and copy editing. We will peer edit
a draft that has been revised for content, prior to your revising for beauty and copy
editing.

This assignment will be assessed by its achievement of the criteria for technical
writing – professional appearance, honesty (due diligence), comprehension, accuracy,
clarity, conciseness, accessibility and correctness. I have every confidence you can
succeed in each of these areas. Go do it.