Topic 1: Gathers Manifestoes and Analyzes the Arguments Used by the Writer/s

Now, let us study the concepts related to your activity.

Manifesto. This refers to a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the
issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government.

Argumentative writing. A kind of writing where the students establish a position in a given
topic and then use evidence to persuade the audience to see things from their point of
view. To write a great argumentatively, the students first have to investigate several sides
of the argument, which allows them to make an educated stance. Then, they have to collect
evidence, including facts, statistics, and claims from experts in the topic’s field.

Argument. In academic writing, this is usually a main idea, often called a “claim” or “thesis
statement,” backed up with evidence that supports the idea.

Analyzing an Issue and Developing an Argument

Once your topic is selected, you should do some research on the

subject matter. While you may already have an opinion on your topic and an idea
about which side of the argument you want to take, you need to ensure that
your position is well supported. Listing the pro and con sides of the topic will
help you examine your ability to support your counterclaims, along with a list of
supporting evidence for both sides.

Supporting evidence includes the following:

Type of Information  Type of Source  How to find these sources

introductory directories, Use the Library catalogue

information and encyclopedias,
overviews handbooks

in-depth studies  books, Library catalogue,

government Government websites
reports

Scholarly articles academic journals Article indexes

current issues  newspapers,   Article indexes

magazines

Statistics government Statistics Canada,

agencies and Canadian Research
associations Index, journal articles

position papers association and   Library catalogue, web

and analyses institute reports sites