Researched Argument First Draft

Researched Argument First Draft

Purpose: Successful writing doesn’t happen overnight, especially when research is required. Writing is a slow process, and this assignment is part of the process that will help you develop an argument, improve your writing process, learn to revise, and think about how arguments change when the genre or audience changes. While this is the first draft of a much longer project, you should turn in something you are happy with and think is complete. In order to produce your best writing, you need to revise, and revision requires space from your first draft.

The Process of Developing Your Argument: Researchers don’t begin with a thesis; they begin with a question, a hypothesis, or even just a hunch. They then do research to either answer their question or prove their hypothesis. You should have done the same. You’ve chosen a general topic. You are doing research and reading about your topic. Now, you can begin to develop your argument and figure out your thesis.

You should remember what you learned about developing arguments in the rhetorical analysis assignment. Who is your audience? How can they be persuaded? What kind of supporting evidence do you need to in order to convince them? Are there places you can go or people you can interview to support your argument? Since you are writing about a topic related to Memphis, you can conduct interviews and do other kinds of primary research to support your argument.