Overview: For your next major assignment, you will write the

first draft of your researched argument. You can choose your

own topic; the only requirement is that it your topic somehow

involves Memphis. As you choose your topic, make sure you

choose something you are genuinely interested in, as you will be

working with this topic in different forms (draft; new media;

final draft) for the remainder of the semester. While there are

obvious choices (The Blues, Beale St., Elvis, BBQ, etc) you can

localize just about any topic you care about. For example, if you

are interested in healthy eating, then you could do research on

food deserts or school lunch programs in Memphis. If you are

interested in business, then you might do research on FedEx or

Autozone and use that research to argue that Memphis is a great

place to start a business.

Purpose: Successful writing doesn’t happen overnight,

especially when research is required. Writing is a slow process,

and this assignment is the first of three 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 do the same. You

don’t need to know what you want to argue yet:

1. You need to choose a general topic. Review “Choosing a

Topic” pp. 361-4 WM.

2. You need to do research and read about your topic.

Review “Conducting Academic Research” pp. 365-74

WM.

3. After you have done research, you can begin to develop

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NextPurpose: Successful writing doesn’t happen overnight,

especially when research is required. Writing is a slow process,

and this assignment is the first of three 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 do the same. You

don’t need to know what you want to argue yet:

1. You need to choose a general topic. Review “Choosing a

Topic” pp. 361-4 WM.

2. You need to do research and read about your topic.

Review “Conducting Academic Research” pp. 365-74

WM.

3. After you have done research, you can begin to develop

your argument and figure out your thesis.

4. Next you should remember what you learned about

developing arguments in the rhetorical analysis

assignment. What is the Rhetorical Situation? 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.

5. Write. Draft. Revise.

Requirements: