A SHORT COURSE ON WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Dr. David R. Burgess

All writing assignments should be done on a word processor.

When writing any paper there should be some structure to the thoughts being presented. In science the structure is often of the argumentative form as studied in logic. In general there is no standard "format" to be followed in argumentative papers. The thesis statement, for instance, could be placed at the beginning, in the middle, at the end, or anyplace where needed to make the desired point. The structure of the thought, however, can still be evaluated using standard procedures (see Logic Primer) and should be easily identified by someone familiar with argumentation. Non-argumentative structures of thought would have different criteria for evaluation.

Practicing with a specific format often helps to clarify the general structure of thought being used. To provide opportunity to better understand the argumentative structure of thought, papers for this course should follow a specific format as outlined below. In general the first paragraph of the paper will state the logical argument in a way that requires the conclusion to be true if the premises are true. The body of the paper shows that the premises are true. The last paragraph of the paper states that, since the premises are true and the logic is good, the conclusion must be true.

Many disciplines expect papers written as outlined below and writing in this general form is often called academic writing.

Notice that it is the structure of the thought, the connections between premises and conclusions for example, that is important, not the "packaging" of the thought. The way that the thought is packaged is a matter of rhetoric or style and is not being evaluated here. Words to evoke emotion, for instance, are not appropriate in these papers.

The Title is the Conclusion to the Main Argument
(Which is Found in the First Paragraph)

FIRST PARAGRAPH

SECOND PARAGRAPH

THIRD PARAGRAPH

NEXT PARAGRAPH

LAST PARAGRAPH

Specific Guidelines:

1. Required Argument Format

• The main argument of the paper is to be a conditional argument in the general form:
  
  P1   If A, then B.
  P2   Affirm A.
  C    Conclude B.

  The premises (P1 and P2) in an argument of this form will always lead to the conclusion (C). This will be the case even when the premises are not true. This results in a valid or deductive argument. Since the first premise is conditional, this kind of argument is called a conditional argument. More information.

• This required argument is part of the first paragraph.

• The conclusion of this argument is the thesis of the paper.

• The conclusion of this argument is also the title of the paper.

2. Required Paper Format

• The first paragraph contains the main argument. The conclusion of this argument is the thesis of the paper. The conclusion of this argument is also the title of the paper.

• The second paragraph supports the first premise. This will connect the "A" to the "B" and provide evidence that the "then" part of the conditional premise is really connected to the "If" part of the conditional premise.

• The third paragraph supports the second premise. This will give evidence that the "If" part of the conditional premise is really true.

• The last paragraph summarizes what has been done and restates the main argument.

  I once again remind you that there are two formats to keep track of.

  One is the format of the main argument. The main argument should be a conditional argument of the "If A, then B. Affirm A. Conclude B." variety. The first paragraph should have an argument in that format included in it.

  The second format is the format of the whole paper. That consists of a simple conditional argument in the first paragraph. Support for the first (conditional) premise in the second paragraph, support for the second premise in the next paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph that restates the original simple conditional argument that is in the first paragraph. Also, keep in mind that the support for the first premise is to establish connections between the parts of the conditional argument, while the support for the second premise generally is concerned with providing data or establishing that something is really true.

  Here is a sample paper. Here is a second example and here is a third example.

  Here is another way to think about supporting the first (conditional) Premise.

  Here is another example paper.

3. There is no length requirement. Keep it simple and to the point. Follow the example of the sample paper.

General Guidelines:

1. This is an argumentative paper and the structure of the argument should be obvious. I do, however, expect the paper to be in normal sentence and paragraph form. Don't use outlines or write P1, P2, etc. in an attempt to make the argument more explicit.

2. This is not a persuasive paper. Opinions and emotional pleas should not appear in this paper.

3. Make sure all premises for the main argument and the conclusion are in the first paragraph. Don't introduce new premises that directly bear on the conclusion after the first paragraph.

4. All the premises of the main argument must be explicitly stated in the first paragraph. That is, there will be no implicit premises in the main argument.