Lecture 4 FCSS 1210 Writing & Communication Skills for Community & Social Services PDF

Writing & Communication Skills for community & social services CSS 1210 Lecture 4  What we will talk about Academic Essays vs. Reports Thesis Paragraphs Structure of a Report Title page Statement of originality Executive summary Acknowledgements Contents List of figur...

Writing & Communication Skills for community & social services CSS 1210 Lecture 4  What we will talk about Academic Essays vs. Reports Thesis Paragraphs Structure of a Report Title page Statement of originality Executive summary Acknowledgements Contents List of figures and tables List of symbols and definitions Introduction Main sections review of literature method findings Conclusions and recommendations Bibliography Appendices Research Essay Structure  Thesis Paragraph Structure Has four key parts: The “hook” (what is the narrow focused problem/issue/contradictory element that your paper is about? Can you show it?) What “they say” (concise summary of who and what you’re arguing against) Thesis argument (takes a clear position against what “they say”) Roadmap (clear list, in order, of how you will prove your thesis argument)  Thesis Paragraph Structure 1. Introduction/the “hook” In its quest to reduce the ever increasing epidemic of motor vehicle accidents and casualties, the British Columbia government has introduced stringent requirements for new drivers. While many applaud the new rules as a step toward reducing the carnage on our roads, many others argue that the new rules are unfair and unnecessary. I argue that these new driving regulations are indeed unwarranted and need to be modified to take in to consideration other important factors effecting BC highway safety. I will prove this by examining the transportation needs of young people, the issue of individual responsibility, the costs of driving education, and the accident rates for various age groups.  Thesis Paragraph Structure 2. What “they say” - What and who, exactly, are you arguing against? In its quest to reduce the ever increasing epidemic of motor vehicle accidents and casualties, the British Columbia government has introduced stringent requirements for new drivers. While many applaud the new rules as a step toward reducing the carnage on our roads, many others argue that the new rules are unfair and unnecessary. I argue that these new driving regulations are indeed unwarranted and need to be modified to take in to consideration other important factors effecting BC highway safety. I will prove this by examining the transportation needs of young people, the issue of individual responsibility, the costs of driving education, and the accident rates for various age groups.  Thesis Paragraph Structure 3. THESIS ARGUMENT Be specific Theoretical framework, or method? Delimit the terms of your argument In its quest to reduce the ever increasing epidemic of motor vehicle accidents and casualties, the British Columbia government has introduced stringent requirements for new drivers. While many applaud the new rules as a step toward reducing the carnage on our roads, many others argue that the new rules are unfair and unnecessary. I argue that these new driving regulations are indeed unwarranted and need to be modified to take into consideration other important factors effecting BC highway safety. I will prove this by examining the transportation needs of young people, the issue of individual responsibility, the costs of driving education, and the accident rates for various age groups. A thesis argument takes a definite position against other possible ways of reading a specific issue. The Thesis Argument Example of a non-debatable thesis statement: Pollution is bad for the environment. An example of a debatable thesis statement: America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars. Example of a thesis that is too broad: Drug use is detrimental to today’s society. Narrow, focused, debatable thesis: Southern Ontario's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars because, statistically, it is a major source of pollution in that region, and it would allow most citizens to contribute to efforts and care about the outcome.  Thesis Paragraph Structure 3. THESIS ARGUMENT Be specific Theoretical framework, or method? Delimit the terms of your argument In its quest to reduce the ever increasing epidemic of motor vehicle accidents and casualties, the British Columbia government has introduced stringent requirements for new drivers. While many applaud the new rules as a step toward reducing the carnage on our roads, many others argue that the new rules are unfair and unnecessary. I argue that these new driving regulations are indeed unwarranted and need to be modified to take into consideration other important factors effecting BC highway safety. I will prove this by examining the transportation needs of young people, the issue of individual responsibility, the costs of driving education, and the accident rates for various age groups.  Thesis Paragraph Structure 4. Telegraphed list In its quest to reduce the ever increasing of how I will prove epidemic of motor vehicle accidents and my thesis casualties, the British Columbia government argument has introduced stringent requirements for new drivers. While many applaud the new rules as a step toward reducing the carnage Like a roadmap on our roads, many others argue that the new rules are unfair and unnecessary. I Follow the map! argue that these new driving regulations are indeed unwarranted and need to be modified to take in to consideration other important factors effecting BC highway safety. I will prove this by examining the transportation needs of young people, the issue of individual responsibility, the costs of driving education, and the accident rates for various age groups.  Thesis Paragraph Structure In its quest to reduce the ever increasing Topic Sentence “hook” epidemic of motor vehicle accidents and casualties, the British Columbia government has introduced stringent requirements for new drivers. While many applaud the new rules as a What “they say” step toward reducing the carnage on our roads, many others argue that the new rules are unfair and unnecessary. I argue that these new driving Thesis argument regulations are indeed unwarranted and need to be modified to take into consideration other important factors effecting BC highway safety. I will prove this by examining the transportation Telegraphed needs of young people, the issue of individual Sub-Arguments responsibility, the costs of driving education, and the accident rates for various age groups. How To Construct The Thesis Argument Research Question: Do you have a clear, focused, answerable research question that is guiding your research?  Steps in Constructing a Thesis: Then, analyze your primary sources. (any tensions, complexities, controversy, unexpected complications, contradictions?)  Steps in Constructing a Thesis: Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  Steps in Constructing a Thesis: Anticipate the counter-arguments (The thesis should be a clear, debatable argument against “what they say”)  Identify the Thesis Argument Single Parent Struggle For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father. Does a child need both parents? Does a young boy need a father figure around? Does the government provide help for single parents? What role do step-parents and step-siblings play? With much speculation, this topic has become a very intriguing argument. What people must understand is that properly raising a child does not rely on the structure of a family but should be more focused on the process or values that are taught to these children as they learn to mature. Children of single parents can be just as progressive with emotional, social and behavioral skills as those with two parents. This conclusion becomes more clear when we look beyond a “dual parent” stereotype of parenthood, a model fewer and fewer families now resemble. I will also dispel the misconceptions that boys without father figures and girls without mother figures will not develop properly, receive adequate parental attention, or even that the heteronormative two- parent unit is always a healthy parenting model.  Find the thesis argument Legalize It In 2000, George Bierson’s "Marijuana, the Deceptive Drug", was published by the Massachusetts News. Bierson concludes that marijuana is harmful in many ways, including brain damage, damage to the reproductive system, and weakening of the immune system. He also attempts to convince the reader that marijuana is a "gateway drug" that leads the users to venture into much harder drugs. I believe that research to support anything can be found if one is looking hard enough, but that the fallacy of Bierson’s conclusion is due to his research seeking facts to support an already-assumed conclusion. Based on my research and my own personal experience, I have found that several of his points, when looked at logically, do not reach his conclusion.  Student Intro Paragraph Example The Ramifications of Perpetuating Stereotypes Surrounding Masculinity in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire follows British Muslims in 2017 and their experiences in an Islamophobic world, but is also a cautionary tale of the dangers of believing in stereotypes that surround masculinity. Many academics who study Home Fire tend to focus on the politics between the West and Islam. For example, a few academics, such as Aamer Shaheen and Qamar Sadia, argue that the perils of Islamophobia are responsible for many of the character’s deaths. What these academics fail to note, however, are the effects that stereotypes surrounding masculinity have on the story. The tragic ending of Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, for example, largely results from the characters believing in―and perpetuating―stereotypes surrounding masculinity. Each main male character contributes to the calamitous conclusion of the novel in their own way. Karamat’s effort to be a good politician stops him from being a good father to Eamonn, and therefore, instills stereotypes about masculinity in him. Eamonn’s need to prove to his father that he is a man leads to his death. Farooq instills stereotypes about masculinity in Parvaiz, and kills him in the end because of these stereotypes. Finally, Parvaiz joins ISIS because he wants to become like his father. Stereotypes surrounding masculinity affect each of their lives significantly and lead to the deaths of Parvaiz, Aneeka, and Eamonn.  Re-Order The Paragraph I will prove this by examining the effects of terminal illnesses, the effects of health care spending in Canada in the long-term, and the costs to patients’ families financially and emotionally. While many applaud the Canadian government for allowing the terminally ill the choice of assisted suicide to have better control over the quality of their life at the very end of it, many others argues that assisted suicide is unethical and a violation of the hippocratic oath for doctors to participate in. Should people have the right to choose how and when to die? Nonetheless, physician-assisted suicide remains a very controversial issue. I will argue that allowing one the option of assisted suicide is what's best for all including oneself, their families and the Canadian government. The Canadian government has recently granted the terminally ill the ability to end their own life if they are of sound mind, they are terminally ill, and doing so will allow them to die with dignity.  Re-Order The Paragraph Over the past few decades, there has been an ongoing battle of who has the final say in regards to doctor-assisted suicide. Should people have the right to choose how and when to die? The Canadian government has recently granted the terminally ill the ability to end their own life if they are of sound mind, they are terminally ill, and doing so will allow them to die with dignity. Nonetheless, physician-assisted suicide remains a very controversial issue. While many applaud the Canadian government for allowing the terminally ill the choice of assisted suicide to have better control over the quality of their life at the very end of it, many others argues that assisted suicide is unethical and a violation of the hippocratic oath for doctors to participate in. I will argue that allowing one the option of assisted suicide is what's best for all including oneself, their families and the Canadian government. I will prove this by examining the effects of terminal illnesses, the effects of health care spending in Canada in the long-term, and the costs to patients’ families financially and emotionally.  What we will talk about Concluding Paragraphs CONCLUSIONS TOPICS: 1.T – S – Ss model 2.Thesis 3.Summary 4.Super-So What Factor 5.Examples Conclusion Structure T-S-S Thesis Summarize So What? 27 SECTION ONE OF THE CONCLUSION: Paraphrase the Thesis Argument 28 SECTION TWO: Summarize How You Proved the Thesis Summarize your arguments in a concise/newly worded way. Could include one or two particularly convincing points or pieces of evidence. 29 SECTION THREE: The Super So What A “so what?” for the whole essay Possible implications of your findings Why should people care about your findings? Coda—possible bridge to other research? 30  Examples THESIS: Original thesis: “Dogs are better pets than cats.” First sentence of the conclusion: “Dogs make the best pets in the world, far eclipsing cats.” 31 Part two—SUMMARY: Original “roadmap”: “Dogs are more hygienic, they increase their owner’s life span by giving them unconditional love, and they are obedient, highly trainable pets.” Summary: “Dogs are cleaner, better at showing affection, and ultimately are easier to train. Indeed, as Dr. Nadia Luvdogsmore convincingly argues, ‘while dogs are a joy to train, cats instead end up training us (grrr).’” 32 Part three—Super So What: “The cost of not getting a dog is very likely having a shorter, less productive and less fulfilling life. If you don’t want this to happen, you should go get a dog!” 33 Concise, CONCLUSION (Parts one, two, and three combined): differently worded restatement of the thesis Dogs make the best pets in the world; far better than cats. Dogs are cleaner, better at showing affection, Concise, differently and ultimately are easier to train. Indeed, as Dr. Nadia worded explication of Luvdugsmore convincingly argues, “while dogs are a how I proved the thesis joy to train, cats instead end up training us (grrrr)” (22). The cost of not getting a dog, therefore, is very likely having a shorter, less productive, and less Super So What fulfilling life. If you don’t want this to happen, you Factor should go get a dog! 34