CM 220 Unit 4 Asignment Worksheet

Unit 4 Assignment Worksheet

In the Units 3 and 4 Discussions, you created a thesis statement that offered a solution to a problem in your community. In this unit’s Assignment, you will revise and evaluate the effectiveness of that thesis using the rhetorical situation and the rhetorical triangle.

Part I: First of all, you will revise the provisional thesis statement that you generated in the previous unit Discussion and identify the underlying assumption. Make sure the thesis is concise (1–2 sentences) and includes two parts: a proposal for solving a problem and a reason that solution is needed. For more on creating effective persuasive thesis statements, review the following Academic Success Center resources:

“Writing a Thesis Statement: The Central Step in the Writing Process”

“Writing an Effective Thesis Statement”

Write your revised two-part thesis statement here, and be sure to include a claim + reason (the “because” or “since” clause):

The state of New Jersey cost of living is one of the highest in the nation, yet the Shore towns surrounding New Jerseys coast reign in a great deal of profit in the summer months from the seasonal residents and tourists, while the year-round residents are struggling to make rent and cannot afford a beach passes themselves. Since the summer months are so profitable for these towns, profits from the summer seasons should in part be used to create low-income homes to enable the year-round residents a more affordable cost of living, additional tax breaks for the annual residents, and more financial means to support local businesses during the off season.

State the underlying assumption of your argument:

Part II: Use the rhetorical situation (author, text, purpose, audience, setting) to brainstorm about the main elements of your argument. This argument analysis will help you prepare for the Unit 8 persuasive essay. You will be the author and the text will be a scholarly essay, so there is no need to answer those two parts of the rhetorical situation. Identify the other three elements of the rhetorical situation below using complete sentences:

Purpose – What do you hope to accomplish by making this argument?

Arguing for low income housing I hope to provide a better, more affordable living circumstances for struggling shore residents.

Target audience – Who in the community can make the change and what other stakeholders will be affected by this issue and your recommended change?

The annual shore town residents, business owners, and all of the tax payers are the key stakeholders in this argument. Season residents and tourist could be effected as well as more community funding could raise seasonal rates. The council for the cities would be the ultimate decision makers regarding funding low income properties.

Setting – Name and describe the community you will write about.

I am writing about the shore communities in Monmouth County New, Jersey. This includes many different cities, but for the sake of the inner city living conditions and need for low income housing, I can target Long Branch and Asbury Park as the most poverty stricken inland and dynamic gross earning seasonally. The shore lines of these two communities in particular are lined with multimillion dollar homes, five star eateries, clubs, bars, and shopping at extravagant boutiques. Most of the year round residents in these town never even head toward the shore line as they cannot afford to partake in anything it has to offer. Just two blocks west of the beautiful Jersey Shore, ran down apartments, graffiti filled streets, visible homelessness, and ran down homes.

You can use “The Rhetorical Situation” and “The Rhetorical Situation in College Composition II” for help with this exercise.

Part III: Describe how you will use the appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos to make your argument more compelling to your audience. You can review the Academic Success Center resource on the appeals here: “The Three Appeals of Argument.”

Pathos – Identify your target audience and what values, priorities, and emotions you must take into consideration to make a convincing argument.

My target audience is mostly involving politics. Politicians are finance based individuals with a sole objective of making money. Emotion is sparked with an audience like this at the mention of spending (building low income homes). My writing will need an ethical tone to improve living conditions, but also provide a financial benefit for the city in order to peek interest.

Ethos – Describe what points of disagreement, assumptions, misconceptions, and valid concerns you will need to address to show a complex understanding of the issue. What are some common ground opportunities that you can use to show that you understand their position and agree with parts of it?

Low income housing has a stereotype for poverty stricken individuals who meet the criteria for stereotypical areas of issue. It will be assumes that with more low income housing the quality of individuals taking residency will decline bringing trouble to the shore, this is racism. Low income housing will cost the tax payers more as the area property value increased with more real estate. Therefore, strict arguments for summer earning providing these properties will be important. Common ground opportunities are for more financial gain in the off season and increase in profits with raised rates during the summer season.

Logos – Describe what logic, examples, and evidence you can use to support your explanation of the problem and your proposed solution? What logical fallacies will you need to avoid?

The cost of living in New Jersey is extremely high so providing real tax breaks for low income home owners and how this money will circulate back into the community. Fallacies to avoid will be for the current tax payers; as real estate and development evolve property values change and this will cost the tax payers. This is not the case always and low income housing will not raise property tax.