Argument Practice

Remember that for every argument essay you write, no matter the prompt, it will ask you to do the following:

In your response you should do the following:

  • Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position.
  • Provide evidence to support your line of reasoning.
  • Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
  • Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

We will look at the following prompts next class period:

1. Educational psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth argues that intelligence and talent are overrated as determinants of long-term success and that the most important predictor of achievement is a trait called grit, which she defines as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Duckworth further notes that the “gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina.”

Write an essay that argues your position on the degree to which grit determines one’s ability to achieve.

2. In The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (1964), a book on the relationship between technology and culture in the United States, cultural historian Leo Marx describes a defining human conflict in the modern age. On the one hand, Marx argues, “the machine” attracts us because technology amplifies human power, increasing the efficiency of human labor and expanding human wealth; on the other hand, it threatens to destroy “the garden,” the spaces and activities where humans find comfort and rest.

Write an essay that argues your position on the extent to which it is possible to achieve a harmonious balance between the ideals represented by the machine and the garden.

3. One of the first-year-student orientation initiatives at a local university is to collect incoming students’ cell phones and keep them for 48 hours. The purpose of the initiative is to give students an opportunity to integrate into their new school culture and make friends on campus. Carefully consider the effects of this initiative and the extent to which they might support, complicate, or contradict its intended goals.

Write an essay that argues your position on the advisability of the 48-hour cell phone ban.