THE HUMAN CONDITION: ARGUMENT, RESEARCH, ARTIFACTS OF SUPPORT AND WRITING

STEP ONE: Brainstorm on the following 2 questions. Pick the one you have the most to say about or the one you feel
most passionately about. 1. How do people survive and thrive in adverse circumstances? 2. Should we help others? How and why (or why not)? Now develop an argument that address the question and contains your opinion. Do not use I think/feel/believe or In my opinion as you are to talk with authority. Thus your argument should be written like something along the following lines: People survive and thrive in adverse circumstances because our innate human nature is to survive and improve our circumstances. (Note: does not use the pronoun I).

STEP TWO: Now you need to find evidence that supports your argument that you just constructed. This will not be
done by doing traditional research as you will be finding different forms of information/art to provide evidence for your argument. You must find one song/poem (school appropriate), an article, an image and a video that all represent what your argument entails. For the above example argument, I would find a song, article, image and video that all show/symbolize/represent the idea that all humans have an innate drive to survive and thrive. These four pieces of art have now become four pieces of evidence for your argument. Now you must persuade your audience by writing a mini-argument for each item that articulates why each serves as a piece of evidence for your argument (aka, how does the item show/symbolize/represent the idea you are arguing). In all four of your mini-arguments you must address the following in a well-developed paragraph: How/why does this piece support your argument? What is the authors/creators purpose for crafting this piece? What was the societal context that influenced the creation of this piece? How does the author/creator use ethos, pathos, logos to persuade the audience to align with his/her opinion? Remember, everything is an argument!

After finding each of these four pieces and writing your mini-argument for each, assess the value of all four pieces. Ask yourself which two best support your argument and are most persuasive.

STEP THREE: Now that you have found your two best pieces of evidence that strongly support your argument, you
will be uploading them to the class wiki that will become an anthology of the human condition, thus the name of the unit, The Human Condition Anthology. Since you are publishing your piece to the anthology, you must include a proper citation for your submission (MLA) in addition to your written argument. Attention to detail on MLA citation is a must this will be counted as summative points. You must pay special attention to detail. Use OWL at Purdues Writing Lab. ***WARNING!!! Once a piece has been submitted to the anthology, there will be no repeats allowed. These submissions are time stamped, so the earliest stamp will get dibs!

STEP FOUR: Students will comment on four other contributions (by 4 different students) to the class wiki by agreeing
or disagreeing with anothers argument and giving a sound rationale. Again, students will address purpose, societal context and emotional appeals.

Human Condition: Anthology Checklist PART ONE: Guiding your research

________ 1. Write argument statement Get it approved by Jensen.

PART TWO: Collecting evidence and proving your argument

________ 2. Evidence 1: Image ________ a. Image mini-argument (one paragraph) ________ b. Image MLA citation ________ 3. Evidence 2: Article/Essay/Short Story ________ a. Article mini-argument (one paragraph) ________ b. Article MLA citation ________ 4. Evidence 3: Song/Poem ________ a. Song mini-argument (one paragraph) ________ b. Song MLA citation ________ 5. Evidence 4: Video ________ a. Video mini-argument (one paragraph) ________ b. Song MLA citation

Do these in whatever order you choose but you must have the first one you finish approved by me! ________ (do not move on until 1st one is signed by me)

PART THREE: Uploading your two best pieces of evidence to class blog
________ 6. Upload number one with evidence, argument and MLA citation ________ 7. Upload number two with evidence, argument and MLA citation

PART FOUR: Commenting on the contributions of your peers

________ 8. Agree/Disagree with first contribution (one paragraph) ________ 9. Agree/Disagree with second contribution (one paragraph) ________ 10. Agree/Disagree with third contribution (one paragraph) ________ 11. Agree/Disagree with fourth contribution (one paragraph)