Writing Project #1

Select a claim about any topic of your choice and provide threereasons for that claim. After presenting your argument in anarrative way, reconstruct it at the end of your work by clearlyindicating its premises and conclusion with numbers and aconclusion indicator.

The conditions for receiving points for this work are asfollows:

1. The Writing Project has a main claim about a topic of thestudent’s choice and provides three reasons for that claim.
2. The Writing Project presents the argument in a narrative wayand this narrative presentation of the argument has premises andconclusion indicators.
3. The Writing Project has a complete and concise reconstructionof the argument at the end.
4. The Writing Project’s reconstruction of the argument identifiesits premises and conclusion and lists them in logical order asinstructed.
5. The Writing Project meets all conditions concerning editing,style, format, length, and originality.

If these conditions are met, you will earn up to 25 points.

For details on the grading policies, please check the Rubric forthis assignment as well as Writing Projects in GUIDES TO WRITING,\"Content\" under the MATERIALS menu. All assignments will beevaluated within a week after the submission deadline. Doyour own writing. Plagiarism is a very serious offense.Assignments that do not meet this condition will earn 0 point withno possibility of re-submission.

INSTRUCTOR'S SHORT SAMPLE (Students' narratives shouldbe longer)

My conclusion is that capital punishment is wrong because of thefollowing reasons. First reason: everybody involved in it suffersand nothing good is achieved. The guilty person suffers, his or herfamily suffers, the executioner suffers , and many others suffertoo. Second reason, it presupposes that people who commit a seriouscrime could not be rehabilitated. That's a determinist view that isnot supported by science. All of us have done at point somethingbad and then regret it and improve our lives through education andtraining.  Third reason, capital punishment amounts tocruel punishment. Although these fall short of providing aknock-down argument against capital punishment, they stronglysuggest that it is wrong.

ARGUMENT RECONSTRUCTION

P1. Everybody involved in capital punished suffers.

P2. Nothing good is achieved with it.

P3. It presupposes that determinism is true

P4. Determinism is not true: people can improve

C1, Therefore, capital punishment is wrong.