Speculating about Causes

Speculating about Causes

  • Submitted By: alyyysia
  • Date Submitted: 11/30/2015 12:11 PM
  • Category: English
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  • Page: 5


ESSAY # 1: Speculating about Causes
ENGL 111; Speweik

Proposal Due: Submit proposals to the discussion board forum
by Thursday, Sept. 14 (note: discussion board is different from
the chatroom.)
Rough Draft Due: Tuesday, September 19
Final Draft Due: Thursday, September 28
Other dates to remember:
• Thursday, September 14: Writing Center
Presentation in SE 223
• Tuesday, September 26: Meet on the 4
th
floor of
the library for tour by Beth Johns
Reference: Summary of basic features of Speculating about
Causes essay is available on the V-Space site.

The Assignment: In a 3-5 page essay, you should argue for the existence of a trend or phenomenon
that affects higher education today. (For details about the selection of topics, see “Step 1” below.) In this
essay, you will describe the trend/phenomenon you observe, list 3 main causes for the trend you
identify. One of the three causes will be your favorite cause, the cause that you think is the most likely
cause for the trend. You will develop a separate counterargument that argues against the “most likely”
cause and a rebuttal that answers that counterargument. Ultimately, it should be very clear to readers
which cause you think is the most likely for the trend you describe. See below for the components of the
essay.

The Speculating about Causes essay is structured differently from the basic argument paper, but
it still seeks to persuade an audience. For this paper you will need to do the following:
! Step 1. Identify an important or intriguing trend or phenomenon that affects higher
education in today’s universities (example of trends we’ve read about so far include: rise of cheating,
the rise of vocational as opposed to liberal arts education, the rise of technology as a teaching tool,
increasing or decreasing diversity on campus, rise in commercialization of higher education, etc. You
may also choose a trend that you deduce on your...

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