#proposal arguments

Tuesday, 6 Sept. 2022 

We examined Patrick O’Malley’s essay “More Testing, More Learning,” once again, this time with an eye toward the way O’Malley builds his proposal argument. 

As a reminder, a proposal argument 

identifies a problem 

demonstrates that the problem is a real problem and that the reader should care about the problem 

proposes a solution to the problem 

demonstrates that the proposed solution is 

feasible 

functional 

... and usually includes some suggestion of “bonus” benefits to the proposed solution, or reasons why this solution will work where others have failed; this last element is more flexible than any of the other ones but is generally aimed at showing why readers should embrace this specific solution instead of trying something else 

In preparation for drafting your own proposal essays, we spent considerable time discussing how O’Malley organizes his argument. The key thing to know here is that all the elements of a proposal argument have to be present, but they do not have to come in any set order. I tend to list the elements in the same order every time I review them with a class because that way I can have them memorized (the way you would memorize a poem or a set of lyrics) and I can focus my attention on explaining how the elements work instead of remembering what they are ... but that’s a checklist for what needs to be in the essay more than it’s an organizational strategy for where the items should show up on the page. 

Common sense is an underrated tool for organizing essays. You probably want to identify the problem and demonstrate that the problem is a real problem and that the reader should care about the problem pretty early in the essay, because otherwise your readers won’t know what you are talking about or why they should keep reading. You can’t explain why or how any particular step in your proposed solution will work until you’ve introduced at least that step. But you don’t necessarily have to enumerate all the steps in your solution and then back up and explain how each one will work; you could provide those explanations for each step as you go. Similarly, you don’t have to wait until the last body paragraph(s) before explaining why the solution you are proposing is better than the alternatives; in explaining how each step of your solution will work, you might want to explain how the approach you are proposing will address an issue that has kept previous solutions from fixing the problem. The evidence you provide in this explanation might also serve to remind readers of why the problem is a real problem ... and so on. 

Thinking about what readers will need to already know in order to understand the point you are making –– and whether you have in fact already provided that information –– will take you a long way in improving your organizational strategies. 

Thursday, 8 Sept. 2022 

We did not meet for class, and instead you had the entire class period to draft and submit your essays (in Canvas). Most people did in fact submit their essays, which is usually a good sign. I have been reading my way through them, but it usually takes me at least a week to complete the feedback process on a set of essays, so I will hold off on making any more general observations for now.