ENGL 102 - Humanities Focus

Overview: For your final major writing assignment, you will prepare a Rogerian argument that explores a controversial issue related to the issue of technology and humanity. How does the development of technology affect what it means to be human? For broad starting points, you might look at social media, artificial intelligence, or medical treatments, for example.

In a Rogerian argument, you are required to look at an issue from multiple viewpoints, showing empathy for the various perspectives. As such, your research will take you in some new directions—in addition to the scholarly sources of earlier papers, you will want to find out the authentic positions of various points of view, which may mean going to social media, blogs, advocacy group sites, etc.

Details: Your paper should be around 2,000 – 2,500 words. Your paper should include the following elements:

• background discussion of the issue
• an explanation of the various interest groups and their perspectives on the issue
• an exploration of common ground
• a possible solution/resolution/way forward on the issue

You must cite a minimum of eight sources. Your paper must use appropriate citation format.

You should use a variety of sources to address the viewpoints of many stakeholders! They may include:

Popular Sources: Articles in Newspapers or Popular Magazines; Blogs; Books; Statistics

Academic Sources: Professional articles, conference papers, stance reports, opinion statements

Special Interest Sources: Websites, Pamphlets, Interviews, Blogs, Public discussion boards

Government Sources: Legal documents, proposed legislation, government reports

Before you start and as you research, create a stakeholders checklist to make sure your paper considers all positions on the issue.

Before you use a source, ask yourself:

"Is this the best possible source to find this information?"

Experienced researchers determine where information comes from and evaluate it on many levels before deciding to use it for their own needs. Stakeholders may manipulate, exaggerate, misinterpret or disregard the opinions of competing stakeholders. Researchers must find sources that accurately represent each group’s concerns.

Types of Sources: Articles in Newspapers or Popular Magazines, Blogs, Books, Statistics

Statistics

Use a general web search engine (Google) to access groups’ websites.  Advantages:

• Shows the groups’ attitudes or beliefs on their “turf.” 

• Less chance for misinterpretation by an opposing group.        

• Find information silos for “pockets” of a population

• Use a general web search engine (Google) to look for documents at a state level using site:.gov or site:.Idaho.gov as limiting keywords.

• Use the find function (Ctrl-F for Windows or Command-F for Mac) to search for terms on a web page or PDF document.