An informal outline uses _____

Essay 1: Argumentation with Counterargument & Refutation in MLA Dr. Philip Zimbardo argues that all people have the capacity to do great evil or exceptional good. Many authors and philosophers, also, seem to accept this human theory, and present their own ideas and arguments as a challenge to readers’ notions of the definitions of both. Zimbardo’s main theory is that doing evil is as much the fault of the situation as it is the individual and extensively lists the ways in which a person may find him or herself more tempted and even more capable of purposefully causing harm to others.

The short stories we have read over the last few weeks, although works of fiction, focus on two major categories of evil: obvious evils committed by a single character or group of characters and banal evils or everyday/ common evils perpetrated by a group or individual willingly. The phrase ‘banality of evil’ was first coined in a 1963 book by political theorist Hannah Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Arendt reported on Adolf Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. She, as well as many others rightfully, viewed the Nazis as monstrous evils in the world who chose to inflict the worst human abuses on others. What she did not expect while sitting in on Eichmann’s trial was “an ordinary, rather bland, bureaucrat, who in her words, was ‘neither perverted nor sadistic’, but ‘terrifyingly normal’. He acted without any motive other than to diligently advance his career in the Nazi bureaucracy. Eichmann was not an amoral monster […] Instead, he performed evil deeds without evil intentions, a fact connected to his ‘thoughtlessness’, a disengagement from the reality of his evil acts. Eichmann ‘never realised what he was doing’ due to an ‘inability… to think from the standpoint of somebody else’. Lacking this particular cognitive ability, he ‘commit[ted] crimes under circumstances that made it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he [was] doing wrong’ “ (White, 2018). Arendt’s biggest question after the trial and execution of Eichmann was “Can one do evil without being evil?” This question has been studied by many people all over the world throughout time, such as by Zimbardo and Stanley Milgram, among others. And this question has been a major theme in literature

and art. This month, you will each provide insight and even deepen the discourse on this theme in your first essay for this class.

Topic: Based on your understanding of Zimbardo’s lecture and using the short stories as your evidence write an argument answering the following: Which is the greater evil, an obvious evil or a banal evil?

Requirements:

• 3 pages from Introduction to Conclusion

• Must contain a counterargument

• Must contain a refutation

• Sources must be cited in MLA

• Essay shows conscientious editing and proofreading

• Student’s original analysis and wor

Step 1: The Rhetorical Situation

Fill out the questions below to help you consider the most important aspects of your essay. What is the topic of this essay? What kind of essay is this? What does this essay need to include?

Who is the intended audience or discourse community of your essay?

Gender:

Age range:

Level of education:

What do they think makes a convincing argument?:

What do they need to know from your argument?

What kind of argument do they expect from you? (ethos, pathos, or logos centered)

What kind of details do they expect of this caliber of writing?

What will not impress them or what will turn them off of your argument?

What is the essay’s purpose?

What is the function of presenting an argument?

What makes effective argument based on your studies so far?

Write out your strategy for writing your argument or what is your usual writing process. Refer to this strategy if you

lose your focus, have doubts, or get stuck during the writing process.

Review the rules for Standard Academic Convention that is printed in the syllabus. Remember that it is easier and a

lot less ‘glitchy’ to set up the Word document perimeters before adding text. Review the student example MLA essay.

Format accordingly.

Initial the box to the right when you have completed Step 1.

Step 2: Discovering/ Prewriting There are many different kinds of prewriting techniques and exercises to choose from to begin getting your ideas down. Whatever you choose it should fit with the way you think and the kind of essay you are writing. Here is a chart to help you pull your ideas out if you are having trouble starting.

What I know What I believe or think What Zimbardo thinks What the short stories led me to think

What is true or factual Kind of proof I need to prove any of this true

Step 3: Organizing with an Essay Map Carefully study the essay map below. Use this set up for Essay 1.

How to Create and Use and Essay Map Essay maps are a great way to plan for essays that are 4 or more pages long since they allow you to see the full span of the essay and give you an opportunity to make good decisions about what information needs to go in what areas.

Pro Tips:

• Even better, you control the image, so you can put as much detailed notes on to your map as you want.

• It can also help you to avoid ‘overwriting’ or writing more than you need to, which shows lack of control and an inability to be concise.

• For a person who often underwrites, a map can help guide your writing so that you have not left anything out that really needs to be there.

You create your map by drawing it into your class notes or by making text boxes in MSWord. Here is an example of the latter. The large rectangles represent pages in an essay, and the smaller rectangles represent paragraphs on a page. This map uses the standard college formula that paragraphs are at least 6-8 sentences long, using Times New Roman font set at 12 points with the text double spaced and left-aligned with the first line of each paragraph indented ½ an inch, and bordered by 1 inch margins on all sides.

*This essay map is for an Argumentation Essay that is 3 pages long and included a counterargument and a refutation or concession paragraph.

Ibis 3

1

Student Name Course Section Instructor

Assignment Attempting

Due Date

Student’s Title

2 3

Introduction: A. B. C. D. Thesis Statement

Body Paragraph 1: First Point A. Topic Sentence B. Support C. Sentences of Analysis D. Transitional Sentence

Body Paragraph 2: Second Point A. Topic Sentence B. Support C. Sentences of Analysis D. Transitional Sentence

Body Paragraph 3: Counterargument A. Topic Sentence B. Support 1. Support 1 a. Explanation sentence b. Expert evidence 2. Support 2 a. Example/ statistic sentence b. Explanation sentence C. Sentences of analysis/ Overall analysis D. Transitional Sentence/ or Concluding sentence

Body Paragraph 4: Refutation/Concession A. Opening Sentence B. Support 1. Support 1 a. Explanation sentence b. Expert evidence 2. Support 2 a. Example/ statistic sentence b. Explanation sentence C. Sentences of analysis/ Overall analysis D. Transitional Sentence/ or Concluding sentence

Conclusion: A. Restatement of thesis or summary B. Advice, warning, caution, or value C. Present day status or prediction

Step 3: Organizing with an Informal Outline

How would an informal outline for this essay look using the prewriting you have generated. Use this page to

create an informal outline (you can find information on informal outlining and example outlines in the Bedford

book and in The Holy Grail Study Guide).

First Point

Second Point

Counterargument

Refutation

Phase 3: Organizing with a Formal Outline

How would a formal outline for this essay look using the informal outline you have generated and what your

essay map requires. Use this page to create a formal outline (you can find information on formal outlining and

example outlines in the Bedford book and in The Holy Grail Study Guide).

I. Introduction

Thesis statement:

II. Body

A. Your argument:

1. Your first point

2. Your second point

B. Your counterargument

C. Your refutation

III. Conclusion

Concluding statement:

Step 4: Drafting without Training Wheels & Creating the Works Cited Page and In-text Citations Use the graph below to write out the references page resources provided to you in class and any two resources you have found. Use

the MLA chapter in the textbook to determine the kind of resource by category you are attempting to cite, pay attention to how the

example is laid out, and then, mirror what you see using the information for the sources you have. After identifying the major parts of

the citation, be sure to look closely and fix any errors with punctuation, capitalization, italics if needed. Use the smaller column on the

right to write out the resulting in-text citation for each entry. I’ve included an example below with the page number I referred to in

Bedfords.

My Resources

Category/ Kind of Source

Works Cited page entry

In-text Citation

Short story

from an

edited book

Example

#35 on

page 638

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, edited by X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia, and Dan Stone, Pearson, 2020, p.265-272

Example #16 on page 606

(Jackson 265)

Step 5: Revising Checklist (for You Use All by Yourself Because You Are a Brilliant and Exceptional Grownup) YOU’VE GOT THIS!!!

Instructions: Use your pencil to make corrections. Remember, this paper is a work in progress. You are not done writing! Look for ways to improve what you’ve already written. Check off each step AFTER it has been completed.

_____ 1. Read the paper out loud.

Does it make sense? _____ Have words been left out? _____

_____ 2.Highlight the sentence or parts that state your main idea at the beginning of your paper.

_____ 3. Reread your introduction (lead) or selected section. Does it draw the reader in, making him/her want to keep reading? YES MAYBE NO

_____ 4. Draw a line through information that doesn’t support your main idea (anything off topic) (topic sentence or thesis). _____ 5. Add information if you feel additional points need to be made or if your details are too general or not thorough. _____ 6. Details should be in a logical order that makes sense. Use your formal outline to keep yourself on track. _____ 7. Paper should end well --- not stop suddenly or drag on too long. Does your conclusion leave the reader satisfied? _____ 8. Replace overused words with words that are more descriptive and accurate (like, so, then, etc.). _____ 9. Find any word repeated more than once.

Draw an X through each occurrence. Replace the repeated words with a synonym or dump it if possible. Too many I’s, then’s, and’s, etc. can kill your writing.

____ 10. Draw an X through is, are, was, were. Try to replace most of these with more descriptive verbs.

____ 11. Underline the words/phrases that are descriptive and create a vivid, clear image. If you can’t find many, add descriptive words (adjectives).

____ 12. Highlight all transitions. Make sure they tie ideas together and are used correctly. ____ 13. NTSSBWTSWIEP: Draw a box around the first word of every sentence. No two

sentences should begin with the same word in each paragraph when possible since this creates redundancy. NTPBWTSW: No two paragraphs should begin with the same word.

____ 14. Make sure you have a variety of sentence patterns. Sentence patterns include: basic, compound, complex, and compound-complex. You can review the “Basic Sentence Structure” handout and the “Bike How Sentences Work” Indie Lecture for more about this.

Combine some sentences with a comma and conjunction (and, but, or).

____ 15. Read the paper out loud one more time. Are you satisfied with what you’ve written? YES MAYBE NO Does the paper show originality and individuality or could this have been written by anybody?

YES MAYBE NO

Step 6 & 7: Editing and Proofreading Checklist:

____ completed packet ____ professor’s or tutor’s comments (if student was tutored) ____ printed report from Smarthinking Tutor (if student was tutored) ____ Essay packet checklists ____ final draft of Essay 1

Did I remember to:

____ add the page number and title of my essay to the header

____ add my heading to the left hand side of my first page

____ center my title under my heading. The title needs to be centered with the first

letter of the first and last word capitalized. Capitalize the first letter of all the major

words in the title. Do not capitalize articles and prepositions inside the title. Do not

punctuation the title.

____ use Times New Roman throughout the whole essay

____ use 12 point font throughout the whole essay

____ not use italics or bold

____ use 1 inch margins throughout the whole essay

____ indent the first line of each new paragraph using the TAB key once

____ check to make sure that each of the paragraphs are at least 6 sentences long

____ use the following list to make sure I have thoroughly edited my work (use Grammarly.com for more help) To help you with all of these things, you may want to read your writing out loud to yourself or to a classmate, touching each word with the tip of pencil. The two of you can help each other fix common errors that are often missed.

__ Spelling (use Word’s Spellcheck!), including common homophones (their, they’re, there; your, you’re; its, it’s; etc.) __ Capitalization (beginning of sentences, proper nouns) __ Compound sentences need a comma __ Tries new structures: hyphens, semicolons, colons, parentheses, or dashes __ Correct usage of adjectives and adverbs __ Correct usage of conjunctions (and, or, but, because, so) __ Transitions are effective, clear, and flowing __ Subject and verb agree in every sentence __ No run-ons (sentences that are too long) __ Paragraph indentation __ Correct verb tense __ Uses a variety of sentence types (interrogative, imperative, declarative, exclamatory) __ Sentences are punctuated correctly __ No sentence fragments! Every sentence needs a SUBJECT and a VERB