Supporting Propositions

Centerville could be more efficiently run under a city-manager form of government than it can be under the current mayoral form.

A city-manager form of government would be more responsive to the needs of Centerville residents than the current form of government can be.

Under a city manager, Centerville could be administered less expensively than it can be under a mayor.

A. Think about the relationship between the major proposition & each of the supporting propositions.

· How does each supporting proposition help prove the proposition?

· What kind of evidence would you expect to be used in the development of each supporting proposition?

B. Read the following major proposition & list of possible supporting propositions.

· Which supporting propositions directly help prove the major proposition?

· Explain why the other supporting propositions should not be included in a persuasive essay on the adoption of nationwide primaries.

Major Proposition

A single, nationwide primary should be adopted in place of the various state primaries that now lead to presidential nominations.

Possible Supporting Propositions

State primaries have become an important tradition for both major political parties.

A nationwide primary would save parties and candidates money.

A single, nationwide primary would better reflect the will of the voting public than can the series of state primaries.

Party bosses oppose a nationwide primary only because such a primary would decrease their power.

A nationwide primary would eliminate many of the less popular or less well-financed candidates, who only waste the voters' time.

C. Read the following major propositions, and think about how they might be proved.

- Choose one of the major propositions, and suggest at least three supporting propositions that would help prove it.

- Explain why each of your supporting propositions offers direct and valid support of the major proposition you have chosen.

- Describe the kind of evidence that would be needed to develop each of your supporting propositions.

· Every citizen should be required to give a year of social or military service to the United States.

· Drafting citizens for social or military service must not be allowed.

· The United States should adopt nuclear power as its major source of energy.

· Nuclear power plants should be outlawed in the United States.

D. Imagine that you have to write a persuasive essay convincing the administration of your school that you should be allowed to graduate.

· What would the major proposition of your essay be?

· What supporting propositions would you use to develop that major proposition?

SUMMARY

The supporting propositions are the general points that help prove the major proposition in a persuasive essay.

In order to be effective, a supporting proposition must in turn be supported by evidence.

DRAFTING

1). Read the major propositions you wrote for the previous lesson. Choose the two major propositions that interest you most, and put a check mark beside each of those propositions. If you prefer, you may compose two new major propositions for persuasive essays.

2). Think of possible supporting propositions for each of the major propositions you chose. Write phrases to identify at least seven pos­sible supporting propositions for each major proposition.

3). Read and evaluate the supporting propositions in your two lists. If necessary, review the handbook lessons on Evidence and Reasoning, pages 168-182. From each list, choose the three or four supporting propositions that most clearly help prove the major proposition. Underline the phrases that identify those supporting propositions.

4). Think about the supporting propositions that best prove each of your chosen major propositions. Consider the evidence you might use to develop the supporting propositions in each list. Circle the list of supporting propositions for which you have the better evidence.

COMPOSING

Write a major proposition, which you will use in your persuasive essay. Then list the three or four supporting propositions you will use to develop that major proposition. Express each- supporting proposition in a clear, complete statement.

REVISING

Read your major proposition and your supporting propositions. As you read, ask yourself the following questions:

· Which supporting proposition, if any, does not clearly help prove the major proposition?

· What other supporting propositions, if any, should be added to the list?

· Which supporting propositions, if any, are unclearly or unfairly worded?

· Which supporting propositions, if any, cannot be developed by facts and details?

Make any changes that are needed to improve your list of support­ing propositions.

PROOFREADING

Proofread your major proposition and supporting propositions. Fol­low the steps presented in the Proofreading Checklist on page 142. Correct any mistakes you have made in sentence structure, capitaliza­tion, punctuation, or spelling.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30