Community Problem Report

Thesis or Purpose Statement?

Purpose

Present

When do you use which?

Will your purpose be to persuade or inform?

Once everyone in the group has a working thesis or purpose statement, you will share with the class one of the following: A) in a sentence, the thesis/purpose statement of the group member who you interviewed. OR B) a strategy you used to (i) communicate your purpose clearly and concisely in the short time given OR (ii) how you came up with a working thesis/purpose statement for your peer.

A note on Tone!

Be sure to state your name, this is worth today's participation points.

Remember, you must let your topic & research speak for itself--no personal pronouns, opinions or bias should be found.

• Get into groups of 2-3
• The "Elevator Interview": one group member will act as a prospective candidate, and the other(s) the employer.
• The candidate will treat this like an "elevator" interview
• Tell them about your topic: what it is you want them to know/learn about your topic and how do you plan to tell/educate them (theoretically)
• Those doing the interviewing should, without need of follow up questions, be able to respond with a working purpose/thesis statement that predicts, controls and obligates.

*You will want a timekeeper, elevator interviews are only about 30 seconds long

• Repeat the process until each member has a working thesis/purpose statement

Audience

CPR

Not your instructor. Write for your scholarly peers and/or discourse community.

PCO

• Predicts: what can your reader expect to get in your essay (i.e. The purpose of this essay is too... OR The evidence will show...)
• Controls: how are you going to do this for your read (i.e. The purpose of this essay is too illustrate __, through the use of information collected by scholars and photographers on this subject... OR The evidence will show that _ is incorrect, as supported by the results of various experiments conducted by _.)
• Obligates: now that it is in writing, you are "contractually bound" to satisfy your purpose

Your hard work on all previous assignments (Discourse Community, Topic Proposal, Rhetorical Analysis & Annotated Bib) has paved the way for you to enter into the conversation of your chosen discourse community

Remember, you are "entering the conversation;" your research is coming from this conversation so pay attention to how they are communicating. This will give you clues about which rhetorical strategies will be effective/appropriate.

Remember, your thesis/purpose statement is subject to revision as you develop and draft your essay.

• Topic
• provide context
• Select a
• Perspective/stance on topic (animal testing is a dated practice that does not reflect the technological advances that medicine has made)

OR

• A narrow issue (i.e. from "climate change" to the "affect of climate change on female polar bears")
• Academic APA Essay
• Objective, third-person perspective
• Scholarly tone
• 3-5 pages in length
• Use of ethos, pathos & logos
• Include one (1) graphic image, text-wrapped
• Plus title & reference page
• Organize (points & sources)
• 3-6 sources of varied genre
• Synthesize information
• Use supporting evidence (i.e. quotes, examples, paraphrases)

Putting It All Together

The Community Problem Report aka the Research Paper