Ch. 16 Notes

-Proposal arguments call an audience to action: should arguments

-Practical proposals generally target a specific audience (usually the person with the power to act on the proposal) and are typically introduced with a "letter of transmittal," in which the writer briefly summarizes the proposal, explains its purpose, and courteously invites the reader to consider it.

-Policy proposal is aimed at more general audiences instead of specific decision makers. These proposals typically address issues of public policy with the aim of swaying public support toward the writer's proposed solution and typically require researched sources.

-When you make a proposal argument, you must first determine whether the problem you are addressing is already known to your audience. Follow format of Classical Argument in Ch. 14:
*introduce the issue
*present the claim
*provide supporting reasons for the claim
*summarize and respond to alternative views
*provide a conclusion


-Call the reader's attention to the problem then propose and justify a course of action
-Convince the audience that a problem exists, that it is serious, and that some action should be taken to resolve it.



-When offering a solution to a problem, you must keep in mind there is always an alternative course of action. So to be effective, you must demonstrate that a significant problem exists; propose a solution to the problem; and justify the solution showing that benefits outweigh costs and that the proposed solution will fix the problem better than the alternatives.


-Review descriptions on p. 449 for the following:
*Description of the problem
*Proposal for a solution
*Justification


-Give your problem presence; help the readers see and feel it
*anecdotes, examples of people suffering startling facts, statistics

-To persuade your readers to act, you will need to involve them both mentally AND emotionally

Declaration of Independence: anticipates its audiences resistance to change
*in class discussion


-The more uncertain your proposal's consequences, the more clearly you must show how the proposal will bring about those consequences--identify the links in the chain and show how each one leads to the next; cite similar proposals that yielded the sorts of results you are predicting

-Review justification strategies on p. 452
*Argument from principle
*Argument from consequence
*Argument from precedent or analogy


p. 453 Complete for your argument:
Claim
Principle
Consequence
Precedent/analogy

Review Framework of a Proposal Solution p. 457