Write an essay discussing ONE of these topics: gun violence, immigration reform, social media, and the limits of free speech.
You have many tools at your disposal now: you can use the Critical Thinking pie chart to generate ideas; you can think of premises and conclusions based on Aristotelian argumentation; you should use partly logic (logos), partly ethos (appeal to morality and creating trust), and pathos (appeal to emotions). You can think of a Toulminian structure (claim, grounds, warrants), and you have to use Rogerian elements (think of the opposite side as something you need to keep in mind, not to completely destroy in your argument). You need to show that you have learned enough about these concepts to create a persuasive argument. I am not interested in what side you are on, but on how you justify or back your position.
Identify the controversy and the problems that arise in relation to the issue. Give a definition of your own to the concepts you are using, to lead the reader better toward an understanding of what the issue or problem is (best in the first body paragraph). You should use a combination of personal experience and your own reasoning to write this paper. You will then proceed to explaining what problems you see as part of the issue you have picked, and find: what you think are the causes and effects of the issue you picked; examples; solutions that do not work, and solutions that you think will work.
