Daniel Kies Department of English College of DuPage
Composition English 1101		Contact Form

Argument/Persuasive Essay

Writing Assignment 5/6

Objective What is the future of books? Will books become obsolete in decades to come, like the 8-track tape, or is the world of computer text just a phase? Can the two mediums live together in harmony and coincide with each other? What will a bookless future hold for generations to come? The objective of this writing assignment to prepare an argumentative essay exploring these and any other related questions you discover. An argumentative essay has a two-fold objective: to explore the topic rigorously for both the writer and readers and to persuade readers. This two-fold aim is achieved in part by the dialectic nature of argumentation where the writer thoroughly presents both sides of the topic while clearly favoring his/her position on the issue. Audience The audience is our class. Also imagine that you are writing to Birkerts (whom you have read before) and Negroponte (whom you will read below). Reading Read "The Future of Books" by Nicholas Negroponte and reread Birkerts if you wish. Instructions The success of any argument depends on the quality of the support behind it; gathering support on both sides of a topic is crucial. You will need to bring in at least two sources, which can be personal testimony from an interview or material drawn from the WWW, books, magazines, and newspapers. When you use any material from outside sources, use proper documentation of sources and works cited format. It is also appropriate to use the Aristotelian appeals in constructing your argument. Cluster your ideas about your topic into clearly defined parts (arguments, objections, and rebuttals). There are a variety of organizational methods through which you can present your argumentative essay. However, all argumentative papers must include a position statement, background information, two arguments (in favor of your position), two objection-and-rebuttal pairs, describing an objection to your position that you anticipate from the other side and presenting your rebuttal to that objection (remember a rebuttal must immediately follow the objection it addresses), and a firm conclusion. Of course, you may include additional arguments or objection-rebuttal pairs. Your completed argumentative essay should be approximately 1000 words. Support An eForum conference is available to help us share ideas and answer questions about our essays and related work: English 1101 — Online

The network is the urban site before us, an invitation to design and construct the City of Bits (capital of the twenty-first century), just as, so long ago, a narrow peninsula beside the Maeander became the place for Miletos. But this new settlement will turn classical categories inside out and will reconstruct the discourse in which architects have engaged from classical times until now. This will be a city unrooted to any definite spot on the surface of the earth, shaped by connectivity and bandwidth constraints rather than by accessibility and land values, largely asynchronous in its operation, and inhabited by disembodied and fragmented subjects who exist as collections of aliases and agents. Its places will be constructed virtually by software instead of physically from stones and timbers, and they will be connected by logical linkages rather than by doors, passageways, and streets. How shall we shape it? Who shall be our Hippodamos? William Mitchell, City of Bits

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