Green Marketing

This assignment borrows some aspects of a formal proposal and adapts them to the course. The goal is to use the topic from the Annotated Bibliography and Literature Review and make a short argument for a future course of action. For example, this could be to propose more research in one of the areas that you covered in the literature review, or, it could be to propose new research to fill a gap in the existing field. While it is making an argument that seeks to persuade its readers, the tone should be professional and logical. You should imagine the audience to have a mix of scientific, engineering, and IT backgrounds.

The audience for this essay is a group of non-specialists who have an interest in supporting your claim by funding your research. You need to persuade them that your issue is significant and that your opinion on what should be done is the right course of action and worthy of funding. You do not have to include material costs or an expenditure budget, though you should consider plausibility of your solution as part of its rhetorical effectiveness. A proposal is usually both a forecast of the future — what you believe, based on current data, will or should occur — and a request for your audience’s approval or agreement with that forecast. It is thus part description and part argument: you need to persuade an audience that what you propose is reasonable and plausible.

See the “Steps” section below for more on the essay’s format. The essay should directly cite at least three sources. Select the most relevant source material and frame the research in order to persuade a specific, non-specialist audience to the author’s point of view. The persuasive essay should use visual aids and/or numbers as part of its argument while being careful to follow the principles discussed in class on best practices.

Logically, the essay needs to make a well-reasoned argument based on evidence from reliable sources as well as follow conventions for academic forms of argument. This format allows you to demonstrate your research and reasoning skills to an audience of non-specialists about a topic that you consider significant for wider understanding.

See below for” “Steps on Writing the Persuasive Essay

 
Steps on Writing the Persuasive Essay

1. Begin by re-reading your Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography.
a. How might you adapt your conclusion? Can it become more argumentative?
b. What are the key sources from your Bibliography that you will need to establish the issue and to substantiate your argument?
c. Examine your key sources for logic. Do you notice any fallacies? What warrants will inform your proposal?
2. Write a working thesis
3. Develop a concept outline with sources
a. Outline should be as follows (adapted from Penn State’s Writing Guidelines for Students of Engineering and Science; note what is missing: no “Summary”, “Objectives,” or “Management Plan”)
i. Statement of Problem (or, existing research)
ii. Plan of Action (or, argument)
iii. Conclusion
b. What concepts and sources would you want to use to in these sections?
4. Present thesis and outline to a peer
5. Write the Introduction
a. In the first sentence, make your specific claim.
b. Set up the topic: Why does it matter? Why should your readers care?
c. Briefly summarize what “they say”: that is, what is the state of the field on this issue?
d. Briefly respond and define your position.
6. Write the body paragraphs
a. See the Style Handout for examples of how to professionally disagree and to state your own position in relation to others’ work.
7. Conclusion
a. Review the argument and suggest its implications.
8. Revision
a. Individual Revision
i. Identify logic of your own argument & check for fallacies
ii. Identify counter-arguments: Where do they appear? How are they presented? What is your logical analysis of their claims?
b. Reverse Outline
i. What is the order of your topics? Are there clear topic sentences?
9. Peer Review
a. Exchange papers with two other classmates and after reading,
i. Identify the part of the paper that you find most convincing
ii. Identify points in the paper where you have trouble following the writer’s argument.
iii. Highlight key lines in Intro and Conclusion.
iv. What is the essay’s most significant claim?
10. Revise according to peer suggestions and submit.