There is a lot to learn and understand about Argument as a mode of communication, and you can find a lot of it in the “In’s and Out’s of Argument” page in the “Helpful Materials” module. One of the things that can’t be made clear enough is that, in order to make an argument, you must first take a stance on a debatable issue. For the purposes of this assignment, you get to pick the debatable issue that you’d like to take a stance on in order to create your argument. Make sure to choose a topic that interests you as your passion will strengthen your paper. The requirements for this paper are that it demonstrates an understanding of argument as a mode of expression, that it provides a solid, substantiated argument which is clear and linear, that includes counter arguments to solidify your position as well as your ethos, and that lacks in grammar and sentence structure mistakes
This paper will be 1000-1250 words, which works out to a 6 paragraph essay (Introduction, 4 body paragraphs, conclusion). The only other new element of this paper, besides being a little bit longer, is that research is required. You can find information about finding and integrating sources in the “In’s and Out’s of Research” page in the “Helpful Materials” module. The sweet spot for a paper of this length is 4-5 sources and 8-12 in text quotes and/or paraphrases. Don’t forget to include a properly formatted Works Cited page at the end of your paper.
For this assignment, there are two parts. The first part is the outline for the paper, for which there is an example below, and that is the part that you are submitted to this submission link. The outline is not what will end up being 1000-1250 words; that will be the final draft. Once your outline is completed, you will complete your Final Draft, which will be the final version of the essay that I will grade, and it should include revisions based on feedback on your outline and your own reviewing, revising and editing. Again, it is only the final draft that will be 1000-1250 words, not the outline.
The following is an example outline for this kind of essay:
Thesis: Beauty pageants set young girls up for a physically, mentally and emotionally unhealthy life because parents push their daughters too hard, there is a possibility of an inescapable rift between parents and child, and girls can end up tying their self worth to their looks or even end up with body image issues.
Body Paragraph 1: Beauty pageants are known to cause parents to push their daughters to perform
Some parents like to live vicariously through their children.
Parents are supposed to guide their children through the children’s interest, but living vicariously through children tends to put the parents’ personal interest above what is best for their children.
Parents may believe that they are just trying to teach their daughters a sense of competition, but there is a point at which that turns to greed to win causing parents to push too hard.
Body Paragraph 2: Pushing a child too hard can cause a permanent rift in the relationship between child and parents.
Trust is an important component in parent/child relationships, and pushy parents can damage that trust.
It is difficult for a child to maintain respect and communication with a parent that she lacks trust in, but that she perceives to only be interested in her success in what is, essentially, a meaningless hobby.
It is easy to say that any child will have difficulties in her relationship with her parents, and that it usually passes, but when those difficulties arise due to behavior that borders on abuse, they may end up being too much for love and family connection to overcome.
Body Paragraph 3: More damaging even than a damaged child to parent relationship is the fact that beauty pageants cause young girls to grow up believing that their worth is tied to their looks.
Awards being handed out for the way girls look is a disgusting practice that ignores the intelligence, humor, kindness and other things that are more important and impactful on society.
There is already a societal problem with too much of a girl’s self worth being tied to her looks, and further promotion of that problem, especially by parents, can only make it worse.
Sure it’s true that little girls like to play dress up and look pretty, but when that innocent act is pushed into a competitive drive, that idea of looks being a measurement of worth begins to rear it’s ugly head.
Body Paragraph 4: It only takes common sense to understand that body image issues follow assigning too much worth to outward appearance.
Females with body image issues are willing to do things that damage their health in order to improve what they perceive to be less than ideal body.
If someone who ties a lot of her worth to her outer appearance further experiences inner or outer disappointment in her body, she will feel worthless, regardless of what else she has to offer, and more dangerous attempts to fix the perceived problem may follow.
There are those that would argue that a person with body image issues simply needs to understand her true worth and can receive professional help to get to that point, but the problem is that this person was taught to focus on outer appearance at an early age, and years of perceiving herself in an unhealthy way is not easy to turn around, even if she feels comfortable with, or is aware of, the fact that professional help may be needed, and there have already been years of damage done.