Question

Writing Project #1

Select a claim about any topic of your choice and provide three reasons for that claim. After presenting your argument in a narrative way, reconstruct it at the end of your work by clearly indicating its premises and conclusion with numbers and a conclusion indicator.

The conditions for receiving points for this work are as follows:

1. The Writing Project has a main claim about a topic of the student’s choice and provides three reasons for that claim.
2. The Writing Project presents the argument in a narrative way and this narrative presentation of the argument has premises and conclusion indicators.
3. The Writing Project has a complete and concise reconstruction of the argument at the end.
4. The Writing Project’s reconstruction of the argument identifies its premises and conclusion and lists them in logical order as instructed.
5. The Writing Project meets all conditions concerning editing, style, format, length, and originality.

If these conditions are met, you will earn up to 25 points.

For details on the grading policies, please check the Rubric for this assignment as well as Writing Projects in GUIDES TO WRITING, "Content" under the MATERIALS menu. All assignments will be evaluated within a week after the submission deadline. Do your own writing. Plagiarism is a very serious offense. Assignments that do not meet this condition will earn 0 point with no possibility of re-submission.

INSTRUCTOR'S SHORT SAMPLE (Students' narratives should be longer)

My conclusion is that capital punishment is wrong because of the following reasons. First reason: everybody involved in it suffers and nothing good is achieved. The guilty person suffers, his or her family suffers, the executioner suffers , and many others suffer too. Second reason, it presupposes that people who commit a serious crime could not be rehabilitated. That's a determinist view that is not supported by science. All of us have done at point something bad and then regret it and improve our lives through education and training.  Third reason, capital punishment amounts to cruel punishment. Although these fall short of providing a knock-down argument against capital punishment, they strongly suggest that it is wrong.

ARGUMENT RECONSTRUCTION

P1. Everybody involved in capital punished suffers.

P2. Nothing good is achieved with it.

P3. It presupposes that determinism is true

P4. Determinism is not true: people can improve

C1, Therefore, capital punishment is wrong.

Answer 1

The curious case of legalizing

Various groups have had different opinion and even the government has had mixed reaction towards the legalization process of marijuana. Several states at present have legalized marijuana and have also brought the same under legalized recreational pot. Legalizing marijuana shall easily help the people to avoid the black markets, mafia group interactions and reduce the crime related to the marijuana possession, sale and consumption. It shall benefit several people suffering from chronic physical ailments and mental illness. The sale of over the counter processed marijuana with prescriptions shall really help the people suffering from health issues. Even science supports the beneficial effects of marijuana. Also, liberals and conservatives too support the legalization, while the republicans believe the same could harm the society. Those who oppose the process have locked their views within a deterministic boundaries flooded with deterministic views and principles. Those people should be sensitized and must be enlightened about the benefits for marijuana for people suffering from health issues. There are many other drugs that are being illegally sold in market that do not have any potential medical usage but marijuana is one that has the potential to improve the quality of life of people suffering from health issues. Hence, government must try to find a way to legalize the marijuana in a way that there are more merits and manageable demerits.

ARGUMENT RECONSTRUCTION

P1. Everybody with a health issue when denied the usage of marijuana suffers.

P2. By denying the needy people the medicinal usage of marijuana, quality of life is denied to people.

P3. It presupposes that determinism is true

P4. Determinism is not true: people can improve

C1, Therefore, not legalizing marijuana as prescribed medicine for medical issues is wrong.