(In)Decent Proposals

Housekeeping

• Reminder, Project Four due on Wednesday
• Reminder, no class on Wednesday or Friday
• Reminder, revisions of Project Three will be due on Friday. If you don't have them to me by then, you don't get to do them.

Agenda

• Proposal Arguments

With Evaluations, we had:

"Something is a good (bad, the best, the worst) _____________________________ if measured by certain criteria (practicality, aesthetics, ethics)."

With Proposals, now, we have:

"SOMEONE should (or should not) do SOMETHING because ______________________________."

Based on asking yourself the question: "Why hasn't someone done something about this?"

Components of Proposal Arguments:

• Identifying the problem
• If problem is evident, this part is easy
• If problem is not evident, this part is extremely important (think Silent Spring)
• Stating a proposed solution
• The more specific, the better.
• Using good reasons to convince the reader you're not full of crap
• That the proposal is fair.
• That the proposal will WORK.
• That it is the BEST solution.
• Demonstrating the solution is feasible
• Not only the RIGHT and the BEST, but that it actually could be done, period.

For after the break:

• "The Fat Tax" by Jonathan Rauch
• "Legalizing Prostitution Will Not Stop the Harm" by Donna Hughes
• "Want Tenure? Sign on the Dotted Line. . ." by Stephen Trachtenberg