A SHORT COURSE ON WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Dr. David R. Burgess
Rivier College

All writing assignments should be done on a word processor.

When writing any paper there should be some structure to the thoughts being presented. In science the structure is often of the argumentative form as studied in logic. In general there is no standard "format" to be followed in argumentative papers. The thesis statement, for instance, could be placed at the beginning, in the middle, at the end, or anyplace where needed to make the desired point. The structure of the thought, however, can still be evaluated using standard procedures (see Logic Primer) and should be easily identified by someone familiar with argumentation. Non-argumentative structures of thought would have different criteria for evaluation.

Practicing with a specific format often helps to clarify the general structure of thought being used. To provide opportunity to better understand the argumentative structure of thought, papers for this course should follow a specific format as outlined below. In general the first paragraph of the paper will state the logical argument in a way that requires the conclusion to be true if the premises are true. The body of the paper shows that the premises are true. The last paragraph of the paper states that, since the premises are true and the logic is good, the conclusion must be true.

Many disciplines expect papers written as outlined below and writing in this general form is often called academic writing.

Notice that it is the structure of the thought, the connections between premises and conclusions for example, that is important, not the "packaging" of the thought. The way that the thought is packaged is a matter of rhetoric or style and is not being evaluated here. Words to evoke emotion, for instance, are not appropriate in these papers.

The Title is the Conclusion to the Main Argument
(Which is Found in the First Paragraph)

FIRST PARAGRAPH

The first paragraph contains the thesis statement with the main points (premises) that support the thesis.

P1 Main premise directly supporting the thesis statement.
P2 Another main premise directly supporting the thesis statement.
P3 Another main premise directly supporting the thesis statement.
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.
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C Conclusion. The conclusion is the thesis statement.

SECOND PARAGRAPH

The second paragraph contains support for the first main premise (P1) of the thesis statement.

P1a Premise supporting the first main premise.
P1b Another premise supporting the first main premise.
.
.
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C1 The conclusion in this paragraph is the first main premise (P1) of the thesis statement.

THIRD PARAGRAPH

The third paragraph contains support for the second main premise (P2) of the thesis statement.

P2a Premise supporting the second main premise.
P2b Another premise supporting the second main premise.
.
.
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C2 The conclusion in this paragraph is the second main premise (P2) of the thesis statement.

NEXT PARAGRAPH

.
.
. This process of providing arguments for each of the main
. premises in the first paragraph is continued until all
. premises have been addressed.
.
.

LAST PARAGRAPH

The last paragraph summarizes what has been done and restates the basic argument for the thesis statement as given in the first paragraph. The first paragraph proposes the thesis while this paragraph concludes that the thesis must be true.

Here is a bare bones example paper.

Here is another way to think about supporting the first (conditional) Premise.

Here is another example paper.

If you have further questions just send me an e-mail.