Paper #3

Paper 3: Trend Analysis

You can see patterns of behavior emerging all around you: laptop use in classrooms, the downloading of music (both legally and illegally), the proliferation of Starbucks coffee shops within blocks of one another. What do these things have in common? They’re all fairly recent trends—tendencies of society to move in a certain direction, or of people to act or think in a similar manner.

For your final paper, you’ll identify a recent trend and research its causes, and argue for its possible effects. What do you see happening or changing around you that you find exciting or alarming? What is the trend that you like the most, or dislike the most? What do you think caused this trend to start, and what is the effect that you see this trend having?

There are three major steps you’ll need to go through, before you begin writing, in order to do this assignment properly. When you write the essay, you don’t necessarily need to include these three parts so mechanically—one can be part of the other—but these are areas that I’ll want you to cover.

First Step: Is It Really A Trend?

You’ll first need to establish that a trend exists. A single instance does not constitute a trend. You’ll need to marshal evidence from appropriate resources to build a case that the phenomenon you’ve observed really is a trend. What’s “appropriate” in resources depends on the type of trend you’re discussing. For instance, if you’re investigating a fashion trend or a trend in behavior that is particular to UT, you might draw upon different sources and types of evidence than if you choose to analyze a phenomenon that’s sweeping the country, such as student use of FaceBook or other social networking tools. But whether the trend you choose is local, national, or global, you need to provide substantive evidence that it exists.

Second Step: What Are Its Causes and Effects?

Once you’ve established the trend’s existence and history, you can then work on proving that the trend emerged from some cause or series of causes, and that the trend is likely to have certain specific effects (or is already having those effects). However, whatever claims you make in this area of your essay must also be supported by reasons and evidence. You’ll want to make sure that your argument for the causes and effects of this trend is not just based on your own “instincts.” In order to prove to a reader that they should hold the same view of the trend that you do, you’ll need to use logical reasoning and a variety of facts to get your reader to accept your analysis.

Finally, you’ll need to bring in outside opinions and ideas to support your analysis. If you want to prove that a trend is a “negative” and not a “positive” one, you’ll need to come up with factual bases for your reader to think this, not just strongly worded positions of your own. On the other hand, you shouldn’t think of your paper as just a report of other people’s ideas about the possible effects of the trend you’ve observed. As with any good argument, you’ll present other people’s positions, and you may indicate that you agree with them. But ultimately I want to see your personal contribution to the discussion about the trend that you identified, supported with enough evidence to make your position plausible.

Third Step: Opposing Views

The best analyses tend to take account of opposing views, although they rarely devote a section to “what the other side believes.” You could include such a section on opposing views; you could include mention of the “controversy” surrounding the trend when you discuss its history and existence; you could also indicate, through your tone, voice, and word-choice, that you acknowledge that others may disagree with you, but that the evidence for your position outweighs theirs. However you do this, the reader must come away from your essay with the idea that your opinion, as sound as it is, is one that you formed after carefully weighing all the evidence—including the evidence that is counter to your position. A well-balanced essay is one that readers who don’t necessarily agree with you “feel” is a balanced one, either because you had a section that provided “balance,” or because you wrote the essay in a way that invites those with opposing views to accept your presentation of your position as reasonable and fair. In other words, consider your tone and word-choice to be elements of “balance” which are every bit as important as actual quotations from opposition figures. However: if you make a claim that “some people hold opposition views,” then you will have to identify at least some of those people with direct references.

A good paper will include:
• A clear thesis that establishes the importance of the subject you are discussing, that indicates to the reader your “claim” about the subject, and that uses style, humor (possibly), and inventive word-choice to draw your reader into your essay
• Compelling evidence that the trend exists, using source material as needed
• A carefully argued analysis of the causes and effects of this trend that relies upon understandable criteria, logical reasoning, and proven facts (many, if not most of which should be supported by researched source material)
• Acknowledgement of opposition views and arguments (see above)
• A conclusion that sums everything up, and that leads your reader to pursue the subject further
• Correct grammar and mechanics; stylish use of language
• Use of least FIVE sources in ways that enhance your argument
• A Works Cited page and parenthetical citations in the text using MLA style
• An awareness of audience (your classmates and me)

Length: 5-6 pages
12 point Times Roman font
Double-spaced
1” Margins

Due Dates:

Proposal (1-2 pages): 4/7 (posted to the wiki site by midnight of that date)
Student Showcases: 4/9 (sent to me by 8PM 4/8) and 4/14 (sent to me by 8PM 4/13)
First Draft: 4/17
Final Draft: 4/30