Definition Arguement Essay

When trying to think of a topic for the definition argument paper, I try and analyze myself to see what concepts or ideas that I am associated with. I want to write about something I see as personal to me so that I can have an idea and opinion about it before I start researching. I hope to learn and broaden my view of whatever the topic may be.

One of the first things that come to mind when I think about myself is my faith. I think that religion can be such a controversial issue because everyone has their own opinion and freedom to believe whatever they please. I was brought up in a Baptist church in a small town. Not only in the south, but what is also considered as the “bible belt.” I think it is safe to assume that a majority of the people raised in the south, especially in my hometown, were taken to church sometime in their life. Even though it might not a regular habit for a family, most people make an appearance on at least Christmas and Easter because it is the “expected” thing to do. I feel that this would be a good topic to dive deeper into to see how people from all around the country, and maybe even all around the world, view Christians in the “bible belt.”

Even though I feel very strongly about my beliefs, I want this paper to be about more than just my views on Christianity. The purpose will be to see the opinions of others who were not raised as I was raised, brought up in the area I was brought up and experienced the things I have experienced. I want to compare and contrast how I see Christianity and how others view it. Because this topic can be so broad, I plan to somehow narrow my topic down to something more specific. I am hoping that as I start and research, a more specific idea will come to mind.

the importance of "critical reading"

                I think that “reading like a writer” was a very relevant article considering the research that the class is doing for the memory and research paper. For me, the article means that I should not read an article just to be reading it but I should read it with the intentions of getting something useful out of it that I can later use in writing. Sometimes, especially during assigned reading, I just skim through an article or piece of writing and try to gather the main points. What this article is trying to encourage is to first look at the situation that is causing the author to write, the authors purpose for writing, the claims the author is making and the audience the author is writing to. If we keep all of those things in mind while reading, I think there is a better chance to gather and actually comprehend the information to use later rather than reading and just trying to memorize it.

                During my research for the memory and research paper, I have used some of the techniques discussed in the article. For me, I found that because there were so many articles about my topic, it was hard to narrow them down and find the ones that would be the most helpful. After reading the assigned reading, I started looking at each article and tried to find the situation, purpose, claims and audience to better decide which ones to use in my paper. It personally was a useful technique and helped me pick and choose what information to use. Also, once I chose articles that I thought would be useful, I would try and “critically read” each article by printing it off, getting a pen and annotating them so that when writing my paper I could look back at the articles and know exactly what I wanted to use in my paper. Even though the idea of “critical reading” has been taught to me in other English classes in the past, this article was a great reminder of how useful and important it can be when reading and gathering information for a paper.