Please choose one claim or idea or them from the book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. Revised and Updated, with a New Preface by the Author, New York: Harper Perennial by
Barry Schwartz, discuss and explain it (with source citations for all references to the text and to support all of your claim about the text). Then give your assessment of the idea and explain your view. Finally, provide 3 reasons to support your view, including one response to an actual or hypothetical critic. Please use the Guidelines to writing when writing your essay.
All papers should have fully
informative and substantive titles and subtitles that help convey the
paper’s general subject and main point or thesis; use the title to convey
the general subject of the paper; use the subtitle to specify the paper’s
thesis in the following format: “title: subtitle.” Avoid vague titles
whose meaning is unclear to the reader such as: “Political Action” or “Freedom.”
Use an epigraph or two to help
reinforce or support the paper’s thesis and additionally clarify its main
point; an “epigraph” is a short, quoted passage borrowed from another
source that expresses the same main thought or claim of your essay; make
sure that a proper page citation is provided to the source of the
quotation, as is required for all quotations. Epigraphs may be obtained
from your reading for the paper (when you note powerful or eloquent
passages) or from an online apps devoted to quotations where you insert
the general subject and select the quotations that are best suited for
your thesis.
Use sections and section headings to
make it easier for the reader to follow your argument. The opening section
should be the Introduction where you discuss and clarify the general
subject and its importance to the reader; state your thesis with any
needed clarification; and provide the overall plan of the paper along with
the evidence to be provided in support of the paper’s thesis.
The opening paragraphs to the paper
should describe the general area or problem or issue for the main claim of
the paper; in most cases the immediate significance of the problem or
issue will be obvious such as: political violence or the environmental
crisis or human happiness, so no long justification concerning the problem
or issue will be necessary, although in some cases where the issue or
problem under discussion is obscure or likely unknown to the reader, like
an little-read political theorist like the medievalist William of Ockham
or little-known legislative budget maneuver like “earmarking” or
dedicating desirable projects in a large budget that is not discussed by
the legislative body, the general issue will need to be explained and
justified as to why anyone would be interested in this topic. The writer of the paper, in such cases, must
justify why the reader should care about the issue or problem.
The opening paragraphs should also,
importantly, state the main thesis, claim or position of the paper that
become the goal of the paper to rationally convince the reader to agree
with the view taken in the paper. Language such as: “it is the goal of the
paper to . . .” or “it is the purpose of the paper to . . .” or “the aim
of the paper is to . . .” are all standard linguistic set-ups for the
expression of the thesis or main position of the paper. Alternative
formulations should be in the future tense: “I will argue . . .” “I
will contend
. . .” or, “I will assert . . .”
etc. Such a statement should appear
no later than three or four paragraphs into the discussion in the paper’s
Introduction section.
The body of the paper should consist
of the most important part of the paper: the full expression and
explanation of the meaning of the position or thesis to be defended by the
writer, followed by the key element of the paper: the provision of
adequate evidence to make the claim made rationally persuasive,
keeping in mind that the stronger the claim, the more evidence that must
be provided to make it rationally persuasive will be needed. Furthermore,
the strength of a claim is determined by the use of language and word
choice: “all” is stronger than “some;” some claim true for a long time is
stronger than for a short time such as: some claim about last year in
America versus some claim true for 200 years or 2000 years in Europe. A
claim made of a large group of people is stronger than if made for a few
or even one person. Pay careful attention to the “fit” between strength of
your thesis and the evidence provided in its support. This is the key
element determining the success of such rationally persuasive papers.
Consideration of a possible objection or
criticism to your view and replied to or rebutted is one element of an
effective way to defend your view. If an opposing view cannot be
attributed to a particular person, then the writer her/himself can create
a possible objector or critic in order to respond to the potential
criticism and, thereby, indirectly support or provide evidence for the
claim or position taken. For such brief papers, three pieces of evidence,
including such rebuttals, should be sufficient to make the essay
rationally persuasive.
When the evidence is all presented,
the end of the paper, or Conclusion section, should consist of only a
summary of the main points made in the paper and the pieces of evidence
provided in the body of the paper with no new point made at the end; no
“big finishes” to rationally persuasive papers. The endings should state
the goal or aim again, this time in the past tense, such as: “it has
been the purpose of this paper to . . .” or “it has been the
goal of this paper to . . .” followed by the enumeration of the pieces of
evidence provided, perhaps numbered if several and complicated.
Presentation errors should be avoided,
checked for during the proofreading stage and corrected. Computer
spell-check programs should not be totally relied upon since many such
errors are not caught by the computer such as: “their” vs. “there” or misplaced
word usage and sentence structure errors, that is: sentence fragments and
run-on sentences. All spelling
errors should be checked for, especially the most common, such as:
“cannot” being one word; the correct use of “its” which indicates
possession and not “it’s” which is a contraction of “it is”. No
contractions should be used in academic papers which is formal discourse
where the informal language of contractions is not appropriate. Be careful
to paginate papers so reader can quickly refer to passages within specific
pages.
Be careful to provide page
citations for all: referred to texts—where you borrowed the ideas or words
from a text. All quotations and all borrowed ideas or data must be
properly cited (no matter the specific form of the citation unless the
Instructor requires as specific form of citation). No borrowed idea or
fact should go uncited. Another requirement of citations commonly omitted
is every textual interpretation of a text. Like all claims, textual claims
require support and the way to provide such support is to cite the
portions of the text that you think supports your view of the text’s
meaning. Thus, there are four reasons for citations: a) quotations;
b) borrowed ideas in your own words; c) borrowed facts to their
sources; and, d) textual interpretations of the meaning of the text.
Also, be careful of the need for new
paragraphs whenever your ideas change. No page should be one whole
paragraph. Transitions are needed between paragraphs and sections and the
shifts between ideas should not be abrupt. Take the reader “by the hand”
figuratively speaking, and explain “every move you make” by introducing it
or referring to the last point made retrospectively before going on to a
new point.
Success in such rationally persuasive
papers is determined by clarity of
language—use a dictionary and thesaurus for best word for your meaning
and to avoid repetition that is tedious for the reader. Successful rationally
persuasive papers also depend on the amount and quality of evidence provided
for the claim or position taken and the care and thoughtfulness in the presentation
of your ideas.
Use an analytical outline before
writing so the writing can be separated from the thinking of the ideas to
express; do not try to think of ideas and how to express them at the same
time: few people are capable of doing this well.
“Brainstorm” the logical outline of your ideas—create an analytical
outline—separate from putting into words the ideas you want to express in the paper.
This requires leaving more time to write such papers that cannot be done in one
sitting, like the night before the paper is due.
Make sure a Works Cited page follows
the last page of text in all of your papers. The Works Cited page
(alternatively termed “References” but not
“Bibliography” which means all works consulted, including ones not used)
should be a listing in alphabetical order by authors’ last name with
full
bibliographical information provided for each item. For web-based citations,
the last date accessed by you should be provided.
All papers should be proofread for presentation
errors before submitting.
If you are not comfortable doing this for your own papers, have someone
else read the paper with an eye toward catching such presentation errors. The
goal should be no distracting presentation errors that also could obstruct your
meaning and detract from the value of your paper.
Structure of rationally persuasive paper:
Substantive Title [with subtitle] Epigraph
Introduction (topic or general
subject discussed and clarified;
main
claim or thesis stated and clarified; overall
outline or plan for paper including evidence to be provided in support
of the thesis)
Body (evidence
provided in support of the claim with each
reason or piece of evidence with its own section headed by the main idea
of the upcoming section)
Conclusion
(summary of main points of evidence provided
for thesis and restatement in the past tense of the aim
or the goal of the paper with no new
claims or evidence
mentioned)
ERRORS TO BE
AVOIDED (drawn from student papers)
1.
not to provide title conveying general
subject of paper
2.
not to provide subtitle conveying
specific thesis or main claim of paper
3.
not to provide epigraph or quotation(s)
to clarify meaning of title and to reinforce the thesis of the paper
4.
not to state thesis or main claim of
paper in the Introduction and refer to it throughout the paper especially in
the Conclusion
5.
not to provide sections for the paper;
the Introduction section to describe the general subject of the paper and to
include a statement of the thesis; the Conclusion which should summarize the
main points of the paper that support the thesis but contains no new claim; in
between sections occur where there are shifts or breaks in the argument with
headings that capture or express the central point of the upcoming section
6.
not to provide page citations to the
sources for all borrowed ideas and facts
7.
not to provide page citations to the
sources for all quotations
8.
not to provide page citations to texts
that are need to support all interpretations of a text
9.
to use contractions in academic papers
10. to
use abbreviations or acronyms in academic papers
11. not
to provide new paragraphs when subjects or topics change in the discussion
12. not
to provide new sections with their own headings for breaks or shifts in the
argument
13. not
provide for a proper sentence, and as a result papers contain sentence
fragments or run-on sentences
14. not
to provide required commas and not to omit unnecessary commas
15. incorrect
past tense of the verb “to lead;” correct past tense is “led” not “lead”.
16. Incorrect
expression for the Second World War; the correct expression is “World War II”
not “World War 2.”
17. not
to explain and clarify each claim that is made
18. not
to support with reasoned evidence and facts each claim that is made
19. incorrect
use of “effect” and “affect;” “effect” means: the “result” or “consequence,”
and “affect” means: “influence” or “shapes”.
20. Incorrect
use of the word “cannot” by making it in two words: “can not,” when it is one:
“cannot”.
21. to
repeat statements within the same paper
22. not
to make clear what are your ideas by use of “I think,” “I believe,” etc. and
what are borrowed ideas through the use of quotations and/or page citations.
23. not
to offset lengthy quotations (more than 3 lines) from the body of the paper by
single spacing and indenting the margins along with separating from your text
24. not
make footnote or endnote numbers in sequence consecutively with no repeat use
of numbers
25. wrong
word “novel” for “book,” or “work,” or “volume.”
26. put
titles of books in caps, italics, or underlined
27. do
not repeat words in the same sentence
28. begin
a sentence with “which”—usually results in a sentence fragment
29. omit
hyphens from compound words like: “profit-hungry” or “profit-oriented world”
30. omit
quotation marks from terms or words to be defined
31. when
you have two independent authors, not co-authors, you need to provide
possessive punctuation with an apostrophe for both authors: for example,
“Locke’s and Rousseau’s” theories
32. not
to put quotes around concept labels like: “freedom,” or “equality,” or concept
labels to be defined
33. to
omit the question mark from rhetorical questions; only use a few (2) such
questions in papers where you should state your views directly and explicitly,
not with rhetorical questions
34. to
omit the List of References or Works Cited with bibliographical information
provided for each work at the end of the paper when parenthetic (in-text)
citations instead used instead of footnotes or endnotes
35. to
omit a thesis; do not redescribe or restate the ideas of others without
assessment and reasoned defense on your part
36. omit
page citations for support of all textual interpretations of a text: “Marx
said,” “Locke believed,” etc.
37. omit
commas inside or within quotation marks of lengthy quotes; one-or two-word
quotes can have the comma or period outside the quotation marks, such as: The
man said, ‘stop’.
38. using
contested concepts like “freedom,” “equality,” or “justice,” etc. without
defining them as to how they will be used in your paper, sometimes within an
explanatory footnote
39. making
new claims within the Conclusion section; Conclusion sections should be merely
a summary of your main ideas and evidence in support of your paper’s thesis
with no new claims
40. beginning
a sentence with “Meaning” or any gerund, an “-ing” word, which usually results
in a sentence fragment. An example would be: “Meaning justice was infringed
upon.”
41. putting
the apostrophe in the wrong place to show possession; singular possessive case
punctuation requires the apostrophe be placed before the “s,” for plural
references, the apostrophe follows the “s,” so, for example: “a theorist’s
idea,” vs. “the theorists’ idea”
42. using
“like” instead of “as”
43. the
possessive case of “its” is without an apostrophe; with an apostrophe “it’s” is
the contraction of “it is” which should not appear in academic papers that
should omit contractions altogether
44. the
misspelling of “lens” is “lense”; so “lense” is incorrect and “lens” is
correct.
45. verb
agreements must match the subject of the sentence to be correct: singular
subjects should have singular form of the verb (“She votes Democratic.”); and
plural subjects should have plural form of the verb (“They vote Democratic.”)
46. using
vague phrases or words like: “big picture,” “everything,” for example: “The
bill affected everything.” Be more specific and informative in your use of
language. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to choose the best word for your
meaning.
47. confusing
“affect” with “effect.” “Affect” means “influence” or “impact” while “effect
means “result” or “consequence.” I remember these differences with a mnemonic
device: “AI” or “artificial intelligence” for “affect-influence” and “ER” or
“emergency room” for “effect-result”
48. making
empirical or factual claims without supporting data and the sources for such
data
49. “media”
is plural for the singular “medium”
50. The
use of cliches: “moving forward,” “easier said than done,” “better late than
never,” etc. State your ideas in your clear and specific words avoiding such
cliches.
