CSC/PHI 324 Writing Assignment #5

PART 1

This final writing assignment is a “scaffolded” assignment with three parts that serve as building blocks in preparation for the final paper. Specifically, you’ll be practicing the art of researching both sides of a debate, developing a list of pros and cons (to be turned into objections/responses), formulating a thesis, finding quotes or other support for the pros and cons, and then writing up an objection-response exchange in two paragraphs.

The topic for all three parts of this assignment is the July 2022 ACM article, “Words Matter,” which makes the argument that we should use inclusive language, and avoid using terms that might be controversial.

For this part of the assignment, please:

1. Read this July 2022 ACM article, “Words Matter,” and find at least two additional articles — or the text of the articles listed at the end of the piece. (I will spend a few minutes at the beginning of class showing you how to find articles and/or assistance at library.southernct.edu.) Please copy the links to the articles you find here, and provide a brief (2-3 sentence) summary of each article.

2. Read through the list of words that the ACM Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council asks us to avoid.

3. Find at least three additional articles that discuss the debate about inclusive language. (The concept of refraining from using specific words out of respect fo each other is sometimes referred to as “political correctness.” You might try doing a search on “political correctness debates” or “inclusive language pros and cons” or “political correctness examples” to see what you can come up with.)

4. Copy the links of the articles you find in your response (please label it “Part 1”) and provide a brief (2-3) summary of each article.

PART 2

The next step is to reorganize your thoughts and notes from the articles in Part 1 into a list of “pros” and “cons” and to identify at least one example (or thought experiment, or quote) to support each pro and each con.

In order to do that, obviously you’ll need a thesis or general position to consider, so that you can align the pro points with the thesis and the con points against the thesis. The thesis should be simple; it will be either in favor of the ACM “Words Matter” proposal, or opposed to it. Please clearly state the thesis

you settle on prior to starting the pro/con list.

The “pro” points will of course be points in favor of your thesis, and the “con” points will be points that are opposed. You can organize the list of pros and cons in any way you like — either a two-column table or just two lists is fine. But please make sure that each pro and con is stated in a full sentence, and please identify at least three pros and three cons.

After you’ve made the list, take some time to search online for additional support (quotes, evidence, examples, etc.) for each pro and each con. Provide as much support as you can for each of the pros and cons. Please feel free to use ChatGPT in identifying examples or potential quotes and articles to support each point.

PART 3

The last challenge is to:

1. Review you list of “pros” and “cons” and try to match them up so that you have a point on one side with a response to that point on the other side. Not all of the points need to be matched up; you just need at least one good “con” to serve as an objection to your thesis and one good “pros” that will work as a response to that particular “con.”

2. It might help to think of this as a match in a sport such as ping pong, tennis, or volleyball. The pro side is going to serve the ball by proposing the thesis. Then the con side is going to return the ball by raising an objection. And the original side is going to hit the ball back over the net by responding to the objection with a related pro point:

3. Once you have identified an objection/response pair, work on developing the objection and the response into two full paragraphs. Remember to use examples and/or quotes or other evidence in developing the argument in each of the two paragraphs.

4. Circle back and add a transition phrase at the beginning of each of the two paragraphs to help the reader track the shift from con to pro. So, for example, at the beginning of the objection paragraph, you might say, “One of the most common objections to the argument that [state the thesis] is the argument that [state the objection]” or at the beginning of the response paragraph, you might open with, “In response to the point that [state the objection], the advocate of [refer to the thesis] might argue that [state the response].”

Grading for this assignment will be as follows: 6 points for Part 1

6 points for Part 2

6 points for Part 3