Researching & Writing Your 2.1

1. Researching & Writing Your 2.1 Tips For Success

2. Web Sources • What does a credible web source look like? • Is the information current? • Is the information based on opinion? • A personal blog? The opinions section of a newspaper? • Is the site advocating a position? • Primary or Secondary Source? • Remember, even though you are advocating a position (or a certain action), you must use objective information. If you use biased information (and do not, at least, acknowledge that bias) you will come off as unreliable. And then your argument will lose its power.

3. The Site’s Domain • org :An advocacy web site, such as a not-for-profit organization. • .com : A business or commercial site. • .net:A site from a network organization or an Internet service provider.; • .edu :A site affiliated with a higher education institution. • .gov: A federal government site. • .il.us :A state government site, this may also include public schools and community colleges. • .uk (United Kingdom) : A site originating in another country (as indicated by the 2 letter code). • ~:The tilde usually indicates a personal page.

4. Language: Remain neutral & professional • Appropriate Thesis: Because the feral cat population poses little threat to students and other university workers, the feral cat relocation program should be abolished, and instead the feral cats on Texas Tech University’s campus should be neutered and then returned to campus. • Inappropriate Thesis: Because feral cats are innocent, harmless creatures, and would never intentionally hurt students or other university workers, the feral cat program should be abandoned because it merely relocates these animals to a kill-shelter where they will suffer until they are murdered—all for the so-called “health” and “safety” of students, who do not even consider the cats a legitimate problem in the first place.

5. Feral Cats on the Web (Local) • Use three web sources! • http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2013-08-23/humane-society-chafes-tech-feral-cat-relocation#.UneqKIWeA7A • http://techferal.wordpress.com/ • http://stateofthedivision.blogspot.com/2013/08/ttu-feral-cat-situation-dire.html • http://www.dailytoreador.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_2f8c9fc4-18e7-11e3-8535-001a4bcf6878.html • http://www.dailytoreador.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_bc96c76e-0f91-11e3-8d8f-0019bb30f31a.html • http://www.everythinglubbock.com/story/humane-society-opposes-texas-tech-removing-feral-cat-population/d/story/0OCaex9xvECS8ENO744TBQ

6. Relocation Programs (National) • Broaden to make a local problem into a national issue. • Local feral cats  national wildlife relocation programs • Or vice versa. Narrow to make a national issue (gun control, etc.) into a local issue. (Good way to increase word count.) • http://audubonportland.org/wcc/urban/relocation • http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/adoption-pet-care/issues-information/wildlife.html • http://www.michiganhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=wildlifeHarmony

7. Wildlife Relocation: Journal Articles • Researchers aren’t necessarily studying Tech’s feral cat problems, but they are studying wildlife relocation programs in general. • Should Tech follow the lead of another program? • Are those programs working? At what risks to wildlife? • What are the long-term effects on wildlife? • What is the opinion of the programs in those areas? • http://www.jstor.org.lib-e2.lib.ttu.edu/betasearch?Query=relocation+wildlife+populations&ac=0&si=0&fc=off&fq=%2Bty%3Aart&wc=on

8. Topic Sentences & Paragraphs: Page 625 in your textbook Literature Review Argumentative Research Paper • Focus on scholars, relationships, trends in literature, debates, etc. • Emphasis on the literature and not on the TOPIC itself. • This time, focus on the topic. • How does your issue effect those closest to it? • What possible solutions do experts suggest? • What might be done in the future to avoid such problems? • Let the scholars themselves (and relationships between scholars) take a backseat.

9. Counterargument • Not all experts agree that wildlife populations, including feral cats, should be remain in their current habitats. • Some experts doubt the effectiveness of a neuter-and-return policy. • While university officials agree that removal isn’t a perfect solution, they assert that the alternative—students becoming ill—justifies the removal of these animals to a shelter.

10. Counterarguments, Cont. • You must support your counterargument with evidence! (sources, quotes, citations) • Remember to include a follow-up paragraph in which you support (again) your original argument with new information, especially if your counterargument is a strong one! • Remember, you don’t want your counterargument to be MORE convincing than your original position!