A Collaborative Activity:

1. A Collaborative Activity: Practice Proposing a Solution

2. A Collaborative Activity:Practice Proposing a Solution Part One • With two or three other students, select a problem in your college community that you know something about. • Discuss possible solutions and identify one that seems feasible. • Determine who can act on your proposed solution and how to convince them that it could be implemented, and would help solve the problem.

3. A Collaborative Activity:Practice Proposing a Solution Part Two Discuss your efforts. • How did you think of possible solutions—borrowing solutions from comparable problems, eliminating the cause of the problem, or other strategies? • What seemed most challenging about constructing an argument to convince people to accept your proposed solution—showing how your solution could work, proving it would help solve the problem, or something else?

4. Basic Features of an Essay Proposing a Solution

5. Basic Features: Proposing a Solution A Well-Defined Problem • A proposal essay defines a problem in a way that establishes the need for a solution. The essay may include: • Examples to make the problem specific • Scenarios or anecdotes which dramatize the problem • Quoted testimony from those affected by the problem • Statistics to show the severity of the problem • Vivid descriptions of the problem’s negative consequences

6. Basic Features: Proposing a Solution A Well-Argued Solution • The essay’s thesis statement should make clear what is being proposed, and may forecast the reasons which will support the proposal. • The argument for the proposed solution should show that the solution is feasible, meaning that: • It will help solve the problem • It can be implemented • It is worth the expense, time, and effort

7. Basic Features: Proposing a Solution An Effective Counterargument • Proposal essays must respond to possible objections and alternative solutions. Counterargument strategies include: • Acknowledging an objection • Conceding the point and modifying the proposal to accommodate it • Refuting criticism—for example, by showing why an alternative solution would not work as well as the proposed solution.

8. Basic Features: Proposing a Solution A Readable Plan • The essay must make the proposal easy to understand, usually by including elements such as: • A forecast of the argument • Key words introduced in the thesis and forecast • Topic sentences introducing paragraphs or paragraph groups • Repeated use of key words and synonyms • Clear transitional words and phrases • Headings that identify different sections of the essay • Visuals that present information in an easy to read format

9. A Collaborative Activity: Testing Your Choice

10. A Collaborative Activity:Testing Your Choice Get together with two or three other students, and present your proposal to one another. Presenters: Take turns briefly defining the problem you hope to solve, identifying your intended readers, and describing your proposed solution. Listeners: Tell the presenter whether the proposed solution seems feasible for the situation and intended readers. Suggest objections you have or the intended readers are likely to have. Tell the writer if you know of any alternative solutions to the problem.

11. Critical Reading Guide Proposing a Solution

12. Critical Reading GuideProposing a Solution After you read your classmate’s essay, cite specific examples from the essay to assess: • How well the problem is defined • How well the solution is argued • How effectively counterarguments are addressed and alternative solutions are offered • How readable the proposal Is If at the end of your conference the writer has expressed concern about anything in the draft that you have not discussed, respond to that concern.