Is Extreme Parenting Effective?

Is Extreme Parenting Effective? Possibilities: yes or no. Your answer and reasons become your thesis and main points.

We begin with the primary source Amy Chua who talks about driving her two girls to excellence. The secondary sources are all the articles written in response to Chua, some for, most against.

Sources

You will use a minimum of three articles in this paper. One has to be Chua’s article, and the other two articles will come from the secondary sources in your Reading Assignments: Carey, Brooks, Kolbert, and Cha. The source may not speak specifically on your main point, but you may find valuable information, examples, or statistics.

Length

Minimum of 650 words. Try not to go more than 100-200 words over the minimum.

Process

Generate ideas.

Organize ideas that you generated on Pro-Con Sheet. Submit to Dropbox

Outline ideas. Submit to Dropbox.

Write rough draft.

Read articles and highlight/note points, examples, and statistics that are relevant to your essay.

Use mixture of summary, paraphrase, and quotation to integrate your sources.

Submit Body I to Dropbox.

Format your Works Cited page using MLA.

Revise and edit your rough draft.

Submit essay to Dropbox. Get your Pro-Con Sheet (a blank one from the Dropbox) and fill it out as you are reading these instructions. You will also need your ideas that you generated in the Discussion Topic because your views will be either the effective or not effective and the opposing view will be the opposite of either effective or not effective.

A good argumentative essay presents logical reasoning and solid evidence that will persuade readers to accept your point of view.

I. Development

A. Know why your hold your views

1. Make a Pro-Con Sheet.

2. Write a list of the reasons or points (3 or 4) that support your opinion on the topic.

B. Anticipate opposing views.

1. Write down two or three of the strongest opposing views.

2. Write an answer to each opposing view.

C. Decide which points of argument to include.

1. Look over your list and pick two of your strongest points to argue.

2. Pick one of your opposition’s points to refute, usually the strongest.

3. Make sure that the points do not overlap.

D. Formulate a working thesis statement in an although-because format:

Although some say that children will achieve academically, extreme parenting is not effective because of work-life balance and psychological damage.

E. Organize your essay clearly. The following is based upon the sample thesis above:

Introduction—

Introduce controversy.

State thesis: see D above

Body I—Present opposition’s strongest point: achieve academically.

Explain point.

Refute point: can achieve academically without being number one in everything.

Body II—Present your first main point: no work-life balance.

Present your sub-point.

Give your supporting details/examples.

Present your sub-point.

Give your supporting details/examples.

Body III—Present your second main point: psychological damage.

Present your sub-point.

Give your supporting details/examples.

Present your sub-point.

Give your supporting details/examples.

Conclusion—summarize, OR point to future, OR tell significance of your views.

F. Argue your ideas logically: you must provide sufficient reasons for your position: you must give more than mere opinion (thesis). You must offer logical arguments to back up your opinion.

1. Give examples (real or hypothetical).

2. Present a comparison or contrast.

3. Show a cause-effect relationship.

4. Define.

G. Offer evidence that effectively supports your opinion.

1. Personal experience (what you have witnessed, but no I or you in paper)

2. The experiences or testimony of others whose opinions are relevant to the

topic

3. Factual information that you have gathered from sources

4. Statistics from current, reliable sources

5. Testimony from authorities and experts

H. Find the appropriate tone.

1. A condescending or insulting tone will alienate readers.

2. Instead of laying on the insults or sarcasm, present your ideas in a

moderate, reasonable spirit.

II. Problems to avoid

A. Logical fallacies: errors in reasoning.

B. Some common logical fallacies:

1. hasty generalization: not enough evidence for this conclusion.

2. red herring: arguing a different point from the one in discussion.