Fish Farming

When we think of the act of advocating and when we imagine a person or an organization who is an advocate for a cause, we think of strongly held opinions delivered with intensity from a rhetorical position that appears unshakable, deeply confident in the ethical rightness of its arguments and the accuracy of its knowledge. If we look at advocacy in such ways, we can understand why it takes time to become a convincing advocate, and that advocacy, even when it is delivered in the form of a thesis-driven composition is a form of argumentation that can be quite different from the balanced arguments we often think of as academic writing even if it is as rigorous in its presentation of evidence. Your final essay is what we have been working toward all semester. In the final essay you will combine all the different aspects of your research and work to present a strong advocacy argument where you stake out a position and argue in favor of a solution or perspective related to your topic. You will also use your research to explain the current perspectives, ideas, and arguments that people consider when they think about the topic today Just to review … your first paper proposed a topic and examined the research-based foundation that you were going to use. Your second paper examined the historical context of the topic (how we got to where we are today). In the second essay, you used your research to explain the background to your topic. When you make your argument you can think about the 5 stages of classical argument that we discussed in class. 1.Introduction 2.Statement of facts 3.Statement of argument 4.Counter-argument 5.Conclusion You can use that format to develop your final essay, but remember that you can easily adapt or change the structure to best suit the argument you’re making. You should also focus on using your research and sources to illustrate the following objectives for your argument: 1. Why is the debate about the topic relevant? 2. Who are the stakeholders are impacted? Why? 3. What are the main arguments and ideas about your topic? Who supports the arguments? Who opposes them? (hint: think about disciplinary context here. You might be able to consider divisions in the arguments based on approaches … for instance, do businesses have arguments that differ from activists, or researchers?) Be sure that your argument incorporates answers to those questions. Also, be sure to develop an argument that addresses costs and benefits, practicality of solution, and how the solution would be implemented. Sometimes students feel overwhelmed by the process of coming up with a solution to the problem. Remember that you don’t have to invent a solution. These are not easy problems to solve. If there were an easy solution we would have already solved them. Often it is better to pick a solution or a position that already exists and argue for that in your essay. The final draft should be 3500-4000 words and should conform to proper MLA format. It should include a minimum of 12-15 sources (with a minimum of 6 academic sources) with a properly formatted list of works cited.