Technology& Media& Rhetoric

Evaluation argument
The Basics
In this final assignment, you'll be writing one last argument. What will you be arguing? How a future student can succeed
in this course.

Purpose: Your purpose here is simple: to show your audience how to succeed in English 1900 (and thus persuade me,
your secret not-so-secret reader, that you have succeeded). By what criteria will you do this? The Council of Writing
Program Administrator Outcomes (CDA, pp. 10-13). These outcomes describe what a student ought to be able to do at
the end of a first-year writing course. They are divided up into five groups: 1) rhetorical knowledge; 2) critical thinking,
reading, and writing; 3) knowledge of conventions; 4) processes; 5) composing in electronic environments. I also expect
language from Visualizing Information for Advocacy to find its way into your letter. Your job in this final “paper,” which is
worth 10% of the grade, is to argue that you have done these things successfully.

Audience: The audience is a future English 1900 student, particularly one taking the course with me, Dr. Rivers.

Context: The context is English 1900.

Other Specifics: The genre of this piece is a formal business letter, addressed to “Dear Future Student.” The letter should
look as professional as possible. It should have a date, a return address, a mailing address (you can use my office address
in Adorjan Hall, 3800 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63108). Develop your own professional letter head for this project.

The Process
The letter should be no more than 2 single-spaced pages. If it’s more than two pages, I won’t read it. It does not need to
include a works cited page.

Now, you may be asking, “What will this piece actually look like? Do I need to include every single outcome? As I look at
the list in CDA, there seem to be way too many for a letter of 2 pages.” Let me answer the second question first: no, you
don’t need to address every outcome; however, you should include one outcome from every one of the five groups, and
you should choose the one that you feel most confident about. As to what it should look like, here is an example:

So, future English 1900 student, if you’re lucky enough to have Dr. Rivers as your instructor—and that’s pretty damn
lucky—you’ll be asked to “understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and re-
thinking to revise their work.” If you’re looking for how to do this, you might look at my “Dissoi Logoi” assignment
and then compare it to my final project. Based on the reactions I got from another student and the feedback I got
from Dr. Rivers I decided to rearrange the arguments. Just as the outcome suggests, I did some rethinking in order to
revise my work. I also brought in some new sources I found that I didn't have when I finished the first draft. Once I
had these sources, I had to invent new arguments. For example, I wrote “QUOTE QUOTE QUOTE.” If you make
these kinds of revisions during the process, you’ll succeed in this course.

Notice that there are clear links among a) your claim; b) the WPA outcomes; c) terminology from VIA; d) evidence from
your writing. You should quote yourself often. With paragraphs like these, you will succeed in this assignment.

File name: “lastname_evaluation_argument.”

Nathaniel A. Rivers | English1900 | Technology, Media and Rhetoric | Fall 2017