Four Habits of Argumentative Writing

The short guide to the four habits of argumentative writing I mentioned in class last time is available here. This is a document I use in writing classes and so I refer in it to writing "papers," and this should not distress you. Remember, in the exam you are just answering a question you find compelling from the prompts I've provided for you. Your answer is a strong claim you substantiate with the actual text at hand, addressing conspicuous objections of which you've been made aware in lecture or in discussion, but that's it. These questions are far more direct argumentative exercises than a paper would be...

In a longer argumentative paper based on close reading (in one of my classes) you would be producing an engaged critique of some work, locating yourself among its complexities, illuminating some aspect that shows or produces some of the meaning available in the text. In an argumentative exam responding to a given prompt, you are answering a question by making a claim and a case for it, providing textual support for it.

You have plenty of opinions about these works -- quickly figure out what they are, and then choose the ones that actually interest you most as the ones you want to argue for in your final. It's as simple as that.