Concept Paper A few ideas from your text

Choosing a Topic Advice from the text: – Modify and classify your term – Identify a term that people must define in order to present arguments, make decisions or solve problems – Examples: the kind of democracy that works in a country with a history of despotism, the kind of love that a parent might have for an adult child, the best television set to buy for your living room, a good tree to plant in a small yard

Choosing a Topic -- Redux Look for concepts that have broad implications in people’s lives, concepts that are central to how people see themselves and their future. Examples: creative expression, enlightened free choice, authentic person, critical thinker, socially responsible, fulfillment, achieving potential....

More on Generating Topics Sometimes you want to write about something less serious, so you might think about things you do that are central to your life, but that are more lighthearted. For example, television comedies, parties, thriller movies, sports you like to watch or play. Or, what is a satisfying relationship? What does it mean to be a good athlete? A good student?

Maps for building an essay 1. Look at the essay on religion, paragraph #9. Design your essay around the difference between the descriptive and evaluative definitions of your term. Think of terms like poverty, love, democracy, globalization. 2. Follow this outline: a. Identify necessary properties b. Classify by describing what category your concept belongs to c. Develop a couple of examples d. Differentiate it from other similar terms

More possibilities for organizing Check out the guidelines on p. 290 of your text. Make sure you address each of these guidelines in your essay. Organize by comparing two very similar terms: affection and love, depression and despair, dating and being in a relationship Organize by telling a story like Norman, Erdrich, Cohen, Kincaid and Travis do. Organize by setting up an older definition or classification against a newer one: 1950’s teen vs teen, racism in the 60’s vs. racism in 2000, baseball in the 1920’s vs. baseball today.

For now: 1. Make a list of two or three concepts you might be interested in writing about. 2. Write about why each of these terms needs to be defined or redefined. What makes your task significant? 3. Make a concept map: Properties, Sign, Referents. 4. Free write for at least 5 minutes about why the concept is important in your life, why it needs to be defined, and what information needs to be in your definition.