Directions:   Identify A Social Problem, Local Or Global, That You Feel Passionate About.  Off

Directions:   Identify a social problem, local or global, that you feel passionate about
  Off Topics List:  The topics of abortion, gun control, capital punishment or lowering the drinking age Each student must write a policy proposition for his/her Argumentative Speech
 The following guidelines will assist you in that endeavor
1
First select a topic area and then do some general reading on the topic
 You need to know enough about the topic area so that you can write a good proposition
2
You must advocate a change in your speech, therefore you must determine the nature of the status quo
 What is our existing policy on this topic? 3
Every proposition has an agent of action
 This is the body that will enact the change
  You must determinewho you want to act
 For example, you could have the state of California initiate the policy change, or the federal government
 You could even have this very campus be the agent of action
 Since you will need to thoroughly research this topic the preferred agent is the United States federal government
4
Since you cannot magically make the change you are advocating occur, you must use the wordshould in your proposition
 This is an acknowledgement that the agent of action ought to change because of the arguments you present, not that it really will
  Sayingshould also eliminates the necessity of proving that the proposal is constitutional, or that Senator X would actually vote for it
 We are not really concerned whether the policy would be adopted, only that your arguments convince us that it ought to be
5
Now you must identify what you want the agent to do
 The action you propose must indicate both the nature and direction of the change
A
Nature: What is it that needs to be addressed?  What is your topic area? B
Direction:  Do we need more or less of whatever it is that you wish to address?  Does something need to be banned? Or adopted? Or strengthened?  Or reduced? 6
The words you use should be neutral
 Remember the purpose of a proposition is to divide the grounds of the debate evenly
 If you loaded words like wasteful or unnecessary you tilt the debate from the very beginning
7
Most importantly, you must select a topic and word it is such a way as to make it a true controversy
 Remember, you will be writing a paper defending the other side of the controversy
 If it is not truly a controversy, that will be very difficult
  8
Your proposition must also be researchable
 Compelling argument requires quotations, statistics, examples, etc
 These are best provided in the literature published on this topic
 A significant portion of your grade will be based on your use of such evidence
 Selecting a topic where there is ample available evidence will ease the challenge