At this point in the class, you may be wondering why we spend a whole quarter just on argumentative writing. Well, it's because we are presented with persuasive and argumentative writing all of the time. You've already seen how advertisements use it. Through the rest of the quarter, we will really dive into argument and persuasion within aspects of social change.

So, what is social change?

Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as "changes in cultural symbols, rules of behavior, social organizations, or value systems." Essentially, social change is a change in the things that influence our way of life.

Your final research topic will also deal with social change. Over the next couple weeks, we will be starting this final piece of writing and then the last week and a half of school I will give you to fully type up your paper and revise it.

As we examine aspects of social change, and start to work on our research topics, we will be practicing everything we have learned so far: style, tone, word choice, appeals, and using evidence to support your argument.

To get us started on social change, I would like each of us to browse through some current social changes that people are engaged in. To do this, you will pick a TED Talk to watch. TED Talks are talks given by a range of people on various subjects. I would like you to pick one of their top 11 talks to watch and then complete the assignment to follow. As you watch, try to examine how persuasive the person is and what social change they are talking about. How is thier word choice, style, and tone? What appeals are they using? Do they incorporate evidence to support what they are saying? What is the social change they have engaged in and would like you to consider?

Click the following link and pick a video to watch:

Top 11 TED Talks

The talks range from about 5 and half minutes to about 24 minutes.

Image Courtesy:

www.dhsbpsychology.co.uk

Sources:

Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/550924/social-change. 28 Jan 2014.