“Looking for Trouble: Finding Your Way into a Writing Assignment”

Be sure to read the required reading for this week as it will help guide you through the process of analyzing a problem.  It is by Catherine Savini and is linked here as well as in the lesson’s Reading and Resources section.  “Looking for Trouble: Finding Your Way into a Writing Assignment”

“Problems are an expected part of life, and our ability to deal with them can help determine our personal and professional success,” according to Catherine Savini.  As you read her work, you see that problems are also good for writing students, as they can “motivate” good papers and help students formulate a strong thesis statement or argument.  Savini also notes that “Theses do not fall from the sky. Finding a rich problem can be a big step in the direction of developing a compelling thesis.” (56).

Looking at problems, then, is what you will do in this assignment. This analysis project requires you to tackle a problem within your field of study by first exploring and then recommending practical solutions to solve the problem.  Savini provides some great steps to take in working with problems:

1. Noticing;

2. Articulating a problem and its details;

3. Posing fruitful questions;

4. Identifying what is at stake.

Review the piece to see how these steps can help you with your problem analysis paper.

Example:

Noticing: A company faces a growing number of insurance claims from employees complaining of eye strain.

Articulating a problem and its details: The company recognizes the potential impacts from not acting, including the workers’ compensation claims, lowered productivity, and impacts on employee morale.

Posing fruitful questions:

• To what degree is the lighting affecting employees?
• Is the lighting the problem, or is the eye strain restricted to workers on a certain floor or area of the office building?
• Could there be external factors affecting eye strain such as late nights at the office working on their projects?

Identifying what is at stake: The company recognizes that insurance claims can result in increased premiums; that lowered productivity can impact profits; and that lowered employee morale can impact productivity, quality, and retention.

After deciding on the problem you wish to tackle, begin building questions about it. You will find three attachments here to provide additional help in building your questions. Your goal for the analysis is to answer the questions through your sources. Finding multiple angles and perspectives is ideal so that you explore those possibilities in the final paper before settling on your recommendation.  Be sure to identify what is at stake here.

Part of the recommendation should include the counterargument and rebuttal to demonstrate you’ve considered the limitations and concerns of your solution and can still defend the recommendation regardless of potential weaknesses. Help the doubters understand that this really is the most feasible, objective, and sustainable solution.

• PURPOSE:   To analyze a problem
• AUDIENCE:   Classmates, others interested in the field
• LENGTH:   1,000 words (Times New Roman font). Exceeding the word count is not a good thing.
• SOURCES:   5 (five) sources total, with at least 1 (one) from a professional journal in the APUS Library (peer-reviewed)
• FORMAT:   The citation style that is appropriate for your discipline
• DUE:   SUNDAY 11:55 pm EST of Week 7
• SUBMIT:   In ASSIGNMENTS submit your essay by uploading your Word file

Use only third person (he/she/they) for a more professional tone. Avoid first person (I, my, us, we) and second person (you and your) in your essay.