Materials for this week (2010-10-19,20) First Writing Assignment (Yay! Hooray!)

This week in class, you will need to :

1.       Bring your textbooks (we will be going over Writing Folder number 1)

2.       Download and print the following two links.

Outline for letter to the editor

Original article

The full text of the Outline and another link to the original article is below the cut (click where it says 'czytaj więcej')

Another link to the original article.

The outline:

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1 LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Choose an article on a social or political issue from a print or on-line source. The article you are responding to may be in any language (but you should include an English or Polish translation if it's in a language the instructor cannot read). Often it is easier to respond to a single point or single paragraph of the article.

example: from Gazeta Wyborcza, 16.X.07 online edition:

http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80273,8519874,Episkopat__Wykluczyc_in_vitro.html

Write an outline based on the following model:

Introductory paragraph (nb for this format alone, can be very short and use first person)

topic: this issue                                                                      pov: worth discussing

supporting details:

I've read the article

I want to comment on it

Topic paragraph

introduction: to many unknowns and/or points of disagreement for sweeping laws to be effective

topic: in vitro fertilization                                                  pov: should be question of individual conscience

supporting details:

better kept in public than underground

only general laws appropriate at present (not prohibition, maybe limits on disposal of embryos)

supporting paragraph I :

topic: legal restrictions                                                       pov: won't work

supporting details:

banning something is an admission of failure

can be a way of feeling good for 'doing something' but has no real effect

banning something that people want just drives it underground

underground in vitro practices will be far worse than current legal ones

supporting paragraph II :

topic: church officials                                                          pov: should keep opinions inside the church

supporting details:

has every right to try to convince believers (and non-believers) not to use it

has every right to excommunicate believers for supporting or pursuing in vitro fertilization

has no business meddling in questions of Polish civic law

supporting paragraph III :

topic: costs                                                                              pov: should be borne by users alone

supporting details:

becoming a parent is a 'negative right' (no one can stop you if you can do so on your own)

prospective parents have no right to coerce others in supporting or paying for their desires

those tax payers who are against in vitro should not have to pay for it

conclusion

topic: Polish politicians                                                       pov: should stop this kind of diversion

supporting details:

too many examples in Polish politics of issues of private conscious being treated publicly

there are plenty of more pressing issues concerning healthcare