PART 1: CUBING
Cubing requires you to think about your topic from six different perspectives. After you’ve chosen a topic for the course research paper, you’ll give yourself a set amount of time (four to five minutes, for instance) to respond to each of the six prompts listed below:
- Describing: Describe any physical characteristics related to your topic. What does it look like? What color, shape, texture, or size is it? Identify its parts.
- Comparing: How is your topic similar to other topics/things? How is it different?
- Associating: What other topic/thing does your topic make you think of? Can you compare it to anything else in your experience? Don’t be afraid to be creative hereinclude everything that comes to mind.
- Analyzing: Look at your topic’s components. How are these parts related? How is it put together? Where did it come from? Where is it going?
- Applying: What can you do with your topic? What uses does it have?
- Arguing: What arguments can you make for or against your topic?
Using the provided worksheet, write and respond to a topic based on what you already know, but don’t let limitations in prior knowledge stop you. Instead, use this as a chance to identify areas related to your topic that you need to know more about and, perhaps, make notes regarding where you can look to find the information you need.
PART 2: INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH AND THESIS STATEMENT
After completing your cubing activity, complete the following tasks:
- Create an introductory paragraph (three to five sentences) on the topic you have chosen for your potentially publishable, persuasion-based research paper. Be sure to include a strong thesis statement (see Step 2). An introductory paragraph should begin with a hook (a question, famous quote, definition, statistic, etc.) in the first sentence, and it should lead naturally to your thesis statement. A well-constructed introductory paragraph should be at least seven to ten sentences long.
- Create a thesis statement/main point for the topic you have chosen to work with for your potentially publishable, persuasion-based research paper. Recall that a thesis statement should typically be one to two sentences in length and should state the main point/argument for your paper. The thesis statement is usually the last sentence of the introductory paragraph.
- As the final task for this assignment, write a separate paragraph in which you discuss the rhetorical strategy (persuasive technique) you’ve decided to use in your potentially publishable, persuasion-based research paper and why you’ve decided to use it.