Paper #2

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This writing assignment is to write an argumentative paper as outlined and illustrated in the "Writing Papers" section. Use the part of Chapter Seven of Ehrlich, "Oil, Coal, and Gas Have Abiogenic Origins," concerning natural gas and petroleum as the basis for the paper. Your goal is to determine the best theory to explain the existence of gas and petroleum on the earth. Use your research and feedback from Homework #10 and #11, which together constitute an abduction outline, and then expand that into the paper. Model your papers after the examples given on our web pages. See Homework #5 and Paper #1 to review our format for writing papers.

Remember that there are two formats to keep track of:

One is the format of the main argument. The main argument should be a conditional argument of the "If A, then B. Affirm A. Conclude B." variety. The first paragraph should have an argument in that format included in it.

The second format is the format of the whole paper. That consists of a simple conditional argument in the first paragraph. Support for the first (conditional) premise in the second paragraph, support for the second premise in the next paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph that restates the original simple conditional argument that is in the first paragraph. Also, keep in mind that the support for the first premise is to establish connections between observations and theories while the support for the second premise generally is concerned with providing data or establishing scientific principles.

Here are the Specific Guidelines in More Detail:

1. Required Argument Format

• The main argument of the paper is to be a conditional argument in the general form:
  
  P1   If A, then B.
  P2   Affirm A.
  C    Conclude B.

  The premises (P1 and P2) in an argument of this form will always lead to the conclusion (C). This will be the case even when the premises are not true. This results in a valid or deductive argument. Since the first premise is conditional, this kind of argument is called a conditional argument. More information.

• This required argument is part of the first paragraph.

• The conclusion of this argument is the thesis of the paper.

• The conclusion of this argument is also the title of the paper.

2. Required Paper Format

• The first paragraph contains the main argument. The conclusion of this argument is the thesis of the paper. The conclusion of this argument is also the title of the paper.

• The second paragraph supports the first premise. This will connect the "A" to the "B" and provide evidence that the "then" part of the conditional premise is really connected to the "If" part of the conditional premise.

• The third set of paragraphs support the second premise. This will give evidence that the "If" part of the conditional premise is really true.

• The last paragraph summarizes what has been done and restates the main argument.

  I once again remind you that there are two formats to keep track of.

  One is the format of the main argument. The main argument should be a conditional argument of the "If A, then B. Affirm A. Conclude B." variety. The first paragraph should have an argument in that format included in it.

  The second format is the format of the whole paper. That consists of a simple conditional argument in the first paragraph. Support for the first (conditional) premise in the second paragraph, support for the second premise in the next paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph that restates the original simple conditional argument that is in the first paragraph. Also, keep in mind that the support for the first premise is to establish connections between the parts of the conditional argument, while the support for the second premise generally is concerned with providing data or establishing that something is really true.

  Here are two bare-bones examples of how to do the format: first example, second example. Note that this paper will require incorporating the whole abduction outline into the paper and will, as a result, be longer than these bare-bones examples.

3. There is no length requirement. Keep it simple and to the point, but be sure to include all of the points from the abduction outline. Follow the examples on our web pages.

General Guidelines:

1. This is an argumentative paper and the structure of the argument should be obvious. I do, however, expect the paper to be in normal sentence and paragraph form. Don't use outlines or write P1, P2, etc. in an attempt to make the argument more explicit.

2. This is not a persuasive paper. Opinions and emotional pleas should not appear in this paper.

3. Make sure all premises for the main argument and the conclusion are in the first paragraph. Don't introduce new premises that directly bear on the conclusion after the first paragraph.

4. All the premises of the main argument must be explicitly stated in the first paragraph. That is, there will be no implicit premises in the main argument.