ENG 104 Different Viewpoints on the Vietnam War Your final paper will be an analysis of THREE DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS. American soldier’s take: if you can’t

ENG 104 Different Viewpoints on the Vietnam War Your final paper will be an analysis of THREE DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS.

American soldier’s take: if you can’t find a Vietnam Vet in person, use google or youtube to look up a personal account of the Vietnam war. There are plenty of first person stories – find one.
Vietnamese take: you must research an interview or personal experience of a Vietnamese person who was in Vietnam or America during the war.
Hippie Take: someone on campus (a teacher) or a research article on someone who was involved in anti-war protests.

The paper will be set up as follows:

Introduction (half page): Introduce the three “subjects” from above with a thesis based on one of these three or your own:

All three surprised you in some ways.
All three had vastly different memories
All three have different opinions and attitudes on what happened.

Body One: First person ( two pages)

Body Two: second person (two pages)

Body Three; third person (two pages)

Conclusion (half page)

What you learned from all three and anything else in the class.

Questions to ask or find answers to all:

Where were you when John F. Kennedy was shot?

Do you believe it was Oswald?

How old were you during the battles of the Vietnam War (1965-75)?

Where did you live?

What was the attitude of your community around you?

What were your views at the time?

What are you views today?

What is your most vivid memory or image form the war?

How is the world different today than during this time?

Was the war justified or not? Why?

The three main means of persuasion are:

Reason – appealing to your audience’s rationality and logic. Giving your point of view in an informed and fair manner.
Emotion – creating feelings in your audience that lead them to your point of view.
Beliefs – using the values and beliefs of your audience to build your argument.

You can use all of these for persuasive writing.

Of course, just because a tool is available to you doesn’t mean you should use it. Different persuasive approaches will be more successful depending on the situation.

Want to show your point of view is the correct one? Use reason. Want to motivate your audience to take action? Use emotion. Trying to get your audience to care? Use beliefs and values.

Paragraph formation:

PEEL: Point, Evidence, Evaluation, Link

You can apply the PEEL technique – originally designed to make academic writing more compelling persuasive, and easy to read – to your blog writing, journalistic writing and nonfiction books.
This technique makes your argument easy to follow and helps the reader see you are giving a fair and balanced point of view.

In the opening sentence, make your point. This is also known as the topic sentence, as it introduces the topic you’re about to discuss.

Evidence

Evidence can include statistics, research findings, and quoting an authority or a primary text, such as the Bible or classic literature. Depending on the type of writing and the audience you’re writing for, you can also use anecdotes and stories from history and your own experience.

Evaluation

This shows you’re willing to engage with other points of view, and rather than undermining your argument, it serves to strengthen it.

Your evaluation can include research findings that contradict the evidence you provided, quoting authorities who disagree with you. Again, it can include anecdotes and stories.

Link

Finally, link your point to the point you’ll make in the next paragraph.

As well as giving a good flow to your writing, this helps you create a good overall structure as paragraphs on similar themes naturally end up together.