For this writing project, I'm going to be writing about the importance of manned space flight. This is a timely issue for the whole nation, as Obama just recently unveiled a plan changing NASA's budgetary focus away from manned space flight. In this piece I'll show how the topic is relevant to everyone, including undergraduate students here at UW-Madison.
To get this point across, I'm going to focus on several main aspects of the argument. First, the overarching reason for manned space flight, the one that trumps everything- survival. We've come very close to being wiped out as a race many times in the past, from disease, nuclear war, and the like, not to mention the possibility of everyone's favorite disaster movies coming true and the earth being smacked by a giant meteor. Human spaceflight will eventually lead to human colonies in space, creating redundancy for us as a race- if we have people living elsewhere besides Earth, we no longer have to worry about our whole legacy being wiped out in one untimely accident.
Second, I'll focus on timeliness. Getting a head start as soon as possible is key. Manned spaceflight is really still in its infancy, and the resources and technology required to allow us to start setting up colonies elsewhere simply take a long time to develop. If we wait until it's needed, it will simply be too late. We have to get things moving now, so that when the time comes we aren't saying “You know, I wish we'd gone along with that whole colony on the moon idea” right before all the nukes hit and send us back to the stone ages. It's like a 401k plan; if you don't start investing in it early, by the time you actually need it it's too late.
With those to big ideas out of the way, I'll focus on issues a little closer to home, and show why it matters to UW-Madison students in particular, apart from the whole survival of the human race bit. Specifically, I'll focus on the economic side of things. For one, we're currently in a recession. The US is the biggest world power right now, and the quality of life here shows it. What happens when other nations start to pull ahead of us in the space race? Suddenly someone like China will be seen as the nation at the forefront. Companies will start moving investments there, and we'll lose our spot at the top. Second, madison is a very progressive city, and people are always worrying about “going green” and starving overpopulated masses. What better way is there to save the environment from the strain of overpopulation than to start spreading out and leaving Earth? Yes, it's a long way off, but eventually we'll have habitable colonies on the moon, mars, and who knows where else. Colonies that can help relieve the pressure from all the overpopulated areas.
For sources, I'll probably use mainly news articles about the space program (as well as overpopulation and pollution issues for the last part), with possibly some history books for background on the space program so far.
I think that this piece will help people think about the issue in a different light. I want to point out some benefits of manned spaceflight in areas that most people have never really thought about before.
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Your rhetorical situation is the need for America to fund manned space flight for the healthy and survival of the world. You did a good job bringing up evidence on your side (warfare, disease, pollution, time) but didn't offer even a hint of why to program got cut in the first place. What do the opposing people feel? Where do they want to put the money instead? You have to present both sides (or have two sides) to have an argument. The focus is very manageable, though, especially for a 6-10 page paper. You can explore a few big ideas and specific evidences without going crazy or stretching it too far. I really think you picked a good topic in size. I think you might have trouble tying it back to UW-Mad students, so don't try to push it too specific. Keep it as a general argument for humanity, and for each individual more than a demographic (except in your economic argument).
ReplyDeleteAudience: Like I said, this matters to everyone. But it's also a lot of money (taxpayers, I assume) and should taxpayers or corporations fund these projects? It could be tough to explain how this is important (or more important) than feeding kids in Africa or ending homelessness in Detroit. You have to figure out WHY the money is better spent in space than on real people.
Purpose: This is the part that needs clearing up and expansion, I think. I think the purpose is to ultimately save mankind, but that alone is a pretty big statement. We could also spend money forming peace committees or something, right? so why space. What's so important about space that it's the world's last hope?
Thesis/key claims: The claims you've started making (economics, pollution, etc.) are smart ones. You focus on planning for the future and being prepared as a nation more than the interesting stuff we might find out there. That is a smart perspective to take on with this issue. I think that the claims in your paper are going to be what makes it plausible and applicable to your audience, because those are the things they can relate to.
Use of sources: You definitely need to come up with some real, cite-able sources (but don't we all) and I think it's a good idea to look both a what has happened and what is happening. History and the web--good balance.
Overall, I think this will be a good project. I agree with what you said that it is not exactly in the scope of free speech. But, I think it will be easy to make it work. Just tweak the argument a little to talk about how people are talking about it. Stay focused on the topic of manned space travel, but bring up how people feel about Obama cutting funding. The sources you want to use seem like they will be a great place to start, especially the news articles. Looks to be a good piece.
ReplyDeleteFinding an audience seems to be done in your proposal. You could focus on everyone, but I think that a smaller group would work out better. That way we could relate to it a little easier.
I think the main purpose of this paper is to show that manned space travel is important to everyone and we should not be cutting funding. I think that the paper must have some focus on the other side of space travel, also. By showing the pros and cons of both manned and unmanned space travel, you will be able to really show why your point of view is correct.
The claim that I see is that we need to have better manned space travel, and a fully funded program.
I don't know how far the research has come, but it seems like there will be a lot of information out there that can be focused on.
I am intrigued to see which direction this paper takes. Especially in regards to how it will relate to free speech. Should be fun to see how it goes.