Introduction to Chapter 10
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Instructor's Notes
To download handouts of the Learning by Doing activities and checklists that appear in this unit, and to access lecture slides, teaching tips, and Instructor’s Manual materials, go to the “Instructor Resources” folder at the end of this unit.
10
Proposing a Solution
Responding to an Image
This advertisement from a public service campaign of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) proposes a solution to a problem that affects hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. What is the problem that the image identifies? Why is the problem presented as it is? How might the presentation help viewers understand the problem? What solution does the advertisement suggest? For more of FEMA’s proposed solutions, visit fema.gov.
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Sometimes when you learn of a problem such as the destruction caused by a natural disaster, homelessness, or famine, you say to yourself, “Something should be done about that.” You can do something constructive yourself—through powerful and persuasive writing.
Your purpose in such writing, as political leaders and advertisers well know, is to rouse your audience to action. At college, you might write a letter to your college newspaper or to someone in authority and try to stir your readers to do something. Does some college policy irk you? Would you urge students to attend a rally for a cause or a charity?
The uses of such writing go far beyond these immediate applications. In Chapter 9, you took a stand and backed it up with evidence. Now go a step further, writing a proposal—a recommendation for taking action. If, for instance, you have made the claim “Our national parks are in sorry condition,” you might urge readers to act—to write to their representatives in Congress or to visit a national park and pick up trash. This paper would be a call to immediate action on the part of your readers. On the other hand, you might suggest that the Department of the Interior be given a budget increase to hire more park rangers, purchase additional park land to accommodate more visitors, and buy more cleanup equipment. This second paper would attempt to forge a consensus about what needs to be done.
Why Proposing a Solution Matters
In a College Course
You identify a problem and propose a solution, tackling issues such as sealed adoption records, rising costs of prescriptions, violence in prisons, and hungry children whose families cannot afford both food and housing.
You propose a field research study, explaining and justifying your purposes and methods, in order to gain faculty and institutional approval for your capstone project.
In the Workplace
You propose developing services for a new market to increase your company’s profits.
In Your Community
You propose starting a tutoring program at the library for the many adults in your region with limited literacy skills.
What solutions have you proposed? What others might you propose? What situations have encouraged you to write proposals?