GET ANSWER – Option #2: Building a Working Thesis. In this assignment, you’ll submit your completed handouts Download handouts from Weeks 3 and 4–the one on the ideas of Aristotle’s On Rhetoric and Cicero’s de Officiis.
In option 2 of the assignment, you’ll also advance your working thesis for your final paper and talk about what key points you want to look for as you move to weeks 5 and 6.
*Note: If you submitted a working thesis in week 2’s assignment, share that thesis, then show your revised thesis. If you submitted 2 paragraph plans in week 2’s assignment, you may only have this week’s working thesis. Either way, you may use the thesis submission area to ask questions of the Instructor. For example, you may want to post your thesis, then ask the Instructor, underneath the thesis, a specific question. It is often a good idea to put questions in bold or another color to make it easier for the Instructor to spot. Thank you!
Here’s how that all ties together. Return to your handouts that you completed for each philosopher.
By the time you submit this assignment, you will have gotten Team feedback and discussion, so your main points or key theme will be pretty well vetted.
Now, we’ll gather it all together to advance your ideas for the final paper, due in week 8.
For your assignment submission, you’ll want to offer:
1. the working thesis
2. 2-3 sentences defining the specific passages from Aristotle and Cicero that you are considering using in your final paper. Make sure to include page numbers for your chosen quotes or passages. Note: quotes are preferred here. The more specific the connection to the exact words of the philosopher, the more you can debate your words in the paragraph plan against or for those exact words. For more, see the example below.
3. the 2 completed handouts for Aristotle and Cicero
• IMPORTANT: please submit steps in one Word document. That way, your Instructor can provide feedback in one document.
In this assignment, use the handout Download handout provided to complete the outlined process.
Hint: As you are working on Cicero this week in discussions, be sure to complete the Key Points section first–list your three key points and complete filling out the subpoints, including adding at least one scholarly reference. You may use the References provided in the class, including the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Once you have completed the Key Points section, look at your points and ask: what is my modern-day theme that relates to all of the points I have gathered.
For example, to return to our earlier example from week 2, if you mined a quote like this one from Isocrates:
…”the teachers who do not scruple to vaunt their powers with utter disregard of the truth have created the impression that those who choose a life of careless indolence are better advised than those who devote themselves to serious study.” – Section 6, Against the Sophists