Stand-Alone Instructional Resource
Project Title: Argumentative Writing
Developer: Lisa Mulka
This project in a sentence…
This project is a stand-alone instructional resource to guide Composition II college
students through the process of creating effective arguments in their writing by
examining different argumentative components, examples and effective techniques in
addition to mastering MLA documentation.
Audience
The intended learners of this STAIR are Composition II students at Lansing Community
College enrolled in WRIT 122.
Instructional Objectives
The learner will learn specific argumentative writing tools, recognize positive and
negative examples of argumentative writing, be able to determine what an appropriate
argumentative topic is, properly cite sources in MLA documentation and develop an
understanding of different argumentative elements.
More specifically, this STAIR meets the following standards for WRIT 122 outlined in
the course description:
“Builds upon the writing skills developed in WRIT 121 to help students write
argumentative essays which use logical support and appropriate documentation.
Emphasizes research techniques and use of sources, and the development, structure, and
style of the research paper”
Pedagogy
There are three primary instructional strategies that will be utilized in this project:
1. Inductive: Examples of effective arguments will be provided followed by the strategy
or rule that helped create its success.
2. Deductive: Argumentative elements (claim, opposition, evidence, etc.) will be
presented followed by examples that illustrate the different elements.
3. Simulation and Problem Solving: Learners will interact with the content they are to
learn by using the World Wide Web to locate effective arguments and explain their
relevancy. Learners will also be given a “poor” argument and challenged to turn it into an
effective argument.

The STAIR will be divided into the following three sections:
Types of Elements of Fallacies
Arguments Arguments
Active Response
The learner will demonstrate understanding through two methods. First, there will be
prompting questions and small quizzes within the STAIR that will ask the learner to
identify important argumentative elements. Secondly, there will be several writing
activities that correspond with the instructional strategies that will ask learners to submit
their work to the instructor at the completion of the STAIR.
Feedback
In correspondence to the active responses from learners listed above, feedback will also
be delivered in two different methods. Built within the STAIR will be questions and
quizzes for the learner to complete immediately following the presentation of
information. Feedback will be given immediately explaining the correct or incorrect
choice depending upon the answer the learner selects. In addition to the immediate
feedback, learners will be asked to complete several writing assignments which will be
submitted to the instructor. The instructor will provide feedback on the writing
assignments built within the STAIR and return to learner at later point in date.