ENGL-145 -01 Reasoning, Argumentation and Writing

Paper #3

The Monsanto Controversy

Due 6:00 AM, Monday April 27 by email to smarx@calpoly.edu as a MS Word attachment.
The subject line of the email must have this format: yourlastname, yourfirstname 145paper3
Length: roughly 1000 words.

Monsanto Corporation is at the center of several issues related to the food system. They developed the hormone rBst which stimulates milk production in cows. They manufacture the widely-used herbicide, Roundup. They are the the world's largest developers and sellers of genetically modified seeds.

This assignment asks you to evaluate some of the accusations levelled against Monsanto in the film, The World According to Monsanto and some of the Corporation's rebuttals on its website. In order to do that you'll need to get familiar with contentious, consequential and timely issues. Each side in this controversy disputes the evidence and logic as well as the ethical stance and credibility of its opponents. Each uses a wide range of emotional appeals to its audience.

Your task is to write a paper about the Monsanto controversy, including:

• an introduction of the general reader to the overall topic
• an explanation of both sides of one aspect of it--e.g. the safety of Roundup, transgenic contamination, health risks of rBst, food safety, biodiversity
• your judgement of strengths and weaknesses of each side's logical, emotional and ethical appeals
• a statement of your own position, which may or may not involve an effort to persuade the reader to agree and be moved toward action

To broaden your understanding and establish your authority, consult several additional sources of information on your topic, and cite at least four. All of them can be web-based, but try to convince your reader of their reliability.

Use this guide to format your citations in your list of Works Cited at the end of the paper. Immediately after the citation in your text, in parentheses indicate last name of the author, or if not available, a short version of the title.

A Page on a Web Site

For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information covered above for entire Web sites. Make sure the URL points to the exact page you are referring to, or the entry or home page for a collection of pages you're referring to:

"Caret." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 28 April 2006. 10 May 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret>.

"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com. 10 May 2006 <http://www.ehow.com/
how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html>.

Stolley, Karl. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The OWL at Purdue. 10 May 2006. Purdue University Writing Lab. 12 May 2006 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/>.

For more information on formatting citations and references, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/. For fuller information on formatting citations of Web sources, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/09/

Establish your credibility by demonstrating

• thorough knowledge of the issues
• adequate quantity and quality of evidence
• clarity and correctness of writing style
• fairly considering opposing viewpoints
• qualifying your claims
• avoiding fallacies

Sway your reader's emotions with appeals to

• humor
• fear
• morality
• religious beliefs
• self-interest
• fashion