GCC English 101: Common Final Assignment for Spring, 2007

Topic: Volunteerism

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Practicing thinking and writing

These strategies will help you learn about the topic of volunteerism.  As you talk to people or read articles, pay attention to the different forms that the word volunteer can take.  We volunteer our time as Scout leaders (verb). Volunteers do most of the work in political campaigns (noun).  We have a voluntary military (adjective). Many college students voluntarily donate blood for the American Red Cross (adverb). These activities of the "independent sector" are called volunteerism (noun).  Practice using these forms in your freewriting, discussions, and summaries.

In English 101 this semester, you have probably thought and written about topics in at least four ways.  You have investigated the causes or effects leading to or following from certain actions; you have grouped similar things into classes or categories; you have looked at similarities and differences between two things; and you have developed a thesis and supported it with examples or reasons.  In addition, you may have defined terms, explained a process, described an object or situation, or argued a position.  All of these ways of thinking will help in preparing for this final argumentative essay. For example, you can

  1. analyze the causes or effects of something related to the use of volunteers;
  2. classify something related to volunteer organizations;
  3. compare or contrast aspects of volunteer activities;
  4. develop a thesis about volunteerism and support it with examples or reasons.

While you may have some personal experience with volunteer work, you should broaden your perspective by reading what others think.

Developing an argumentative thesis

An argumentative thesis takes a position with which reasonable people might disagree. Here are some examples:

  1. Volunteerism provides as good work experience as a paid job.
  2. Volunteerism teaches work skills as effectively as work itself.
  3. "Voluntourism” (volunteer work in far-away places) diverts skills and energy from closer-to-home needs.
  4. High schools, colleges, and employers should require their students and employees to participate in volunteer activities in their communities.
  5. Volunteers perform work that would otherwise be done by people in paid jobs.
  6. Volunteers save organizations money by being an unpaid workforce.

Using some of the information you discovered as you became informed about the topic, draft an arguable thesis about volunteerism. An "arguable thesis" states a position that is not obvious, one with which some people might disagree. Note that all the examples above could be revised to present an opposite position that could be argued by reasonable people.

You might find this Thesis Builder and Online Outliner helpful.

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