Research Argument


Purpose Statement
Purpose:  I was in my Microbiology lecture class when I first heard about bacteriophages. We learned that they are viruses that breach the membrane of bacteria and infect them. We also learned about bacteriophage therapy, using bacteriophages to get rid of a bacterial infection in people, but it is not tested or used in the United States. Finding out this type of treatment could be available made me wonder about bacteriophage therapy and motivated me to write my research paper on the topic. I think that my audience will be interested and will be surprised of this alternative bacterial treatment. I think they will also feel hopeful that the US will pick up this treatment and use it on some of the bacterial infections that do not respond to antibiotics. I am writing about my topic because I want my audience to be aware of the treatments that could be available for people but the US does not use it. I think the best possible outcome to my research paper would be my audience understanding my topic and feeling motivated to try to promote the treatment’s research. The worst possible outcome would be that my audience would not understand my topic and they would dismiss the chance that bacteriophage therapy is useful to cure infections. To avoid the worst outcome, I will make sure to explain my main points very clear and in normal English so my audience can understand what I am arguing. 
Audience:  My audience will be of age that they can understand concept in science and can act on their thoughts about it. I think my audience should be students who are studying a science major and have a background in biology. My audience needs to understand that there are alternative treatments, which are not fully discovered, and they could be better for treating an illness. When my audience encounters my paper, they should be interested in my topic from the title and intrigued to read the paper after reading my Abstract. They should want to learn more about my topic.
Context:  The time of communication should be around the leisure time of my audience. I want my audience to be relaxed and interested, so I feel reading during free time would do just that. My paper should be like reading a good book to them, informative and entertaining. The place of communication can be anywhere as long as my audience is comfortable and relaxed. For example, my audience will be more interested in my paper if they are curled up on their couch after all long day in class then they would if they were reading in between classes in a cold cafeteria. The time and place of communication play into the audience interest in the paper and the understanding. Reading my paper in a rush or when they are stressed would not do my papers purpose. With the desired time and place, my paper can be a very effective and enjoyable paper to read.
Design Plan
Strategies:  My strategy for my paper is to be very descriptive and informative but also convincing. Although research papers are not argumentative, I want to convince my audience that this is a good alternative antibiotic if the US would just be willing to try it out. I want to explain my topic very thoroughly so my audience can understand everything about bacteriophages and how they can be used for treatment.  
Ethos:  For ethos, I will make sure to fully explain my sources so my audience and understand their credibility. In addition, I am going to make sure my tone of the paper is professional so my audience can understand me too.
Pathos:  For pathos, I would like to make sure to stress the importance of phage therapy, and how they could help many people. I was explaining that resistance to antibiotics is common now so many people are stuck with unpleasant disease unless they are treated with phage therapy.
Logos:  For logos, I plan to make my paper very well explained through so my audience can understand what I am saying. This will also help my audience understand that my topic is very logical and the best argument.
Medium:  For my medium, I plan to make my paper structured in APA format. For this format, I need to have 1-inch margins, a title page, abstract, page numbers and headings to each section of my paper. I will also need to have a Works Cited page at the end of my paper to state the sources I used for my paper. I am doing APA instead of MLA format because in nursing we will be only using APA so I need to learn how to do a paper in this format. I will also use Times New Roman font in 12 point. I am going to add a few pictures to help explain my topic but I think I will only use a few. I think the pictures will be a very helpful tool for my audience to visualize my topic and the methods of the bacteriophage.
Arrangement:  I am going to arrange my paper in the proper way following the APA guidelines. I will make my margins all set at one inch and I will have my paper in the normal left text alignment.  All of my pictures will be on the right side of my paper so my audience can read first, and then see the picture as reference. My arrangement will work well to communicate my paper in the best ways possible.
 



Reflection
            This paper was a fun paper to do because we could use our own ideas and research them. Using the template given for the argument synthesis paper, I constructed my body paragraphs first and I made sure to use scholarly articles and books. I used my bibliography as a guide to add in information I needed when I was quoting. In regards of my purpose statement and design plan, I think followed it pretty well. I did narrow my topic down to research done on bacteriophage therapy so I could use better sources. I think my audience changed from medical professionals and researchers to college students and professors. I needed to be realistic with my expectations of my paper and the new audience worked better. I also made sure to add information about the authors of the articles which I know is an important piece to completing a quote. Overall, I think I did very well on this paper and I feel that I will get a grade appropriate to that. I worked very hard on the paper and I am satisfied with my results.  

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