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Question
This is what I said to my teacher when asked about what my topic would be: " my first essay’s stance will be that rap music is a more positively charged art form. I feel that there will be a lot of resources to help create a reputation as well as a defense to this stance."
I am now pasting the writing prompt we have for this essay:
Essay #4: Argument of Refutation
Essay Specifications:
* 4 full pages or 1,500 words
* Minimum of 4 sources
* Must meet the definition of an argument of refutation (an essay that focuses on explaining and then refuting the counterarguments—the opposing viewpoints— to your stance on a topic).
* Your choice of topic (remember that you’ll be using this same topic for Essay #5!)
*Complete thesis in the introduction, referencing your stance and why the counterargument(s) to your position is/are weak. For example:
" Some critics of the theory of global warming claim that alternative energy companies are paying scientists to say that global warming is a serious problem in order to profit from the move away from fossil fuel sources. However, there is very little evidence for this theory, while there is an abundance of evidence that global warming is a real and immediate threat."
Essay Prompt:
You may be relieved to know that your final two essays will go hand in hand and use the same topic (one of your own choosing). I’d like you to begin thinking about your topic now. It needs to be something about which you care deeply but which you need to do further research on to argue successfully. Pick something that you are passionate about and interested in; if you pick something you think will just be " easy," you will be bored long before the semester ends. Also, be careful to pick a topic that is arguable, a topic on which there are many varying opinions or perspectives. You may want to look in the SIRS Researcher database (go to the Library homepage, access " Articles and Databases," and look for " SIRSResearcher") if you are unsure of a topic–that database has a list of 100 "hottopics" that may help you find what you’re interested in.
Again, I’d really prefer it if you didn’t pick one of the old chestnuts–legalizing marijuana, capital punishment, abortion, etc. Often, it seems that students pick these topics because there is so much information available, not because they are genuinely engaged by the topic. The resulting papers are usually bland, expected, and produce no new insight into the topic. Instead, choose something that genuinely interests you!
Essay #4 will be an argument of refutation. Due on April 30th. I will give you the essay prompt after the break, but the basic idea behind an argument of refutation is to write a whole essay that concentrates on refuting the arguments of the opposition one by one. Remember that a refutation is " an explanation of why a position is false or weak" (Cooper and Patton 116). For example, let’s say that your topic is GMO foods and that your position is that GMO foods are potentially dangerous (to human or animal health, to the diversity of current crops, etc.). You would need to research the arguments of the opposition to see what they say about the potential benefits of GMO foods and why they believe GMO foods are not dangerous, then you would have to refute those arguments, providing ample support for your refutations. A good argument of refutation analyzes the actual phrasing, logic, and support of the opposing arguments and is faithful and honest in representing the opposing side’s arguments; a good argument of refutation does not call names ("personalattack") or oversimplify the opposing argument ("strawman").
Essay #5 will be your final essay; it will most likely include quite a bit of your argument of refutation from Essay #4, but it will also include the specific premises that support your stance on the topic. So in writing Essay #4, you will already have your refutations to opposing arguments ready to add to your final essay (and I will already have commented on a major portion of your essay in doing the grading for Essay #4)! This will allow you more time to focus on creating an airtight argument, writing clearly, and doing careful and well-documented research for your final essay.
Hints for Essay #4:
1. Pick a topic you’re very interested in (if you’re not sure what that might be, look in SIRS Researcher’s list of the top 100 research topics).
2. You may want to look in the article database Opposing Viewpoints to find the counterarguments to your position on your topic.
3. Outline your argument!!!!!! Your main premises in the body should each have you addressing a specific premise or argument of the opposing viewpoint, discussing why their research or reasoning is faulty, illogical, etc. For example, if my topic is GMO foods and my ultimate stance is that they are safe for human consumption, I might have a body paragraph arguing that the infamous " rats ate GMO tomatoes and had stomach lesions" study that everyone quotes from needs to be discussed in more detail to be persuasive evidence that GMOs are harmful. How many tomatoes were the rats fed? How often? I mean, if someone fed me massive amounts of tomatoes every day, GMO or not, I’d probably get stomach lesions, too.
4. Summarize, paraphrase, and quote directly from the sources you find that present opposing arguments to your stance. Remember, if you just say something like " some people think GMOs are unsafe, but I assure you they’re wrong," you’re not letting your reader evaluate for himself or herself the opposing argument. Also, the more detail you add from those opposing arguments, the more you will have to refute! What if you find a logical fallacy? You will need to explain it in detail, quoting or paraphrasing it from the original source.
Answer
Student’s Name:
Instructor’s Name:
Course Code and Name:
University:
Date Assignment is due:
Rap music is an African-American music genre that was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s, which is characterized by rhyming lyrics that are chanted to musical accompaniments. It is claimed that rap music has a negative influence on the behavior of adolescents. It is often claimed that rap music stimulates adolescents into aggression. This paper sets out to refute these claims.
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When rock and roll music was introduced in the 1950s, there was fear that its lyrics would have an adverse effect on young listeners. This fear has been carried over in the 21st century, only that today it emanates from the lyrics of rap. People have suggested that rap music promotes violence, irresponsible sex, homicide, drug use, suicidal tendencies among the youth and aggression. This issue has recently sparked a feverish among record companies, censorship supporters and our federal government.
The issue of whether the lyrical content of music leads to negative mood swings has been studied whereby the mood changes that were observed include sadness, nervousness, depression, and anger. Ballard and Coats did research in order to determine whether the lyrical content music had an immediate effect on state anxiety or suicidal ideation (148). They invited volunteers to listen to six songs, all of them of rap variety, which had been crossed with three completely different themes, namely, homicidal, nonviolent and suicidal lyrics.
The participants were told to listen to the music without being told the true nature of a study that was being carried out. They were told that the study was to test their memory of the lyrics contained in the music. Then they were subjected to a Beck Depression Inventory, a method used to measure state anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Ballard and Coats found out that neither the type of music nor the lyrical content caused an immediate effect on the participants’ state anxiety.
Elsewhere, Sousou notes that researchers conducted a study whereby they requested participants to read either happy or sad lyrics while at the same time listening to an instrumental piece of music in order to determine whether the lyrics affected one’s mood in any way (31). They found out that the lyrical content did not affect the mood in any way.
Prinsky& Rosenbaum contend that adolescents tend to fail to comprehend the messages contained in the lyrics of songs and that they strongly feel that lyrics are not an important factor for choosing to either like or hate the song (387). They conducted a study requiring participants to read either anti-social or pro-social lyrics in rap, heavy metal, country or pop music. The participants were then asked to rate the songs. The results showed that regardless of the theme contained in the lyrics, heavy metal and rap were believed to be highly likely to be an inspiration to anti-social behavior, thereby leading to negative moods. Therefore, rap music is often judged on the basis of stereotyping rather than the choice of lyrics by individual rappers, meaning that it is wrong to make generalizations regarding the negative effects of this music genre on adolescent behavior.
Rap music promotes the freedom of expression, whereby rappers merely talk about the reality of life in the ghetto. If the rappers are viewed as representations of violence, aggression, mood swings, and suicidal people, it is because they are, in most cases, a product of ghetto life, where they have a firsthand experience of all the social ills that they talk freely through rap music.
The term gangsta rap is a general term that the media uses to generalize various varieties of rap music into one broad category. The controversy surrounding this type of music seems to be a creation of the media, that the music has some positive effects, one of them being an accurate portrayal of the harsh realities of the ghetto life.
Owing to the liberal attitude that rap musicians have on life, it is always easy to blame this type of music on all social ills in the society, especially those that affect adolescents. However, it does not help much to make many claims without providing concrete supportive evidence. According to Poltrok, there is no evidence to show that rap music causes behavioral problems among people in urban communities (1). In fact, young people, both black and white, love this type of music and do not seem to pay much attention to the lyrics it contains.
Some analysts say that rap music has a positive effect since it makes listeners stop thinking about the historical ills that have taken place in American society in the past, notably racism. Rappers are some of the richest musicians in the U.S art scene. Music, for them, is a way of getting out of poverty. Owing to the explicit way in which they exercise their freedom of expression, rappers uncover many truths that change the political atmosphere for the better. In other words, their fame raises their social profiles whereby they become good opinion leaders in their communities.
Cultural anthropologists draw on the wisdom contained in rap music in order to analyze the ethnographic features of the urban communities. The language of rap is distinct and borrows from various language forms. It is these forms that are of relevance to linguists and anthropologists. Any negative connotations associated with rap music, therefore, seem like a prejudicial attitude towards the social groups that have given rise to rap musicians.
The main reason why rap music gets negative publicity is that some key rap musicians have been at loggerheads with the law. Naturally, one would expect them to become famous for their explicitness and defiance with which they express their anti-establishment attitudes. As a result, other upcoming rap musicians consider the icons to be their role models, thus, appearing to perpetuate the negative portrayal of the music genre. Therefore, the negative claims expressed on the effect of rap music on society are merely displaced negative sentiments that make it difficult for the real issues to be addressed.
In conclusion, it is possible to make rap music a unique brand of art that enables the political class to focus on the issue of solving the problems of poor urban youths rather than blaming them for being socially perverted. The more criticism that rap musicians get, the more popular they become among young people.
Stereotyping is the main cause of negative social connotations made regarding rap music. If all rap musicians were appreciated through proactive approaches to the social problems they raise, the benefits of rap music would be self-evident and adolescents would be motivated into becoming responsible citizens through lessons contained powerful rap lyrics.
Works cited
Ballard, Michael & Coates, Scholes. “The immediate effects of homicidal, suicidal, and nonviolent heavy metal and rap songs on the moods of college students”. Youth & Society, 27.2 (1995): 148.
Poltrok, Gina. “Much more to rap music than what meets the ear”, UpDate,13.19 (1994): February 10.
Prensky, Leone. & Rosenbaum, “James. Leer-ics or lyrics? Teenage impressions of rock roll”. Youth & Society, 18.2 (1987). 384-397.
Sousou, Sill. “Effects of Melody & Lyrics on Mood of Memory”. Perceptual &Motorskills, 85.1 (1997): 31- 40.
