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Paper Three: Argument in Documentaries For Paper Three, you will be evaluating and comparing the arguments presented in two documentaries released in 2007 concerning Walmart. One documentary takes the anti-Walmart position and is titles Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices. The second documentary is pro-Walmart and is titles Why Walmart Works and why that Drives People Crazy. Throughout each documentary a series of clear arguments are presented supporting their position, and they use a variety of facts, expert testimony, interviews, and examples to support those arguments with evidence to convince the reader they are right. Your job will be to match up two of these arguments (Treatment of Employees, Impact on the Community, Using Underpaid International Workers, The Greed of Walmart Owners, etc.) and evaluate how well each documentary presents their case. You will discuss how Ethos, Pathos, and Logos as well as sound and visual techniques are used to try to sway the viewer during the argument. After you present each side of the argument, you will explain which documentary you felt presented the most convincing case. In your conclusion, you will assess which documentary did the best overall in proving their position on Walmart was correct. Documentaries tend to be easier to evaluate since they present clear reasons and arguments supporting their position. Sometimes how the arguments match up may be subtle. While some of the match-ups will be obvious, I have had students miss the fact that the hurricane story is a direct response to the accusations that Walmart is greedy and its owners do not contribute to the community. You may have personal views on whether Walmart is a good company or a bad one. Remember that you are evaluating the quality of the arguments in this documentary, not whether you agree or disagree with either side. Many times I have heard arguments I agree with that were poorly presented and badly handled. You don’t assess them based on liking nor not linking the argument as much as how effectively and intelligently the film maker presented their case. Organization: You will have an introduction in which you identify and explain the two documentaries to your reader, give a general assessment of their overall position on Walmart, and explain how they use a series of arguments and evidence to support their point of view. You’ll explain that there are common arguments in both documentaries that can be compared and evaluated. As far as the body of the essay, the structure is fairly simple. You will explain to the reader what the argument is that is being evaluated and then proceed to write at least one full paragraph discussing how they present their side, including facts and statistics, expert testimony, and examples. You’ll also look at how the film makers use Ethos, Pathos, and Logos as ways to persuade the audience. You will also talk about how that particular argument used sound (music or sound effects) or visual techniques (camera shots, editing) to influence the audience. Once you have completed one side of the argument, write a new paragraph that shows how the opposing documentary presented their side of the issue, looking at the same techniques as you did in the first documentary. Once you have finished, you will have a new paragraph where you explain which documentary you think did the better job in making their case. Be detailed, unbiased, and specific about why you think one documentary did the better job. So, structurally, the body of the essay would follow this pattern. Treatment of employees in Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices Treatment of employees in Why Walmart Works and Why that Drives People Crazy Analysis of which documentary did a superior job. Understand, though, that you must cover sections that discuss the exact same thing, so if you are discussion treatment of Walmart employees there are several topics covered. The treatment included wages, unfair overtime, inability to afford insurance, sexism and racism in the workplace, and strong anti-union tactics. Now, you can't cover all those things, because both documentaries don't cover all those things. You need segments that match between the two documentaries. Do both discuss the wage issue? Then you can compare how both handle that subject? Do both cover unfair overtime? If they don't, then you can't compare them. It is very important that the segments match and both sides are covered on the topic, or it is not a fair comparison. Impact of Walmart on small businesses in Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices Impact of Walmart on small businesses in Why Walmart Works and Why that Drives People Crazy Analysis of which documentary did a superior job Sometimes I get people who don't match up the parts of the documentaries correctly for this one. They want to talk about the Waveland section, but it is not about the impact of Walmart on small businesses. It could be seen as a counter-argument to the other documentary's argument that Walmart is greedy and uncaring, but it has nothing to do with small businesses. The section on "funky shops" is about the impact of small businesses, and you can compare it to the section on H and H Hardware in the first section of Walmart: the High Cost of Low Prices. Again, it is vital that the two arguments match perfectly, otherwise it is not a fair comparison. You would continue this pattern until you have compared two different matching arguments in the two documentaries. I have suggested two here, but there are others you could choose to compare. In your conclusion, you will review how well each documentary did in your assessment and offer a final, overall evaluation of which documentary you think did a better job in presenting its case to the reader. You want to be specific and detailed on why you think one documentary did a better job than the other. This essay actually does not require any outside research. The two documentaries are your only sources. Always make it clear to the reader which documentary you are referring to as we go through the essay. It is very easy, with this back and forth structure, to become confused. For that reason, don’t change which documentary you start with for each argument. That will only confuse the reader. If you quote from the documentary or use specific facts and statistics from it, do use in-text citaitons. This essay should run six or more pages, double spaced. First draft due for peer editing on Thursday, Nov. 7.. Final Draft of Paper Three due to Turnitin at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17..