Every outcome is crucial to successful writing; however, none of them would really matter without outcome three. This is because outcome three involves the argument, which dictates the entire structure and ideas within the paper. The argument articulates the importance of the content of the paper through the stakes and follows a line of inquiry to answer throughout the paper. Therefore, without the argument, the paper would have no direction and no central focus. Being able to write a compelling argument with significant analysis and support from external sources is a skill that is needed by all disciplines whether an engineer writing a grant proposal or an English major arguing the importance of popular culture.

            My first major paper titled “Popular Culture’s Effect on Personal Identification” best exemplifies my understanding of outcome three in my ability as a writer to make a cohesive, well-backed argument. My claim emerges from the question whether or not popular culture plays a role in personal identification, and I used this line of inquiry to follow in the rest of my paper. The stakes of a claim are important because it urges the significance of the work and essentially persuades the reader to continue reading. As I was establishing my claim on this question, I made sure to emphasize the stakes of my argument, which can be seen when I state, “Since popular culture is such a large presence in peoples’ lives, it becomes important to determine its effect on people…”(1). I make the valid point that popular culture is everywhere and has an enormous presence in everyday life, which has the potential to effect a person and their self identification, and it’s the fact that popular culture is so ingrained in our lifestyles that gives its analysis so much importance. I then unfold the meat of my complex claim, “While popular culture is not the only factor determining someone’s personal identity, an examination of popular culture’s potential to inspire people in their educational and career pursuits and the unique experience that each work of popular culture has on a person will effectively show that popular culture does play an influential part in defining a person”(1). My analysis of this argument involves looking at multiple perspectives in order to firmly entrench my own argument. I generally backed my argument by first looking at what another source said about the topic and then articulating my own voice and argument that either adds to what the source is saying or disputing their claim. My ability to use another source to then add my own analysis is clearly seen when I argue, “Westfahl makes the point that since what people like in terms of popular culture is usually excluded from this list, popular culture must not be a way in which people are defined. However, what Westfahl excludes to mention is how what that person liked in life influenced these bigger more “life-defining moments” of education, work, and relationships”(2). This instance demonstrates how I effectively picked out what another source was saying that was relevant to my topic, and then used their argument to create my own unique analysis to support my argument. The general organization of my argument after establishing my complex claim begins by looking at examples of people who are heavily influenced by popular culture. Then, I move into generally looking at how people attempt to define themselves and then how collective identity from fad popular culture movements play a role in self-identification. Finally, I examine the implications of the lack of consensus on contemporary issues within groups that have similar interests in popular culture. This organization provided a smooth transition for my argument and allowed it to build from a more general base to becoming more specific throughout the paper.

            The strengths in this paper laid in its cohesive following of a line of inquiry and solid argument. I successfully balanced other perspectives with my own analysis to create a credible, compelling argument. These strengths are what lead me to say with confidence that I successfully demonstrated the various aspects of outcome 3.