A Pokemon Trainer is defined their ability to execute creative and complicated strategies in battle. To do this, a trainer must be able to survey the environment of the battle space and the condition of both his Pokemon and the opponents. He must then take this knowledge and relate it to the abilities his Pokemon has. Successful execution and battle victories result from carefully thought out plans of offense. 

Outcome 3 highlights a writer's ability to generate a complex argument that is persuasive based on  evidence. Just like how a trainer must use the evidence from the environment and opponent, a writer must consider use evidence from sources and prior knowledge in order to fuel their argumentation.

Writer's Memo:

Writing Short Assignment 2 presented me with many challenges because I needed to learn carefully analyze components of Wong Fu Production’s video, Accidental Racism, and then formulate a complex claim. I needed to take what most people considered solely a comedy sketch and raise the stakes. I decided that my claim would be that, the video not only brings up this issue of accidental racism, but the video itself serves as a call to action to viewers to become more culturally aware in their daily conversations. Short Assignment 2 was the very first time I was introduced to the topic of accidental racism, so I had difficulties understanding exactly what accidental racism was and how could I explain it in such a way to my readers so that they would understand. I concluded that a personal anecdote will help me ease into this topic. Next, I understood that adding an outside source would make my paper more persuasive and more credible in an academic context but I struggled with connecting it all to my claim. Therefore, some revisions would be required to fulfill Outcome 3 more completely.

Outcome 3 provided me with an opportunity to develop a complex claim that would be made more persuasive through careful analysis of the chosen medium and careful selection of an outside source. Short Assignment 2 helps demonstrate my understanding of implementing specific argument choices that work to make my paper more persuasive. One such way, I did this was incorporating personal experience in the beginning to help better define accidental racism to the readers. By putting myself out there and saying that I’ve been in “situations where friends and strangers” have been unintentionally racist towards me by saying “Where are you really from?” or “What’s your real name?” I am able to establish my purpose for writing about accidental racism, establish a connection with the reader and ultimately pitch my argument in an interesting and creative way. For a paper to be persuasive requires carefully found evidence to help prove the claim. In early drafts of Short Assignment 2, I struggled to support my claim, Accidental Racism serves as a call to action to increase awareness and cultural sensitivity, with thorough analysis of the film. For example, I stated that the video brings attention to “many of us” about the issue. This phrase is in a way ambiguous. Therefore in order to make my claim stronger, I further defined that Wong Fu’s video targeted people of all races through their use of diverse actors. I did this by explaining that “Ken who is Asian, Casey who is white, and Madison who is black” all committed “acts of racism” in order to show that accidental racism is something that affects all of us, and therefore their call to action addresses a wide audience. My decision as a writer to incorporate an outside source helped my paper be more persuasive because it increases the validity of my claim and overall credibility of my paper. Although, Professor Frank Wu’s article, A Letter to My Asian-American Friends about Racism helped argue my point that spreading awareness is needed when discussing accidental racism, it wouldn’t be persuasive if it couldn’t connect back to the Wong Fu video as well. Therefore, in my revisions I synthesized specific parts of Accidental Racism to make my argument clearer. Wu points out that racial remarks, accidental or not can generate “backlash”. I immediately point out that we see this backlash in the video when one of the characters erupts and angrily “voices his discomfort” with the statements.

In conclusion, Outcome 3 has significantly improved my ability produce a clear argument that is persuasive. I learned that to be persuasive, the claim must be supported by sources that are thoroughly critiqued. Outcome 3 also allowed me to try and implement creative argument choices to help me and the reader better understand my claim. These skills could be useful in many social contexts. Whether I am talking in daily conversations with friends, or debating my opinions to others, I will now be able to effectively persuade and communicate effectively as a result of the choices I make and sources I include.