More on How to Brainstorm for Supporting Reasons

Say you are given the following prompt for an essay exam.

You have a gut response to the prompt-you feel you are against snowmobile use in national parks. Perhaps you are willing to compromise a bit, however: If there is a controversy surrounding snowmobile use in the national parks, then certainly there are some good reasons to support the other side. Here is the claim you decide to support:

Snowmobile use should be highly restricted in national parks: the number of operators should be kept to a minimum, and they should only be allowed to use certain trails.

Now you need to generate some good reasons to support your claim. To do so, you can brainstorm using the issues and questions provided above. For example.

Cause and Consequence: What are the consequences of snowmobile use in national parks? Who or what will be negatively or positively affected by snowmobile use? What would be some negative consequences for failing to restrict snowmobile use?

By addressing these questions, what reasoning could you generate to support your claim? Response 1

Cost: What is the cost for prohibiting snowmobile use in national parks? What is the cost for allowing snowmobile use in national parks? How does your proposed course of action wisely weigh the costs involved?

By addressing these questions, what reasoning could you generate to support your claim? Response 2

Values: What is the value of prohibiting snowmobile use in national parks? What values are upheld by restricting snowmobile use in national parks? Who also holds those values, and why? Why are these values important?

By addressing these questions, what reasoning could you generate to support your claim? Response 3

Now say you are given this prompt for an essay exam.

You feel in favor of this policy. Perhaps your response is based on your knowledge of teenagers-what they value, how they think, what they need in order to grow emotionally and intellectually. Here is the claim you want to support:

Students in public high schools should be permitted to distribute independent newspapers.

You need to generate some good reasons to support your claim. To do so, you could certainly think about cost and consequence, or about values. Also try thinking about feasibility.

Feasibility: Just how practical or reasonable is it not to allow distribution of independent newspapers? Will a prohibition on their distribution actually work?

By addressing these questions, what reasoning could you generate to support your claim? Response 4

Values: What value or values does one uphold when arguing in favor of the policy? Why is it important to uphold this value or values?

By addressing these questions, what reasoning could you generate to support your claim? Response 5

Perhaps you want to defend the opposite side:

School administrators should have the right to ban the distribution of independent student newspapers..

The issue of consequence might be useful for a writer defending this claim.

What negative consequences could result from the distribution of independent student newspapers?

By addressing this question, what reasoning could you generate to support your claim? Response 6

Response 1

Here is some useful reasoning that can result from addressing these questions. Remember, however, that there are many possible "good answers" that this brainstorming method can generate.

Snowmobile use should be highly restricted in national parks because.

• One snowmobile sounds like ten chain saws, and that kind of noise will ruin the serenity of the park for hikers who are willing to experience nature in more old-fashioned ways-by show shoeing, for example, or gliding along noiselessly on cross country skis.
   
• Just like cars, snowmobiles generate exhaust, which will pollute what should kept as a pristine sanctuary.
   
• Rampaging snowmobiles may well destroy winter habitats for wildlife.

Response 2

For this issue, addressing issues of cost may require you to defend your claim against a possible objection: What about the cost to restaurants and resorts near the park, businesses that stand to benefit from people who come to enjoy riding their snowmobiles? And what about disabled visitors to the park? How are they to enjoy the wilderness area if they can't have mobility on the site?

Here is some useful reasoning that can result from addressing these questions:

Snowmobile use should be highly restricted in national parks because.

• Even though the tourist industry might be harmed somewhat by restricting access to snowmobiles, the cost to our most important natural resource outweighs the seasonal cost to local business.
   
• It remains important for all citizens to have access to our national parks. That is why people with limited mobility should be granted special licenses to use snowmobiles, but only on designated trails.
   
• Granted, restricted snowmobile use will limit spending by tourists who come to the area. However, with steep licensing fees, some of that revenue could be recuperated and perhaps even used to subsidize local businesses in the winter months. Steep licensing fees will likely discourage more snowmobile use while at the same time compensating somewhat for the resulting decrease in tourist spending.

Response 3

Here is the reasoning that can result from addressing these questions:

Snowmobile use should be highly restricted in national parks because.

• Our national parks should be cherished and protected as a tranquil sanctuary, a place untouched by the noise and pollution we have to put up with in cities or on the job.
   
• Everybody should have a right to enjoy our national parks, but when personal freedom threatens the serenity of the park environment, its needs to be curtailed.
   
• A respect and reverence for the wildlife and the beauty of the landscape sustains this argument. 

Response 4

Here is some applicable reasoning that can result from addressing these questions. Note how in this case, issues of feasibility are closely related to issues of consequence:

School administrators should not be permitted to restrict the distribution of independent student newspapers, because.

• For the faculty and administration, enforcing this policy would require constant policing of students-during class, near lockers, in the bathrooms, at lunch tables. It would be both difficult and undesirable to maintain such a state of paranoid vigilance.

Response 5

The value of free speech comes at issue in this debate. You could uphold this value in an argument against the policy.

School administrators should not be permitted to restrict the distribution of independent student newspapers, because.

• Such a policy, which denies students their First Amendment rights, strangles a free and open exchange of opinion on campus. It is vital for students to have opportunities to practice public discussion so that they will become active participants in a democratic society.

Response 6

Here is some useful reasoning that can result from addressing this question:

School administrators should be permitted to restrict the distribution of independent student newspapers because.

• Teens are not well known for tact and good taste; the content of such newspapers, which is completely unregulated, could cause verbal and physical fights on campus, and these conflicts would seriously distract students from their learning.
• Like it or not, administrators and faculty must answer to parents for everything that occurs on campus. Should any student bring home such a newspaper and any parent object to its content, faculty and administration will be held accountable.