2005年mini-lecture(4/7)-英语听力

[00:00.63]You explain why one opinion is sound and another is not; why one fact is relevant and another is not; why one writer is correct and another is mistaken. [00:10.85]What's more, your purpose may vary with your topic. [00:14.43]You may try to explain a situation, to recommend a course of action, [00:18.84]to reveal the solution to a problem, or to present and defend a particular interpretation of a historical event or a work of art. [00:27.72]But whether the topic is space travel or trends in contemporary American literature, [00:33.49]an argumentative research paper deals actively - I say it again, actively - with the statements it cites. [00:41.43]It makes these statements work together in an argument that you create, that is to an argument leading to a conclusion of your own. [00:50.15]In the next part of the lecture, [00:52.60]I'd like to talk about one of the basic steps in writing I mentioned earlier in the lecture, that is how to choose a topic.