# Topic ideas for Argument of Definition



## etheran (Sep 28, 2012)

I'm having a tough time coming up with a topic for this.  Google doesn't seem to be much help when I try to find topic lists either.  My paper is due in about 2 weeks and I am still racking my brain to come up with something I'm interested in.  The minimum requirements for the paper are 1750 words and 6 cited sources.  It needs to be something I can discuss at some length.

I did come up with the idea of writing about music.  It's an interest of mine, but I'm not sure it falls under the category.  I want to write about what constitutes music.  Is it just a bunch of random notes strung together in some kind of pattern or is there more to it.  Not sure this really fills the role here, but it's hard to come up with a topic I'm interested in.  Thanks for the help in advance..


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## Kevin (Sep 28, 2012)

You could add 'good', as in what constitutes good...


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## Bloggsworth (Sep 28, 2012)

I'm having trouble understanding the thread title. Have you got to write a definition of something and argue the case? What does "*An argument of definition*" mean.

There is nothing random about music either in its construction or use, notes are mathmatically related and can only be used together if they are related hence the different *keys*, which can have strange sounding names to non musicians, like _A flat major_, _B minor 7th_; so unless you are sure of what you are talking about it would be easy to fall flat on your face - Pick a subject you really know in great detail. 1,750 words is relatively little as academic papers go, and make sure how you should present your references, by which I mean use the corret form, whether brackets or quotation marks, that sort of thing.

It is difficult for us to suggest an actual topic as a) we don't know what you are studying, and b) we don't know your expertise.


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## etheran (Sep 28, 2012)

This paper is for a sophomore level English composition class.  Citation are to be followed in the MLA format.

After re-reading the assignment, I need to make a claim that challenges the definition of a word.  for example: "Assisting a gravely ill person in committing suicide should not be considered _murder_ when the motive behind the act is to ease a person's suffering and not to do harm or to benefit from the death."

So, in this case, murder would be the definition in question.

On a side note, I know a bit about music theory.  My exploration into it might have been about music that doesn't follow the "rules".  Can you consider a pure rhythmic track to be music?  What about electronica?  There are situations that arise within electronica that can't be described by music theory.  I suppose these are the types of things that my professor wants us to think about.


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## Potty (Sep 28, 2012)

_Intelligence_ of mankind.


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## Kryptex (Sep 28, 2012)

etheran said:


> After re-reading the assignment, I need to make a claim that challenges the definition of a word.  for example: "Assisting a gravely ill person in committing suicide should not be considered _murder_ when the motive behind the act is to ease a person's suffering and not to do harm or to benefit from the death."
> 
> So, in this case, murder would be the definition in question.



There's already a word for that, euthanasia.

But I still don't understand, after having read Bloggs query & your response.

Por favor, simple terms?


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## Deleted member 49710 (Sep 28, 2012)

I think music sounds like a good choice of topic. It's not an area of study that I know a lot about, but you might start just by looking up some theorists who discuss music (Adorno is the one that springs to my inexpert mind). Find a couple competing definitions of what music is, explain and contrast them, find examples of pieces that would be excluded from the category of music according to each. Maybe try to find a way to synthesize them if you can. If there are pieces that are "not music" by either definition, but which you want to defend as music, that would be good, too.

Alternately, you could choose a style of music you like (electronica, it seems) and then see what's being written about in scholarly journals about that, then compare, see what definitions they use. This isn't my area but I suspect there's a lot out there. 

If there isn't anything scholarly that interests you, you could pull together several different articles from the popular press and try to glean a definition from them, figure out what defining characteristics, quality measures, interpretations the reviewers are using to talk about an album or an artist. Find the conflicts and the commonalities. Might be interesting.


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## garza (Sep 28, 2012)

I believe I understand. Let's take music. When I was a kid taking piano lessons my teacher, Mrs Wills, explained one day that music has three elements - rhythm, melody, and harmony. If you isolate any one of these, do you yet have music? In the case of melody we can generally answer yes. The melody is there, it follows a set rhythm, and the progression of notes can be considered harmony. But you ask about rhythm alone, and again I say, yes. Since I've been in Belize I've studied and learned to play Garifuna drums. The pitch of the different drums, and the why they are played, produces both melody and harmony along with the obvious rhythms. That leaves harmony, and I'll leave that for you to answer yes or no.

So you can take a definition of music, take it apart, and build an argument either in support of or in denial of that definition. Does this help?


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## Nickleby (Sep 30, 2012)

From your information, you need several things: 1) a definition of a term; 2) six sources to augment your argument; 3) an argument that disputes the definition.

What I would do is find my six sources first. If you can't find enough material, you won't be able to write your paper.

Once you've read your sources, you should have at least a germ of an argument. Note that you can use a source that contradicts your argument, as long as you can find a hole in it--by disproving the source's argument, you strengthen your own.

Once you have an argument, you can shop around for a definition that will give you room to make your case. Or just look it up in a dictionary and go from there.

Without knowing more about your chosen topic, I can't give you more than that. At that point I'd be writing your paper for you, and I won't do that.


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