“Backing Beyoncé, Hot Pants, and Twitter Rants: Writing Contemporary Argument in the Academic Community” was a brilliantly created writing workshop on how to write argumentative essays by one of Spelman College’s flawless English professors, Dr. Calaya Reid. In modern times, the new generation has received criticism on what we condone as popular culture and who we accept as pop culture figures. Using controversial topics, Dr. Reid taught the students in the workshop that despite any topic, it can be argued using a contemporary context.
There are four steps to constructing a contemporary argument. They are as follows:
- 1. Exposure to Contemporary Culture: How are we exposed to contemporary culture (culture within the last decade)?
- 2. Critical Evaluation of Contemporary Culture Using an Intellectual Lens: All of the World is an argument!! Everything is up for discussion and/or argument.
- 3. Idea-Claim Based Position Upon Evaluation: Use Toulmin’s Argumentation in which he states that an argument is always based on claims and evidence. Responding to a question with a claim is unsubstantial without sufficient evidence.
- 4. Connection to the Discourse Community: How can you relate your question to your academic field and/or studies? How does your argument contribute or enhance academia?
An example would be the question whether Beyoncé is really a feminist. With the past release of her surprise album, Beyoncé publicly proclaimed herself as a feminist. Is Beyoncé really a feminist? Many die-hard fans in the Beyhive would agree with everything that the performer says but other celebrity feminist, such as Annie Lenox, heartily disagreed. Hot pants, on the other hand, were seen as too sexy or used for seeking sexual attention. However, controversy lies on why males may use their sex to promote their sexuality while women are demonized for doing so when they wore hot pants. Twitter rants can be argued in a various amount of ways as well. Whether arguing about Beyoncé’s feminism, whether hot pants are a way to express female empowerment, or which celebrity you side with during a Twitter argument, each step to making a contemporary claim gives a writer insight into making an flawless argument.