Rationale

Tiffany Davis

Dr. Sonia Apgar Begert

English 102

30^th November, 2014

Rationale

            I start my paper by introducing my topic (Easter Island) by explaining where and how big Easter Island is in order to give my audience an idea of what/where I am talking about. I then continue to explain why Easter Island is important (it can be related to today’s environmental problems) so that my audience understands why I choose this topic and why they should bother reading my paper and understanding the issues at hand. I then state my thesis statement so that my audience knows my position before I begin making my argument.

            In the next section I establish who my primary supporting and opposing sources are so that my audience does not get confused throughout my paper. I then give a brief background of some of my primary supporting sources, and some of my primary opposing sources to establish my sources credibility and the reliability of my information. I provide the credentials of both sides of the debate as not to appear biased. I then briefly state the main arguments of those sources so that my readers understand what stance my sources have taken as well as to reiterate my thesis statement.

            Subsequently I delve into the debate regarding when Easter Island was settled. I start here because it is the first thing that happened so chronologically it makes sense, also by establishing a timeline of initial settlement I further support my argument of when Easter Island collapsed. I first state what my opposing argument believes the date of settlement was (AD 1200), and why they believe that. I then write a few sentences from different sources with supporting evidence to show why/how that date is incorrect, and that Easter Island was really colonized earlier (AD 800). This is important because the longer the islanders had on the island the more time they had to increase their population, and damage their environment. This section will help me establish a baseline for the rest of my paper by guiding them based on this timeline, which will help me keep my paper organized.

            I move onto describe the population and what the colonists started with (how many people), as well as what their peak population could have been (closely estimated based on the number of houses ect.). Knowing what they started with and what they gained will provide my readers an important frame of reference when I discuss later how many people they lost after their society collapsed. I start with stating the facts from my opposing sources, but also include the lower estimate from my opposing sources. This is really significant because when I enter into my conclusion it will show that even if there was a much lower population peak, the decline in the population post deforestation is still huge indicative of collapse before the European’s arrived.

            Transitioning to the actual causes of the collapse of Easter Island, I begin by introducing my opposing sources ideas as to what caused deforestation on the island (rats). This smaller section fits in well right here, before I get into the meat of my argument and show why deforestation led to collapse, my audience needs to know why deforestation occurred in the first place. I have a sentence from a supporting argument, a sentence from my opposing argument, and then another sentence with a source supporting my argument. This is an effective method of making my argument and backing it up with evidence.

            Following this I proceed to delineate a specific cause of Easter Island’s collapse that my opposing argument supports (the introduction of diseases). This is to introduce my readers to the main debate over whether Easter Island collapsed before or after the Europeans arrived in the late 1700’s. I write a sentence from a non-biased perspective stating how disease could have impacted Easter Island, and then continue on to state that because Easter Island collapsed due to deforestation prior to European arrival, that disease could not have been a primary contributing factor to Easter Island’s collapse. This transitions me into discussing the bulk of my supporting evidence. I do not need to show that disease did not impact the people right away, because I can show the population collapsed before it even occurred (with my deforestation timeline and then effects).

            The timeline of deforestation is the most important, because it provides evidence showing that Easter Island collapsed prior to European contact. I begin by showing my audience with a couple of sentences that deforestation would likely not have occurred without human interference by presenting my audience with indisputable evidence that trees had existed for millennia before the colonization of the island. I start here because it reinforces my timeline while illustrating the effects of the Easter Islander’s decisions. Next I begin to outline one of those decisions for my readers (cutting down trees to move their statues which they began building approximately AD1000), and I reveal to my readers why this had such a big impact on the forest. This is important because it shows how careless the islanders were with their resources, especially while they were plentiful. I follow this with more evidence of yet another bad decision made by the islanders (burning large amounts of the forest for intensive agricultural purposes which they began approximately AD 1280). Going in chronological order I then use my sources to show that by AD 1450 the palm tree was mostly if not completely gone, and that by AD 1650 the other big trees were mostly if not completely gone. I conclude this section by revisiting an earlier topic, the population peak (approximately AD 1600), because fitting it in with the deforestation timeline will help show the correlation between deforestation and collapse.        Almost as important as the timeline, I discuss the consequences of deforestation on Easter Island. This is important because it shows why Easter Island collapsed. I give a few sentences about food scarcity and the different reasons why food was scarce following the deforestation. I do this to emphasize how reliant the islanders were on the forest. This section fits here because it happened right after the population peak (AD 1600) which fits in chronological order with deforestation.

            Finally, I discuss the Europeans arrival. I first describe how many people the Europeans found on the Island because it connects to the beginning of my paper, and the population peak in the previous section. This is important for my readers to know because it shows how much the population had already collapsed before the initial European contact occurred. By emphasizing this, I also make my point that Easter Island collapsed before the Europeans arrived and thus connect to my thesis statement. Then I conclude this section with a couple sentences about how much the islanders were struggling and how few (if any trees) were located on the island at their arrival.

            Lastly, I write a few statements from each section stating the facts to conclude my essay and make my final point. I reiterate my thesis without actually repeating myself to ensure that my readers still understand my position and evidence behind it. To conclude, I write a sentence reiterating why my topic is important again, so that my readers remember why this paper was important.