Revised Introduction

In this post, I will include my new and improved introduction paragraph and explain some of the ways that I changed it from the original.

Prakash, Pranav, "End or a New Beginning?"12/4/2010 via Flickr. Attribution Non-Commercial 2.0 Generic

The main difference between my first and second attempt at an introduction is the addition of a grabber. I am not totally sure if this attempt at pulling my readers into my topic is actually effective, but I did my best to make this intro more interesting. As for the rest of my new intro, most of the information is generally the same, because I still needed to provide sufficient context for my thesis and the argument made within my text.

Original Intro:

In the past few years, there has been a great amount of debate in America over the issue of marijuana legalization. There have been many texts written about the pros and cons surrounding this debate, especially after Colorado and Washington’s bold jump into a world of recreationally legal weed. However, most of these writings only look at this issue from a moral standpoint. In order to appeal to a larger audience, S.E Smith, a well known and recognized author, chose to address the debate over marijuana legalization from a different perspective, in order to present the benefits of legalization in a new way. S.E. Smith, employs statistics, historical background, and humor throughout her article "How legalizing pot could save America's economy". These strategies are used in order to appeal to several values in her predominantly American readers, whether or not they were originally supporters or opponents of legalizing marijuana before reading the article, and effectively makes it seem as though legalization is the only option for moral and economic prosperity in America, from both logical and emotional standpoints.

New and Improved Intro:

If your state was offered $76 million in tax revenue in one year, would you turn down that opportunity? I would assume that a majority of you would answer this question with an overwhelming no. However, what if I told you that all of that profit would come from the legalization of marijuana? For a lot of people, finding out where that money is coming from would sway their answer to the first question. Ever since Washington and Colorado, which is the state that actually made $76 million dollars in 2014, voted to legalize marijuana, there has been a fervent debate occurring about whether or not legalization is the right path for America (McCormick, 2015). Most of the published public arguments that are made around this issue only try to appeal to or alter their audience’s moral beliefs, while others only attempt to transform people’s views from looking at the issue from a logical and economic viewpoint. However, S.E. Smith, a well respected and award-winning novelist, didn’t chose to follow the typical path for producing a text surrounding the issue of marijuana legalization. In this essay, I will analyze the ways in which an effective argument in business is constructed, in prove that you as fellow business majors will be able to construct your own arguments and be able to identify properly executed arguments.  Smith, employs statistics, historical background, and humor throughout her article "How legalizing pot could save America's economy". These strategies are used in order to appeal to several values in her predominantly American readers, whether or not they were originally supporters or opponents of legalizing marijuana before reading the article, and effectively makes it seem as though legalization is the only option for moral and economic prosperity in America, from both logical and emotional standpoints.