Argumentation Paper Honors/AP Language and Composition English 11 What does an argument essay look like? Read and answer the questions in The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, chapter for Argument. Refer to your handout for which questions to answer. These essays and writing activities will give you a basis for the type of writing we are going to do. In fine point, the definitions of argument and persuasion are a bit different from each other. Argument is when we want to prove a point and expect our audience to adopt the same thinking. What is your writing task? Read the pages in Norton Sampler and answer the questions as you prepare for writing a paper of argumentation Read Basic Principles of Argumentative/Persuasive Writing and annotate points that you believe are important in order to succeed in your writing. Read Toulmin s Argument Model. Annotate for class discussion. Participate in the classroom peer work and discussions Go to Miss Lewis s Blog: Argumentation/What are Fallacies. Print the file Fallacies of Argument from The Writing Center and annotate for class discussion. Go to Miss Lewis s Blog: Argumentation/ What are Fallacies. Read Love is a Fallacy and write a comment. Read your friends comments, too. We ll talk in class. Write a 3-6 page Argumentative paper (drafting due dates and final due date TBA) Treat sources correctly: Type Works Cited page for the sources used in your paper, at least 5 Go to Miss Lewis s Blog: Argumentation/Research and Citation Helps Feb 18 post Print the file MLA Student Model. Annotate for class discussion Embed your sources in your paper Refer to the Modern Language Association section of Elements of Language pages 270-273 to create your Works Cited page Hand in a list of your Reading Resources, whether cited or not. You should have at least 10. Type your paper in the following format o 12 pt Arial o Double spaced o No title page What will you hand in? Argument unit questions from Norton Sampler; see handout Annotated copies of the following printouts: highlight and write notes as they apply to your paper Basic Principles of Argumentation Toulmin s Argument Model Fallacies of Argument from The Writing Center MLA Student Model Argument paper with Works Cited attached. List of reading resources, may be handwritten Miss Lewis 2009
Guidelines and Helps for Argumentative Writing The following argument writing guidelines are condensed but very informative. Annotate those points that you believe are important for you to remember. Keep in mind your topic and as you read start making some decisions about which appeals you will use. Write your decisions and even examples on the paper. THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ARGUMENTATIVE / PERSUASIVE WRITING Persuasive writing is writing that sets out to influence or change an audience's thoughts or actions. You are subjected to persuasion everyday from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. When you turn on your radio, are you listening to the CBC or some local station? The point is that understanding persuasive strategies can help you in two very important ways: 1) Knowing the strategies helps you analyze the strategies other people are using to persuade you. This way you can protect yourself when, for example, unethical marketers are trying to take advantage of you. 2) Knowing the strategies helps you to choose which is the most effective way to persuade an audience. How do we get others to accept our point of view? o by appealing to their reason o by appealing to their emotions o by the appeal of our good character APPEALING TO REASON: Remember that an argument is an appeal to a person's sense of reason; it is not a violent fight, dispute, or disagreement. It is a measured, logical way of trying to persuade others to agree with you. You must remember that there are at least two sides to every issue. If you take the attitude that there is only one side--your side--,you will quite likely alienate your reader. You need, then, to choose one side of an issue clearly in an effort to persuade others. If you're unsure of your own stance, how can you expect other people to assess, understand, and be convinced by your position? There are two basic types of reasoning processes: Deduction and Induction DEDUCTION: begins with a general principle or premise and draws a specific conclusion from it. Example: All people who smoke endanger their health. (major premise) My father smokes. (minor premise) Therefore, my father is endangering his health. (conclusion) Is this a strong argument? you need to offer evidence in support of your claims it may be impossible to prove a cause-effect link between my father's smoking and his declining health. INDUCTION: supports a general conclusion by examining specific facts or cases. Example: If I was to argue that my father was endangering his health, I might cite specific symptoms: His teeth are yellowish and he's lost a considerable amount of weight. He's no longer able to cycle his 25km every morning. Whenever he exerts himself physically, he ends up coughing extremely hard. Other Logical Appeals? You could cite smoking/cancer statistics, authority in the form of the Surgeon General, financial costs etc. APPEALING TO EMOTION: The logical appeal is certainly an extremely persuasive tool. However, our human nature also lets us be influenced by our emotions. One way of evoking emotion in your reader is to use vivid images. You could also offer vivid examples in support of your argument. Use language and/or images that are emotionally charged: Be careful, however, that when you use emotional appeal, you use it "legitimately." You should not use it as a substitute for logical and/or ethical appeals. Don't use emotional appeals to draw on stereotypes or manipulate our emotional fears. Don't use emotional appeal to get an automatic, knee-jerk reaction from someone. If you use emotionally charged language or examples simply to upset or anger an audience, you are using emotion illegitimately. Your use of emotional appeal shouldn't oversimplify a complicated issue. APPEALING TO OUR GOOD CHARACTER: The appeal of your ethics can occur on one or more of the following levels in any given argument: o Are you a reasonable person? (That is, are you willing to listen, compromise, concede points?)
o o o Are you authoritative? (Are you experienced and/or knowledgeable in the field you are arguing in?) Are you an ethical/moral person (Is what you're arguing for ethically sound/morally right) Are you concerned for the well-being of your audience? (To what extent will you benefit as a result of arguing from your particular position?) The ethical appeal is based on the audience's perception of the speaker. Therefore, the audience must trust the speaker in order to accept the arguments. Don't overlook ethical appeal, as it can be the most effective of the three. Elements of a Good Argument: Remember to identify any unfamiliar or uniquely used terms in your argument. If you forget to define your terms (or choose not to define them) you run the risk of alienating your audience, confusing them, or causing them to come to inappropriate conclusions. You Must Ensure that Your Evidence is Convincing: Convincing evidence will satisfy the following questions: o Is the evidence sufficient in volume? That is, is there enough evidence to present a strong, indisputable case. o Is the evidence trustworthy? Does it come from reliable, informed sources. o Is the evidence verifiable? That is, can you corroborate it through other sources. Is the evidence factual, or does it rest solely on opinion? APPEAL TO AUTHORITY: If you are drawing on an authoritative, expert figure to back up what you say, is the authority actually reliable? When trying to determine whether someone is an authority, consider the following elements: o Is your expert a current authority on the specific subject in question? o Is your expert up-to-date on the most current procedures, statistics, testing programs etc. o Is your expert viewed favorably by his/her peers? Is he/she respected in the field? o Is your expert associated with reputable organizations? o Is your expert as free of bias as possible? Remember that when quoting a source you must be careful that you don't accidentally (or intentionally) take the quote out of context, changing the original meaning. Keep in mind, as well, that your authority should be knowledgeable about the subject; he/she should not simply be someone famous. A celebrity endorsement is not quite the same as expert opinion (unless the celebrity is endorsing a product that she/he uses.) In addition, you want to ensure that the authority you are using is still current in the field. Remember that the most successful arguments often combine the three appeals. With that in mind, be very careful about relying solely on logic in an argument. Use a combination of appeals to allow for a more balanced argument. An audience may readily become resistant to your argument if you rest solely on a particular line of reasoning that they fundamentally disagree with. Improper Evaluation of Statistics: Using statistics, studies and surveys can be very persuasive if they are used ethically and accurately. Ask yourself the following questions before using this kind of evidence: o Were the survey questions as objective as possible? o Was the sample pool representative or biased? o Are the statistics accurately tabulated? o Have the statistics been taken out of context? o Is there enough context provided so that the reader gets a clear view of any pre-existing bias? Other Important Terms for Argument: o Concession: When you concede a point in an argument, you are saying that you actually agree with your opponent on a particular issue. Remember that this is not a sign of weakness. In fact, you are strengthening your ethical appeal because you are coming across as a reasonable person who is willing to see more than one side of the argument. o Refutation: When you deliberately, directly attack an opponent's argument, point by point, you are said to be "refuting" the argument. Anticipating and Addressing Counter-Arguments: When you are making your argument, you must remain aware of what points your opponents will likely take exception to. If you can anticipate what the likely objections will be, and then address them in your argument, you'll likely strengthen your position. Last reviewed 01-May-2007 UBC Writing Centre Ponderosa Annex C, Room 101D 2021 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 Canada
Toulmin's Argument Model Stephen Toulmin, an English philosopher and logician, identified elements of a persuasive argument. These give useful categories by which an argument may be analyzed. This is a good description of the elements of argumentation and what you are required to include in a paper of persuasion. Read it and annotate the points that you need to remember. Claim A claim is a statement that you are asking the other person to accept. This includes information you are asking them to accept as true or actions you want them to accept and enact. For example: You should use a hearing aid. Many people start with a claim, but then find that it is challenged. If you just ask me to do something, I will not simply agree with what you want. I will ask why I should agree with you. I will ask you to prove your claim. This is where grounds become important. Grounds The grounds (or data) is the basis of real persuasion and is made up of data and hard facts, plus the reasoning behind the claim. It is the 'truth' on which the claim is based. Grounds may also include proof of expertise and the basic premises on which the rest of the argument is built. The actual truth of the data may be less that 100%, as all data is based on perception and hence has some element of assumption about it. It is critical to the argument that the grounds are not challenged, because if they are, they may become a claim, which you will need to prove with even deeper information and further argument. For example: Over 70% of all people over 65 years have a hearing difficulty. Data is usually a very powerful element of persuasion, although it does affect people differently. Those who are dogmatic, logical or rational will more likely to be persuaded by data. Those who argue emotionally and who are highly invested in their own position will challenge it or otherwise try to ignore it. It is often a useful test to give something factual to the other person that disproves their argument, and watch how they handle it. Some will accept it without question. Some will dismiss it out of hand. Others will dig deeper, requiring more explanation. This is where the warrant comes into its own. Warrant A warrant links data and other grounds to a claim, legitimizing the claim by showing the grounds to be relevant. The warrant may be explicit or unspoken and implicit. It answers the question 'Why does that data mean your claim is true?' For example: A hearing aid helps most people to hear better. The warrant may be simple and it may also be a longer argument with additional sub-elements, including those described below. Warrants may be based on logos, ethos or pathos, or values that are assumed to be shared with the listener. In many arguments, warrants are often implicit and hence unstated. This gives space for the other person to question and expose the warrant, perhaps to show it is weak or unfounded. Backing The backing (or support) to an argument gives additional support to the warrant by answering different questions. For example: Hearing aids are available locally. Qualifier The qualifier (or modal qualifier) indicates the strength of the leap from the data to the warrant and may limit how universally the claim applies. They include words such as 'most', 'usually', 'always', 'sometimes'. Arguments may thus range from strong assertions to generally quite floppy or largely and often rather uncertain kinds of statement. For example: Hearing aids help most people. Another variant is the reservation, which may give the possibility of the claim being incorrect. Unless there is evidence to the contrary, hearing aids do no harm to ears. Qualifiers and reservations are much used by advertisers who are constrained not to lie. Thus they slip 'usually', 'virtually', 'unless' and so on into their claims. Rebuttal Despite the careful construction of the argument, there may still be counter-arguments that can be used. These may be rebutted either through a continued dialogue, or by pre-empting the counter-argument by giving the rebuttal
during the initial presentation of the argument. For example: There is a support desk that deals with technical problems. Any rebuttal is an argument in itself, and thus may include a claim, warrant, backing and so on. It also, of course can have a rebuttal. Thus if you are presenting an argument, you can seek both possible rebuttals and also rebuttals to the rebuttals. Toulmin, S. (1969). The Uses of Argument, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press By Harley Dickinson. http://changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/making_argument/toulmin.htm#reb#reb Practicing Fallacies Print and annotate the document on the blog in the post titled What are Fallacies. Read Love is a Fallacy and make a blog comment for me and your classmates to read. Practice spotting fallacies from the following simple statements: Avoid three logical fallacies. 1. Post hoc ergo propter hoc ( after it, therefore because of it ) The fallacy of assuming that just because y follows x, x causes y. 2. Either/Or thinking, also called the fallacy of the false dilemma. This reduces complex situations to two alternatives, one black and one white. 3. False Analogy, fallacy in which x and y are alike, but not in the features that matter to the argument. Let s Play: Discuss as a group why these statements are fallacious. Write down the fallacy and reason why it is not a sound claim. Report to the class your discussion. Spot the flawed logic in the following statements: Herbert Hoover single-handedly created the depression. FDR caused World War II. Surveys showed that married men are happier than unmarried men. Many people who go to the dentist have a lot of cavities. Marijuana use should remain illegal because it s a first step toward the more serious drugs; most heroin addicts started with marijuana. If you re not for recycling laws, you don t care about your environment. In the coming election you have a choice between voting for me or voting for fiscal irresponsibility. People trapped in the ghetto have two choices in life: be a menial laborer and starve or take to crime. It s incredible to me that in a culture that bans cockfights and bear baiting, we permit the same sort of thing with human beings. Gun control is wrong because the Constitution guarantees our right to keep and bear arms. A Student Model Go to Miss Lewis s blog and view the student model: Argumentation/Research and Citation Helps/ mla-model-essay-with-annotations-of-rules. This is a good model for correct use of argumentation strategies, organization, and citation. You don t have to follow the model precisely, but it does give you a good reference for what has to be accomplished in your argument paper.