Annotated Works Consulted
Step One Find the sources Tip: Find more than 12 sources, because some may not be as informative or ontopic as they first appear.
Keeping Your Research Organized Keep a folder labeled Secondary Research Within that collect copies of all the articles and books, etc. that you think may be useful for your argumentative essay (Yes, you should print them out) You want to find sources that are biased as well as those that are objective You want to know the opposing perspectives arguments
Keeping Your Research Organized As you read each source, annotate it for the information you are looking to evaluate: What kind of source it is The main idea or claim of the source The perspectives on your research question it discusses The support for the main idea, claim, or perspective Evidence used for perspectives Assumptions the major voices make about your issue The tone of the author The credibility of the author and the publication Words or phrases that indicate bias or objectivity How in-depth the coverage of your topic is How useful this source might be for you in building an argument
Keeping Your Research Organized On your computer or on a sheet of paper, keep a running Works Consulted list in MLA format If you think you may want to use a source, add it to the list as you go and try to evaluate it in a paragraph below the citation
Sources: Types of Publications Scholarly Peer Reviewed More objective More jargon Authors are experts More research Citations obvious Usually lots of text / not many pictures Popular Editor publishes May be more subjective Laymen s terms/everyday words used Authors are often reporters Often little research Citation method often unclear Often has pictures/graphs
Credibility and Logic Ethos: The author and publication s credibility How much do you trust the source? What credentials or experience does the source have regarding this issue? Is the figure wellknown? Logos: The use of facts, reason, logical evidence How strong are the author s reasons? Do the reasons clearly connect to the claim? Does the author avoid fallacies?
Emotional Appeal Does the author try to evoke emotion? If so, what emotions? Does the author responsibly use emotional appeals or does the writer try to overly rely on them?
Logos (AIC p. 139) Part of evaluating logos involves analyzing the reasoning of an argument Logos provides an overall framework of which ethos and pathos are a part Although logos may not inspire people as much as ethos and pathos it often keeps people from acting rashly or foolishly
Logos (cont.) When we supply reasons for our claims, we learn why we hold the opinions we do We may discover, though, that some cherished opinions have no rational basis A logical argument consists of three part: claims, reasons, and assumptions
Parts of an argument Claim: Central argument (p. 141) Grounds: Support for argument in the form of reasons Evidence: examples, authorities statements, statistics, facts, theoretical examples Assumptions: belief that connects the claim and grounds
Reasons Reasons are statements that can be factual or opinionated Claim: You should wear a heavy coat today Reason: Because it is snowing.
Chains of Reasons Some reasons may require support in the form of more reasons or evidence to be persuasive. You should wear a heavy coat today because it will probably snow. This reason may require more to be persuasive. Example: I saw the weather report and the meteorologist said there will be a 90% chance of snow.
Non Sequiturs Some reasons may be implied rather than stated If so, you will need to reconstruct these links in the chain based on what you can infer from the argument You should buy Gilette s razor because we are showing you a picture of Tiger Woods expertly playing golf. The chain of reasoning is implied Tiger Woods plays golf expertly Tiger Woods uses Gilette s razor Tiger Woods using a Gilette razor has some correlation to his expert golf playing His expert gold playing has made him successful. If you use Gilette s razor you will be successful like Tiger Woods.
Non Sequitur: Another Example You should wear a coat today because I m going shopping. Because I am going shopping, I won t be able to pick you up today. Because I can t pick you up, you will have to walk home. Because it is cold outside, you will want to wear a coat.
Note: Most of us don t speak or even write step by step through our arguments We hop, skip, and jump around As you evaluate different source s arguments, you want to try to construct the chain of reasoning as explicitly as you can so as to understand how logical/illogical the argument s reason is
Assumptions Claims Reasons Assumptions Arguments, even with clear claims and reasons, often don t make much sense without assumptions They are the glue that hold the reasons to the claim They are sometimes explicitly stated but more often implied
Identifying Assumptions Claim: Bill Clinton was a good president. Reason: He was skilled at foreign policy. Assumption: Any president who is skilled at foreign policy is a good president.
Identifying Assumptions Claim: You should visit Paris. Reason: They have the world s best art museums. Assumption: You should visit a place that has the best art museums.
Practice Practice identifying the claim, reason, and assumption(s) behind these statements See handout
Assumptions (a.k.a. warrants ) refer to the values and beliefs people hold Are opinions, not facts Are shaped by our family, culture, education, region, friends, ideas, etc.