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"a reasoned assertion about a debatable issue."
When you write an argument, your purpose is NOT to win, but to state and support your POSITION on an issue.
"What is true?"
Summarizes a position before either refuting it, or defending it.
REFUTATIONS: expose the reasoning as inadequate/contradicts the position.
DEFENSES: shows that criticisms are unreasonable and unconvincing.
"What is good?"
The writer evaluates an event, artifact, practice, or institution, judging by principles and criteria.
"What should be done?"
These are designed to cause change in the world.
Readers are encouraged to see a situation in a specific way and to take action.
Recognizing an Argument
remember, an argument means a path of reasoning aimed at persuading people to accept or reject an assertion. The assertion MUST BE ARGUABLE!
Is this arguable?
"Women should be allowed to try out for all college sports teams."
Three common ways to analyze arguments are:
1. Types of reasoning
2. Toulmin method
3. Audience appeal
Examples using this statement: "Cyberbullying causes depression."
Philosopher Stephen Toulmin's analysis of arguments is based on claims (assertions about a topic), grounds, (reasons and evidence), and warrants (assumptions or principles that link the grounds to the claims).
"The death penalty should be abolished because if it is not abolished innocent people could be executed."
CLAIM: The death penalty should be abolished.
GROUNDS: Innocent people could be executed.
WARRANT: It is not possible to be completely sure of a person's guilt. (counter)
Let's use the method on the argument below:
"Cyberbullying causes depression because suicide rates of bullied teens have gone up 90% in the past 10 years."
Arguments support claims by way of three types of appeals to readers:
ETHOS: (character/ethics) present authors as fair, reasonable, and trustworthy, backed up with the testimony of experts.
PATHOS: (passion/emotion) engage an audience's feeling and invoke beliefs that the author and audience share.
LOGOS: (logic) offers facts, including statistics, as well as reasoning, inductive and deductive.
Can you think of everyday examples of these appeals?
A mistake/error in logic.
A conclusion that does not logically follow from the evidence presented or one that is based on irrelevant evidence:
ex: "Students who default on loans have no sense of responsibility."
Why is this a fallacy?
an argument that falsely assumes that because one thing happens after another, the first event was a cause of the second event.
ex: "I drank green tea, and my headache went away: therefore, green tea makes headaches go away."
Why is this a fallacy?
a comparison in which a surface similarity masks a significant difference.
ex: "Governments and businesses both work within a budget to accomplish their goals. Just as business must focus on the bottom line, so should government."
Why is this a fallacy?
An argument that diverts attention from the true issue by concentrating on an irrelevant one.
ex: "Hemingway's book Death in the Afternoon is not successful because it glorifies the brutal sport of bullfighting."
Why is this a fallacy?
An argument that depends on going along with the crowd, on the false assumption that truth can be determined by a popularity contest.
ex: "Given the sales of that book, its claims must be true."
Why is this a fallacy?
A personal attack on someone who disagrees with you rather than on the person's argument.
ex: "The district attorney is a lazy political hack, so naturally she opposes streamlining the court system."
Why is this a fallacy?
An argument that restates the point rather than supporting it with reasonable evidence.
ex: "The wealthy should pay more taxes because taxes should be higher for people with higher incomes."
Why is this a fallacy?
The idea that a complicated issue can be resolved by resorting to one of only two options when in reality there are additional choices.
ex: "Either the state legislature will raise taxes or our state's economy will falter."
Why is this a fallacy?
1. College students should have fewer required courses and more electives because they should have more control over their own education.
2. The drinking age should be lowered to eighteen because that is the legal age for voting and serving in the military.
What is the arguer's assumptions?
Figuring out what is at issue on a topic that you choose...
Personal feelings and accepted facts CANNOT serve as an argument's thesis because they are not debatable.
example of a non-debatable thesis:
"I feel that developing nations should not suffer food shortages."
How can we make this debatable?
A strong, debatable thesis needs to be supported and developed with sound reasoning and carefully documented evidence.
A well-developed argument paper includes more than one type of claim and more than one kind of evidence.
It also pays attention to the COUNTERARGUMENTS, substantiated claims that do not support your position.
Address potential counterarguments by:
*Use the "Building an argument" handout to help with creating your argument outline!
To promote dialogue with your readers, look for COMMON GROUND
Sometimes called the "Rogerian argument" after psychologist Carl Rogers, the common-ground approach is important in your introduction, where it can build bridges with readers who might otherwise become to defensive or annoyed to read further.
If possible, return to that common ground at the end of your argument.
Can you think of an example of a common ground argument?
By the time you reach your conclusion, you should restate your position by emphasizing it's importance, and you should be able to answer the "So what?" question!
*Go over the "Arguments checklist" handout to be sure your paper is adequately developed!