Thursday, February 2, 2012

Day 5: Argumentative Structure

We will begin by spending 10 minutes in groups to prepare for group presentations.

After that each group will present. As the groups are presenting. The audience should identify the purpose of the group that is presenting and explain what they did or said that supports your answer.

Argumentative Essays
Thesis Statements
The thesis statement for argumentative essays is called a claim. An argumentative essay must have a claim. A claim should:
-Support only one side of an issue
-Be specific
-Should be it arguable (i.e. not obvious like "the sky is blue")
-Focused on one main idea

Audience
Audience 1: Agrees with your thesis statement (Agreeing audience)
Audience 2: Neither agrees nor disagrees with your thesis statement (Neutral Audience)
Audience 3: Disagrees with your thesis statement (Disagreeing audience)

For an audience that agrees with your claim you can persuade them to take some kind of action. For an audience that is neutral towards your claim you can emphasis the importance of the issue being presented. For an audience that disagrees with your claim you can find some common opinions or perspectives with them and then try to persuade them based on logic instead of emotion.

Reasons and Evidence
Reasons
In this class the reasons you believe in that support your claim will sometimes be called main points. Do not confuse main points with the main point of the essay (the claim).

Read the following essay prompt. Some groups will develop two main points that support that teachers and students SHOULD be friends on Facebook and some groups will develop two main points that support that teachers and students SHOULD NOT be friends on Facebook.

Prompt: Do you believe that teachers and students should be friends on Facebook?

Evidence
Once your group has decided your reasons, develop three pieces of evidence for each reason that explain or support your reasons.

Example
Claim: Relaxing plagiarism rules may harm both the University's and students’ reputations.

Reason 1: If it is known that your University is lax on plagiarism, your research may not be trusted as others may think you are prone to plagiarizing.

Evidence 1: Universities with high standards have students who publish more articles (statistical data)

Evidence 2: Proper research training is essential for successful researchers (from a published source)

Evidence 3: My cousin went to such a university and he was not offered a job because of doubts about his "original" research (personal story / anecdote)

Argumentative Writing Terminology
Types of Evidence
Anecdotal(weak) – story of someone’s experience; weak; good for counterargument
Testimony(Somewhat Strong) – reference to an outside source; moderate
Statistical(Somewhat Strong) - empirical analysis or methodical scientific study; moderate
Analogical(Fairly Strong) – modeling by comparing to an already understood concept; strong

Note: an in-depth description of each type of evidence can be found HERE.

Types of Reasoning
Inductive Reasoning - Conclusion is based on several pieces of evidence
Deductive Reasoning - Conclusion is based on true statements

Inductive reasoning is like the Claim-Reason-Evidence task above. Deductive reasoning is similar to the following example.

-Popular brands of apple juice do not meet government standards for inorganic arsenic levels.
-Inorganic arsenic causes cancer
-Popular brands of apple juice can cause cancer.
Source: (Unhealthy Levels of Arsenic and Lead Found in Apple and Grape Juices–What Parents Can Do)

Responding Opposing Views
There are three ways to respond to the opposition:

Acknowledge - you admit the opposition exists and show you have considered it; admit there are some things that cannot be changed or explained or argued away

Example: Readers opposed to mandatory school uniforms may argue that a uniform requirement will not eliminate peer pressure because students will use other objects to gain status (backpacks, hairstyles, cell phones, etc.) You could acknowledge this by admitting there is no way to stop teenagers from finding ways to compete for status.

Accommodate - acknowledge your readers' concerns and accept some of them by using them in your argument

Example: In arguing for mandatory school uniforms, you might accomodate readers' view that uniforms will not eliminate peer pressure by arguing that the uniforms will eliminate one major and expensive means of competing for status.

Refute - demonstrate the weaknesses of the opposition's argument

Responding to Arguments Practice
Groups that supported that students and teachers should be friends on Facebook and groups that supported that students and teachers should not be friends on Facebook should switch computers and create counter arguments.

If you need more information on how to structure a counterargument, you can review a POWERPOINT ON COUNTERARGUMENTS.

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