Lesso 8: Argumets INTRODUCTION Argumets are part of daily life. Whether a perso is passioate about his or her poit of view or simply wats to make a poit, the proper approach to persuasio or argumet makes all the differece i whether a poit of view is accepted by others. Some argumets, such as who is the all-time best quarterback or whether Germa cars are superior to America cars, are merely opiio. But whe it comes to public-policy issues, like capital puishmet or civil rights, ad persoal-fulfillmet issues, like where to live or how to sped leisure time, differeces i viewpoit ca be examied through soud ad reasoed argumets. As a educated citize, you ll beefit from learig the art of persuadig others to your poit of view. OBJECTIVES Whe you complete this lesso, you ll be able to List the basic parts of a argumet Describe effective strategies for readig a argumet Explai the aalytical skills used i critically evaluatig a argumet Idetify strategies for writig effective argumet essays L e s s o 8 161
ASSIGNMENT 26: THE ELEMENTS OF ARGUMENT Read the followig assigmet. The read pages 501 512 i your textbook. Be sure to complete the self-check to gauge your progress. Itroductio You might wi a persoal argumet by sheer force of persoality or persistece, but a writte argumet takes plaig ad orgaizatio to esure your poits are made ad your strategy is effective. Your writte argumet requires you to make a claim ad the prove it by providig reliable sources that support your poit of view. You ll eed to employ reliable methods of persuasio to covice your readers, icludig evidece ad reasos, but you might also appeal to their emotios, eeds, ad values to wi them over to your way of thikig o your topic. Readig Highlights Pages 501 506 The basic parts of a argumet iclude A issue A claim Support The followig is a example of a well-costructed argumet: I thik the tow coucil should isist that the hedge at the corer of Grove Street ad Secod Aveue be trimmed (1). That hedge obstructs drivers visio ad costitutes a hazard (2). Ad that s ot just my opiio; the police have recorded seve accidets at that corer over the last two moths (3). The issue is framed (1), a claim is made (2), ad support is offered for the claim (3). Figure 20.1 o page 503 offers a example of a graphic orgaizer for a argumet essay. 162 Advaced Compositio
Make sure you uderstad the three types of claims ad the various types of support preseted. Whe you write a argumet, your thesis statemet will geerally frame your claim. I some cases, your claim may be implied. (However, you must iclude your thesis i the argumet essay you ll write for this lesso s exam.) Without solid support, however, a argumet is just a usubstatiated opiio. Support for a claim ca be based o reasos, evidece, or appeals to emotio, eeds, or values. By usig the proper approach for your audiece ad backig your claim with solid iformatio ad ideas, you ca build a strog argumet. You ca practice recogizig the elemets of a argumet by seeig if you ca fid claims ad support i advertisemets as you read ad watch televisio. Be especially alert for appeals, which are the basis of most advertisig. Pages 506 507 Every argumet, by its ature, has opposig poits of view. By aticipatig other poits of view as you write your argumet, you ca refute them as part of your essay. You ca ackowledge a opposig view by admittig the part that has some merit or showig how the oppositio is weak or isufficiet. The keystoe of a effective argumet is its coclusio. A strog fiish will leave your reader with a fial impressio of your argumet ad its stregth. Pages 507 512 Read Quie Sember s Orga Doatio: A Life-Savig Gift, payig careful attetio to the highlighted areas the margi aotatios, which poit out the author s thesis ad the basic parts of the argumet. Afterwards, read Bria Palmer s essay, Tippig Is a Abomiatio. As you read it, try to idetify the differet elemets of his argumet. The check your evaluatio agaist the graphic orgaizer for Palmer s essay, which appears i Figure 20.2 o page 515. Lesso 8 163
Self-Check 26 1. Create a graphic orgaizer for the essay Orga Doatio: A Life-Savig Gift o pages 507 510. Questios 2 6: Reread Bria Palmer s essay, Tippig is a Abomiatio, ad aalyze it by aswerig the followig questios: 2. What does Palmer mea whe he says that tippig is a abomiatio? a. Tippig is a good source of extra icome for restaurat workers. b. Tippig has somethig to do with the digestive system. c. Tippig is too complex for large groups of people diig together. d. Tippig is a disgraceful custom. 3. Accordig to Palmer, what are two primary egative cosequeces of tippig? a. Tippig perpetuates racism ad does t icetivize hard work. b. Tippig perpetuates sexism ad does t icetivize promotios. c. Tippig perpetuates capitalism ad does t icetivize revolutio. d. Tippig perpetuates ageism ad does t icetivize early retiremet. 4. Accordig to Palmer, why do restaurat owers like the custom of tippig? a. Tippig is the best way to reward hard work. b. Tippig allows owers to pay their employees less. c. Tippig allows a equitable distributio of tips amog all the restaurat employees. d. Tippig creates a class system at the restaurat that owers ca maipulate. 5. What is a tip credit? a. A tax beefit that allows restaurats to pay employees less tha miimum wage b. A tip charged directly to the customer s credit card c. A surcharge that makes up for isufficiet tips d. A tax credit for people makig uder $15,000 per year (Cotiued) 164 Advaced Compositio
Self-Check 26 6. What does Palmer propose as oe solutio to the problem of tippig? a. Ecourage larger tips so that the dishwashers ad bussers ca have a share. b. Abolish the tip credit o both state ad federal levels. c. Lear to live with the problem of tippig. d. Make tippig illegal. Check your aswers with those o page 199. Lesso 8 165
ASSIGNMENT 27: STRATEGIES FOR READING ACTIVELY AND THINKING CRITICALLY Read the followig assigmet. The read pages 512 525 i your textbook. Be sure to complete the self-check to gauge your progress. Itroductio Although it s easy to react emotioally whe you read a argumet you do t agree with, remember that i aalyzig it, you re lookig for a valid claim supported by acceptable reasos ad evidece. Eve if you disagree with the claim, you might recogize that the argumet is soud. If the author has strog credetials ad is published i a reliable periodical, such as a professioal joural or a respected ewspaper, the argumet also has more credibility. Before you reject a argumet, make sure you have sufficiet kowledge o the subject to judge it fairly. Readig Highlights Pages 512 514 Be prepared to read a argumet at least twice ad pay attetio to the title, the author, ad the publicatio. If you re ot familiar with the topic or the author, do a little research to gai some isight ito the topic, the publicatio i which the essay or article appeared, ad the author s credetials. More tha oce a humorist like Dave Barry, who s metioed i your text, has received letters rebukig him for his foolish otios, whe i fact he was usig exaggeratio ad sarcasm to make his poit. While you re readig, test your uderstadig by takig otes, creatig a graphic orgaizer, or writig a summary. 166 Advaced Compositio
Pages 516 518 To do a proper job of aalyzig a argumet, you have to idetify the writer s purpose, the audiece, the claim, ad the support for the claim. Support may iclude factual evidece, appeals, or a mixture of the two. You also must assess the writer s credibility based o his or her credetials, as well as the essay itself. A author stregthes his or her credibility by adequately addressig opposig views that is, by icludig a refutatio i his or her argumet. Look for emotioal appeals that are either glarigly obvious if poorly preseted or effectively maipulative if doe well. Much political ad commercial rhetoric is characterized by deceptive claims ad appeals based o emotioal appeals. Study Table 20.1 o page 517 for examples of ufair emotioal appeals. Also, be o the alert for logical errors, such as rhetorical fallacies, or errors i reasoig. Make sure you study the types of faulty reasoig i Table 20.2 o page 518, because oe of these mistakes i a essay ca destroy ay credibility the writer may have. Uless you re aware of these tactics, however, they may seem to make sese whe preseted skillfully. Pages 518 525 To apply your skills, you ll read ad aalyze two essays. The first essay, by Peter Bregma, opposes the values of multitaskig ad offers six bulleted poits to support his thesis. The secod essay, by David Silverma o pages 522 524, defeds multitaskig ad offers four couterargumets that oppose Bregma s thesis. For ow, simply read the essays. You ll aalyze the essays i your self-check. Lesso 8 167
Self-Check 27 1. Tur to page 521 of your text, after the Bregma essay. Respod to all four items uder Thikig Critically about Argumet. 2. Tur to page 524 of your text, after the Silverma essay. Respod to all five items uder Aalyzig the Writer s Techique. 3. Usig Table 20.1 o page 517 as a referece, idetify the ufair appeal to emotio i each of the followig statemets. a. Folks, you all kow me. I ve stood up for your best iterests ever sice eighth grade, whe I was studet coucil presidet. b. These sigle mothers ad I bet you ve kow a few ofte work two or three jobs ad ca hardly feed their kids, much less sped time readig to their kids whe they come home exhausted at the ed of the day. c. Why would Jake Cleaver give a fig about your low wages ad log hours? He was bor with a silver spoo i his mouth. He pays his gardeers less tha miimum wage! d. Oprah Wifrey is agaist the war, which proves my brother is right. Check your aswers with those o page 200. 168 Advaced Compositio
ASSIGNMENT 28: WRITING ARGUMENTS Read the followig assigmet. The read pages 526 551 i your textbook. Be sure to complete the self-check to gauge your progress. You ve leared to idetify the elemets of a argumet; ow tur your attetio to the art of writig argumets. As you ve gathered by ow, a properly coceived argumet makes a poit; the sharper the poit, the better the argumet. A effective argumet also provides logical, coheret, evidecebased support for a specific claim. These are issues to bear i mid as you approach the process of preparig, orgaizig, ad writig a argumet essay your fial examiatio essay for this course. Readig Highlights Pages 527 529 The key to preparig a good argumet is makig sure you have a issue that s cotroversial eough to egage readers. Oce you have your topic ad have arrowed ad defied your focus, you ca work o your claim. Study the material about arrowig a geeral idea to a specific claim o pages 528 529 i your textbook. Pages 529 531 A good argumet requires soud evidece that s ot oly relevat, but also well itegrated ito the orgaizatio of your argumet. Covicig evidece requires rigorous logic. Be sure you uderstad the differece betwee iductive ad deductive reasoig. Iductive reasoig gathers evidece that poits to a coclusio. The followig is a example: Evidece: The polar ice caps are meltig. Evidece: Glaciers aroud the world are meltig. Lesso 8 169
Evidece: The hottest years o record have occurred over the last decade. Coclusio: Global warmig is a real ad pressig issue. Deductive reasoig begis with a major premise, proceeds to a mior premise, ad the to a coclusio. Here s a example: Major premise: All birds have fuctioal or vestigial feathered wigs. Mior premise: Sog sparrows have wigs. Coclusio: Sog sparrows are birds. This is a rather simple example of a syllogism, which is the basic form of a deductive argumet. Study the examples i your text. Pages 531 532 Audiece aalysis is a major part of preparig a argumet. Are you approachig a agreeig, eutral, or disagreeig audiece? It ca be challegig to sway a audiece that s eutral or o the fece. For the disagreeig audiece, your text suggests fidig some kid of commo groud betwee your positio ad the opposig positio of your audiece. For example, I kow we seem poles apart o the immigratio issue, but I thik we ca agree that we wat to live i a fair ad just atio. Humor ad wit ca also help softe a cool or ureceptive audiece. Pages 532 534 If your argumet does t stir a bit of passio i you, it s ulikely to move the emotios of your audiece. Your objective i a compellig argumet is to move hearts ad mids i favor of your argumet by appealig to your audiece s eeds ad values. O the other had, a soud argumet ca be made better by recogizig opposig poits of view, whether you ackowledge, accommodate, or refute them. 170 Advaced Compositio
Pages 534 539 You ll have a chace to see the characteristics of effective argumet skillfully employed i the essay Secod Chaces, Social Forgiveess, ad the Iteret by Amitai Etzioi ad Radhika Bhat. As you read this essay, study the highlights ad margi otes to see how differet elemets of argumet are used. Pages 539 543 Before you proceed further, study the sample graphic orgaizer i Figure 21.2 o page 540, which you may fid helpful i sortig out the parts of a argumet essay you pla to write. The read William Safire s essay Abolish the Pey o pages 541 542. Safire is a master of the art of editorial writig, but do t be sidetracked by his wit. Look for the familiar elemets of a argumet. Afterwards, study the graphic orgaizer o page 543, which offers a visual guide to the orgaizatio of his essay. Pages 544 551 Because your fial exam will be a argumet essay, carefully study the steps outlied i the guided writig assigmet sectio i this chapter. The topic for your exam will be assiged, but you may fid it useful to practice usig oe of the topics suggested i this guided writig sectio. Lesso 8 171
Self-Check 28 1. Tur to Exercise 21.1 o page 528. Choose two of the five issues for your respose. 2. Tur to Exercise 21.2 o page 529. Choose two of the five issues for your respose. 3. Tur to Exercise 21.3 o page 532. For oe of the three claims, discuss arguig it before three kids of audieces, as specified i the istructios. 4. Tur to Exercise 21.4 o page 534. Reviewig the three claims give i Exercise 21.3, idetify opposig viewpoits ad discus your approach to ackowledgig, accommodatig, or refutig them. Respod to all three claims. Check your aswers with those o page 201. ASSIGNMENT 29: ANALYZING AND RESPONDING TO ARGUMENTS Read the followig assigmet. The read pages 552 555 i Chapter 21 of your textbook. Be sure to complete the selfcheck to gauge your progress. Itroductio I this assigmet, you ll begi by readig a fasciatig studet essay by James Sturm called Pull the Plug o Explicit Lyrics. Your objective, made evidet i the self-check, will be pursuig a extesive aalysis of the piece that will help you better uderstad how to aalyze ad respod to a argumet.
Readig Highlights Pages 552 555 Before you begi readig Sturm s essay, Pull the Plug o Explicit Lyrics, cosiderer the title ad take a momet to ask yourself a couple of questios. Should middle-school studets have access to music with explicit lyrics? What does the title reveal about the author s viewpoit? As you read ad reread the essay, study the highlights ad aotatios that poit out the author s thesis statemet, his reasoig, his use of trasitios, ad his accommodatio of opposig viewpoits. As you read, make otatios as you thik about your feeligs ad reactios to the essay. Fially, feel free to thik about your persoal experiece ad attitudes about presetday popular music. I what ways have vulgar or suggestive lyrics either attracted or repulsed you? Self-Check 29 The self-check exercises for this Assigmet ca be foud o page 555. 1. Aalyzig the Writer s Techique: Respod to items 1 ad 3. 2. Thikig Critically about Argumet: Respod to all five items. 3. Respodig to the Readig: Respod to all three items. Check your aswers with those o page 203. After you ve completed the self-check, proceed to the essay examiatio for Lesso 8. Lesso 8 173
NOTES 174 Advaced Compositio
Lesso 8: Essay: Argumet Objectives Use the writig process to write a argumetative essay Write a effective thesis statemet Develop paragraphs usig topic seteces, adequate detail, supportig evidece, ad trasitios Develop critical readig skills Use resposible research methods to locate appropriate secodary sources Use Moder Laguage Associatio (MLS) citatio ad documetatio style to referece secodary source material correctly ad appropriately Quote, paraphrase, ad summarize secodary source material correctly ad appropriately Use the covetios of stadard writte America Eglish to produce a correct, well-writte essay. Itroductio The widespread accessibility of moder techology has give us may ew possibilities. We re ow able to obtai iformatio more quickly ad easily tha ever before. We ca keep i touch family ad frieds olie ad make frieds with people we may ever meet. We re able to program destiatios ito avigatio systems ad follow spoke directios without ever cosultig a map. However, may believe that this costat access to differet kids of techology makes us more distracted, less able to commuicate meaigfully with each other, ad geerally less capable. Topic: To write a 2,200 2,500 word argumet essay i which you idetify oe facet of moder techology that s debatable or cotroversial because people may or may ot rely o it too much G r a d e d P r o j e c t 175
Purpose: To persuade your audiece that this particular facet of moder techology either should or should t be limited due to people s reliace o it Methods: To use at least six secodary sources to support your argumet icludig 1. A miimum of three articles from Expaded Academic ASAP 2. A miimum of three secodary sources that you have evaluated accordig to the guidelies i your textbook (569 573). Audiece: Juior ad seior-level distace educatio studets erolled at Pe Foster College The Writig Process Prewritig 1. Sice you re workig with a very broad subject, techology, you eed to arrow it dow to a maageable level. a. Review Chapter 5, Prewritig, i your textbook, specifically Choosig ad Narrowig a topic (98 107). b. Reread Chapter 21 i your textbook, Writig Argumets, to help you choose a sufficietly arrow topic for your argumet essay (526 529) i. Your argumet should make a claim. ii.your argumet may also call for actio. 2. Use oe of the techiques from Chapter 5 (freewritig, braistormig, clusterig, ad so o) to develop your ideas for a topic. a. Remember, techology is too broad to write about i a short essay, so you eed to focus o a specific facet of techology. 3. Whe you have a list of possible topics for your essay, choose oe or two to explore i detail with more freewritig or braistormig (107 117). 176 Graded Project
a. Write as much as possible based o what you kow, thik, believe to be the case, or have heard about your topic. b. What do you thik should be doe to address the issues you ve raised? 4. Draft a tetative claim (545) that represets your poit of view o the topic. Because a argumet essay also ackowledges the opposig poit of view (533 34), draft a claim that represets the alterative poit of view ad braistorm reasos ad evidece you kow, thik, believe to be the case, or have heard about this side of the issue. Research 1. Your research is itegral to your argumet essay; however, it plays oly a supportig role. At this poit, oly after you have gathered cotet i the prewritig process, should you begi the research process, because a. Your use of secodary sources should be limited. b. Secodary sources provide evidece to support your claims. c. You should t allow secodary sources to take over your argumet. 2. Use your prewritig to guide your research. Look for evidece that will help to cofirm what you kow, clarify your poit of view, or correct your mistake beliefs. 3. Go to the library. Your Pe Foster digital library provides resources that will help you to meet the research requiremets for your essay, but keep i mid that research i a library, eve a digital oe, is ot like searchig olie. To lear more, visit the Pe Foster Library site. 4. Keep careful otes o your sources ad a workig bibliography i order to avoid plagiarism. Graded Project 177
Orgaizig 1. Use the graphic orgaizer o page 540 to orgaize your argumet before you begi draftig. a. Idetify each reaso clearly ad provide related supportig evidece so that you ca see your argumet i outlie form. b. The outlie will help you to idetify the parts of your argumet that do t fit your thesis statemet, where you eed more evidece, ad where you ca reorgaize poits to make the overall essay more persuasive. Draftig 1. Whe you ve completed your graphic orgaizer or outlie, follow your pla to draft your essay. a. Use topic seteces to state your reasos, develop the body of each paragraph logically usig the evidece you foud i your research 2. Review Chapter 24 o icorporatig research ito your essay. Be sure to a. itroduce borrowed cotet b. properly puctuate quotatios c. provide i-text, or parethetical, citatios for all secodary sources i MLA format d. use MLA format for your list of works cited 3. Use trasitios to help guide you readers to your ext poit ad to move smoothly throughout the argumet Revisig 1. Review the Flowchart for Revisig a Argumet Essay (550 551) i your textbook. 2. Use the revisio strategies to revise ay parts of the essay where you aswered o. 178 Graded Project
3. Be sure that you ve edited ad proofread (549) your etire essay. Assigmet Checklist 1. Argumet essay, icludig list of works cited Submit Your Exam Esure your exam follows the proper format for submissio: 1-ich margis o all sides 12 pt. Times New Roma fot Double spacig 1. Use the header fuctio i your word-processig program to eter your persoal idetificatio ad exam iformatio: Studet Name ID Number Exam Number Street Address City, State, Zip Email Address 2. Save your exam with the file ame: IDNumber_ExamNumber_LastName_FirstName 3. Save your exam i either MS Word or Rich Text Format (.rtf). If a istructor ca t ope the file you submit, it will be retured ugraded. 4. Whe your exam has bee evaluated ad retured to you, you will be able to review the istructor s commets by clickig o the View Project butto ext to the grade ad dowloadig the Istructor Feedback File. If you have trouble viewig the file, please cotact a istructor. Graded Project 179
SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT To submit your essay exam, follow these steps: 1. Go to http://www.pefoster.edu. 2. Log i to your studet portal. 3. Click o Take Exam ext to the lesso you re workig o. 4. Follow the istructios provided to complete your exam. Be sure to keep a backup copy of ay files you submit to the school! If you choose to mail the project, the followig is the correct mailig address: Pe Foster Att: Studet Service Ceter 925 Oak Street Scrato, PA 18515-0001 Tip: Review the evaluatio rubric o the followig page before submittig your essay. 180 Graded Project
ARGUMENT ESSAY RUBRIC Skill Realized Skill Developig Skill Emergig Not Show Thesis: Audiece, Purpose, ad Topic How well does the thesis establish a clearly defied positio o the assiged topic? Does the thesis appeal to the purpose, ad appeal to the audiece? Developmet How isightfully ad covicigly does the writer apply the appropriate developmet methods to explore the thesis through assertios, evidece, ad aalytic explaatio? Icorporatio of Source Material How logically ad effectively are paraphrases, summaries, ad direct quotatios from varied, relevat, ad reliable sources itegrated with the writer s style for purpose ad audiece? Orgaizatio How gracefully does the writer icorporate trasitioal words ad coective phrasig with appropriate paragraphig to guide the reader through the presetatio? Style ad Voice How eergetically ad cosistetly does the writer iteract with both the topic ad audiece while usig varied, cocrete, active dictio? To what extet does the writer achieve a atural, pleasat rhythm, particularly through setece fluecy? MLA Citatio Did the writer accurately ad correctly documet the required umber of sources followig MLA citatio style both i-text ad Works Cited? Covetios At what level does the writer demostrate correct ad effective stadard writte America Eglish while also meetig the required legth ad submissio format for the assigmet? Format ad Legth Did the paper meet the required legth (2,000-2,500 words) ad formattig requiremets? 10 9 8 7.5 7 4 0 25 23 21 19 17 10 0 10 9 8 7.5 7 4 0 15 14 13 12 11 6 0 15 14 13 12 11 6 0 10 9 8 7.5 7 3 0 10 9 8 7.5 7 3 0 5 4.5 4 3 1 0 Graded Project 181