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Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers Chapter Ten: Arguing. Steve Wood Tri-County Community College. Introduction. An argument is any attempt to convince or persuade someone. All writing is argumentative. Effective Arguments. The Parts of an Effective Argument
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Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers Chapter Ten: Arguing Steve Wood Tri-County Community College
Introduction • An argument is any attempt to convince or persuade someone. • All writing is argumentative.
Effective Arguments The Parts of an Effective Argument • Claim -- the point that the person making the argument is trying to get across • Appeal -- the means by which the person making the argument is attempting to prove the claim
Claims There are four basic types of claims. • Often, arguments involve combinations of the four types. • Each type carries with it a different set of issues.
Types of Claims • Claims of Fact -- “X is true.” • Claims of Value -- “X is good.” • Claims of Cause-Effect -- “X causes/caused Y.” • Claims of Solution-Policy -- “We should do X.”
Appeals There are three commonly used types of appeals. • Logical Appeals • Emotional Appeals • Character Appeals
Logical Appeals • Logical appeals are appeals based on reason, logical, and factual evidence. • Evidence might include statistics, individual facts, examples, or authoritative opinion. • Logic can be either inductive or deductive.
Inductive Logic Inductive logic is the process by which we proceed from a given set of facts to a generalization based on those facts. For example: • Fact 1: The Atlanta Braves have been to the World Series five of the last nine seasons. • Fact 2: The Atlanta Braves went to the World Series last year. • Therefore, the Atlanta Braves will go to the World Series this year.
Inductive Logic 2 This is also the principle behind scientific observation. If a scientist performs a certain experiment 100 times and the results are the same, then he/she uses inductive logic to posit a conclusion.
Deductive Logic Deductive logic is the application of inductive logic through the formation of a line of reasoning called a syllogism. For example: • All Greeks are mortal. • Socrates is Greek. • Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
Deductive Logic 2 In other words, deductive logic is the application of a generalization (discovered by inductive logic) in a particular circumstance. For example, • In my opinion, Brian De Palma makes good movies. • Mission to Mars is directed by Brian De Palma. • Therefore, I believe that Mission to Mars will be a good movie.
Emotional Appeals • Emotional appeals are when the writer attempts to create an emotional response in the readers to get them to accept an argument. • Any emotion can be potentially persuasive -- pity, fear, anger, curiosity, horror, love, guilt, etc.
Character Appeals • A character appeal is an appeal based on the personality of the person making the argument. • An example would be a celebrity endorsing an product.