LG’s

1. LG’s 4: Write your own clear, complex, compelling claim about a text. 3: Identify strengths and weaknesses of a claim.

2. The Toulmin Model of Argument: The Path to Writing Better, More Persuasive, and Realistic Essays

3. First, let’s agree… • ALL verbal communication is persuasive to some degree. • Therefore, everything uttered is intended to get the listener to believe as the speaker believes. • If that’s true, then everything verbal can be analyzed by a model of argumentation.

4. Stephen Toulmin (March 25, 1922 – December 4, 2009) • British-born philosopher/logician • Became frustrated with the failure of traditional logic to explain the processes of real, everyday arguments • As a result, developed his own model of practical legal reasoning, published as The Uses of Argument (1958), then specifically applied the method to rhetoric in Introduction to Reasoning (1979). • Toulmin’s method has since profoundly influenced the fields of rhetoric/communication and computer science.

5. Just like Trivial Pursuit • The Toulmin Model posits that good, realistic arguments typically consist of six parts: • Claim • (Qualifiers) • Grounds • Warrants • Backing • Rebuttals/Counterarguments

6. Claim The Path to Writing Better, More Persuasive, and Realistic Essays

7. The Claim • Essentially, the statement being argued—the assertion the arguer would like to make and have accepted as true, or be acted upon, by the audience. • EVERYTHING in the argument relates back to the claim.

8. The Claim Part I • With your group choose two claims and consider their strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to explain your ideas. Use the Part I section on the table. • Switch groups. Still in the Part I section, fill out ideas for two different claims.

9. The Claim, continued • Answers the question, “What is the author trying to prove? What’s the bottom line?” • For example: 1. You should use a hearing aid. 2. That dog is probably friendly. 3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is racist. 4. The Lord of the Rings represents Britain’s struggle against fascism during WWII. 5. Needle exchange programs should be abolished.

10. The Claim • In the novel, Jurgis and Ona display the topics of identity, fear, and the American Dream, for they are all tied together. • In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, there are many times in which the two main characters, Taylor and Lou Ann encounter the American Dream and fear. • The Bean Trees displays this form of identity through Taylor, who starts off by striving for independence, but eventually sees that she depends on Turtle as much as Turtle depends on her, and Lou Ann, who starts by being very dependent on Angel, but ends up becoming her own person in the end. • In the novel The Bean Trees the American Dream is family. • In The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Esperanza and Taylor stay true to their identities despite fearful events they had to encounter throughout the story.

11. But what makes a strong claim? • Clear • Compelling • Complex • Not compound sentences • No coordinating conjunctions • FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So • Uses subordinate clauses to establish relationships amongst elements in claim.

12. Subordinating Conjunctions • After • Although • As • As if • As long as • As much as • As soon as • As though • Because • Before • By • Despite • Even • Even if • Even though • If • If only • If when • If then • In as much as • In order that • In order to • Just as • Lest • Now • Now since • Now that • Now when • Once • Providedthat • Rather than • Since • So that • Supposing • Than • That • Though • Till • Unless • Until • When • Whenever • Where • Whereas • Where if • Wherever • Whether • Which • While • Who • Whoever • Why One way to make your claim more complex: Subordinating conjunctions.

13. Mwahahahahahaha! • Quiz on subordinating conjunctions next class. • Memorize them.

14. Complex Claim • Simple claim: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is racist. • Slightly more complex: Huck Finn is racist, so it should be banned from schools. • Yet more complex: As much as Huck Finn seems racist, Twain employed satirical elements to expose hypocrisies of racist attitudes.

15. One more C… • Controversial • Don’t argue a point that everybody likely accepts. • What’s the purpose? • When the weather is hot, you don’t need a thick coat. • To Kill a Mockingbird is a book about racism in American society.

16. The Claim • In the novel, Jurgis and Ona display the topics of identity, fear, and the American Dream, for they are all tied together. • In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, there are many times in which the two main characters, Taylor and Lou Ann encounter the American Dream and fear. • The Bean Trees displays this form of identity through Taylor, who starts off by striving for independence, but eventually sees that she depends on Turtle as much as Turtle depends on her, and Lou Ann, who starts by being very dependent on Angel, but ends up becoming her own person in the end. • In the novel The Bean Trees the American Dream is family. • In The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Esperanza and Taylor stay true to their identities despite fearful events they had to encounter throughout the story.

17. The Claim Part II • Switch groups again, and readdress the claims you’ve looked at considering our new criteria for strong claims. • Fill in your ideas in the Part II section

18. Practice • Look at the flash fiction story “Nine Lives” by Victoria Pearson.

20. Practice • Consider the following prompt: • Why does Pearson use irony to structure her story “Nine Lives?” • “To make the story interesting/ entertaining/ suspenseful” are not options. • Write a clear, complex, compelling claim. Remember your subordinating conjunction.

21. Try these: • “There's a heated debate over the use of antibiotics in farm animals. Critics say farmers overuse these drugs; farmers say they don't.”

22. Try these: • “Romeo is a dangerous predator.’”

23. Try these: • “In Courtney Solomon's Getaway, a project less effective as a feature film than as a promotional reel for the Shelby Super Snake — basically an insanely tricked-out Ford Mustang — the nonsense piles up nearly as fast as the smashed, flipped, T-boned and otherwise trashed cop cars chasing after Ethan Hawke's laughably named Brent Magna and his sidekick, ‘The Kid.’”

24. Try these: • “When it comes to diversity, children's books are sorely lacking; instead of presenting a representative range of faces, they're overwhelmingly white.”

25. Grounds The Path to Writing Better, More Persuasive, and Realistic Essays

26. The Grounds • This is where persuasion really happens: evidence reasons opinions examples facts • “What additional information does the author supply to convince me of this claim?” or more simply, “How come?”

27. A Stroll Around the Grounds • Common Types of Argumentative Support • FACTS (quotes in literature) • vivid, real, identifiable, and verifiable information, of a more or less objective nature. • OPINIONS Better yet ANALYSIS • interpretations/reasoning (yours, or that of experts) of relevant factual information • EXAMPLES (references to scenes in literature) • for the purpose of clarification and illustration of facts and opinions • Argumentative support is EXPLICITLY stated—not inferred!

28. More than Facts • For papers about literature finding AND using grounds can be difficult. • There are two excellent tools of analysis to use with literature: • Connotation • Paraphrasing

29. Connotation chef vs. cook teacher vs. professor thrifty vs. cheap stay-at-home mom vs homemaker vs housewife ambitious vs greedy slender vs gaunt clever vs shrewd eccentric vs weirdo mentally unstable vs wacko Think: “Why choose that word?” “What does that word imply?”

30. “Richard Cory” by EA Robinson Whenever Richard Cory went down town,We people on the pavement looked at him:He was a gentleman from sole to crown,Clean favored, and imperially slim.And he was always quietly arrayed,And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said,'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked.And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -And admirably schooled in every grace:In fine, we thought that he was everythingTo make us wish that we were in his place.So on we worked, and waited for the light,And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,Went home and put a bullet through his head.

31. Paraphrasing Restate AND Add Clarity “Even monkeys fall out of trees.”

32. Paraphrasing • Be sure to paraphrase appropriately. • Look at the following headline from an article about comedian, Amy Schumer: Amy Schumer says she doesn’t deserve equal pay to Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. • But look at this line from the article: “[Chris and Dave] are legends and 2 of the greatest comics of all time. I would like to say that I have been selling out arenas these last couple years.”

33. Throughout the play, Nurse demonstrates rationality more than emotion. Before Juliet ever meets Romeo, Nurse tries to convince Juliet to marry Paris not because of an emotional bond; rather because he looks good. She argues, “Why, he’s a man of wax” (I.iii 76). Being a man of wax means he is handsome, like a sculpture by an artist. The connotation further suggests he has been sculpted in the image of a good partner—he’s been made for the express purpose of marriage to a wealthy family. Nurse seems to be arguing that instead of finding a partner to love, Juliet must find a groom who will suit an image. Nurse further argues the image of a good marriage when she says, “I tell you, he that can lay hold of her/Shall have the chinks” (I.v.119). Chinks means money, so the person whom Juliet chooses will marry into a lot of money. Though love provides for a meaningful, passionate relationship, there is logic in marrying for money, and Nurse’s focus on the logic of choosing a mate, presents her as rational.

34. Analysis at work • Grounds: “Why, he’s a man of wax” (I.iii 76). • Connotation analysis: Being a man of wax means he is handsome, like a sculpture by an artist. The connotation further suggests this sculpture has been constructed in the image of a good partner—he’s been made for the express purpose of marriage to a wealthy family. • Paraphrasing analysis: Nurse seems to be arguing that instead of finding a partner to love, Juliet must find a groom who will suit an image.

35. The Process of Developing Grounds • First, sketch your topic sentence. • Then, create a list of 4 or 5 lines of text that support your topic sentence. • Choose sections of lines (at least 4 or 5 words) • Or 2 lines at most. • Then you can isolate specific words for connotation. • Always be sure to take the words in context. • Then, explain how those lines defend your topic sentence.

36. Practice • Go back to “Nine Lives” by Victoria Pearson. • Develop the grounds you would use to defend your claim. • List the specific text (words or lines) you’d use. • Include a line about how that evidence defends your claim.

37. LG’s • 4: Derive warrants from your own claims and grounds. • 3: Understand the implications of our claims and grounds.

38. Warrants The Path to Writing Better, More Persuasive, and Realistic Essays

39. At Warrants with your parents… • Free Write: • Think of a specific time you had an argument with your parents. What did you say to them to convince them that you were right? What did you say to them to get them to understand your side?

40. The Warrant • Toulmin arguments make a logical and persuasive connection between a claim, its reasons/data supporting it, and the audience. • Toulmin called this connection the warrant. It helps establish a connection for the reader to better relate to the argument.

41. Back toWar(rants) • Return to your free writes. • Underline the main claim • Circle the grounds • Be sure that the grounds is DIRECTLY related to the claim to your parents. • What’s left-over?

42. Easy Example • Claim: We’d better stop for gas. • Grounds: The gauge has been reading empty for more than 30 miles. • What’s the implied warrant? • “The car needs gas to operate.” • You don’t necessarily have to state this outright; it’s obvious, but that is the warrant that validates the claim and the grounds.

43. Warrant, continued… • Don't eat that mushroom. It's poisonous • Claim: You shouldn’t eat that mushroom • Grounds: It’s poisonous. • Though unstated, there’s a pretty clear warrant: • “Poisonous things should not be eaten.”“If something is poisonous, eating it could cause harm.” • Put it all together: • Don't eat the mushroom! It is poisonous, and poisonous things should not be eaten.

44. Try this: • Many reliable people have seen UFOs, so they do exist...whatever they are. • What is the main claim here? • What is the reason/data which supports the claim? • What is the unstated, assumed warrant?

45. Try this: • Since Wally chose the ice cream last time and Phillipina chose the time before that, I should choose the next ice cream flavor to get! • What is the main claim here? • What is the reason/data which supports the claim? • What is the assumed warrant?

46. Try this: • Painter Ilya Repin depicts famous writer Leo Tolstoy as supremely moral by showing him to be frugal, humble, and hardworking. • What is the main claim here? • What is the reason/data which supports the claim? • What is the missing, assumed warrant?

47. Finding warrants from your claim • To develop warrants from your claim, look at the key concepts you’re addressing in the claim. • Underline them. Then, connect them in a logical idea. • “Video games containing profanity can sometimes encourage children to curse and act aggressively.”    • Possible warrants: • We don’t want children to curse and act aggressively. • Children are encouraged to behave in the ways they see around them.

48. Practice • Again look for the main concepts in the claim: • “In modern language, profanity serves as an outlet to reduce both physical and psychological pain.” • Possible warrants: • We should have ways to reduce pain. • Reducing pain is important for people.

49. Practice • Write down the main concepts in this claim: • “When it comes to diversity, children's books are sorely lacking; instead of presenting a representative range of faces, they're overwhelmingly white.” • What are some possible warrants you could frame to support the claim?

50. Practice • Write down the main concepts in this claim: • Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates how paranoia affects the brain so deeply that a character can lose his sense of self.” • What are some possible warrants you could frame to support the claim?