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PARTS OF AN ARGUMENT

HOW TO ANALYZE AND FORMULATE AN ARGUMENT. PARTS OF AN ARGUMENT. PERSUASION DEFINED. Persuasion A general term referring to how a writer influences an audience to adopt a belief or compel an action.

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PARTS OF AN ARGUMENT

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  1. HOW TO ANALYZE AND FORMULATE AN ARGUMENT PARTS OF AN ARGUMENT

  2. PERSUASION DEFINED Persuasion • A general term referring to how a writer influences an audience to adopt a belief or compel an action. • Appeals mainly to a audiences feelings and values in order to compel an action or win support for that action. • Uses various appeals – pathos, logos, ethos, kairos

  3. ARGUMENT DEFINED An Argument • Appeals to the audience's sense of reason (logos) to negotiate a common understanding or win agreement with a claim. • Writer connects a series of statements that lead to a logical conclusion.

  4. So, what’s the difference? Argument • Does not try to move an audience to action. • Primary purpose of an argument is to demonstrate that certain ideas are valid and others are not. • Has a formal structure.

  5. Structure of an Argument An Argument: • Makes points • Supplies evidence • Establishes a logical chain of reasoning • Refutes opposing arguments • Accommodates the audience’s views.

  6. What does the writer think? CLAIM

  7. CLAIM A statement that is: • Not otherwise known. • Contestable. • Supportable with evidence.

  8. Examples of claims: • The Winter Olympics should be held every two years. • We should build a memorial for World War II veterans. • Hamlet was devoid of Christian values.

  9. Reasons -Why does the writer think that? • Statements that: • Explain why you think your claim should be accepted by you and by your readers. • Represent judgments that you assume are not shared by your readers.

  10. Examples: The Winter Olympics should be held every two years . . . • Reasons: • so aging athletes have more chances to compete. • to bring more money into the economies of host cities.

  11. How does the writer know his/her reasons are true? EVIDENCE

  12. EVIDENCE Statements that: • Describe or otherwise represent facts about the world that are assumed to be shared with readers. ("You could look it up.") •  Will not be questioned by readers, at least not for the moment. • Note: evidence is comprised of representations of states of affairs that are treated, for the sake of the argument at hand, as external, foundational facts.

  13. Example The Winter Olympics should be held every two years so aging athletes have more chances to compete. • Evidence: • A study conducted in 1999 by the Organization of Olympic Athletes (OOA) shows that many athletes peak during non-Olympic years and, as a result of aging, can no longer compete when the games re-open.

  14. Why does the writer think his/her reasons/evidence support the claim? WARRANTS

  15. WARRANTS • General principles that: • Assert a principled connection between a kind of reason/ evidence and a kind of claim. • Have two components, a reason/ evidence side and a claim side. • Are normally assumed rather than stated. • Represent shared beliefs and values without which an argument cannot get off the ground.

  16. But what about this alternative view? this objection? contrary evidence? ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & REPONSES

  17. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • Statements that: • Raise or refer to alternative claims, reasons, evidence, or warrants. • Locate an argument in a field of possible arguments. • Show readers that you have not ignored their concerns.

  18. RESPONSES Statements that: • Accept or reject an acknowledged alternative. • Offer arguments or mini-arguments against an alternative. • Explain the complications and limits of your argument

  19. QUALIFICATIONS Words, phrases, and occasionally sentences that: • Specify degrees of certainty, limits on the sufficiency or quality of evidence, etc. • Limit the range of a claim. • State conditions required for a claim to apply (excluding clauses concerning obvious conditions that go without saying). • Show readers your sense of the reliability and range of applicability of your argument.

  20. Works cited: • "Argument Handouts." Argument Handouts. UVA Writing, n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2014. <http://faculty.virginia.edu/schoolhouse/WP/ArgumentHandouts.html>. • Repetto, Ellen Kuhl, and Jane E. Aaron.Common Threads: Core Readings by Method and Theme. Boston: Bedford/St Martins, 2013. Print. • Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell.Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Print.

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