Editorial

1. Editorial Writing an Argument

2. Understanding the Writing Project • An argument is not a fight – at least not in the rhetorical realm, where your purpose is to use language well and persuasively.

3. Appealing to your Audience • A good strategy is to assume that your audience is the unconvicenced and that your job is to overcome your readers’ resistance and persuade them to shift their perspectives or accept new ways of thinking. • You cannot do this by making your readers angry or by insulting them. You can, however, argue effectively by appealing to your readers’ minds or hearts.

4. Use Logical Appeals to Make a Reasonable Case • When you present a logical argument (logos), you appeal to the reader’s intellect and sense of reason. Using logic, you create a path of evidence for you reader that inevitably leads to your conclusion. To get your reader to follow you from point to point, your argument must be clear and supported by objective evidence: facts and statistics. • Make sure your evidence is relevant to your argument and that it directly supports the claim you are making.

5. Use Emotional Appeals to Create Empathy • Because using emotion (pathos) to sway opinion has often been done manipulatively, the appeal to emotion has garnered a bad reputation. • However, if you use emotion appropriately, especially in combination with a logical appeal, you can speak to readers’ hearts as well as their minds, evoking anger at injustice, sadness at tragedy, or outrage at inequity.

6. Use Ethical Appeals to Create a Trustworthy Tone • Although the word ethics suggests a moral code of behavior, the term ethical appeal (ethos) actually refers to the writer’s credibility. To be swayed by your arguments, a reader has to trust you and know that the evidence you cite is accurate, valid, and reliable. • You gain credibility in an argument, in part, through your authority and impartiality. • You can use authoritative sources to help support your positions. • Another powerful way to establish your authority and your credentials is to establish your expertise. • Being impartial is another aspect of the ethical appeal.

7. Ten Tips on Avoiding Pitfalls in Logic: Fallacies • Logical errors, commonly known as fallacies, destroy your credibility and weaken your argument considerably. If you can detect logical pitfalls in the work of people whose view differ from yours, you can begin to deflate an opposing argument.

8. Ten Tips on Avoiding Pitfalls in Logic: Fallacies 1. Bandwagon appeal: falsely suggests that an action is a good one because it is popular or endorsed by a popular person. 2. Post Hoc fallacy: just because a result happened after an event does not mean that the event caused the result. 3. Ad Hominem fallacy: ad hominem, Latin for “to the man,” means an attack that targets a person rather than that person’s views or arguments, ignoring or sidestepping the issue at hand.

9. Ten Tips on Avoiding Pitfalls in Logic: Fallacies 4. Hasty Generalizations: is a conclusion formed from only one or two examples. Avoid falling into this trap when looking for evidence to support your position. 5. Either-or fallacy: oversimplifies a complex issue. It uses language that polarizes discussion into two extreme and mutually exclusive positions, leaving no room for nuances, other options, complexities, or existence of common ground. 6. Red Herring: a red herring used to be dragged across a fox’s trail to put hunting dogs off the scent. Similarly, the red herring fallacy diverts a reader from the path of an argument, usually by going off in a new direction.

10. Ten Tips on Avoiding Pitfalls in Logic: Fallacies 7. Slippery Slope: this fallacy assumes that once you take one step, then a series of disastrous events will inevitably follow. The conclusion is usually that the only way to avoid a catastrophe is to not take the first step. This fallacy ignores other factors that might affect the outcome. 8. Non Sequitur: the English translation of the Latin term non sequitur is “it does not follow, which gives you the clear idea of this fallacy. The conclusion does not follow from the premise of the argument. If 18-year-olds can fight in wars, they should also be able to drink legally. No logical relationship exists between fighting and drinking.

11. Ten Tips on Avoiding Pitfalls in Logic: Fallacies 9. Apples and Oranges: when you compare two things that have no real basis for comparison, you can be accused of comparing apples to oranges. 10. Circular Argument: like walking in a circle, a circular argument brings you back to the place you began – the end of the argument restates the beginning. Pornography should be banned because it is obscene. This statement is circular, saying that pornography is pornographic.

12. Taking an Arguable Position • Arguable means that good points supported by solid evidence can be made on more than one side of the issue. • One way to find a specific focus for your argument is to break a topic down into its component parts. Social, political, economic, scientific, and cultural issues tend to be sprawling and multifaceted. • It is also advisable to stay local and be specific.

13. Types of Evidence The stronger your support, the stronger your argument. • Facts state objective reality. • Statistics are numerical data that often seem to have the weight of irrefutable analysis behind them. Statistics can be slippery, however, and can be skewed or misinterpreted to fit the desired outcome, so you have to be careful to choose reputable sources. • Examples and anecdotes illustrate your point. • Testimonials, stories of experts or witnesses, provide excellent support for arguments as long as the source is well positioned to speak to the issue.

14. Evaluating Evidence • Reliability – Does the evidence come from a person who is authority in the field? Or a study that is reliable? • Timeliness – Is information up-to-date? • Accuracy – Is the information correct? • Relevance – Does the information support your point?

15. Acknowledging Opposing Views and Refuting Them • To make a convincing argument, you have to acknowledge opposing views and refute them, even if only briefly. • Sometimes a single sentence that might begin “Granted” or “Still” states the opposition’s strongest argument with a brief refutation to disprove that argument. • When you acknowledge and then dispense with your opposition’s possible arguments, you enhance your credibility and build strength for your own position. • Always support your counterarguments with solid research. In this way, you show that you understand and have thoughtfully considered the opposing views.

16. Seven Habits of Highly Effective Arguments • Hook you reader right away. Use a specific, personal story, or a quotation from someone you interviewed. A particularly surprising piece of data can attract attention. • Get to your point quickly – announce your topic clearly in the opening few sentences. • Keep your voice informal and engaging. Avoid jargon or wordiness. • Make sure your research is current and accurate. Use factual material from unbiased sources.

17. Seven Habits of Highly Effective Arguments • Save your strongest argument for last. Leave your reader thinking about the most compelling reason to support your position. • Keep each paragraph to one main point. An additional or contrasting point should always begin another paragraph. • Leave your readers thinking about the implications of your argument. If the readers agree, what should they think or do, support or defeat?

18. Prepare • Define the interest groups. Who has some thing to lose or gain in regard to this issue? • Research the history of the issue, its origin, recent developments. • Decide on a position and identify how you will enter the debate.

19. Draft • Introduction • Find statistics or a story that hooks your readers’ interest. • State the issue and your position in a clear thesis. • Body • Provide reasons to back up your position. • Include a refutation that addresses a reasonable aspect of the opponents’ argument.

20. Revise • Check your word choice and tone, making sure your writing appears to be reasonable and authoritative. • Consider whether your argument has a logical flow, using transitions.