Strategies of Argumentation

Examples

  • Well chosen examples are the most basic kind of evidence   * Clarifies the reality behind an idea   * Shows what you mean   * Helps readers pay attention and understand 
  • Illustration is an extended example
  • For examples and illustrations to work well you need reasons to justify them. Reasons answer the question why?
  • Well-chosen examples and illustrations combined with logical reasons are the basic building blocks

 \n Authorities 

  • Authorities are experts in the field who are respected, reliable, and trustworthy   * Cite them to support or to challenge opinions   * Carry weight and can be persuasive
  • Guidelines for using Authorities   * Look at their credentials. Determine what they are and what others say about them   * Is authority biased?   * Try not to overuse authority. Don’t cite too many experts as you don’t want your argument to seem like a compilation of their opinions as opposed to a synthesis of your own understanding

 \n Statistics

  • Numeral, objective facts
  • Often persuasive; express information clearly and concisely
  • Appeal to logos and pathos 
  • Rarely stand alone   * Usually require an expert to interpret or draw inferences from them   * Opinions are usually attached to them     * Pay attention to words that introduce statistics
  • Can be easily manipulated to fool readers or be misleading   * Need to be able to judge whether the numbers have been used appropriately
  • Example   * What if 50% of young women playing high school football in the United States quit during the last 5 years?     * Make sure to ask 50% of what       * If only 20 women played football, then that means 10 quit but 10 played

 \n Contraries

  • Arguing with contraries involves examining opposites to see how they relate to each other, indeed depend on each other
  • Contradictions   * “A condition in which things tend to be contrary to each other”     * Useful because they help you think     * Spark arguments     * Notice them
  • Paradoxes   * “A statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd but may actually be true”     * Ex: “Hurts so good” by John Mellencamp

 \n Comparison

  • Extremely used and natural way to present ideas and evidence   * Show similarities and differences   * Helps your audience understand a point you are trying to make 
  • Block   * Each topic gets its own paragraph
  • Point by Point/Alternating   * Interweaving of two subjects   * Helps to explain and show the close connections between the two topics
  • Can also use a combination of the two strategies if it flows…

 \n Refutation 

  • Disproving a person's argument   * Does not prove you are right, only that your opponent is wrong 
  • Requires making s claim and supporting it clearly with specific evidence
  • Point out counterarguments and flaws   * Reflects on a writer’s ethos   * Don’t attack your readers     * Persuade them to change their mind

 \n Induction and Deduction

  • Inductive Reasoning   * Give your examples first and then make your claim about them-generalization   * Seldom proves the generalization   * The more examples you have to support a claim, the more reliable that claim is      * Specific example     * Specific example     * Specific example     * Generalization
  • Activity 3 pg.90 
  • Deductive Reasoning    * General laws predict specific examples or instances    * Start with general knowledge and predict specific observation      * Generalization     * Specific example     * Specific example     * Specific example

 \n Cause and effect

  • Examine problems and to present information
  • Persuade readers to care about the problem and address it
  • Another lens which to see and analyze problems
  • The more complex the problem, the greater the system of causes and effects 

 \n Narration and Description

  • Narration   * Telling events, usually in chronological order   * In both formal and informal arguments   * Often useful in supporting a claim   * Can be considered testimonial or “anecdotal”
  • Description   * Making visual pictures with words     * Using concrete details on sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch
  • Purpose   * Engage readers interest and support arguments

 \n Classification

  • Naturally divide things and sort them into categories or groups
  • Argue a point, not to show that you can classify things
  • Avoid trivial or obvious classifications   * “There are three kinds of cars: small, medium, and large ”
  • Use categories to develop and defend a claim   * Generates analysis   * Helps you see distinctions within a complex topic     * Idea, process, event, or group of people

 \n Analogy

  • Extended comparison between unlike things
  • Focus on resemblance to clarify complex things
  • Provide images that help readers visualize and understand meaning
  • Persuade audiences but do not prove arguments
  • But they can weaken arguments   * Not considered strong forms of evidence because they involve imagination    * Cannot be verified   * Can be oversimplified     * Leading to False Analogy fallacy

 \n Humor

  • Can cause laughter and delight but can also expose serious problems and even suggests surprising ways to solve those problems
  • Humorous Tone   * Help readers have a good time   * Usually toward the beginning
  • Humor as Satire   * Helps you see the problems in a new perspective   * Exposes how foolish, unwise, or immoral something or someone is     * Saturday Night Live

 \n Definition

  • Define words
  • Help you communicate clearly and persuasively
  • Reflects strong logos and ethos
  • Look up works that you don’t know   * Keep digging   * Definition might not work   * Connotation vs. Denotation
  • Trace the roots of words to learn more   * Etymology      * Where it came from     * History of the word

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