Argumentation

Basic Reminders

• Argumentation is a reasoned, logical way of asserting the soundness of a position.

• It is not persuasion. It is not opinionated. • Persuasion is the methods a writer uses to persuade an audience. • Persuasion is based on the writer’s manipulation of rhetoric (See

notes about this!).

• Argumentation is based on how logically and reasonably a writer presents facts.

• In this unit, you will learn what makes an argument logical by analyzing arguments written by others and writing your own.

• Your grad paper will also be argumentative.

Remember this?

• Claim: Your central point, main idea, thesis—the thing you are trying to prove to be correct in your argument.

• Evidence (or grounds): This is what supports your claim. Facts, data—in other words, evidence. Without evidence, your claim is groundless. It means nothing.

• Connection (or warrants): The acknowledgement of the assumptions that underlie the argument. The warrant shows why the evidence connects to the claim.

Example: Claim, grounds, warrant

• This is my claim: Carol should be student body president.

• My grounds/evidence: Carol is an honors student.• What is the assumption (or warrant) upon which

those grounds support the claim?• Warrant: Honor students make good student body

presidents.

Practice with claim, grounds, warrant• Claim: RoyLee should be suspended.• Evidence: RoyLee cheated on his test.• Warrant: ???

• Claim: ???• Evidence: ElRoy is very good at his job.• Warrant: People who are good at their jobs

get raises.

• Claim: LeRoy should do well on his test.• Evidence: ???• Warrant: People who study do well on their

tests.

• Congratulations!• Whether you know

it or not, you’ve just participated in an activity that is thousands of years old.

• You have used deductive logic to create syllogistically sound arguments.

• (But you don’t actually have to know that.)

Remember Carol?

How can we be sure of our argument?• Claim: Carol should be president.• Grounds: She’s an honor student.• Warrant: Honor students make good presidents.

How can we be sure about the warrant there?• Backing: Provides evidence to support warrant.

What could the backing for Carol’s argument be?• Our last president, Harold, was an honor student, and he was

totally awesome.

So, let’s go back . . .

Practice: backing• Claim: RoyLee should be suspended.• Evidence: RoyLee cheated on his test.• Warrant: Cheaters get suspended.• Backing: ???

• Claim: ElRoy should get a raise.• Evidence: ElRoy is very good at his job.• Warrant: People who are good at their jobs get raises.• Backing: ???

• Claim: LeRoy should do well on his test.• Evidence: LeRoy studied.• Warrant: People who study do well on their tests. • Backing: ???

Backing

Evidence can be fact or opinion. • An argument that is based entirely on your opinion is not trust-

worthy.

So whose opinion should we trust?• Experts. The majority. Not yourself. So . . .

Claim: Carol should be president.

Grounds: She’s an honor student

Warrant: Honor students make good presidents.

Backing: Harold was an honor student and a good president according to the principal.

Backing: Harold was an honor student and a good president according to a poll conducted at the end of last year.

Counterargument

A statement that asserts the opposite of a position. • If you know that some people would support a possible

antithesis, then you can be sure that your thesis is open to debate.

Back to Carol, the counterargument is obviously that Carol should not be elected president.• Superior claims defeat that counterargument. We need to

refute it.• Refutation: directly addressing counterarguments and proving

that they are wrong. • So how would we refute the claim that Carol should not be

president?

PlagiarismPlagiarism: Presenting the ideas of others as if they were your own.

Is this plagiarism?

1. A recent study conducted at the University of North Carolina shows that “[n]early 60% of all high school students are guilty of plagiarism at one point in their high school education” (Curry 23).

2. According to leading educational research Arthur Curry, “Nearly 60% of all high school students are guilty of plagiarism at one point in their high school education” (23).

3. Plagiarism is a serious offense, one that 60% of high-schoolers have committed at one time or another.

The final example is called a paraphrase. Despite the fact that it is originally worded, it is not an original idea; thus, it’s plagiarism.

Analyze a Speech

Speaker and context: Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.

As you are reading...1. Identify his claim.

2. Identify grounds he uses to support his claim.

3. Identify any warrant that connects the grounds to his claim (explicitly stated or assumed)

4. Identify any backing for his warrant.

5. Identify any counterargument that Atticus acknowledges and how Atticus refutes it.

6. Identify examples of rhetoric.

How does audience change your rhetoric?

You want to get a tattoo, but it is not well liked or allowed. How would you convince:• Your family• Your friends• Your artist (you’re underage)

Lets Write an Argument

• Come pick up an argument slip from Ms. Siciliano. Read the situation and audience on the slip. Keep it Secret! • Based on the situation and your audience, write an

argument, at least 1 paragraph, which includes:

• A claim• Support for your claim• Proof that your claim is valid• Appeal to your audience (Ethos, Pathos, Logos)• Announce counterargument (How will you prove it

wrong?)• Conclusion points and call to action (What should we do

if you won?)

Ok, so you wrote an argument…

• We will be dividing into groups.• Your groups all had the same scenario but a different

audience….so again, SECRET means do not announce it!

• In your groups, try to figure out how your peers appealed to their audiences and, of course, who their audience is.

• On your chart, evaluate whether or not your peers’ arguments were effective.

DUE Friday!!!! You will take one of the topics below and write an argumentative, typed, paragraph in MLA format utilizing the rhetoric skills you have learned to persuade your audience. • The topics you could choose from are:

1. Making AK’s cell phone policy less strict

2. Making homework at AK optional

3. Making the grad paper at AK optional

4. Shortening the AK school day by one half hour (8:15-2:45 or 7:45-2:15)

5. Allowing students to go off campus for lunch.

DUE Friday!!!! You will take one of the topics below and write an argumentative, typed, paragraph in MLA format utilizing the rhetoric skills you have learned to persuade your audience. • The topics you could choose from are:

1. Which platform is better: Apple or Android?

2. Which platform is better: Cable/Satellite or Streaming (Netflix/Hulu/etc.)?

3. Which platform is better: Instagram or Twitter?

Things that need to be in your argument…and some extra info!

1. Make a claim (This is where you stand on an issue.)

2. Supply evidence to support your claim…data, facts, information!

3. Explain why your evidence is valid.

4. Present a counterargument (what the other side is thinking!) and shut it down (prove them wrong!).

5. Acknowledge your audience so that it does not appear that you are attacking them, and have a call to action (what should we do if you win the argument?).

6. You will need to underline where you use ethos, pathos, logos (You must use two of these rhetoric appeals!).