Download Essay #3: Analyzing Arguments

Essay #3: Analyzing Arguments
Your next essay should be an analysis of an argument. You should find what looks like a
good argument (though it need not be perfect) and take it apart, showing how the pieces
fit together (so this analysis will include a synthesis). You should also look at materials
on rhetorical analysis for suggestions. It would be best if you would locate an article on a
topic you might like to write on, since I will ask everyone to contribute an article to our
“knowledge database” for discussion. Then I might present a question or two in your
practice WSAT which draws on those topics. For English 097, topics which do not
require much more than general knowledge would be best, and some overdone topics
(like legalizing drugs) really would not be helpful.
This analysis of an argument will help prepare you for writing your own argument (Essay
#4). A draft of Essay #3 is due on October 7 at the start of class. Please make sure you
indicate your source or give me a copy. You should quote the author’s words exactly and
make sure you show where the ideas came from. We will discuss documentation more
thoroughly next week.
Notes: Several of the materials below discuss Problem/Solution essays because people
frequently think and write in this way. So I want you to be able to recognize how such
arguments are structured. Your essay (#4) will not have to be in this format of problemsolution; it just has to be an argument.
Remember argument is just presenting convincing ideas and evidence. Persuasion is
sometimes considered to have an additional aspect--getting the audience to act. (I don’t
see much difference, but some teachers like to emphasize that particular difference).
Toulmin’s schema for analyzing arguments is commonly used in writing classes, as are
the Rogerian and Classical schemas. Thus, I list some Websites which go over these.
What is important is that you recognize the basic parts of argument, whatever terms you
use to describe them.
Basic parts of all arguments: Arguments have a thesis/main point they present,
evidence to support that thesis, and logical connections made between those two parts.
Some arguments also consider the opposing point of view and then present a refutation,
concluding with a restatement of the main point. Future writing classes will probably
require that you learn to use these strategies too.
Reading Assignments:
All materials except the textbook can be found on the class Website which you can
access by going to http://www.oakton.edu/~bcrocket and the class folder.
If you have the text, you should read Chapter 13, which is specifically about argument.
You should review the PowerPoints that describe Rhetorical Analysis (which you used
for your comparison/contrast exercises on McCarthy and Cisneros)
Read the following articles and view the PowerPoints below:
Louise Story, “Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood.”
Jack Shafer, “Weasel Words Rip My Flesh.”
Strategies for Effective Argument (on writing problem-solution essays)--PowerPoint
Constructing a Problem-Solution Essay (outline of example)—PowerPoint
Review the materials on a few Websites which cover various analyses of arguments
(previously sent out to you in email and listed below). Toulmin’s schema is frequently
used in college, but it is a little more complex than the Classical one.
Explanation of Toulmin model with charts and examples
http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/rgass/toulmin2.htm
More complex explanations; the first from a professor at San Diego State is more
accessible and uses some elements of classical arguments
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~digger/305/toulmin_model.htm
This university has several pages on rhetoric including schemas from Aristotle, Burke,
etc.
http://owlet.letu.edu/contenthtml/research/stockissues.html
Complicated explanation of Toulmin
http://www.unl.edu/speech/comm109/Toulmin/
Please send me the link to your article (or information on how I can obtain it) asap. I
want to know what you are working on. If you wait until Friday to tell me this, I will not
accept your essay.
Beverly