Complete Lesson Two Reading Assignment
Read Chapter 1 "A Perspective on Argument" (Page 1-)
Note that there are review questions, exercises, and activities at the end of each
chapter as well as additional articles, images and examples designed to
supplement the readings. You are encouraged to answer the review questions
and review the supplemental materials and activities as it will help to reinforce
your understanding of key concepts within each chapter; however, only 1-2 of the
review questions will be assigned and submitted for evaluation. Some of the
activities and exercises will be assigned as discussion forums or pre-writing
assignments.
Chapter 1 Objectives: We engage in argument every day, whether we realize it or
not. This chapter introduces you to various forms of argument as well as
important criteria for creating and evaluating arguments. After studying
this chapter, you will be able to:
Identify and explain your own perspective on argument
Define the basic features of an argument
Describe the characteristics of traditional and consensual argument
Identify multimodal arguments
Describe the conditions of a successful argument and unsuccessful argument
Distinguish between ethical and unethical argument
Define what constitutes an arguable issue in the 21st century
Describe the criteria for identifying and selecting arguable issues
Develop your own perspective on arguable issues
These ideas/concepts are introduced in Chapter 1 and developed throughout the
course:
1. Argument is everywhere. It is encountered at home, in the workplace, in
school, in the public sphere, literally everywhere. Knowledge of argument will
help students deal with the issues that engage them in very part of their
lives. Argument can easily be moved out of the classroom and into these other
arenas.
2. Argument takes a variety of forms. These forms included debate, inquiry,
consensus building, negotiation, even one-on-one argument with oneself. An
understanding of the various forms of argument helps students learn to argue
productively in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes.
3. Argument requires an audience and certain conditions to be
effective. There must, for example, be someone willing to argue and someone
willing to listen and possibly willing to change his or her point of view. There must
also be the possibility for two or more views on the issue.
4. Argument fails under certain other conditions. Argument cannot take place
when there is already agreement on an issue, when individuals are so far apart in
their views that there is no common ground, or when one party is not willing to
engage in argument.
5. The audience outcomes of argument vary. In some argumentative situations,
there is the potential for convincing or changing the mind of another individual. In
other situations different outcomes are more likely. Thus, and individual with a
neutral point of view might become somewhat committed to a new view, or an
individual who is already committed to a particular view might become more
committed. Other people might become angry and create “an argument” or walk
away. There are many possibilities, and students need to experience as many of
them as possible so that they can develop a variety of strategies to meet the
challenges of different situations and different audiences. Argument can be
productive even when the audience outcomes vary.
6. Arguable issues have certain characteristics. Box 1.3 in Chapter One lists
twelve tests of an arguable issue. Students should use this checklist to determine
whether or not their issues will produce productive arguments.
7. Current issues are related to enduring issues. Almost any modern issue can
be related to a lager, enduring issue that has engaged human beings for
centuries. For example, stem cell research issues can be related to the general
issue concerning the value humans place on life, and criminal punishment issues
can be related to the universal need for safety. Students will gain a broader
perspective on their issues and will more successfully build common ground if
they relate their specific issues to broader issues of long-standing
concern. Additional examples of current and enduring issues are provided in
Chapter One (Box 1.1).
8. Every academic area has unresolved issues. Examples of some of the
unresolved issues associated with different academic areas are provided in
Chapter One (Box 1.2).
9. Not all people argue in the same way. There is a considerable range of
individual difference in attitude about argument and even in styles of argument in
any given classroom. Chapter Two explores these differences and encourages
students to indentify and value their own styles as well as their classmates’
individual styles.
10. The final goal of teaching students to critically view argument and to
critically read and write argument is to create an educated populace in a
world community that can coexist thoughtfully and peacefully, without
constant destructive conflict. An intermediary goal is to teach students to write
academic arguments in their other college classes. Thus, students in this class
will learn to write various types of academic papers including, the issue proposal,
exploratory paper, position paper, and research paper. Students are encouraged
to extend the implications and applications of this argument class into other parts
of their lives.
English 103: Argument Terms
The following terminology is used repeatedly throughout Perspectives on Argument. You will
benefit from an early understanding of these terms.
1. Argument—the goal of argumentation, to bring about a change in an audience, is at the core of
the definition used in our book. Students are taught a variety of ways to analyze and engage an
audience either to change its initial views on an issue or to reach a consensual understanding
that all parties can accept.
2. Issue—a subject that is not settled, one that invites more than one view or perspective.
Synonyms are topic or subject. Issues are phrased as questions: Should the United States remain
prepared for a major world war? Should men and women receive equal treatment in the
workplace?
3. Claim—the thesis or statement of focus or purpose in an argument paper. Synonyms are
proposition, thesis, or main point. Claims are phrased as statements: The United States should
not remain prepared for a major world war. Women should be treated differently from men in
the workplace.
4. Subclaims—the main ideas or reasons in an argument. These can best be conceptualized by
imagining them attached to the claim with the word “because.” For example, the United States
should not remain prepared for a major world war because it is too costly, it requires too many
people to interrupt their lives, and it is not likely to be needed. Or, women should be treated
differently from men in the workplace because they need time for pregnancy leaves, they are
not as physically strong as en, and they have more home responsibilities than men.
5. Support—additional information that is used to make claims and subclaims convincing to an
audience. Synonyms are evidence, grounds, data, and proof. There are many types of support
including examples, personal narratives, statistics, analogies, comparisons, definitions,
descriptions, and reasoned opinion. Support for the subclaim “remaining prepared for a major
world war is no longer necessary” might include specific examples and evidence of the
downscaling of war efforts in other countries around the world.
6. Warrants—the stated or unstated assumptions or presuppositions of the author. Synonyms are
premises, stated or unstated, implicit values, or motives. For example, the unstated warrant in
the argument “women should be treated differently in the workplace because they have greater
home responsibilities than men” contains the implicit warrants that no satisfactory arrangement
can be made for sharing these home responsibilities with men, that there are no men or other
available to share them with, or that the woman may not want to share them. Readers supply
such implicit warrants from their individual backgrounds and experience. Thus the way readers
perceive warrants varies from individual to individual. Here is another example: The United
States should not remain prepared for a major world war because this is not a good use of tax
money. A possible warrant is that other uses of tax money are preferable to spending large
amounts of it on war. Clearly, not everyone encountering this argument would accept that
warrant. They would, as a consequence, want to argue and express other views.
7. Backing—the common values, beliefs, and practices of the larger society or culture that back up
a warrant and make it either acceptable or unacceptable to an audience. For example, in a
culture in which women are expected to perform all of the household chores, the warrant that
no other arrangements can be made would be more readily acceptable than in a culture in
which men and women share these responsibilities. Backing for the warrant that government
should not spend large amounts of tax money on war could be backed either with statistics that
show that military and defense spending is taking money away from essential needs at home, or
by a pervasive belief in the culture that more government taxes should be spent at home than
on foreign wars. Backing for the warrants in an argument can be either unstated (implicit) in an
argument or spelled out explicitly, particularly when the arguer judges that the audience needs
explicit backing for the warrants to make the argument more convincing.
8. Rhetorical Situation—the context for argument. It includes the text itself, both the targeted and
untargeted readers of the argument, the author, the constraints on both the audience and
reader (such as existing value systems or individual backgrounds, perceptions, and experiences),
and the exigence (or what happened to cause or motivate the argument in the first place). A
handy mnemonic to remember the rhetorical situation is TRACE for Text, Reader, Author,
Constraints, and Exigence.
TO DO after readings:
Complete Chapter 1 Review Question(s)
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Points 5
Submitting a text entry box
Available Aug 27 at 12am - Sep 2 at 11:59pm 7 days
Throughout each chapter in Perspectives on Argument, you will be presented
with "review questions." You are encouraged to consider all of the chapter
review questions as it will help you to retain the information presented in
the readings. However, only one or two of these questions will be
assigned/graded each week. Your responses are worth 5 points, and they
will be evaluated for accuracy, development, and writing ability
(syntax/grammar).
Please answer the following two review questions for Chapter 1:
1. Describe traditional and consensual argument. Give two
examples of each.
2. What are some of the conditions that may cause argument to
fail?
When more than one question is assigned, please make sure that
responses are clearly numbered. To complete this assignment, type
your answer into the text box. Click the "Submit" box in the bottom
right corner of the screen when you have finished.
Lesson 2 Forum
No unread replies. 2 2 replies.
Analyzing Multimodal Arguments
As your textbook editor notes, "Many images are subtly and elaborately persuasive, and you can
learn to recognize, analyze, and evaluate them as arguments, just as you would print materials." For
this forum, please review the "Steps for Reading Multimodal Argument" on page 10 and then select
ONE of the following images to analyze: Figure 1.1 or 1.2 (pages 8-9) or Image 1 (page 30). After
viewing each image and reading the context/commentary provided, try to answer one or more of the
following questions: What is the issue? How would you state the claim (the point of view on the issue
that is communicated by the arguer)? What reasons and evidence are given to support the
position? What makes the image interesting and effective as a multimodal argument?
To post a response, click on "reply" below and type your response into the text box;
click "post reply" to post your answer to the forum. Remember that you must post two
(75-word minimum) responses to receive a passing grade (7-10) for a discussion
forum. You will not be able to see your classmates posts until AFTER you post a thread to
the forum question. After you post your initial response to the forum question, read some
of your classmates threads (by clicking the links to individual threads) and post a second
response to one of the students in the class.
Examples from other students:
Meressa Rahman
Tuesday Aug 28 at 8:53pm
The issue in figure 1.2 is clear it's an image of a polar bear floating on one piece of ice. The
picture caption is "problems". The message is clear that the problem is global warming and what
we are doing to our planet is damaging different ecosystems in our world making the organisms
living in it extinct. In the image it is clear that most of the ice the polar bear was sitting on has
melted and pretty soon it will have no where to float on because all of the ice will have been
melted and the polar bear won't survive long in the water. Someone viewing this picture for the
first time may or may not have background information on the different ecosystems, however
logically it is safe to say the polar bear didn't poof out of nowhere on a small ice pack floating
around. Another major problem that sticks out in the picture is that there is not another piece of
ice or land near this polar bear most of it's native habitat is melted because of how we are taking
care of our planet. I believe that the picture is effective in its argument and does present the issue
clearly.
Jael Esparza
Yesterday Aug 29 at 4:20pm
In figure 1.1 on page 8 the picture shows a home in a dried lake near the mountains. It is Lake
Shasta which does not look like a lake anymore. The message is clear that drought is a serious
problem since it is it an effect of global warming. Global warming is a result of mankind not
taking care of the planet we live in. Greenhouse gases causing air pollution makes air
temperatures increase; which is why water is evaporating from Lake Shasta as pictured.
Warming waters also causes the water to kill off many aquatic species. The obvious decline in
water affects everyone since we all need it to live. Other ways society is affected is how residents
and businesses are regulated on water consumption/use. There are constant advertisements,
reminders from cities, and organizations to save water. Anyone that views this picture should
know that it is an image to further state how serious global warming is impacting our
environment. Overall, this picture is the harsh reality that is effective in showing the issue.
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