Persuasive Argument Formal argument requires a claim convincing

Persuasive Argument Formal argument requires a claim, convincing evidence, and a warrant.

Why do you care? • will help enable you to write strong arguments, but they will also • help you evaluate the arguments of others, arguments they hear • every day—a skill critical to participating in a democratic society.

What is an Argument? • Although you should feel passionate about your topic, arguments are supposed to be intellectual activities not dog fights. • However, an argument does involve two opposing points of view. • This means that you must include the opposing side, even if only briefly.

What is the purpose? • The purpose of an argumentative essay is to organize and present your well-reasoned conclusions in order to persuade the audience to accept—or at least seriously consider—your point of view

How it applies to this unit • This unit id designed to provide students with the opportunity of seeing themselves as capable thinkers and decision-makers. • Investigate the ways other writers write about complex ideas, analyze ideas in order to agree or disagree with their theory.

Elements of an Arguments are composed of three main elements: – Claims – Data/Evidence – Warrants

What’s a good claim? Definition: A claim states your position, or a conclusion that you have come to and you want others to think about. *It is your position, or how you feel about the issue you have chosen to write about. • A good claim is not too obvious. Why bother proving a point nobody could disagree with? • A good claim is engaging. Consider your audience's attention span and make interesting claims which point out new ideas: teach the reader something new.

Good claims are logical, and debatable. • A good claim is logical; it makes sense. • A good claim is debatable.

Now its time to analyze! • Subject: “school lunches” • Brainstorm some claim statements you might think about the subject • *A claim needs to be supported with evidence and specific reasons!

What is data or evidence? Definition: the evidence which you cite to support your claim. Like a lawyer presenting evidence to a jury, you must support your claim with facts; an unsupported claim is merely an assertion. Data can include the following: • Facts or statistics: objective data about your topic. (Note: just what constitutes "objective" may be open to debate. ) • Expert opinion: the media and our essays are full of learned opinions which you should cite frequently, both to support your argument and to disagree with. Authors must be quoted and properly cited in your paper.

Quotes • Choose quotes that support your argument—not necessarily agreeing, but about what you are saying. • Introduce each quote with who said it and how it was said. (Dr. Whiplash contends. . . ) • Follow EVERY quote with explanation of the meaning of the quote and how it relates to your argument. • Make sure the quote is really about what you are discussing—wanting their words to mean as you wish doesn’t make it so!

Data/Evidence • Personal experiences: the most difficult kind of data to use well, for doing so requires a persuasive argument are your own experiences because they cannot be supported with evidence. Personal experiences can, however, help bring an argument to life. • Ex: The Chicago skyline would not be complete without the Willis tower. I can still remember the first time I saw the momentous structure, it was mesmerizing.

I agree/disagree/a little of both/neither • Go ahead and say “I agree, ” or “I disagree” or “I agree that ____, but I cannot agree that ____. ” Then you can launch into however complex your argument (Graff and Birkenstein 52). • If agreeing or disagreeing cannot apply, you still need a strong, driving idea to motivate your choices of summary and quotation in your argument (53).

Disagreeing—Explain Why • X’s argument fails to take relevant factors into account • " " is based on faulty or incomplete evidence • " " rests on questionable assumptions • " " misses the real problem altogether! You can even argue that what one person thinks is new and revelatory is actually old news (54).

What is reasoning? • Definition: the action of thinking about something in a logical, sensible way. • "he explained the reasoning behind his decision at a media conference" • The world does not give us complete information • Reasoning is the set of processes that enables us to • go beyond the information given.

The 6 parts Generally, arguments have six parts: • Introduction • The Back Story(Background information) • Claim • Refutation of Counter-Arguments • Reasons • Conclusions