REGIONAL WRITING CENTRE UL Argumentation Formulating your research

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REGIONAL WRITING CENTRE, UL Argumentation: Formulating your research question and your working argument

REGIONAL WRITING CENTRE, UL Argumentation: Formulating your research question and your working argument

Academic Context • When assessing the rhetorical situation, one of the conclusions we come

Academic Context • When assessing the rhetorical situation, one of the conclusions we come to is that we are writing into an academic context. • Most, if not all, of the writing that we do is going to require that we do one of two things: • Take a position on a point of contestation • Fill a gap in the field of knowledge • In other words, the writing that we do is argumentative— • we take a stance and defend it or • we propose a way to fill the knowledge gap and make a case for the validity of the process by which that gap was filled.

Academic Argumentation Logical • Reasoned • Methodical • Deductive reasoning • Inductive reasoning Fallacies

Academic Argumentation Logical • Reasoned • Methodical • Deductive reasoning • Inductive reasoning Fallacies • Begging the question: The reason everyone wants the new i. Phone 7 is because this is the hottest phone of the season!—the reasoning is circular • Red Herring: “I have worked hard to help eliminate criminal activity. What we need is economic growth that can only come from the hands of leadership. ”—diversion from the issue at hand • Post hoc, ergo propter hoc: I started to mix soda with my whiskey shortly after arriving at university. Suddenly, my grades have dropped. I think it’s the soda. —false cause

Academic Argumentation • The context requires that the argument be devoid of bias. •

Academic Argumentation • The context requires that the argument be devoid of bias. • Unchallenged assumptions • Gender, religious, political, race, creed or sexual preference bias: “A student, if he wants to get good grades, must develop good study skills. ” • The context requires that Evidence not be suppressed. The conclusion takes into account all the available evidence, even if it challenges the soundness of the argument. • The context requires that the evidence and the conclusions drawn from the evidence are not overstated.

How Arguments Unfold Claim Defence Question Answer Problem Solution Hypothesis Test Affirmation/Negation

How Arguments Unfold Claim Defence Question Answer Problem Solution Hypothesis Test Affirmation/Negation

Types of Arguments Simple categorical arguments: Is X a Y? Where you and your

Types of Arguments Simple categorical arguments: Is X a Y? Where you and your audience agree on the meaning of Y. Definitional arguments: Is X a Y? Where the definition of Y is in dispute. Cause/Consequence arguments: Does X cause Y? Is Y a consequence of X? Resemblance arguments? Is X like Y? Evaluation arguments: Is X good or bad? Is X a good or bad Y? Proposal arguments: Should we do or not do X?

Argument Models Socratic Aristotelian Rogerian Toulmin Dialogic and dialectical, a hypothesis elimination method Formal:

Argument Models Socratic Aristotelian Rogerian Toulmin Dialogic and dialectical, a hypothesis elimination method Formal: syllogisms Informal: the enthymeme—a claim and a ‘because’ clause Concessionary, a method of negotiating compromise and consensus—finding a position that both parties can live with Legalistic, procedural, focused on logical probability based on the preponderance of the evidence; a method of analysis for evaluating the logic of the arguments one reads and those that one writes

Claims Grounds Warrants Backing Qualifiers Rebuttals Toulmin Model: Components

Claims Grounds Warrants Backing Qualifiers Rebuttals Toulmin Model: Components

Exercise: Do these passages contain arguments? If so, what are their conclusions? Cutting the

Exercise: Do these passages contain arguments? If so, what are their conclusions? Cutting the interest rate will have no effect on the stock market this time round as people have been expecting a rate cut all along. This factor has already been reflected in the market. For a long time, astronomers suspected that Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, might harbour a watery ocean beneath its ice-covered surface. They were right. Now the technique used earlier this year to demonstrate the existence of the Europan ocean has been employed to detect an ocean on another Jovian satellite, Ganymede, according to work announced at the recent American Geo-physical Union meeting in San Francisco. The Economist 16. 12. 2000 All of Russia’s problems of human rights and democracy come back to three things: the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. None works as well as it should. Parliament passes laws in a hurry, and has neither the ability nor the will to call high officials to account. State officials abuse human rights (either on their own, or on orders from on high) and work with remarkable slowness and disorganisation. The courts almost completely fail in their role as the ultimate safeguard of freedom and order. The Economist 25. 11. 2000

Exercise: Argument Analysis We left our parrot in the house this morning. The nearest

Exercise: Argument Analysis We left our parrot in the house this morning. The nearest neighbour lives one kilometre away. When we got home from work, the parrot was gone. It’s most probable that our neighbour stole the parrot. What’s the conclusion? Is the argument deductive or non-deductive? Is the argument strong? If you are a confident driver and have never been in an accident, then driving over the speed limit is not dangerous for you or others. You are a confident driver and have never been in an accident. Doubtless, then, driving over the speed limit is not dangerous for you or others. What’s the conclusion? Is the argument deductive or non-deductive? Is the argument valid? Is the argument sound?