Counterclaims

Addressing the other side and how to do it effectively

Counterarguments: how you get there. 1.) Identify your main arguments (try to come up with THREE, one for each body paragraph).2.) Think of arguments someone with the opposite opinion might come up with to prove each argument wrong. Today you will find sources that provide counterarguments. WHY? Because eventually you will…3.) Rebut! This doesn’t involve your booty. It means disprove the counterarguments your imaginary opponent gives (to make your arguments seem even more LOGICAL and convincing).

For Example…Argument

Counterargument • We should stop mountain top removal coal mining because it destroys local land features; since 1970, this method of mining has “destroyed 500 mountains” (House 18).

• Mining companies limit damage to local features by “rebuilding mountainsides and restor[ing] the aesthetic and environmental quality of the area” (West Virginia Coal Association 39).

For Example…Argument

• We should stop mountain top removal coal mining because it pollutes local water reservoirs “poisoned some twelve hundred miles of rivers and streams” since 1970 (House 21).

Counterargument

• Mining companies protect local water resources, as “[w]ater quality is monitored throughout the mining process and steps [are] taken to treat any streams and preserve the biology” (West Virginia Coal Association 39).

For example…Argument

• We should stop mountain top removal coal mining because it hurts Appalachians, “scraping away not just coal but also the freedoms of Appalachian residents,” who must consume water with high “arsenic levels” and send children to schools situated “below ponds holding billions of gallons of sludge” that may flood dangerously (House 19).

Counterargument

• Mountain top removal coal mining improves quality of life for local residents by providing “high-waged jobs capable of supporting families, paying up to twice the average wage in Appalachia” (Quinn A10).

Group Time:Claims, Counterclaims, and Thesis Development

Begin working on outlines when finished

1.) List your main arguments.2.) List arguments that someone with the opposite opinion might come up with.3.) Then work on crafting a thesis statement (Turn in copy to teacher)4.) When finished, divide up your intro. and body paragraphs. (Groups of two may each take 2 paragraphs; Groups of 3 may each take a body paragraph and do the intro. together).5.) Begin working on your assigned portion of the outline (see attached example). Your completed part of your outline is due next class. We will begin drafting paragraphs from the outline next class and then go to the library or lab to type them up and begin merging the paper. You all can work on your conclusions later.

Rebuttals

Definition:• When two people debate,

one of them makes an argument, and the other follows with a rebuttal, which, plainly put, is the "no, you're wrong and this is why" argument.

The following slides have examples of rebuttals for the counterclaims used in the teacher example of mountain top removal mining.

For Example…Argument

Counterargument • We should stop mountain top removal coal mining because it destroys local land features; since 1970, this method of mining has “destroyed 500 mountains” (House 18).

• Mining companies limit damage to local features by “rebuilding mountainsides and restor[ing] the aesthetic and environmental quality of the area” (West Virginia Coal Association 39).

REBUTTAL: However, while coal “companies are required to put the land

back the way they found it,” they do this simply by “putting soil back onto the sites and planting trees” (Huffington Post). According to “Margaret Palmer, director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science, this quick fix is not really a fix at all” because “the soil that is put back on the site is so stripped of nutrients that it would take 2,000 years for the ecosystem to return to its natural state” (3). In actuality, reclamation efforts fail to adequately restore the environment.

• We should stop mountain top removal coal mining because it pollutes local water reservoirs “poisoned some twelve hundred miles of rivers and streams” since 1970 (House 21).

• Mining companies protect local water resources, as “[w]ater quality is monitored throughout the mining process and steps [are] taken to treat any streams and preserve the biology” (West Virginia Coal Association 39).

REBUTTAL:However, evidence suggests that water monitoring

practices are not effectively or consistently practiced by mining companies. According to the “Clean Water Act, the Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to regulate

the actual filling of the streambed itself” but opponents of mountain top removal often accuse mining companies of “lack of enforcement” and have

attempted to sue (Mitchell 106).

Argument• We should stop mountain top

removal coal mining because it hurts Appalachians, “scraping away not just coal but also the freedoms of Appalachian residents,” who must consume water with high “arsenic levels” and send children to schools situated “below ponds holding billions of gallons of sludge” that may flood dangerously (House 19).

Counterargument • Mountain top removal coal

mining improves quality of life for local residents by providing “high-waged jobs capable of supporting families, paying up to twice the average wage in Appalachia” (Quinn A10).

REBUTTAL: While coal companies bring jobs to mined areas, they fail to provide adequate economic support. According to Erik Reece, a University of Kentucky professor and environmental activist, mining jobs have not improved Appalachian poverty rates. Reece explains that since 1964, the region’s poverty rate has decreased from thirty one percent to thirty, which indicates that so-called high paying mining jobs have not significantly impacted the economy or quality of life for Appalachian people (53).