Week 12, Day 1, April 7, 2014

English 72(83r)

Professor Elizabeth Buchanan

AGENDA

• Please place homework on back table:• First Paragraph of Research Paper• Vocabulary 7

• Finish Literature Circle 7

• Give me your group’s decision on the product you will be using for your Ad Project

• More on Argument

More Argument

The Test of a Good Argument

• As we have learned with fact & opinion, you need to read in a critical manner to determine if the author is giving you sound information for the argument that he/she is presenting.

• In order to present a good argument, the writer should have expertise in the area; he/she should be an authority.

Test of a Good Argument

• The writer should provide a central claim—the argument or proposition—should be clearly stated.

• Key words should be defined in a clear manner.

• Supporting evidence should be logically organized, and it should be relevant to the main idea.

• A persuasive write will provide a refutation, also known as a counterargument in which he/she examines one or two of the opposition’s strongest arguments and disproves them.

Taking Claims Apart – Evaluating the Writer as an Authority

• What does authority mean?• An accepted source of expert information or

advice.

• The persuasive writer should have firsthand knowledge of and/or experience with the topic.

• The might also be a specialist in the field in which they are writing about.

• Let’s check out some “experts.”

• Larry Sabato, professor of political science at the University of Virginia of UVA’s Center for Politics, comments on the presidential race.

• Colby Buzzell, who served in the U.S. Army for several months in Iraq, wrote a well-known blog about his experiences there: http://chftw.blogspot.com/. His blog postings were subsequently published in a book, My War: Killing Time in Iraq.

• Tom Cruise, actor and Scientology member, as a guest on Oprah pronounced psychiatry to be a “pseudoscience” and said that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance in the brain that would require antidepressants.

• Deepak Chopra, author of many self-help books and consciousness-raising guru, discussed the child molestation scandals in the Catholic Church on CNN.

• Brett Favre, former NFL quarterback who played for over 20 years for the Atlanta Flacons, Green Bay Packers, advertising the merits of Wrangler’s Jeans.

• Former rapper and manufacturer of a line of men’s clothing, P. Diddy Combs, comments on fashion trends for black urban males.

Identifying Claims

• What is the claim?• The point of view the author has on an issue.

• For example, you may be for or against gun control.

• You may favor or oppose lowering the legal drinking age.

• Often there are several points of view about an issue.

Relevant Evidence

• There must be a sufficient number of reasons of evidence to support a claim.

• The amount and degree of supporting evidence will vary with the issue.

• For serious issues, it is not enough to offer a single reason or piece of evidence.

Does this sentence offer enough evidence?

• “All oceans are dying due to coastal development.”

• No, this is not enough evidence because only a portion of the world’s oceans are affected by coastal development.

• What would you add to this sentence to give it more evidence?• Industrial waste dumping• Oil drilling• Rising water temperatures

Let’s Practice

•

Works Cited Page

• Go to Word Document

For Wednesday, 4/9/14

• Rough Draft Essay #2• The entire essay must be typed, including Works

Cited Page.