USA: +1 415 256 4347 
Sign in
• Argument/Persuasion Collaborative Research Essay
Posted on: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 4:00:00 AM CDT
The argument mode is the most difficult mode, but do not give up. Below, I have listed a few key pieces of advice that will help you succeed on your argument essay:
1. Read the assigned essay, essay directions, and A/P rubric carefully. It would be a shame to work hard on an essay and then get a zero for not following the assigned topic and mode.
2. Read the argument/persuasion chapter in The Longman Writer. If you have already read it, but you need a review, there are chapter notes .
Here are the notes:
Argumentation and Persuasion
Argumentation: The writer tries to use clear thinking and logic to convince the readers
of the soundness of her argument.
Persuasion: The writer uses emotional language and dramatic appeals to the readers’ concerns, beliefs, and values. Persuasion may be used to try to get readers to accept and opinion as well as commit themselves to take action.
NOTE: “Because people respond rationally and emotionally to situations, argumentation and persuasion are usually combined.
“Emotion supports rather than replaces logic and sound reasoning.”
Three factors crucial to the effectiveness of argumentation-persuasion: logos, pathos, and ethos.
1. Logos: the soundness of the argument. Use the following to make an argument sound: facts, statistics, examples, and authoritative statements. Use evidence that is unified, specific, sufficient, accurate, and representative.
2. Pathos: the emotional power of language. Pathos appeals to the readers’ needs, values, and attitudes. It tries to get readers to change their minds about an issue or perhaps take a particular course of action. Connotative language—words with strong emotional overtones—can move readers to accept a point of view or spur them to act.
Advertising and propaganda generally rely on pathos to the exclusion of logic.
You may use pathos effectively in combination with clear thinking.
3. Ethos: credibility and reliability. Present a logical, reasoned argument that takes opposing views into account. You will come across as knowledgeable and trustworthy.
Avoid “overwrought emotionalism.”
Three Categories of Readers
1. A supportive audience
2. A wavering audience
3. A hostile audience
Strategies For Using Argumentation-Persuasion in an Essay
1. In the first paragraph, identify the controversy surrounding the issue and state your position in a thesis statement with a three-point plan of development. (Another common name for the thesis statement is the assertion or proposition.) Again, focus on a controversial issue and indicate your view. (462-63).
2. Offer strong support for the thesis. Relate to the readers’ needs, values, and experiences. Types of support include the following: personal observation or experience, facts, expert opinion taken from books, articles, reports, interviews, and documentaries. (Refer to examples from paper on elderly Americans 468.)
A.When seeking outside support for your evidence, don’t be afraid of material that undercuts your argument. See what it has to say; you may end up writing a better paper if you’re aware of the opposition’s point of view.
B. Be skeptical of sources. Just because something has been published does not make it infallible. The text refers to (NARAL: the National Abortion Rights Action League) and the National Right-to-Life Committee) See page 463.
C. Document (give credit to) your sources.
3. Seek to create good will.
First some “don’ts”
• Do not use close-minded, morally superior language. Example: “Anyone can see that you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
• Do not use exaggerated, overly-emotional language. Example: “Truckers, the beer-bellied bullies of the highways, have no respect for other drivers or for the speed limit.”
• Do not use confrontational language. Example: “My opponents don’t know anything about the situation except what they’ve read in the paper.”
Second an important “do”
• Do establish some common ground (some point on which everyone can agree).
4. Organize supporting evidence.
(Any individual pattern or combination of patterns of development studied this semester can be used.)
Hint: It’s usually good to save the most compelling point of your argument for last.
5. Use Rogerian strategy to acknowledge differing viewpoints.
Take opposing viewpoints into account.
Effective arguments will seek out “contrary viewpoints, acknowledge them, perhaps even admit they have some merit” (466).
Acknowledging the opposition’s point of view has four benefits:
• 1. It helps you anticipate objections.
• 2. It helps you more aware of the opposition’s weak points.
• 3. It alerts you to flaws in your own argument.
• 4. It makes you come across as reasonable and thorough.
(Note: Rogerian strategy uses a “respectful, conciliatory posture—one that demonstrates a real understanding of opposing views, one that emphasizes shared interests and values” Using Rogerian strategy may result in synthesis: “A new position that both parties find at least as acceptable as their original positions” (466).
6. Refute differing viewpoints.
Two problems to consider: (1) complex issues or (2) readers who strongly disagree with your position. The solution? Refutation—point out the problems in the opposition’s viewpoints. Focus on inaccurate evidence or faulty logic. Attack point by point or one side at a time.
7. Use induction or deduction to think logically about your argument.
a. Induction: think specific cases, facts, or examples. Think the scientific method.
(See example on page 469 about getting a cold.)
The conclusion reached from induction might serve as the proposition for an argumentation-persuasion essay. “The police force should take steps to upgrade its protection of town residents.” (See the evidence that led to this conclusion on page 470.)
Avoid insufficient or atypical evidence that leads to hasty generalizations.
Make certain evidence is recent and accurate.
Evaluate the reliability of your sources.
Be aware of the element of uncertainty in inductive reasoning. The conclusion can never be more than an inference, involving an “inductive leap” (471). Consider the following: “There could be other explanations for the evidence cited and thus other positions to take and actions to advocate. For example, given a small town’s crime wave, you might conclude not that the police force has been remiss but that the residents are careless about protecting themselves and their property. In turn, you might call for a different kind of action–perhaps that the police conduct public workshops in self-defense and home security. In an inductive argument, your task is to weigh the evidence, consider alternative explanations, then choose the conclusion and course of action that seem most valid” (471).
8. Use Toulmin logic to establish a strong connection between your evidence and thesis.
Stephen Toulmin talks about a good way to strengthen “the connection between evidence and thesis” (473). Here’s how Toulmin breaks down any argument:
• Claim–the thesis, proposition, or conclusion
• Date–the evidence (facts, statistics, examples, observations, expert opinion) used to convince readers of the claim’s validity
• Warrant–the underlying assumption that justifies moving from evidence to claim (Warrant: the idea or situation that needs to be addressed)
9. Recognize logical fallacies
• Post hoc [ergo propter hoc] fallacy: “After this, therefore because of this”
• Non sequitur fallacy: (Latin for “it does not follow”) “an even more blatant muddying of cause-effect relationships. In this case, a conclusion is drawn that has not logical connection to the evidence cited” (476).
• Ad hominem argument (from the Latin meaning “to the man”) “occurs when someone attacks a person rather than a point of view” (476). [I love the quote from Alai Stevenson in this section: “He who slings mud usually loses ground.”
• Appeals to questionable or faulty authority “weaken an argument. Most of us have developed a healthy suspicion of phrases like “sources close to,” an unidentified spokesperson states,” “experts claim,” and “studies show.” If these people and reports are so reliable, they should be clearly identified.
• Begging the question: “involves failure to establish proof for a debatable point. The writer expects readers to accept as given a premise that’s actually controversial. For instance, you would have trouble convincing readers that prayer should be banned from public schools if you based your argument on the premise that school prayers violate the U.S. constitution. If the Constitution does, either explicitly or implicitly, prohibit prayer in public education, your essay must demonstrate that fact. You can’t build a strong argument if you pretend there’s not controversy surrounding your premise” (476).
• False analogy: “disregards significant dissimilarities and wrongly implies that because two things share some characteristics, they are therefore alike in all respects. You might, for example, compare nicotine and marijuana. Both, you could mention, involve health risks and have additive properties. If, however, you go on to conclude, ‘Driving while smoking a cigarette isn’t illegal, so driving while smoking marijuana shouldn’t be illegal either,’ you’re employing a false analogy. You’ve overlooked a major difference between tobacco and marijuana: Marijuana impairs perception and coordination–important aspects of driving–while there’s no evidence that tobacco does the same” (476).
• Either/or fallacy: “Occurs when you assume that a particular viewpoint or course of action can have only one of two diametrically opposed outcomes–either totally this or totally that. Say you argue as follows: ‘Unless colleges continue to offer scholarships based solely on financial need, no one who is underprivileged will be able to attend college.’ Such a statement ignores the fact that bright, underprivileged students could receive scholarships based on their potential or their demonstrated academic excellence” (476).
• Red herring argument “is an intentional digression from the issue– a ploy to deflect attention from the matter being discussed. Imagine you’re arguing that condoms shouldn’t be dispensed to high school students. You would introduce a red herring if you begin to rail against parents who fail to provide their children with any information about sex. Most people would agree that parents should provide such information. However the issue being discussed is not the parents’ irresponsibility but the pros and cons of schools’ distributing condoms to students” (477).
3. Read over the rubric points from other graded essays. You do not want to make any of the same mistakes that you made on your other essays. It is hard enough to get the argument mode correct without losing points for careless errors like heading, commas, second person etc. The argument/persuasion essay also has its own rubric; don’t miss it!
4. Submit to the tutor more than once. Take advantage of any Tutor.com time that you have left. Heed the suggestions from the tutors and then re-submit to them. You will not be able to use the tutor service for the final exam, so you do not need to save tutor.com minutes for later.
5. Avoid logical fallacies and just plain false information. This error will destroy your argument’s effectiveness. Be sure to check all of your facts, and do not make any claims that are illogical or non-factual.
6. Contact your writing partner early and often. Use the Writing Partners Button, Group Discussion Board! You will be writing two separate essays. You do not have to write about the same topic or take the same stand, but you must work together, helping each other from researching to editing.
Read your chapter carefully, paying close attention to logos, pathos, and ethos. Your essay should include all three. However, the chapter also tells you to give equal weight to the opposition. You do not need to give equal weight to the opposition in an essay of this length. If you make a small concession or acknowledgment, as a hook, to the opposition early in the essay, that should be plenty.
For the rest of the essay, concentrate on logos, with the support of ethos and pathos
If you heed my advice here, read over the chapter notes in the course documents section, participate in the collaboration, and really utilize the tutor service, you should do just fine. Please post any questions to the Db, and feel free to comment or answer posted questions as well. Don’t forget to answer the CORE questions, in complete sentences, and include them on the final draft.
Happy Writing!! The argument essay will be a challenge, but you can succeed.
Posted on: Thursday, October 27, 2016 1:00:00 AM CDT
If you haven’t already done so, click on the “Writing Partners” button, located on the left side of the screen. Click on the button and scroll down to see your partner’s name. Scroll all the way down and click on group discussion board to converse on a “private” group discussion board.
• Even if you see your partner in person or email, you must still use the group discussion board so that I have the collaboration data. The rest of the class cannot see your posts, only you, your partner, and me.
• If your assigned partner refuses to respond or collaborate with you, (give them a couple of days) you may select someone to “fill in” and do the steps with you. But you must first make a genuine effort to motivate teamwork. When you answer the CORE questions at the end of the essay, name your assigned partner by name, state that they would not work with you, list the person you chose to collaborate with you, and then answer the remainder of the questions from you experience with your new chosen partner. Students who refuse to collaborate will lose points on the essay grade because collaboration is a state mandated requirement for ENGL 1301.
• If your group has a question for me, please post to the class discussion board. I check the private group discussion boards when I grade the final A/P essays, but I check the class discussion board every day, and I am anxious to help anyone and everyone!
• I have will be posting several announcements with advice for the essay. This essay counts for 15% of your grade and also provides the data for the state mandated SLO’s and CORE (see syllabus). In other words, this will be a challenging and important assignment.
Scroll down and read all announcements very carefully!
Posted on: Monday, October 31, 2016 1:00:00 AM CDT
Remember, your Argument/Persuasion essay must be a MLA style research essay with at least two credible secondary sources.
The essay must include a works cited page and plenty of end-of-line citations.
• Your end-of-line documentation should include the author’s last name and page number. Example: (Smith 155).
• If you have no human author, look for an entity author. Example: (University of Georgia 155). or (CBS News 155)
•
• If you have no author at all, use the title of the article. Example: ( “Jackson’s Revelation” 155).
• Page numbers should be used in the end-of-line documentation. However, many internet articles have no page numbers. In that case, use the paragraph numbers. Example: (Smith par. 12)
• If the article is really long, you may use the internet pages, but this is a last resort because it varies with programs. Example: (Smith 3 of 4).
GO THROUGH THE ARGUMENT/PERSUASION GRADING RUBRIC AND CHECK OFF EACH REQUIREMENT TO ENSURE A PASSING GRADE. SEND THE RUBRIC TO THE TUTOR AS WELL.
Here is the Argument Rubric:
ENGL 1301 Argument/Persuasion Essay Grading Rubric
25 points- Essay Structure and MLA Style:
o Essay must include effective lead-in, thesis, body and conclusion.
o Essay must be typed in MLA style with 1 inch margins, indented paragraphs, MLA header, double spaced, and proper essay spacing.
o Essay must include the assigned number of sources, be documented properly with MLA style, end-of-line documentation and works cited page.
o Essay must not go over or under the word limit.
25 points- Content/ Argument:
o Essay must follow assigned mode and topic, must tackle the subject matter in a mature depth, and must display critical thinking and reasoning.
o Essay must include critical analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of a variety of texts. Essay must include ethical and logical uses of evidence.
o Essay must follow the writing prompt and be written in a style appropriate to audience and purpose.
o Essay must not contain false information or logical fallacies.
o Essay must display effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas. Ideas must be developed with appropriate support and attribution.
25 points- Punctuation and Usage/ College level Style and Word Choice:
o Essay must be written in Edited American English, including, but not limited to, proper use of commas, semi-colons, colons, apostrophes, and periods.
o Essay should be written in third person point-of-view.
o Essay must not contain spelling errors, capitalization or texting style mistakes (ex. r for are).
o Essay must not contain any fused run-ons, comma splice run-ons, or sentence fragments.
o Essay must display proper use of pronouns and verbs.
o Essays must exhibit a mature style in word choice and sentence structure/sentence variety.
o Essays must not contain contractions or second person point of view (you).
o Essay must contain strong effective word choice, avoiding vague word choice such as “thing” or “stuff” and colloquial words like “kid” and “guy”.
o Essay must not contain slang or non-standard word choices.
o Essays should not contain meta-discourse, including, but not limited to, phrases such as “I think…”, “In this essay I will prove that…”, or “In my opinion…”
25 Points- Essay Steps and Collaborative Writing:
o Essay must include steps and collaboration activities (For online classes, essay steps and collaboration will be assigned and graded through the Discussion Board and Writing Partners button on Blackboard.)
o Directly after the works cited page, writers must include the following questions with responses written in complete sentences.
Teamwork:
1. State your assigned partner’s full name. What was your role in your group? How did you work together to accomplish your goal? Did your partner contribute to the group in a helpful way? If your partner did not respond to you, what steps did you take to initiate contact? If your assigned partner refused to collaborate, provide the name and relationship of the person you chose to “fill in” for the assigned partner.
2. What were some of the differing viewpoints expressed in your group?
3. How did you incorporate those views in your essay?
Personal Responsibility:
1. What are the consequences of choosing to plagiarize?
2. How do one’s personal values influence the decision to plagiarize/not plagiarize?
3. How did you avoid plagiarism in your essay?
o The entire Essay, final draft, including works cited page and CORE questions must be submitted to SafeAssign by the required deadline
** PLAGIARISM WARNING!!!!!!
Any information that is not common knowledge must be documented with end-of-line documentation/ citation that directly correlates with the works cited page. Even if you put the information in your own words, or know it by heart, if the information originated from someone else, it MUST be documented. Essays containing any amount of plagiarism will be assigned zeros.
***ALL ESSAYS MUST INCLUDE END-OF-LINE DOCUMENTATION AND AN MLA STYLE WORKS CITED PAGE.
I’m sitting at my desk laughing as I am grading your definition essays. I have enjoyed grading them so much, it seemed a shame to have to deduct any rubric points. (I managed a few though :). I should be finished with all of them soon.
The next essay is the big one. It is the argument essay. Be sure to read the chapter carefully. It’s a tough one. There are chapter notes in the course documents section on Bb that should help to clarify the chapter. The essay is relatively short , so you will not have time to give equal time to the opposition as the chapter advises. I suggest that you just give the opposition “a nod” in your introduction paragraph, just to show that you are aware of other opinions and that you are open minded and friendly.
Be sure to read the assigned professional essay “In Praise of the F Word” because it will get you started thinking about the assigned topic and give you an idea of the tone you should take in your own essay. You will also want to read the example student essays located in Course Documents.
