ARGUMENT TECHNIQUES

QUARREL VS. ARGUMENT

Jerry Springer

Oprah

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF AN

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY?

Purpose & Audience

Reasoning strategies (Organization)
The rational appeal
The emotional appeal
The ethical appeal
Fallacies
Ethical issues

PURPOSE & A

Demonstrating facts
Nursing is hard work, dorms are poor study places
Defend/oppose a policy, action, or project
Company should drug-test employees
Assert the greater/lesser value of
someone/something
Ranking candidates for promotion

P & AUDIENCE
Think like a reader (oh wait, you are...)
Consider readers interests, expectations, and needs
concerning this issue
Identify the evidence most likely to convince readers
Identify the objections readers will have
Identify the consequences of this argument
Decide how objections should be addressed

REASONING STRATEGIES (ORGANIZATION)

Induction
General

claim is supported by specific evidence

(direct observations, statistical data, scientific
studies)
Makes conclusion probable but doesnt prove
Must demonstrate credibility of evidence
College

program effective because most students in

it get jobs

Deduction
Analogy

REASONING STRATEGIES (ORGANIZATION)

Deduction
Demonstrates

how a specific conclusion follows

logically from initial premise
Must make clear how conclusions do actually
follow from agreed-upon premises
Politicians

assert the benefit to future generations,

then policies to favor that

Analogy

REASONING STRATEGIES (ORGANIZATION)

Analogy
Weakest form of rational appeal
Never prove anything, only show probability
and sometimes offer explanations
Assumption that humans respond to
chemicals as rats do

THE RATIONAL APPEAL

Present reasons and evidence in a way that
readers will find as reasonable or plausible
Established truths
Opinions of authorities
Primary source information
Statistical findings
Personal experience

THE RATIONAL APPEAL

To Evaluate Evidence

How credible are the sources of information?

How reliable is the evidence?
How much confirming evidence is there?
How much contradictory evidence is there?
How well established is the evidence?
How well does the evidence actually support or fit the
claim?
What does the evidence actually allow you to
conclude?

THE EMOTIONAL APPEAL

Identify stories, scenes, or events of the topic
that arouse the strongest emotions
Can lend powerful reinforcement
Tug heartstrings of readers to take actions

THE ETHICAL APPEAL

Write with genuine concern for topic,

commitment to truth and sincere respect for
others
Tone is paramount
Offensive, arrogant, or mean-spirited is
ineffective
Look for snide comments
Pleasant, fair-minded, decent is effective

FALLACIES
Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think
clearly and weaken argument
Hasty generalization someone bases a
conclusion on too little evidence

Non sequitur draws unwarranted conclusions

from seemingly ample evidence

Student tries to reach instructor one time and declares

that the instructor is impossible to reach

Bill is out every night. I wonder who he is dating?

Stereotyping attaches one or more supposed

characteristics to a group or one of its members

Teenagers are lousy drivers

FALLACIES
Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think clearly
and weaken argument
Card Stacking only part of available evidence given
while deliberately omitting essential info

Either/Or Fallacy only two choices exist when several

are available

College students have it easy because they are only in

classes 12 hours per week.

Either buy tires or get stuck inside this winter

Begging the Question asserts truth of an unproven

statement

Vitamin A is harmful to your health, so all bottles should

have a warning label. If enough of us write to the FDA, this
could change. But how do we know its harmful when
evidence isnt given?

FALLACIES
Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think
clearly and weaken argument
Circular Argument supports position merely
by restating it
That

person is overweight because he is fat.

Red Herring argues off point

American

car is superior but abruptly shifts to the

plight of laid off workers

Ad Hominem argument attacks an individual

rather than opinion
Sam

doesnt deserve a promotion. His divorce was

messy.

FALLACIES
Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think
clearly and weaken argument
Appeal to the Crowd plays on irrational fears and
prejudices of audience

Guilt by Association some similarity between

one person to another

The Red Scare, Adolf Hitler

Similar to poisoning the well

Post Hoc assuming that because one event

follows another, the first caused the second

Coincidence that a black cat ran across the street right

before the car crashed into the telephone pole

FALLACIES
Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think
clearly and weaken argument
Faulty Analogy error of assuming two
circumstances are similar in all respects when
they are not

Football coach insists that if he emulates Lombardis

techniques that his team will win conference
Doesnt

take players into consideration, level of play, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLTQi7vVsI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dln3DJEcghY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8LydU2P7Yw

ETHICAL ISSUES
Argument is an attempt to alter attitudes or spark
action
Responsibility for quality of argument and possible
consequences
Carefully consider stance and argument

Is it credible? Is it dependent on certain conditions?

Be fair to other positions

Legitimacy of reasons and evidence
Examine fallacies and other possible reader
manipulations
Explore the consequences of readers adopting
this position

FOR MONDAY
Read Marissa Browns Teacher Natalie Munroe
Has a Right to Call Kids Lazy and Rude,
Jonathan Zimmermans When Teachers Talk out
of School,
Byron Yorks A Carefully Crafted Immigration Law
in Arizona,
Conor Friedersdorfs Immigration Policy Gone
Loco (pgs. 579-588)
Be ready to discuss your assigned element (given on next slide)

READ THE READINGS. PREPARE TO DISCUSS

YOUR ASSIGNED ELEMENT AS IT APPLIES TO
EACH READING.
Purpose & Audience
Misty, Blanche
The rational appeal
Pamela, Ryan
The emotional appeal
Ce-Ce, Kam
The ethical appeal & Ethical issues
Unique, Karen, Chad
Fallacies & Reasoning strategies
Anthony, Grace