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Elements of an Argument

Elements of an Argument. What do you need to make this work?. Argument. Argument. What is an argument? Claim – What are you trying to say? An evaluation A proposal Your thesis statement Reasons & Evidence – What do you have to back it up? Examples – personal narratives, etc.

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Elements of an Argument

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  1. Elements of an Argument What do you need to make this work?

  2. Argument

  3. Argument • What is an argument? • Claim – What are you trying to say? • An evaluation • A proposal • Your thesis statement • Reasons & Evidence – What do you have to back it up? • Examples – personal narratives, etc. • Sources – research – citations • Claims Reasons Evidence 

  4. The Unending Conversation “Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally's assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.” Burke, Kenneth. The Philosophy of Literary Form. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1941. 110-111.

  5. Thesis Statement • Where do you start? • Invention • Brainstorm, etc. • Researchable question • What do I want to know? • What do I want to prove? • Working thesis • A hypothesis • Research may change your thesis! • Revise your thesis • Build your argument

  6. Thesis Practice Write a thesis statement for each of the following and we will discuss as a class: You think the school should offer more financial aid for students You think there should be more/fewer smoking areas on campus You think composition classes should/should not be mandatory for all students

  7. Thesis Statements Should… • Contain a “Because” clause • “You should do this because…” • The reason for your claim • Be Specific • Bad: “Students should exercise more.” • Good: “Students should do at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per day because…” • Be Provable • Fact: “Blue is a color.” • Opinion: “I like the color blue.” • Thesis: “Blue is the best color because…”

  8. The Précis Learn to love it!

  9. Précis • What is a précis? • Also known as a “Rhetorical Summary” • A summary that contains specific information from a text • 4 Sentences • Why do you write a précis? • For reading comprehension • To quickly reference the information in a source • To determine the reliability of a source • To determine how and when to use a source

  10. Précis Format Sentence 1 - Defining information about the work • Name of author (optional—a phrase describing the author) • genre and title of work • date in parentheses • a descriptive verb (such as “assert,” “argue,” “imply,” “suggest,” “claim,” etc.) and a “that” clause containing the essay’s main assertion or thesis statement Sentence 2 - An explanation of how the author develops and/or supports the thesis, usually in chronological order Sentence 3 - A statement of the author’s apparent purpose, followed by an “in order” phrase Sentence 4 - A description of the intended audience and an explanation for the identification of that audience using tone, language, content, and context as clues.

  11. Précis Example (1) In her article "Who Cares if Johnny Can't Read?" (1997), Mary Smith asserts that Americans are reading more than ever despite claims to the contrary and that it is time to reconsider why we value reading so much, especially certain kinds of "high culture" reading. (2) Smith supports her claims about American reading habits with facts and statistics that compare past and present reading practices, and she challenges common assumptions by raising questions about the intrinsic value of reading. (3) Her purpose is to dispel certain myths about reading in order to raise new and more important questions about the value of reading and other media in our culture. (4) She seems to have a young, hip, somewhat irreverent audience in mind because her tone is sarcastic, and she suggests that the ideas she opposes are old-fashioned positions.

  12. Précis Practice Pair up Write a précis on a New York Times editorial Discuss the précis with the class Which précis is the closest to a comprehensive and precise summary?

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