Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
MIXING!
Most importantly, use multiple rhetorical patterns in your writing in dif ferent combinations to make it interesting! (Interesting for you to write, and interesting for your reader to read. Everyone wins.) COMING UP: Argumentative strategies -- youll notice that the following strategies for your entire argument are very similar to the previous rhetorical patterns that you can use to structure the info used in your paper.
DEFINITION
A pregnant woman who chooses to smoke is a child abuser who needs to be stopped before she further harms her unborn child.
EVALUATION
Although both are dangerous, drinking alcohol in moderation while pregnant is less damaging to an unborn child than smoking in moderation.
CAUSATION
Pregnant mothers who choose to smoke are responsible for an unacceptable number of birth defects in children.
RECOMMENDATION
We must help pregnant women to stop smoking by developing smokingcessation programs that are specifically targeted towards this population.
E, P, L
A good argument will employ all three strategies thereby leaving no possible opportunity for persuading your audience untouched. However, youll probably find that one mode of argument is more useful than the other two depending on your topic. Consult W T Ch. 22 p. 444 -446 for examples of E, P, L in action.
ILLOGICAL FALLACIES
Avoid illogical fallacies by hunting out the weak spots in your argument and patching those holes. IFs occur for three major reasons:
A false or weak premise a position based on faulty reasoning, authorities that are not credible, comparisons that are inappropriate Irrelevance bringing up issues that are beside the point or distracting by being inflammatory Ambiguity any time the writer intentionally clouds the issue to confuse readers into being persuaded
W T p. 448 has a chart that defines 13 common IFs and defines them.
COUNTER-ARGUMENT
To further bolster your argument for your position, you should, as mentioned before, keep the opposing view in mind. To really drive your point home, you can even acknowledge and rebut the opposing point that proves youve really done your homework. Methods of counter-argument
Objective summary of your opponents position Recognizing validity in the opposing position Conceding some opposing points Refuting or absorbing your opponents major points QUALIFY YOUR CLAIMS!!