Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Considering Type

For this post, I used page 414 of Writing Public Lives to evaluate what type of argument I want to make for Project 3. (The headings that are bolded are strategies that could work for my project.)


Position Argument

  • A position argument could work well for my topic. If I state my side and then mention and counter the other side, it would make my argument stronger. 
  • Telling my story without any mention to why people disagree or oppose me would make my argument seem more like a sob story rather than a way to argue a point. 
Casual  (Supposed to be Causal?) Argument 
  • I am not sure if the book means casual or causal because it says both, but if it means causal argument, that would be an ineffective strategy for my project. 
  • This controversy is incredibly difficult to track, and determining where it started would be impossible. It becomes more hotly debated at certain times, like after the Adrian Peterson case, but it has been controversial for a long time. 
Evaluative Argument
  • There really haven't been any solutions proposed, so without any, I can't really do an evaluative argument. 
Image by Miller, Anna T. "Argument?" Uploaded 9/28/13 via Flickr.
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Proposal Argument
  • I do want to have somewhere in my project a possible solution to this controversy, starting with alternative methods of punishment, but the step-by-step format wouldn't really work for my project. 
    • If I could adapt this argument format and just propose a solution without each step, that could work for my article. 
Refutation Argument
  • I could also do a refutation argument and directly address the views expressed by those who are in favor of spanking. Rather than do a position argument and discuss both sides, I could write my article to directly refute the other side without giving any sort of credibility to their opinions. Format my project to shoot holes in their argument. 



Reflection


Action Plan: Savannah and Isabel both wrote very comprehensive action plans that will help them greatly when they are planning how to write their projects. Savannah and I are both arguing the less popular opinions on our topics, so it will be interesting to see how our final products are similar and how they are different. Isabel has a topic that she could use images or graphs effectively for and it will be cool to see how that affects her argument and her project as a whole. Both of them have topics that require more logical and scientific arguments than mine, and our audiences are different as well. 


Considering Types: Savannah's argument is best suited for a refutation argument, but she could also use an evaluative argument. Isabel is considering either a position or evaluative argument for her topic, but I think that it would make her article seem more credible to list the pros and cons of her position on the controversy. It's interesting that we all considered the evaluative argument. Savannah commented that an evaluative argument might be the best type for my topic, so I will have to consider that when I'm making my final decision on how to format my argument. 

2 comments:

  1. You are considering more types of arguments than I am. I only have three types; however, we both are considering casual, evaluative and position arguments. I feel as though for my project, it would be most effective to refute the issues in order to effectively present my argument. However, I think evaluative would be the best for your project.

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  2. I think the arguments you are considering are effective for your topic. I especially think that the refutation one would be effective, depending only your audience. If you are writing for an audience of people who start out mostly accepting spanking, then it would be more effective to refute most of their possible points. If the audience includes people who are in agreement with you, then it may be better to use an evaluative argument or a position argument.

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