Writing a Successful Argument

1. Writing a Successful Argument Introduction to Unit 3

2. Reflection • What was the issue that you explored? • What did you learn about this issue through the process of research? Was there anything surprising? Thought provoking? Troubling? Were there any other issues that you came across? • What piece of research did you find most useful (what source?)? Why? • What do you think were the strongest aspects of your paper? State specific areas or examples. • What parts of the paper do you think need the most work? State specific areas or examples. • In terms of writing technique/skills, what do you think you would like more practice on? (punctuation, paragraph structure, quoting, word choice, etc.)

3. Shifting from Unit 2 • Unit 2 emphasized • Defining an issue • Researching a selected set of articles around that issue from various perspectives • Reviewing/Exploring what has been said • Summarizing and evaluating those articles • Putting together the conversation/debate around the issue

4. Unit 3: Argumentation • Unit 3 will emphasize: • Entering into a conversation/debate • Crafting your own perspective/opinion/argument • Using research to support your argument • Shaping your argument to reachand/or connect to an intended audience

5. Last unit had us explore what types of arguments are available and how they are structured…what they have to say about an issue. • Now, we’ll study and practice what makes an argument successful, persuasive, and effective.

6. What makes an argument successful and/or persuasive?

7. “Room for Debate” (NY TIMES) • Issue: Should tweets cost you your job? • What happens on Twitter stays on Twitter … for all the world to see. The New York Fire Department learned that when one of its E.M.T.’s, the commissioner’s son, posted a string of offensive remarks. The technology industry got a reminder recently as well: After a woman posted a photo of two men whose jokes at a conference had bothered her, one of them was fired, and so was she. • Should employers get tough with strict policies about social media activity, so that employees face consequences at work for what they say online?

8. Read the NY Times Articles • As you are reading, underline the writer’s thesis statement • Mark the writer’s supporting points • Consider: How effective do you think the argument is? Why? What point does the writer make that is most effective? What point is least effective/convincing?

9. Part of what makes an argument successful is connecting to your audience • Who is the audience for the NY Times? • How does each article connect to that audience?

10. Over the next week: Thinking through Ideology • What are ideologies? • Commonly held beliefs • Ideas or practices we might think of as common or common sense • Or, we can think of them as assumptions(we presume to be true) • Ideologies inform a way of thinking about the world and the way we do things (shape our view) • Ideology is shaped by community, culture, race/ethnicity,gender, geography, nationality, class, etc. etc. • What is ideology for one group, culture, or nation, may not be the same ideology for others. • Ideologies can be questioned and rejected.

11. Examples of ideological statements • No pain, no gain” (commonly held belief, shapes a particular perspective or way of doing things, not necessarily true for everyone) • “respect your elders” • “work hard to get ahead” • “this is my civic right/civic duty” • “personal privacy/private life”

12. Examples cont. • From the articles “employees should face consequences” • “divulging trade secrets” is bad (Phil Gomes) • “good online citizenship” (Phil Gomes) • “there are always consequences to what you say and do”(Rafael Gomez) • “employees are a reflection of the businesses that employ them”(Rafael Gomez) • “right to personal life”(Maltby) • **ideological statements can help us understand how a group values certain things and sees the world in a particular way.

13. Why is understanding ideology important? • Helps us shape our arguments to meet our audience’s concerns, beliefs, etc. • Allows us to see how ideology can shape our own or other people’s arguments • Ideologies can be contradicted, rethought, revised.

14. Homework • Read Chapter 5 in Critical Situation: “Exploring the Common Sense of the Community” (take notes/typed or handwritten) • (Response) • Choose an issue from one of your communities. You are welcome to stay with the issue you explored in Unit 2, or you can change your issue. Think about an issue that is controversial, has multiple perspectives, is relevant & contemporary, has debate, etc. • Find an article discussing this issue/debate (one that is argumentative—i.e. takes a side/position on the issue). • If you’re not sure how to frame an issue, you can look at the Room for Debate homepage of the NY Times and see what kinds of issue questions they ask. You can use those as models for how to frame your OWN question that is important to one of your communities (Professional, academic, cultural, communal, racial, religious, ethnic, national, organizational, institutional, etc.) CONTINUED on next page

15. Homework Cont. • TYPED: What article did you choose? Why? What made you select this one? Using Chapter 5 as a guide, what kinds of ideological ideas, statements, and/or beliefs inform the article’s argument? Locate a specific example and describe how it functions as an example of ideology. (1-2 pages, typed, double spaced, Times Font)