Developing an Argument of Your Own

1. Developing an Argument of Your Own Current Issues Ch. 6

2. Planning, Drafting, and Revising Your Argument • Getting Ideas – So, we already have started down this path and have looked at where we are wanting to go exploring • So, what do you do next? • Argument can serve well as a tool for inquiry. That is, it can serve as a means for investigating and learning more about an issue (learn as one argues).

3. Cannons • The famous Roman orator Cicero devised five cannons of rhetoric one should engage in in order to create and present an argument: • Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery • In writing, we care less for Memory and Delivery, but Invention, Arrangement, and Style are still important

4. Invention • In Ch. 1, the book quoted Robert Frost as saying “To learn to write is to learn to have ideas” • The process of gathering ideas in Invention. This is what you did with the Journal topic I gave you the week before last and had you post on in Blackboard last week • Invention comes about when we write and think about our topic, but also when we talk it out and discuss it with others as well

5. Getting Stuck • Sometimes, its hard to put our ideas into words: • Writing is more than simply putting one’s ideas into words • It is also about talking it out and developing those ideas so we can find ways to express them. • This is part of the critical thinking process involved in writing.

6. Methods of Invention • Freewriting • Listing • Diagraming • Clustering • Branching • Comparing in columns • Asking Questions

7. The Thesis or Main Point • Thesis can go by many names: Thesis Statement, Claim, or Main Point • Thesis (a claim, a central point, a chief position) should be stated at the beginning of a paper and serve to guide the reader whatever being written is about • Sample thesis: Smoking should be prohibited in all enclosed public spaces because…

8. Imagining an Audience • You always want to try and imagine who it is you are wanting to or hope to reach as a result of your argument. • Questions to consider: • Who are my readers? • What do they believe? • What common ground do we share? • What do I want my readers to believe? • What do they need to know? • Why should they care?

9. Audience as Collaborator • It is good to view your audience as less of an antagonist and more of as someone who could or might agree with you. • Don’t make assumptions about your audience. The book notes that most know who Thomas Jefferson is but not Elizabeth Cady Stanton, so you’d need to explain who she is so the audience would know (239). • Think of your readers as your classmates – people like you – as your imagined readers; and be sure that your essay does not make unreasonable demands.

10. Checklist for an Audience • Consult p. 242 for more questions to address on this

11. The Title • Use the title to help set up your topic, even your thesis, of your paper. • You want your title to be engaging • p. 242-3 has examples