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Acknowledgments and Responses

Acknowledgments and Responses. The Craft of Research, Chapter 10. Ping Wang Tetherless World Constellation Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Outline. Questioning Your Argument Finding Alternatives to Your Argument Deciding What to Acknowledge Responses as Subordinate Arguments. Overview.

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Acknowledgments and Responses

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  1. Acknowledgments and Responses The Craft of Research, Chapter 10 Ping Wang Tetherless World Constellation Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  2. Outline • Questioning Your Argument • Finding Alternatives to Your Argument • Deciding What to Acknowledge • Responses as Subordinate Arguments

  3. Overview • To convince readers that they are thoughtful and judicious. • Imagine your readers asking questions • Acknowledge and respond to that imagined questioning, to suggested alternatives and to outright objections

  4. Questioning Your Argument • Once you have the core of your own argument • 1. Question your problem • Why have you defined the problem in that way? • Why do you think there is any problem here at all? • 2. Question your solution • Exactly what kind of solution are you proposing? • Why is your conceptual answer (practical solution) better than others?

  5. 3. Question your support, focusing first on your evidence. • It isn’t accurate/precise enough/ current/representative/authoritative • You need more evidence. • The best time to fix a problem is when you find it. • If you don’t show readers that you have put your own argument through the wringer, they will do it for you.

  6. Finding Alternatives to Your Argument • Alternatives in Your Sources • Note where a source takes an approach different from yours, focuses on different aspects of the problem, etc. • Note any alternative positions the source cites • Reflect on how that writer sees your issue differently from you • Respond by explaining why you didn’t use some evidence • You’ll better anticipate weaknesses or limits to your argument

  7. Three Predictable Alternatives • 1. “But there are causes in addition to the one you claim.” • 2. “But what about these counterexamples?” • 3. “I don’t define X as you do. To me, X means . . .”

  8. Deciding What to Acknowledge • A Goldilocks moment: • acknowledge too many and you distract readers from the core of your argument; acknowledge too few and you seem indifferent to or even ignorant of your readers.

  9. Selecting Alternatives to Respond To • 1. Consider the priorities • 2. Look for alternatives that let you repeat a part of your argument. • 3. Acknowledge alternatives that may particularly appeal to your readers, but only if you can respond without seeming to be dismissive.

  10. Acknowledging Questions You Can’t Answer • If you discover a flaw that you cannot fix or explain away, you can try to redefine your problem or rebuild your argument to avoid it. • But if you cannot, ...

  11. Our advice may seem naive, but it is useful: • Openly acknowledge the problem and respond that • the rest of your argument more than balances the flaw; • while the flaw is serious, further research would show a way around it; • while the flaw makes it impossible to accept your claim fully, your argument offers important insight into the question and suggests what a better answer would need.

  12. Responses as Subordinate Arguments • You have to respond to your imagined readers’ most thoughtful alternatives and objections with an argument. • When you respond to alternatives with reasons and evidence for rejecting them, you “thicken” your argument, making it increasingly rich and complex, enhancing your credibility. • A Goldilocks choice: not too much, not too little.

  13. The Vocabulary of Acknowledgment and Response • Acknowledging • despite, regardless of, or notwithstanding • although, while, and even though • Responding • but, however, or on the other hand

  14. Thank you! • Questions?

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