Free Essays on Writing Argumumentative Papers

How do we transform leaden argument into golden insight? We've all had the experience of sharpening our ideas and deepening our knowledge as we attempt to convince a colleague whose opinion differs from our own. In like manner, our students can sharpen their ideas and deepen their knowledge by writing papers to persuade an opposition audience. To successfully persuade such an audience, students must consider more than their own sometimes-hazy opinion: They must truly view the issue from the audience's point of view and understand not only the logical, but also the emotional and personal reasons for that point of view. Their paper must establish common ground with the audience and employ an ethos that the audience deems credible. The paper's structure must carry the opposition gradually, step-by-step, toward the intended point of view and deal in a timely fashion with the audience's evidence and objections. The introduction must not only set up the issue but also involve the audience in the argument, acknowledging that audience's opinion and engaging that audience's attention. The conclusion must have an impact worthy of the argument, one that reinforces without merely repeating the paper's points, one that will linger in the audience's mind even when the specific steps in the logical argument fade from memory. How do we set up such an assignment? We can begin by using course readings to model effective rhetorical strategies. A class on race relations might assign Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which can be read not only for its historical content but also for strategies that bond with and persuade an opposition audience. The list of acceptable strategies will vary from discipline to discipline, from era to era, and from audience to audience- which is, in itself, a valuable lesson. We can assign students a specific opposition audience to address in their papers or ask students t... Free Essays on Writing Argumumentative Papers Free Essays on Writing Argumumentative Papers How do we transform leaden argument into golden insight? We've all had the experience of sharpening our ideas and deepening our knowledge as we attempt to convince a colleague whose opinion differs from our own. In like manner, our students can sharpen their ideas and deepen their knowledge by writing papers to persuade an opposition audience. To successfully persuade such an audience, students must consider more than their own sometimes-hazy opinion: They must truly view the issue from the audience's point of view and understand not only the logical, but also the emotional and personal reasons for that point of view. Their paper must establish common ground with the audience and employ an ethos that the audience deems credible. The paper's structure must carry the opposition gradually, step-by-step, toward the intended point of view and deal in a timely fashion with the audience's evidence and objections. The introduction must not only set up the issue but also involve the audience in the argument, acknowledging that audience's opinion and engaging that audience's attention. The conclusion must have an impact worthy of the argument, one that reinforces without merely repeating the paper's points, one that will linger in the audience's mind even when the specific steps in the logical argument fade from memory. How do we set up such an assignment? We can begin by using course readings to model effective rhetorical strategies. A class on race relations might assign Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which can be read not only for its historical content but also for strategies that bond with and persuade an opposition audience. The list of acceptable strategies will vary from discipline to discipline, from era to era, and from audience to audience- which is, in itself, a valuable lesson. We can assign students a specific opposition audience to address in their papers or ask students t...

Offendotron and Microagression

Offendotron and Microagression Offendotron and Microagression Offendotron and Microagression By Maeve Maddox New words for me this week are offendotron and microagression. Both relate to a much-discussed topic: giving and taking offense. I found the word offendotron in an article by Martin Daubney. I couldn’t find it in either the OED or Merriam-Webster, but the Urban Dictionary defines it: offendotron: Person offended by anything, however innocuous. Like offendotron, microaggression has yet to make it into my big dictionaries, but unlike the O word, microaggression already enjoys wide use. According to an article on the blog Ricochet, the Student Government Association at Ithaca University in upstate New York, â€Å"concerned about the problem of microaggression,† is considering the creation of a tracking system â€Å"that students can use to anonymously report incidents of perceived bias on campus.† The word was coined by Harvard professor Chester Pierce in 1970 as a term for â€Å"the insults and dismissals† inflicted on black Americans by non-black Americans. Since then, the meaning has been expanded to include sexist and other remarks: The concept of microaggression has leapt from the shadows of academic writing into the bright light of general conversation, especially in the wake of widely consulted work by professors Derald Wing Sue and Madonna Constantine over the last seven or so years. Microaggressions, as these academics describe them, are quiet, often unintended slights- racist or sexist- that make a person feel underestimated on the basis of their color or gender.- John McWhorter, Time Magazine, March 21, 2014. Aggression is an openly hostile act against someone. Aggressors are conscious that they are being offensive. Microaggression, on the other hand, is an act that is not necessarily perceived as hostile by the person who commits it. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Does [sic] Mean?3 Cases of Complicated HyphenationSentence Adverbs