However strongly you may feel about an issue, if you do not provide solid support for your position, you will not convince anyone to see it your way. As you develop support for your position, think carefully about your readers and the kind of information that will be most convincing to them.
REASONS AND EVIDENCE
The major support for your position consists of the reasons that you give for that position. These reasons must be backed up with evidence, such as facts, examples, and expert opinions. The success of your argument depends on the quality of the reasons and evidence that you present to support your position.
For more on finding sources, using quotations, and citing sources, see Chapter 14.
Facts are statements or observations that can be proved true. Statistics — numerical facts based on research — can be persuasive evidence to back up your position. Examples are specific experiences or pieces of information that support your position. Expert opinion is the opinion of someone who is considered an expert in the area you are writing about. Note: The fact that a person’s opinion appears on a Web site does not necessarily mean that he or she has any expertise. When in doubt about a source’s authority, consult your instructor or a research librarian.
| POSITION | It pays to stay in college. |
| REASON | College graduates earn more than high school graduates. |
| EVIDENCE/FACT | College graduates earn 55 percent more than high school graduates. |
| REASON | Students learn up- |
| EVIDENCE/EXAMPLE | Understanding how to use technology in your field may make the difference between getting a job and coming in second. |
| REASON | Many jobs require college degrees. |
| EVIDENCE/EXPERT OPINION | John Sterling, president of one of the largest recruiting agencies, said recently, “Ten years ago, a college degree was perceived as an advantage. Today, the college degree is the basic ticket of entry for the majority of jobs.” [Note: When you use expert opinion, you need to identify the source of the quote.] |
As you choose reasons and evidence to support your position, consider your readers. Are they likely to agree with you, to be uncommitted, or to be hostile? Choose the support that is most likely to convince them, drawing on outside sources (such as the library or Internet) as needed.
OPPOSING POSITIONS
Part of your support for your position involves the opposing position: Acknowledge it, and present some evidence against it. If, for example, you are arguing in favor of lowering the drinking age to eighteen, you should not ignore the position that it should be kept at age twenty-
The writer of the paragraph in “Understand What Argument Is” might consider the opposing position as follows.
| POSITION | The drinking age should be lowered from twenty- |
| OPPOSING POSITION | The drinking age should not be lowered because people begin drinking before the legal age. If the age were lowered to eighteen, more sixteen- |
ACKNOWLEDGING THE OPPOSING POSITION: First, laws should not be based on the extent to which they are likely to be abused or broken. They should be based on what’s right. Even so, there is no evidence to show that legal age is a major influence on teenage drinking. Other factors involved, such as peer pressure and the availability of fake IDs, have more impact on whether teenagers drink.
As you gather support for your position, keep the opposing position in mind.
FAULTY REASONING
As you write and review the support for your position, be sure that your evidence is good and your reasoning is logical. Unfortunately, we are exposed to faulty reasoning all the time, especially in advertising. Certain kinds of errors in logic are so common that there is a name for them — logical fallacies. Be aware of the common fallacies so you can avoid them. For a review of logical fallacies, see “2PR: Pause to Think” in Chapter 1.