Writing Quick Start: Reading Arguments

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Reading Arguments

IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL LEARN TO

  • recognize the basic parts of an argument,
  • identify three types of claims,
  • understand the key elements of support in an argument: reasons, evidence, emotional appeals, and refutations,
  • identify the structure of an argument, and
  • read, analyze, and think critically about arguments.

WRITING QUICK START

T

he photograph on this page was taken on a state university campus in California where students were demonstrating against tuition increases. Although this sign is too small to list their reasons for opposing the increases, the students might say they cannot afford to pay more for tuition, that increased tuition is being used to build an expensive and unnecessary new sports stadium, and so forth.

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©Mark Ralston/Getty

Choose another issue that concerns many college students on your campus, statewide, or nationally. Write a paragraph that identifies the issue, takes a position on it, and offers reasons that others should accept your position.

The paragraph you just wrote in the Writing Quick Start is an example of a brief argument. An argument makes a claim and offers reasons and evidence in support of the claim. You make and evaluate arguments at home, work, and school every day. A friend may try to convince you to share an apartment, or your parents may urge you to save more money. In your college courses and in the workplace, you often need to judge claims and weigh the evidence presented in favor of arguments.

This chapter will show you how to read, analyze, and evaluate arguments, and you will learn strategies for writing effective argument essays.

READING ARGUMENTS IN COLLEGE AND THE WORKPLACE

  • To prepare for a class discussion in a sociology course, you read and evaluate an essay proposing a solution to the decline of city centers in large urban areas.
  • In a mass communication class, your instructor assigns three articles that take different positions on the issue of whether journalists should provide graphic coverage of accidents and other human tragedies. Your instructor asks you to articulate your opinion on this issue.
  • While working as a purchasing agent for a carpet manufacturer, you are listening to a sales pitch by a sales representative trying to convince you to purchase a new type of plastic wrapping used for shipping carpets.