Refuting Opposing Arguments

As you plan your essay and read sources that will supply your supporting evidence, you will encounter evidence that contradicts your position. You may be tempted to ignore this evidence, but if you do, your argument will not be very convincing. Instead, as you review your sources, identify the most convincing arguments against your position and prepare yourself to refute them (that is, disprove them or call them into question), showing them to be illogical, unfair, or untrue. Indicating to readers that you are willing to address these arguments—and that you can respond effectively to them—will help convince them to accept your position.

Of course, simply saying that your opponent’s position is “wrong” or “stupid” is not convincing. You need to summarize opposing arguments accurately and clearly identify their weaknesses. In the case of a strong opposing argument, be sure to acknowledge its strengths before you refute it; if you do not, readers may see you as uninformed or unfair. For example, you could refute the argument that a green campus is too expensive by acknowledging that although expenditures are high at first, in the long run, a green campus is not all that costly considering its benefits. Also be careful not to create a straw man—that is, do not distort an opposing argument by oversimplifying it so it can be easily refuted (for example, claiming that environmentalists believe that sustainability should always be a college’s first priority in its decisions about allocating resources). This unfair tactic will discourage readers from trusting you and thus will undermine your credibility.

Strategies for Refuting Opposing Arguments

In order to do a convincing job of refuting an argument that challenges your position, you need to consider where such an argument might be weak and on what basis you could refute it.

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WEAKNESS IN OPPOSING ARGUMENT REFUTATION STRATEGY
Factual errors or contrary-to-fact statements Identify and correct the errors, perhaps explaining how they call the writer’s credibility into question.
Insufficient support Point out that more facts and examples are needed; note the kind of support (for example, statistics) that is missing.
Illogical reasoning Identify fallacies in the writer’s argument, and explain why the logic is flawed. For example, is the writer setting up a straw man or employing the either/or fallacy? (See Chapter 5 for more on logic.)
Exaggerated or overstated claims Identify exaggerated statements, and explain why they overstate the case.
Biased statements Identify biased statements, and show how they exhibit the writer’s bias. (See page 261, “Detecting Bias in Your Sources.”)
Irrelevant arguments Identify irrelevant points and explain why they are not pertinent to the writer’s argument.

EXERCISE 7.11

Read paragraphs 7 and 8 of the student essay “Going Green.” Summarize the opposing argument presented in each of these paragraphs. Then, consulting the list above, identify the specific weakness of each opposing argument. Finally, explain the strategy the student writer uses to refute the argument.