Lesson 6 Prompts: Graphic Argument Analysis

The prompts for this blog were:

On your blog, respond to either photo of President Bush on p. 145 of Writing Arguments by telling what the argument is. Write a thesis statement for the photograph's argument. How did you figure out the claim being made? 

Find another graphic, commercial, or video to analyze. Report on the argument being made. Attach a copy of the graphic element or explain how to find or view the graphic. Write a strong thesis statement for this argument.

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Analysis of Figure 9.2 on page 145 of Writing Arguments, by Ramage et al. 

Caption of photo: President Bush clearing brush from Texas ranch.

Thesis: President Bush is a hardworking, strong, and dutiful person, just like all Americans. 

This photograph emphasizes the non-presidential side of George Bush. It depicts him hard at work hauling brush from a ranch, while wearing typical Western work clothes: white cowboy hat, sunglasses, grungy shirt and pants, an work cloves. The photoshoot seems to try and connect Bush with the everyday working person by 'saying': President Bush works just as hard as you do! It is easy to picture any American in place of Bush in this picture, which works well for the argument being made. 

I arrived at my thesis for the picture by studying all the elements and undertones of it, many of which are mentioned in the above paragraph. I asked myself the questions: what is Bush doing in the picture? Why would he do this for a photoshoot? What about this picture can citizens relate to? Why would citizens instantly make a connection between Bush and themselves because of this picture? Why does the press, or the Bush Administration want people to be able to relate to Bush? Using those questions and the answers I came up with, which were made obvious by the picture/caption, and a bit of knowlede about arguments, I discovered the argument being made and the thesis. 

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Links to two references for the add analyzed in this blog:

Billboard version: [link]

Print version: [link]

Thesis: Converse All Star shoes make you look alternative, popular, and artistic.

Argument being made: this add for Converse All Star shoes uses its models and message to reach its target audience. The models are all alternative and wildly popular musical artists, especially with those who follow rock and alternative music, which are the largest music genres aside from pop. All three artists have a global and humanitarian message which Converse uses to its benefit by using the slogan “three artists, one song.” Converse is trying to convey the message to people that wearing converse shoes is popular and alternative, and many world-changing musician and artists wear them. By wearing Converse shoes, you are part of a large, humanitarian, alternative, and artist group of people.

The add has mainly been printed in music and pop culture magazines, such as Blender and Rolling Stone so the target  audience is people who are interested in music and probably know each of the three artists featured in the add. Converse is counting on their audience to be familiar with the artists in order to have a convincing argument towards buying their shoes. 

-Ace

Lesson 5 Prompt: What I Learned About...

The prompts addressed in this post are:

What questions do you have about anything that other students might respond to?

What have you learned about the textbooks we are using for this course?

What have you learned about the instructor?

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What questions do you have about anything that other students might respond to?

I am often confused about the assignments and do not understand them (they are in desperate need of editing and revising). Asking fellow students may clear up my misunderstandings, if that is what they are.

I also wonder how the other students are enjoying learning about the argument-specific part of this course. We have spent a lot of time studying, reading, and writing arguments, and I wonder how other students are enjoying it, as I am already comfortable writing them and now I'm just learning how to write different styles of them and applying them to audiences. Do other students feel a connection to their every-day lives with their new argument-writing skills?

What have you learned about the textbooks we are using for this course?

I find Hacker's Writing Reference to be an exceptional reference book. It is clear, concise, and easy to find things in. I find it very useful to preview the chapters and pick out the headers for each section, because many sections do not directly pertain to me, such as how to reference a forum or email. Ramage's book, Writing Arguments, is also very well written. I especially like that there are many, many examples of what they ask you to do in the book. While I think Ramage supplies information that is not completely necessary, such as the history of the Socratics and Sophists, I don't mind reading the supplemental material because Ifind it very interesting. Occasionally I need to skim through her paragraphs to pick out the core of what is being said, so I don't get lost in all the supplemental writing.

What have you learned about the instructor?

Romina Kline has been interesting to work with. In all honesty, I am slightly disappointed with how hard it is to get her to clarify what the assignment instructions are telling me to do. The responses I have received were not very helpful, and pretty much just restated the instructions. I do appreciate her straightforwardness, even though I find her grading to be very harsh. That is what really makes me work hard on all my lessons, and check them over ten times before submitting them. Kline references Hacker a lot in her comments, and while I love the Hacker book for it's simplicity, I would not mind getting some personal reasons and/or feedback from Kline herself. 

-Ace

Lesson 5 Prompt: Pre-Writing Techniques

This post covers the two prompts that deal with pre-writing, idea-generating techniques: 

Which of the techniques for generating ideas for essays has been most valuable to you? Why? Give an example.

Which technique would you choose not to use again? Why?

*  *  *  *  *

Which of the techniques for generating ideas has been the most valuable to you? Why? Give an example.

The  most valuable pre-writing task for me has been freewriting. A lot of the time I write essays as a free write, and then edit in evidence and switch paragraphs around during the revision process. Because I am fairly well-versed in writing arguments, I can free write a basic one and then edit it to make it a solid essay. The free write gets my brain working quickly for about half an hour or until I've completed the necessary number of words. Because it's technically just an idea-generating task, if it's not working the way I want the essay to work then I don't have to use anything but the ideas when I begin to work on the real essay. The freewriting for the first outline in Lesson 5 worked well for me. If I were to turn that into an essay it would need some major work, but the content is all there. I am working on Lesson 6 at the moment, and I attempted something different with my freewrite. I tried to get all the content out there, but leave all the connecting sentences and the reasoning out of it. Thus Lesson 6's freewrite is very short and choppy, but I'm finding it very easy to plug all the ideas into a simple argument formula.

Which technique would you choose not to use again?

I do not find the journalist's questions thought provoking or idea-generating at all. Perhaps it was just the topic I was using for it, which really didn't cater to that form of pre-writing, but I found it to be very tedious and I felt like I was limited by the who, what, where, why, and how questions. I used a topic that I am fairly knowledgeable with, so I wasn't prompted to do more research with the questions, especially because I asked the questions, so they were already coming from all the previous ideas I had about the topic. Basically, with the journalist's questions I felt like I was writing things down just to fill space on a page, but that I was only writing things down that I already knew. I generated no fresh ideas and if I were to write an essay on that topic I would have to use another method of pre-writing.

The next post will address an additional three topics.

-Ace

Lesson 4 Prompts: Revising and Reading

In this entry I address three prompts for lesson 4 that address revising and editing written work.

Did you ask anyone else to make recommendations about your revising process? Why or why not?

How did previewing sections of a book (rather than simply reading them) help you to understand the material? (If you are not practicing previewing the written material it will show in your work.)

Which of the suggested tasks from Writing Arguments did you find most helpful in pre-writing your revision? Why?

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Did you ask anyone else to make recommendations about your revising process? Why or why not?

I spoke with a friend of mine who is on the high school debate team, and asked him what the best way to turn my essay into an argument would be. He said that I really needed to take the term 'global revision' to heart, because my current essay 1) didn't make a claim, 2) was too specific to me to back up with solid evidence, and 3) was too informal to make into an argument without lots of work. 

I asked my friend because I wasn't sure if I really should scrap just about everything in my essay in order to turn it into a claim or not. He said that I really didn't have an option!

How did previewing sections of a book (rather than simply reading them) help you to understand the material? (If you are not practicing previewing the written material it will show in your work.)

Previewing sections of a book, before reading it, lets a reader know what to expect. This helps them make connections between what they are reading now, and what they know they will be reading in the future. Just as re-reading material helps by firming everything up, the connections a reader can make from present material to future material also helps the reader understand the material. 

I skimmed each section for all the headlines, and all the paragraph subjects. I took notice of when the example papers and paragraphs were, so I knew that I could connect those specific ideas with a correct way to perform them. Previewing the material answered almost all the questions that arose when I went back and read all the material through and through. 

Which of the suggested tasks from Writing Arguments did you find most helpful in pre-writing your revision? Why?

I found that the the believing and doubting game was the most helpful in pre-writing for my essay. In my essay I did not make claim that I could support with evidence, it was just a recount of one of my experiences without much argument to it. So I took the main idea, that debating was helpful to me, and  made the term more specific: debating is beneficial to students because it strengthens life skills. Using that as my claim, I wrote a paragraph where I believed it, and a paragraph where I doubted it. 

The believing paragraph was easy to write because I personally believe the claim, but it made my reasons for believing it much more clear. I was able to answer questions like “why do I believe that debating is good?”, “why is it good?”, and “what specific skills does debate improve/create?” Once I knew exactly what I believed about debate, I began writing a paragraph that criticized it.

This paragraph was more of a challenge to write, because like I said earlier, I believe the claim I'm making. However, I was able to find certain areas of debate that I actually don't like, such as the time involved, and the emphasis on winning and losing. The doubting paragraph was a counter argument to the believing paragraph, and the claim. If I had enough space (if I could have added another paragraph), I would have brought up a small argument why debate isn't as great as the claim makes it out to be.

-Ace

Lesson 4 Prompts: Written Arguments

The lesson 4 prompts I address in this entry are:

Which genre of argument would you most likely write on your own? Why?

What is the goal of argument?

In the next entry I will address another three prompts focusing on revising written work.

Which genre of argument would you most likely write on your own? Why?

The argument genres I most often use are personal correspondence, blogs, visual arguments, and speeches. While I often write arguments as personal correspondence, including informal e-mails and formal letters, the genre of argument I write more than any is a speech. 

I am a fairly strong public speaker, and often give board presentations and persuasive speeches, so I am very comfortable writing speeches. Because I have been writing and performing speeches, in and outside of competition, for three years, I have come to learn what is most effective in a speech and what does not work. I would prefer to give a speech on a topic rather than write a paper on it because speeches are much more personal, and have the advantage of immediate audience that a paper does not have. Vocal inflection, gestures, and posture can have a subconscious effect on an audience that a paper can not provide. 

What is the goal of argument?

The goal of argument is to:

1)inform yourself on a topic (research)

2) inform your opponent

3) persuade them to see your side of things.

 In an argument, it is more important to inform your opponent and help them to see your point than to make them agree with you. If a person is set on a certain belief, it will take more than an argument and another person telling them what to believe for them to change their mind. If a person can manage to persuade another not to agree with the person's claim, but rather to see the person's point, the argument has been successful and the arguers have done a good job. Often times, both arguers will present a claim, and in turn both arguers should end up acknowledging the other person's claim, whether they are persuaded to truly believe it or not is not relevant.

-Ace

Evaluation of Evidence

In the next blog entries I will be addressing five additional prompts. The prompt I address in this entry is:

Write an evaluation of the supporting evidence you found for your claim.

I used two articles on why a person should debate as sources in my essay. Both sources were persuasive articles written by debate societies (the Amos J. Peaslee Debate Society, and the Erasmus Debating Society), trying to convince non-debaters to begin debate. 

Both articles are persuasive articles, and only offer one perspective on debate: the good side. Both articles focused mainly on the three skills that I included in my essay: public speaking skills, research skills, and reasoning skills. There evidence was not based off of studies, but I determined it to be factual because they were writing with their experiences as support. Because both are a debate society, it is implied that they belong to, or are in charge of, a large group of debate programs, or debaters. It would be reasonable to assume they are backing up their claims with their experiences dealing with debaters over periods of time. 

The articles' audience is most likely aimed at future debate students who are checking out the society's program to decide whether they want to join or not. I see no reason why another person would read the article, with exception to students like me who are using it a source. Both articles are aimed specifically at those who may wish to debate within their society or team.

The article by the Erasmus Debating Society was slightly more formal in style than the Amos J. Peaslee Debate Society's article was, which leads me to think that the Amos J. Peaslee Debate Society is directing their instruction towards general college students, while the Erasmus Debating Society may be direction instruction towards students more serious about debate—communications majors, political science majors, etc. This holds up because The AJPDS is the debate society for Swarthmore college, where any student can join the team.

I had found good sources with statistics of improvement (such as grades, literacy, and graduation levels) for debaters or schools that offered debate, but they did not apply to my essay well enough to actually include them.

-Ace

Lesson 3 Prompt: Process and Product of Arguments

Addressing the last two questions for lesson 3:

What is worth arguing about?

Why and how is argument both a process and a product?

What is worth arguing about?

It is my opinion that all things of controversy are worth arguing about, as long as there are willing participants. As long as there is disagreement, there is room for argument. Of course, this is only my personal opinion, and I'm sure there are differing ones out there. 

I adore arguing, for the educational aspects of it, as well as the entertainment it provides. Curious as to what other people's answers to this question would be, I asked a few of my friends. Many of them agreed with my answer, and then we began exploring other answers. Is it really worth arguing if apples should be engineered to be blue instead of red or green? Is it really worth arguing about superman being better than batman? My friends and I came to a collective agreement that it would be worth arguing even the silliest things if: a) the person you are arguing with disagrees with you along some lines, b) you, and the person you are arguing with are enthusiastic and willing, and c) both arguers are in the right mindset. 

If you have a, b, and c, it is my opinion that anything of disagreement is worth arguing for or against.

Why and how is argument both a process and a product?

Argument is two things: process, and product. Without process, all that is left is the product. Under those guidelines, an argument is not possible. Without a product, there is no collective agreement, no goal for the argument. It is possible to have an argument where there is no product, or no agreement or compromise, but there would be little purpose to the whole affair. Without either a process or a product, there is no true argument.

The process of an argument is the journey arguers take, it is the beginning, middle, and end of the argument. There is a product only because there is a process. Within a process, arguers can provide evidence for their case, support their case with logic and reason, and hopefully culminate to one main point, or goal of the argument. 

The goal that each arguer has for an argument would be the product of the argument if that person's goal prevailed against the other arguers goals. Often, the product of an argument will be a mixture of the goals involved in the argument. Products are not always satisfactory to each person involved in the argument. Socratic arguments attempt complete satisfaction, and the goal of a Socratic seminar is to find overall truth. Finding overall truth is an ideal goal, but realistically it is hard to obtain, especially because not all arguments lead to one overall truth. This is Sophist philosophy, that there are multiple 'overall truths' within one argument. A product will multiple right answers is, in my opinion, more common in current times than arguments with one correct truth.

-Ace

Prompt: Nuclear Power, Argument, and Opinion

Posts for lesson 3 in the UAF academic writing course.  I address five prompts in this post and the following: 

Write about a controversy in the news

How does one demonstrate their belief in an opinion?

Why is a written argument a good way to defend an opinion?

What is worth arguing about?

Why and how is argument both a process and a product?

News controversy:

Nuclear power: should the U.S. build more reactors or not? Nuclear power costs 5.71 cents per kilowatt hour (Department of Energy), compared to gas which is priced at 3.9 to 4.4 cents per kW hour, and coal, which is priced at 4.8 to 5.5 cents per kW hour (Cold Energy LLC, 2008). Even compared to renewable power generation such as hydro, geothermal, wind, and solar, gas is still the cheapest form of power we have available to us at this time.

However, the oil that gas needs to act as a power source is non-renewable, and already running out. We cannot expect to keep burning so much gas and have it last for thousands of years into the future. Not only are oil and gas supplies running out, but the burning of gas is greatly contributing to the greenhouse gases, which contribute in some part to global warming.

Coal is only slightly more expensive than gas, approximately one cent more per kW hour, but won't burn clean. It is seen that coal provides the world with more pollution then all other power supplies combined; 30,000 people die annually due to coal pollution (Abt Associates, 2000). Because of environmental regulations, it is becoming difficult to build coal plants around the world.

Nuclear power has drawbacks as well. Plants are expensive to build, approximately $12 million to $18 million (Climate Progress, 2008), and even more expensive to de-commission, approximately $300 million per plant in the U.S (nuclearinfo.net, 2008). There is no 100% safe way to store nuclear waste, plants could be a target for terrorism, and radiation affects not only plant workers, but people in the area. Nuclear accidents such as that in Three Mile Island (in which thousands died) are catastrophic; I don't believe another power source should be worth that risk. 

That's not to say I'm not a proponent of alternative energy; I don't think gas or coal are doing us any good right now, what with global warming and environmental concerns, and the decreasing supply of oil. Being less dependent on foreign oil sounds great right now, it's just a matter of finding an alternative source for energy. Nuclear energy could supply this need, if it is refined to the point where it is cost-effective, and safe.

How does one demonstrate their belief in an opinion?

A person can demonstrate belief in either their own opinions, or someone else's. People demonstrate belief in many, many different ways. Through their own speech, through words, or pictures, or actions. In a person's lifetime, it will be a combination of all these things. 

From the Oxford English Dictionary, 'belief' is an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists. 'Opinion' is a view or judgment about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.  

This would mean that belief in an opinion is the acceptance that that opinion is true, even if the opinion is not based on fact. It could merely be an idea, a brief 'I think' statement, but people can still believe it. Some of the most influential opinions come from influences in a person's family or circle of friends, and also the opinions of idols, such as actors, musicians, religious symbols, and political symbols.

Political campaigns are one example of a statement of opinions. The candidate has opinions based on something, whether it is fact or the past or personal experiences, and they try to persuade people to believe in these opinions by advertisements, debates, and public speeches. In return, people demonstrate their belief (and trust) with a vote. 

Why is a written argument a good way to defend an opinion?

Written arguments have several advantages to other options for arguments, such as speech, art, or actions.  Written arguments are often more complete and thought-out than other arguments because the author has time to fully construct his or her stance on an issue, research all sides of it, and then present it in a complete format, unlike the other forms of arguments (speech, art, actions). After an initial argument is formed and written, it is changeable and not set in stone. The author can revise and edit, or simply begin again with more information and evidence, or a completely new take on the original opinion they were defending. 

When writing in the defense of an opinion, it is possible to generally predict who the audience will be, or who will be reading your argument. For example, if an argument is written in support of nuclear power, the audience will be others in support of nuclear power, people who are not sure if they are supporting or rejecting nuclear power, and those who are simply doing research on nuclear power, whether for their own information and curiosity, or for their personal argument. Choosing material for your argument can be easier if you know your audience.

Using knowledge of the audience and 'conversation' being joined, it is easier to determine which writing form a personal argument should take. Business papers, letter to the editor or other newspaper editorials, research paper or other school-related argument, peer-reviewed journals, magazine articles, or blogs are only a few options available for written arguments. The ways to get other forms of argument publicized are much more limited than written arguments. 

I will address the two remaining prompts in a later post (tomorrow, most likely).

-Ace

First Post

Just trying to get everything set up correctly. We'll see if this works. 

No thoughts I'm dying to share with everybody at this point, so: until next time!

-Ace

[This blog has been created for the sole purpose of an academic writing course through UAF. All posts after this initial one will focus on writing assignments or activities the course involves. No personal feelings on matters other than writing will be given, unless they apply to an assignment]