Introduction
About this week...
Arguments, especially academic written arguments, must be well supported with evidence that is not only acceptable to a variety of audiences but also stands up to scrutiny regardless of whether the audience accepts it or not. What do I mean by that? Just that using solid, factual evidence and strong, valid reasoning leads to a well-found conclusion. No one has to say, "That's a good argument." This week we will be discussing the structure of supporting an argument and how that structure may be multiplied many times in a complex argument. Then, in the following two weeks, we will discuss specific types of evidence used to support arguments.
In addition, this week we will take a good look at citation generators. There may be many of you who need to improve the grade on your Annotated Bibliography Essay, and citation generators can be a big help with the sort of detail required when conforming to a specific style.
4a Syllogism / Deductive / Inductive
These terms represent three of many ways in which argument have been categorized. Syllogism is a formal structure taught by Aristotle and undergirds much of Western thinking. Deduction and induction are broad types of argument and refer the differences in the reasoning process.
The deductive process evaluates the quality and validity of direct evidence, while the inductive process evaluates the connections of indirect evidence.
In both deductive and inductive reasoning it can be helpful to reduce the argument to a syllogism, or a series of syllogisms, because it is often the soundness and validity of the syllogism that will determine whether the argument should be accepted or rejected.
I know this all sounds a bit confusing at the moment, but this week's lectures should help to clarify these concepts. We will work on further clarification in the 4a discussion.
4b Supporting Arguments
Logos ~ Ethos ~ Pathos: Aristotle's rhetorical appeals. These represent broad forms of support for arguments.
After learning about ethos, pathos, and logos, find one opinion piece related to your final project subject. Determine which rhetorical strategies the arguer is using to convince the audience and write a summary to share as your first post in 4a.
