I am still trying to figure out my thesis-statement(s) for Monday, but I'm getting a little more secure in how to do it. That being said I still feel quite confused... Well well, one cannot conquer the world in one quarter, right?
Let's get down to business though, shall we?
In "So What? Who Cares?" the author goes over how you make sure that your readers feel motivated to read what you write. Confused? No worries. Look at it this way: you are not going to be interested in just a list of facts, right? But if you would be convinced that what you are reading is important, and that it is important for you to read it, then your interest might be a little piqued. In the chapter we are instructed that if we do not explain why what we write matter, and why the reader should care, we risk losing the readers' interest early on in the text. As writers, we have to hook the reader early on, by talking about how our view on something is different from what they have read earlier, and by arguing why our view is important we draw the reader further in to our text. In order to make an argument, we first have to argue why our argument needs to read.
In "Argument beyond Pro and Con" we get to understand that an argument is most likely never black or white. Everything depends on context, who is involved, what has happened, and why it did. In order to give a proper argument, the goal is not to convince our audience that the other side is wrong, but to convince them that we are right. While taking into consideration the opposing view we can make our own arguments stronger by refuting their side and backing our own using properly grounded claims. One can look at it as having our backing, our grounds, being the bearing pillars and our claim, our argument, being the ceiling. Without proper pillars, the ceiling will cave in.
An argument is nothing without the proper backing, and if you are not able to back your claim, the only thing you have is a worthless statement. So back it up!
I'll be back with a couple of thesis statements, stay tuned.
Have a great weekend!
Marta
I like the metaphor of the building a pillars in order to support your ceiling. It's true for any argument if it is all one sided then the flow or balance is off, and the paper will stand alone without any concrete structure. How can you make an argument with only your one sided opinion? Hum you cant. To prove your point of view it must have evidence to support the facts otherwise, it's just you alone in the argument and personally that is no fun.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there is a grey zone for arguments as it depends on the context, purpose, audience, and such. As we analyzed artifacts prior to our interview, I believe it could be applicable for the dissection of arguments too! I also agree with you that taking in the opposing view into consideration, we make our arguments more solid, and give it a proper backing. Great response Marta! You go gal! (Y)
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome because it is so true that you need to state the so what and who cares in order to have that credibility from your readers. It's hard to pinpoint this but if you are writing about something that you are into then it becomes much easier. Proper backing from your comment is key as well. When you state something and explain why someone might care it is important to maybe give an example of what you are talking about from someone else's shoes. This in return shows the readers that your not the only person who thinks this way.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome because it is so true that you need to state the so what and who cares in order to have that credibility from your readers. It's hard to pinpoint this but if you are writing about something that you are into then it becomes much easier. Proper backing from your comment is key as well. When you state something and explain why someone might care it is important to maybe give an example of what you are talking about from someone else's shoes. This in return shows the readers that your not the only person who thinks this way.
ReplyDelete