Argumentative Research Writing

Argumentative Research Writing

Argumentative research writing asserts the soundness of a debatable position, belief, or conclusion. Argumentation takes a stand and provides reasoning or evidence to prove that the stand is defensible, thereby urging others to agree with the author. Argumentation is not persuasion. Persuasion uses various types of appeals, such as pathos (appeal to emotion), logos (appeal to reason), and ethos (appeal to reputation or authority) to move an audience to a particular belief or to action. Argumentation uses logos to demonstrate that certain ideas are sound and others are not. If pathos or ethos are used, they are secondary to logos. Pathos or ethos cannot replace or supersede logos.

Every field of study uses argumentative research writing!

Examples of argumentative writing to read.

The Declaration of Independence

The Myth of the Student Loan Crisis-This one is mostly graphics but shows how evidence is used. Here's your crisis: Student Loan Debt isn't a Myth-This shows how the previous article was arguable.

Your argumentative research paper

You will be answering a literary question of your choosing about The Hound of the Baskervilles. When you know what you want to write about, send me your topic for discussion and approval.

What should I think about as I plan my essay?

Choosing a topic-We will discuss this thoroughly in class.

We've discussed some possible topics for this paper. You may have other areas of interest in the book. As you pick your topic and your point of view on it, think about whether it is arguable. Could a reasonable person disagree with you? If not, it is too obvious and doesn't need a paper written about it. Is it narrow enough to fit into the parameters of the paper? Is it broad enough to fill the parameters of the paper? Will I be able to provide reasoning or evidence that my point of view is sound?

Be sure you understand completely what you are trying to achieve with your paper. For instance, one of the topics I mentioned was the history of the detective novel leading up to and influencing "The Hound of the Baskervilles." If you choose to write on that, I'm not looking for a history of the detective novel. I'm looking for you to make a point that one or more particular works that came before this novel were major influences on its creation and you would need evidence to back that up. A reasonable person might argue that something other than what you claim was the major influence on it or that Conan Doyle created it entirely from his own mind with no influences. You would use textual evidence, evidence from Conan Doyle's life, and evidence from the other works to prove that your point of view is sound and reasonable.

Another topic I discussed was how superstition and reason interact in this novel. You might want to argue that superstition was more important than reason in the murder of Sir Charles or alternatively, that his death was brought about by his

reasoning and superstition was a red herring and played no part in it. Either way, a reasonable person could argue with your point of view and you would need evidence to prove your point sound.

Before you begin serious writing, you need to let me know your topic and your point of view on it so that I'm sure you have something that is workable for this type of paper.

Developing a thesis statement

Your thesis statement will tell your reader your position on your topic and show where you are planning to go. As always, it is your point of view and a roadmap.

Examples of thesis statements for argumentative research papers:

"Education is the best way to move people from the welfare rolls to prosperity." (Someone could reasonably argue with this premise by saying that so far, this has not proven to be true and welfare itself should be reformed rather than counting on the education system to correct society's problems.)

" While both Wordsworth and Coleridge were in the forefront of the Romantic movement, Coleridge's use of darker themes and narrative poetry shows that he was not simply a disciple of Wordsworth." (I used this one last week for the compare and contrast paper, but it is also argumentative, using textual evidence as the support for the position taken by the writer.)

"Tightening the building codes in hurricane-prone areas would improve the economy because citizens would feel safer building houses there, would invest more in businesses that are not so easily destroyed, and would not have to rebuild public institutions, such as schools, so frequently." (The opposition would be arguing that tightening building codes scares people away and ruins the economy.)

Think about your audience

Assume that your audience is skeptical of your position or even hostile to it. You don't want to write only to those who already agree with you. Assume that you must bring enough strong evidence to influence those who don't agree with you. Since your position is arguable, assume that people will be looking for holes in your argument.

Gathering and Documenting Evidence-We will discuss this thoroughly in class.

You must support your points with evidence. Remember that since your point is arguable, you will not prove something conclusively. If you could prove something conclusively, there would be no debatable position and that would be a different type of a paper.

There are two types of evidence used for a research paper. There are facts and there are opinions. Facts are statements that can be independently verified. Opinions are judgements or beliefs that are not verified by proof. They do not carry the weight of fact, but depending on who is giving the opinion, they can be influential. The opinion of a recognized expert in the field you are studying can be convincing. The quality and credibility of the supporting evidence will be an important factor in convincing your audience that your position is sound. Ask yourself what type of evidence the reader will need to accept your point of view. You might need statistics, textual evidence, quotations, charts, graphics, first-hand accounts, or any number of other types of evidence to support your idea. The type of evidence needed will depend on the argument you are making.

As you gather evidence ask yourself these questions:

1. Is it relevant? Is it pertinent to my argument? 2. Is it representative? Does it show the full range of opinion, not just one

aberrant view? 3. Is it sufficient? Do I have enough to support my claims?

Remember to document your sources and cite everything that needs to be cited. Don't plagiarize! It will never be worth the trouble it can cause you. If you need

more help with documenting, let me know. I have helps on our Quia page and you can rewatch the class session on citing sources if you wish.

Dealing with opposing views-We will discuss this thoroughly in class.

Do not ignore opposing points of view. You should acknowledge them to make your paper as strong as possible. Ignoring opposition makes you seem unprepared as a writer. You should present them fairly and not distort them to make them seem weaker than they truly are. You should, however, point out when they are unsound, limited, unfair, or illogical.

Sometimes you have to concede that the opposition has a valid point, but you can then seek to show its limitations or how it is only valid in certain circumstances.

Example: From "Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell

Yellow-Orwell's point Green-opposition view

Blue-Orwell's refutation

I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who deny this would argue, if they produced an argument at all, that language merely reflects existing social conditions, and that we cannot influence its development by any direct tinkering with words and constructions. So far as the general tone or spirit of a language goes, this may be true, but it is not true in detail. Silly words and expressions have often disappeared, not through any evolutionary process but owing to the conscious action of a minority. Two recent examples were explore every avenue and leave no stone unturned, which were killed by the jeers of a few journalists. There is a long list of flyblown metaphors which could similarly be got rid of if enough people would interest themselves in the job; and it should also be possible to laugh the not un- formation out of existence(3), to reduce the amount of Latin and Greek in the average sentence, to drive out foreign phrases and strayed scientific words, and, in general, to make pretentiousness unfashionable.

An assignment document will be published on Quia the week the argumentative research paper is assigned.

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