Argument+Excercises

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[]Start at Obsession for women and navigate along the top to Obsession for Men then Reality. Also check out Escape []. Adbusters is an organization dedicated to exposing the predominance of corporate cultural consumption. They’ve become well known for their advertisements that spoof popular, recognizable ads by major companies. Look specifically for three postcards displaying spoofs of Calvin Klein ads: Obsession for Men, Obsession for Women, and Reality. Click on the thumbnail of each post card to see a larger picture of the ad.
 * Adbusters.com**
 * 1) What argument is each ad making? What is the purpose of the ads? Who are their intended, invoked, and real audiences?
 * 2) Consider how the creators of the ads used visual rhetoric to strengthen their argument. How is the "spoof" format important to the visual design? Do you find them visually effective? Why or why not?

@http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/06/12/nosejobs/index.html Erin Aubry Kaplan reacts to the recent report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons that offers new methods for performing nose jobs on African-Americans. She examines the surgeons’ proclaimed goal of retaining the natural beauty of an African-American nose.
 * //Black Like Me — But Not Too Black//****By Erin Aubry Kaplan**
 * 1) Describe the author’s attitude towards African-Americans and plastic surgery. How are the issues surrounding African-Americans getting plastic surgery on their noses related to the stereotypes?
 * 2) What lines of argument does she use in her essay (e.g., arguments from the heart, from values, and so on)? Which do you find the most effective? Why? Do you find any to be ineffective? Why or why not?

[] This article, originally presented as a lecture at a meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association in 1998, examines how gender stereotypes influence our thinking and how the media reinforces these gender stereotypes.
 * //Bimbos and Rambos: The Cognitive Basis of Gender Stereotypes//**
 * By Margaret W. Matlin**
 * 1) Consider the sources that Matlin cites. What kind of authority does she trust? How does she use sources to build her own authority? Additionally, consider the website’s design and Matlin’s biography at the bottom of the page. How do these elements create an ethos? Do you feel that Matlin is a trustworthy source? Does that reaction influence how persuasive you find the article?
 * 2) Identify some of the arguments of fact that Matlin presents. What can you discover about Matlin’s audience, and how she thinks about that audience, from her arguments of fact? How might these factual arguments imply other arguments of definition, evaluation, cause, or proposal?

@http://www.modelminority.com/ Modelminority.com is a website that seeks to critically examine issues of race in America, document the Asian American experience, and empower Asian Americans by challenging racial stereotypes.
 * ModelMinority.com**
 * 1) Consider the introductory message that ModelMinority.com includes on the front page of their website to explain their mission. Who might be the target audience for this message? What assumptions does the website anticipate that its audience will have? What lines of argument does ModelMinority.com employ to reach its audience?
 * 2) Click through to one of the sections listed in the upper left hand corner of the site and find several arguments from the lists. Do the articles seem to be written to the same audience? What similarities or differences can you identify, especially regarding the assumptions that the authors make about who will read their articles?

@http://www.feminist.org/research/sports/sports2.html @http://web.archive.org/web/20040803114205/http://www.savingsports.org/sports/wrapper.jsp?PID=2081-20&CID=2081-032304A Here are two Web sites that each analyze recent events in the debates over whether or not to append or repeal Title IX. Since men’s wrestling programs are often the first sport dropped in order to comply with Title IX, wrestlers are — not surprisingly — paying nearly as close attention to the issue as women’s groups such as the Feminist Majority.
 * //The Feminist Majority: Empowering Women in Sports//**
 * //National Wrestling Coaches Association Title IX Update//**
 * 1) Consider what topics each Web site covers. What facts are presented? What elements are focused on in one Web site and not the other? Why do you think that is?
 * 2) Consider visual rhetoric: Which page do you find the most rhetorically effective? What effect does each page’s layout and design have?

@http://www.dickshovel.com/crimes.html Ward Churchill analyzes the prevalence of sports mascots based on stereotyped images of Native Americans. He uses a controversial case from the Holocaust to argue that these mascots constitute a crime against humanity.
 * //Crimes Against Humanity//**
 * By Ward Churchill**
 * 1) Conduct a Toulmin analysis of Churchill’s definitional argument. What is his claim? What are his reasons? His warrants?
 * 2) Does he argue his claim persuasively? How do you feel about Valley Warriors after reading this? What aspect of the article do you find the most persuasive? What elements of argumentation is he using to achieve that persuasiveness?

@http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2006/lost_in_america McGray argues that American schools should pay more attention to teaching foreign languages as a way of enhancing America’s role in the global community.
 * //Lost in America//**
 * By Douglas McGray**
 * 1) McGray relies heavily on stories of individuals’ experiences. Does his reporting feel merely anecdotal, or do his stories work as representative evidence? Discuss how he incorporates these stories and why they do or do not work as evidence.
 * 2) Analyze McGray’s tactics for appealing to an audience beyond those who work in education. How does he try to make his argument relevant to Americans not directly involved in education?

@http://www.wrnha.org/Issues%20News%20Articles/Education/Bilingual%20Balderdash.htm The Washington State Chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly introduces this editorial from the //Wall Street Journal// by noting his own belief in "English-first" educational programs.
 * //Bilingual Balderdash//**
 * 1) Consider the use of slanted or biased language in the editorial. Do any examples seem unduly slanted? Do any examples seem especially effective at helping to make the point clear, or helping to make clear the author’s opinion on the issue?
 * 2) Who might you infer is the intended audience of this Web site? How do you think they’d react to both the introduction and the editorial itself?

@http://www.us-english.org/index2.htm The U.S. English homepage allows the visitor to choose either the U.S. English Foundation, an education and research organization, or U.S. English, a lobbying organization to reform bilingual education. Both organizations support having English as the official language of the United States.
 * Webpage for U.S. English**
 * 1) Consider the front page of this website. How does this page make appeals to pathos? Include an analysis of the visual elements of the web page as well as careful attention to the word choice in the descriptions of each organization.
 * 2) Click through to the front page of each organization and consider how the web sites develop an ethos for the organization. Describe the ethos of each organization and how the organizations rely on the character of individuals to establish authority and trustworthiness.

@http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/cochlear/debate.html PBS produced a documentary called "Sound and Fury" that explored issues of deafness, deaf culture, and the relations between the deaf and hearing communities. This section of the Web site for the documentary presents a debate about the merits and drawbacks of cochlear implants which help to restore hearing for deaf people. Among the biggest criticisms of the implants is that they deny deaf children the opportunity to join the deaf culture, a community bonded by their common language, American Sign Language.
 * //Cochlear Implants: The Debate//**
 * 1) One of the main elements of this debate format is that each debater is given the opportunity to respond to the other debater’s answer. Analyze the two women’s use of rebuttals and counterarguments. Do you find their responses to each other appropriate? Why or why not? How do their rebuttals contribute to advancing their own argument?
 * 2) Which debater do you find more persuasive? What elements of her argument helped convince you? What further information do you wish you had for either side of the debate? What questions would you ask the debaters?
 * 3) Browse the rest of the Web site for //Sound and Fury//. Does the information you uncover through this search lead you to change your point of view on the debate? Why or why not?

@http://www.alabamaatheist.org/awareness/questions/pledge.htm This editorial by the organization Atheism Awareness examines the use of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
 * //What Is Wrong with the Pledge of Allegiance?//**
 * 1) Do you find the site’s argument persuasive? Regardless of your personal feelings on the issue of the Pledge of Allegiance, do you believe the author created an effective argument? Why or why not? What aspects of the argument were most persuasive, and what aspects were least persuasive?
 * 2) Consider the site’s use of quotations and outside sources. What is their function within the overall argument?

@http://pewresearch.org/obdeck/?ObDeckID=15 David Masci and Gregory A. Smith summarize findings and offer some conclusions on a recent poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life about Americans beliefs in God and/or a higher power. Political, scientific, and philosophical associations are also examined.
 * //God is Alive and Well in America//**
 * By Davis Masci and Gregory A. Smith**
 * 1) Do you agree or disagree with historian Martin’s statement that the “many pews are filled…with practical atheists?” Does the Pew Center poll support this assertion?
 * 2) This article appears on the Pew Research Centers website under the heading “findings.” Spend some time browsing the Pew Research Center site. Nearly all of the reports on the site include polling data accompanied by an article interpreting the data. Choose one and analyze how well you think the author synthesizes the raw date of the poll.

@http://www.aacu.org/press_room/press_releases/2006/pell.cfm This press release from the American Association of American Colleges and Universities reports the findings of a study by the Irvine Foundation claiming that economic diversity on California college campuses is declining.
 * American Association of American Colleges and Universities Press Release**
 * 1) Conduct a Toulmin analysis of this press release, paying special attention to reasons and warrants. What assumptions about higher education lie behind the claims of this press release? How does this report use the study by the James Irvine Foundation to make an argument about diversity on campus? Are there any claims that are implied rather than stated?
 * 2) Consider this press release’s use of evidence. What kinds of artistic and inartistic proofs does it use? How does the evidence chosen by the authors reflect a particular point of view, and what kinds of evidence might enhance the strength of this argument with other audiences?

@http://chronicle.com/jobs/2003/11/2003112601c.htm Stanley Fish attacks the notion of “intellectual diversity” as a politically motivated attempt to control higher education and make it conform to a particular political viewpoint.
 * //The War on Higher Education//**
 * By Stanley Fish**
 * 1) Fish’s article uses inflammatory and angry language. Do you find his argument persuasive? Explain how his sometimes strident language (and his use of parenthetical remarks) enhances or detracts from his argument.
 * 2) Who is the intended audience for this article? How does Fish attempt to appeal to this audience in particular? At what stases does he make his arguments? Which claims do you think would be most effective with his intended audience and why?

@http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20040501faessay83301/daniel-w-drezner/the-outsourcing-bogeyman.html This article by University of Chicago Associate Professor Daniel Drezner argues for the benefits of globalization and outsourcing and examines the potential results of protectionist policies. 1. Examine how Drezner treats arguments that run counter to his own. How does he use these objections to his claims to advance his own argument? Does he treat alternative claims fairly? 2. Analyze Drezner’s use of arguments based on facts and reason. Include in your discussion an analysis of at least one artistic proof and one inartistic proof and comment on how successfully Drezner uses these appeals.
 * //The Outsourcing Bogeyman//**
 * By Daniel Drezner**

@http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2003/the_american_paradox Halstead argues that America is both the best and worst in many measures of a country’s economic and social health, and that a new social contract would improve American life by addressing a number of social ills where we rank as one of the worst in the world. 1. Halstead’s argument operates primarily at the stasis of proposal, but he must first consider other stasis questions before he can present his proposal. Identify any arguments of fact, definition, evaluation, or cause that you can find in the article. Are there any questions of stasis that you think he has left unresolved or that he could handle more effectively? 2. Conduct a rhetorical analysis of Halstead’s article, focusing on how he uses the lines of appeal. What sort of character does he present, and to what emotions or values does he appeal? Does his argument make logical sense? How could he make this proposal more effective?
 * //The American Paradox//**
 * By Ted Halstead**

The following link takes you to a recently published hypertext article in //Slate// magazine. As you read, pay attention to your choices as you follow one link or another within the article. Note the ways in which hypertext arguments approach persuasion differently than more traditional, printed arguments. The questions included below will help you identify some of the advantages and disadvantages of hypertext arguments. @http://slate.msn.com/id/2091197/

By Timothy Noah What constitutes plagiarism? When a collection of historians publishes a letter in the New York Times arguing that writer Doris Goodwin did not commit plagiarism in her now-infamous book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, Timothy Noah cries foul. As you read, consider how Noah takes advantage of the opportunities the Web has to offer when he creates and supports his argument. 1. Noah’s essay includes ten links that connect to other Web pages. Follow a few of these links and read the pages to which they connect. What function do the links serve within Noah’s argument? How do they affect your understanding of issues at hand? Which do you find most useful, and which do you find least useful? Would you consider using links in an argument if you were publishing on the Web? Why or why not? 2. Noah backs up his argument with a collection of quotes from Goodwin’s work and the sources from which she’s been accused of plagiarizing. Does he argue his claim persuasively? What aspect of the article do you find the most persuasive? What elements of argumentation is he using in that part?
 * Historians Rewrite History**
 * The campaign to exonerate Doris Goodwin.**