Chapter 14: Argumentation- Reading Response

Emily Baker

Professor Zukowski

English 121

March 1, 2016

Chapter 14: Argumentation

          

            To start off, the fact that an argumentation and a persuasion have two different meanings really surprised me. I definitely was on the boat that would use the two words interchangeably. However, I still am a bit confused on the difference between the two. The author states, “To persuade an audience, a writer relies on various kinds of appeals… Argumentation is the appeals to reason.” Yet in the very next paragraph it says, “… however, most effective arguments combine two or more appeals (524).” This sounds more like a persuasion according to the definition given earlier above.  

            

           The rest of the chapter was a lot to digest. There was a lot of information presented in only a few pages. The chapter was still clear and well presented in such a way that was understandable. Another interesting point that caught my attention, was the idea of choosing an argumentative topic that appealed to an audience that would disagree with your stance. I especially liked the example the book gave about the tuition and higher pay for teachers. Although technically it could be argued, it has no appeal because it would already be telling the reader what he or she already knows.

           

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 The most interesting section to me was the fallacy section. It really gave me insight on different ways an idea can seem true but in fact, the evidence that supports it is faulty. I’m starting to recognize how much the media can twist our perception on what is true through its logical fallacies. Especially during election time, it seems like the only thing that comes out of the media’s mouth is fallacies. One I often see is the ad hominem, especially during the debates. Yes, the candidates may not have a whole plan laid out for solving some of America’s greatest problems, but it seems like if they cannot provide a solid answer the revert to attacking the other candidates character.

         
         Overall this chapter provides some very helpful and key points to help writers create a argumentative essay that has enough support to back up their thoughts. Although, it offered many ways in which one can present their supporting idea, some of the examples were not very clear. For example, the section about inductive reasoning seemed to only provide situations where the inductive reasoning was incorrect or not valid enough. There was nothing about the correct way to include inductive reasoning into a paper. Other than that, this chapter was well structured for preparing students when writing a strong argumentative essay.