English 250 HB
From: Ren Ke
Date: 9/14/2008
Summary for “Reading and Discovering Arguments”
This summary will summarize first part of the book “Good reasons and Contemporary
Arguments”, which is written by Faigley and Selzer. It will divide into four sections:
why people argue, how to read argument, how to find argument and how to revise
argument. The whole summary will give us a foundational impression on reading and
discovery arguments.
Why people argue
In this chapter Faigley and Selzer state that why people make argument and how to
make arguments successful. As the example “silent spring” shows in this cha1pter the
author believes that making arguments means being against the most valid opinion
(most of time the opinion are wrong) that people accept. The purpose for writing
arguments is to delivery the thought of writer and arousing people to think in a
disputed way. Sometimes these opinions may even affect the world.
However, the consideration of the purpose is not enough for a good argument. Still
taking “Silent Spring” as an example the author mentions that the skill to connect
arguments with audience and setting the goal for the arguments is important. Faigley
and Selzer claim that to reach the first goal the argument writer needs to read a wide
range of materials. For the second goal the writer needs to set up a position argument
which means to define the issue, to take clear position and to make persuasive
arguments. Then the writer needs to set up a proposal argument which includes
defining the problem, giving out solutions to the problem and making sure the
solution is realistic and practicable.
Also, the author emphasizes the function of rhetorical—appeal to pathos, ethos and
logos. Pathos means emotional. It associates the arguments with readers’ attitude and
feelings. Ethos stands for the credibility. It reflects the trust value of the arguments.
Logos means to convince reader by using reasons. It shows the persuasion value of
the arguments. If we can master these rhetorical skills our arguments will be more
effectively. Being aware of the purpose and elements for an argument is not enough.
We need to know how to read argument.
How to read arguments
In this chapter the author is talking about how to read arguments. The author claims
that there are four requirements for reading: reading critically, reading actively
recognizing fallacies and responding as a writer.
For critical reading, the author states that the four steps: knowing the place of the
arguments, explicating the main points and identifying the authenticity of the writer.
Reading actively means to read by using annotating strategies. This includes
highlighting the key concepts, matching personal experiences with the arguments,
consider the relationship between each idea and asking questions about what we are
confused about. As mentioned, mapping the text is another way to help readers to
understand the major points and the relationships between them.
Also, the author believes that by recognizing fallacies, which are divided into two
parts: fallacies of logic and fallacies of languages, is a way to develop our critical
reading skills. Fallacies of logic consist of ten categories:
 Begging the question (repeating the claim is repeated as evidence)
 Either-or (seldom choices in complex situation)
 False analogies (failing to recognize the situation)
 Hasty generalization (broad claim made on a few of the occurrences)
 non sequiturs (connecting two unrelated ideas)
 Oversimplification (unacceptable arguments)
 Post hoc fallacy (connect causal relationship events together)
 Rationalization (giving an excuse as a reason)
 Slippery slope (cause and effect situation).
Fallacies of language which contain have four elements
 Bandwagon appeals (following the crowd)
 Name calling (putting others down to make you look good)
 Polarization (to exaggerate the truth)
 Straw man (showing something that is obviously wrong)
Another requirement is responding as a writer. In this section, the author points out
that we need to make dialogs with the argument: read the argument, write summary
and make notes. In these processes we should imagine that we are the writer, raise
questions and think about how to develop the argument differently. Writing a journal
also helps. It allows us to connect different ideas and collect them for the next use.
When we know the key points of critical reading, we need to learn how to find
arguments.
How to find arguments
As mentioned in the previous chapter: reading is a key concept for the understanding
of arguments. Also, finding arguments plays a significant role. In this chapter, Faigley
and Selzer talk about where to find arguments and basics that form arguments. The
author states that our written arguments have similar characteristics with daily
conversation. Both of them have claims and reasons to support our arguments. By
knowing this it might be easier to find
arguments in our daily lives. The basis of
an argument contains claims, reasons
evidence and opposing views. Claims and reasons are usually connected by the word
“because”. It may make the arguments more fluent and logical. As it shown in
diagram, the claim and reason are linked by a bridge—because clause. If the reason is
unacceptable or unconvincing; the claim will be suspected and challenged. At this
time some extra evidences are necessary to put in the arguments to make them more
persuasive. Having a consideration of opposite opinions and limitations of the claim
can enlarge persuasion as well.
Besides those, Faigley and Selzer also clarify the process to find the topic, to make a
claim, to find reasons and convincible evidence. For finding a topic the author
suggests us to make sure the requirements for the assignment. Thus we should clarify
the category of arguments that the teacher suppose us to write: definition argument,
evaluation argument, narrative argument or rebuttal argument. We should also
avoiding making unarguable claims, such as: statements of fact, claims of personal
favorite and statements of belief or faith. If the assignment requirement provides a
wide scale of topic to choose from, we can try to think about the topics which interest
us by going through class materials or personal experience. When deciding the topic
which interests us, we need to list some problems by marking the issues that attract us
most, highlighting the issues that we are not familiar with and choosing the most
promising issues. Then make another list to find out what we will focus on those
selected issues. If the methods mentioned above do not help; the author recommend
us to find the topic online because souses on the internet are wildly and the index may
allow us to find out the subtopics easily.
Skimming through the next step—find the claim. In this step the author states two
skills—exploring and reading. For exploring the claim the author believe that instead
of defining the detail we will write about we should figure out what information we
do not know and need to know. To reach this goal we need to follow three steps:
freewriting, brainstorming and making idea map. Freewriting means quick writing
which may allow us to produce ideas. What we should pay attention is that we need to
do freewriting for two or three times and then we should identify the claim.
Brainstorming is a list of questions and statements which may show us some way to
develop the topic. Making idea map is an efficient way to explore the relationship
between information (facts, idea and solutions) we collect. Thus we can clarify the
claim and the reason.
Another way to find out claim is reading. We need to notice that the topic we will
discuss may have a long history. It is necessary for us to familiar with the topic. So we
need to get enough information by reading. However, the situation may not be so easy
that we can find out the claim quickly. This is because the types of claims are varied:
Depend on the topic we choose we need to read different book to get the information
we need. After reading the right sources we can make a claim.If we disagree with the
source, we need to provide convincible reasons to support our claim. If we agree with
the source, we should make sure that the source is suitable for our claim. If we choose
to partially agree with the source we need to make sure that both the agree part and
disagree part correspond to the conditions which are mentioned above. As the author
emphasized “A claim always needs persuasive reasons to support it”. When we clarify
the claim we need to find out good reasons to support it. Good reasons work because
they have connection with the claim. The author believes that there are five ways to
help us find out good reasons and there are argue by definition, argue from value,
argue by comparing, argue from consequence and argue from objections. To begin
with, argue by definition is the most useful way to find reason. This is because
definition shows the reader the meaning of the claim we will write about. So it will be
easily to see if our reasons fit for the claim. Derived from argument from definition,
argue from value is another way to find good reason. Value means giving evaluation.
It reveals our judgments to the criteria of the argument. To make the reader to accept
the criteria is the key point to do an evaluation argument. Comes after evaluation
argument, argue by comparing is also important. The author states that comparison
can make our argument obviously because when compare our topic with another
different topic characteristic of our topic can be easily found. Thus it can strength our
claim. To make comparison argument we can use strategy of analogy. This strategy
will show readers the concept of the topic. It works well if readers accept our
argument. Another powerful strategy is arguing from consequence. The strategy
requires us to use proposal argument, which means finding out the positive and
negative effect about the action that we are arguing about. Besides the four strategies
mentioned above the last one—argue from objection— is important, too. The strategy
wants us to suggest defects of our position. In order to get the requirement we need to
suspect and oppugn our claim as if we are the reader. In that case we can develop our
argument a lot.
After talking about the strategy to find out good reasons the author states the
significant role that is played by evidence. Often evidence includes example, data or
personal experience. It is hard to say which one is the best, but the characteristics of
good evidence are the same. To begin with, the evidence should be related to our
reason. Then the evidence should be sufficient to support the reason. After deciding
the topic and the way to develop it the author will talk about how to revise the
argument.
How to revise arguments
This chapter is focus on how to draft argument. The author states six steps to do it.
The first step is to state and evaluate our thesis. Stating a thesis may be hard because a
good thesis should be neither too broad nor too narrow. A broad thesis may make the
argument hard to justify. A narrow thesis may cause unarguable statements. So make
sure that our thesis has a suitable scale. Once we stating a thesis, we need to evaluate
our thesis. A good thesis has four characteristics: arguable, specific, manageable and
interesting. We can so the evaluation by asking if the thesis corresponds these four
characteristics.
A good thesis can make our point clear, but, how to make our claims more acceptable
by readers? The author claims that to switch position with reader is a good way to
reach the goal. Switch position means to think as if we are the readers. We need to
know if our readers familiar with the topic or not, and make sure the reader’ attitude
toward us should be as concerned, well informed, fair and ethical. Also, to consider
readers’ attitude to our subject is necessary. This is because readers’ opinions are
varied very much. We have to consider different opinions we may encounter and give
out the rational answers to readers.
When having acceptable thesis, the next thing we need to concern about is how to
organize the arguments. Making organization can make our arguments to be more
logical. For this the author shows two forms to make writing plans: formal outlines
form and working outlines. Formal outline form makes thesis statements as the
beginning while working outline organizes by putting reasons in different sections.
Besides the way to organize the author also emphasizes the importance of title and
introduction. Good titles and introductions can attract readers to read the following
content. This is because they often provide enough information to readers, such as
thesis, fact, descriptions of problem, contradiction and scenario.
If title and introduction are important, conclusion which is as an end of the argument
also plays an indispensible role. The author disagrees to write a conclusion just by
summarizing. He thinks that a direct conclusion may cause readers to lose their
interests. So he believes that to make a good conclusion need to contain a call to
action, explanation of the implication, recommendation, plans for future and an
anecdote that represents the thesis. When finishing conclusion, the next thing to
concern is evaluating the draft.
Evaluating our draft is necessary because it may help us to correct errors and improve
arguments. To make an evaluation the author advises us to image that we are the
person who has suspicion to the argument, and then ask the following questions: Does
the paper meet the assignment? Do the reasons support our thesis well, is the
organization effective? Do we have clear definitions to the key terms and does the
paper cover other opinions? After these steps our argument will become more
complete.
After finishing the evaluation, sometimes the instructor may want us to respond other
people’s writing. To make a responding the author suggests us to read the paper no
less than three times. For our first reading we need to read carefully so that we can
catch the main point and purpose of the paper. For second reading we need to focus
on content, organization and completeness. For the third reading we need to clarify
the audience identity, to find out the attraction of the style and to adjust the tone. Also,
do not forget to write down the merits and defects of the draft.
Having wonderful content is still not enough for a good paper. It also needs an
appropriate style. In that case, firstly we should check the connection between
sentence and paragraph. Then check the sentence structure to make the article fluent.
Thirdly, leave out unnecessary word such as very and really. At last, we suppose to
use active verbs to make the article lively.
For completing the paper, we have to check the word and grammar as well. The
author states that when checking spelling we can use spelling checker but we need to
know the limit of the program. For grammar checking the author suggests us to use a
grammar hand book to help us correct mistake.
Conclusion
The first part of the book “Good reasons and Contemporary Arguments” is about the
steps and skills to write arguments. By reading this part we can get the some general
ideas about how to write arguments. However, it is just a guide to the book. In the
following chapters the author will state more detail about strategy to write good
arguments.