Counterclaims
Addressing the other side and
how to do it effectively
Counterarguments: how you get there.
1.) Identify your main arguments (try to come up with
THREE, one for each body paragraph).
2.) Think of arguments someone with the opposite
opinion might come up with to prove each argument
wrong. Today you will find sources that provide
counterarguments.
WHY? Because eventually you will…
3.) Rebut! This doesn’t involve your booty. It means
disprove the counterarguments your imaginary
opponent gives (to make your arguments seem even
more LOGICAL and convincing).
For Example…
Argument
Counterargument
• We should stop
• Mining companies
mountain top removal
limit damage to local
coal mining because it
features by “rebuilding
destroys local land
mountainsides and
features; since 1970,
restor[ing] the
this method of mining
aesthetic and
has “destroyed 500
environmental quality
mountains” (House 18).
of the area” (West
Virginia Coal
Association 39).
For Example…
Argument
Counterargument
• We should stop
mountain top removal
coal mining because it
pollutes local water
reservoirs “poisoned
some twelve hundred
miles of rivers and
streams” since 1970
(House 21).
• Mining companies
protect local water
resources, as “[w]ater
quality is monitored
throughout the mining
process and steps [are]
taken to treat any
streams and preserve
the biology” (West
Virginia Coal
Association 39).
Argument
For example…
Counterargument
• We should stop mountain top • Mountain top removal
removal coal mining because
coal mining improves
it hurts Appalachians,
quality of life for local
“scraping away not just coal
residents by providing
but also the freedoms of
Appalachian residents,” who
“high-waged jobs
must consume water with
capable
of
supporting
high “arsenic levels” and
families, paying up to
send children to schools
situated “below ponds
twice the average wage
holding billions of gallons of
in Appalachia” (Quinn
sludge” that may flood
A10).
dangerously (House 19).
Group Time:
Claims, Counterclaims, and Thesis Development
Begin working on outlines when finished
1.) List your main arguments.
2.) List arguments that someone with the opposite opinion
might come up with.
3.) Then work on crafting a thesis statement (Turn in copy to
teacher)
4.) When finished, divide up your intro. and body paragraphs.
(Groups of two may each take 2 paragraphs; Groups of 3 may
each take a body paragraph and do the intro. together).
5.) Begin working on your assigned portion of the outline (see
attached example). Your completed part of your outline is due
next class. We will begin drafting paragraphs from the outline
next class and then go to the library or lab to type them up
and begin merging the paper. You all can work on your
conclusions later.
Rebuttals
Definition:
• When two people debate,
one of them makes an
argument, and the other
follows with a rebuttal,
which, plainly put, is the
"no, you're wrong and this
is why" argument.
The following slides have examples of
rebuttals for the counterclaims used in
the teacher example of mountain top
removal mining.
For Example…
Argument
Counterargument
REBUTTAL:
• We should stop
•
Mining
companies
However, while coal “companies are required to put the land
top
removal
limit
damage
tosoillocal
backmountain
the way they
found
it,” they do this
simply
by “putting
back
mining
because
it (Huffington
ontocoal
the sites
and planting
trees”
Post).by
According
to
features
“rebuilding
“Margaret
Palmer,
director
Biological Laboratory
destroys
local
land of the Chesapeake
mountainsides
and at
the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science, this
features; since 1970,
restor[ing]
quick fix is not really a fix at all” because
“the soil that the
is put back on
ofofmining
the this
site ismethod
so stripped
nutrients that aesthetic
it would take and
2,000 years for the
ecosystem
to return to its
natural state”
(3). In actuality, reclamation
has “destroyed
500
environmental
quality
efforts
fail to adequately
restore
mountains”
(House
18).the environment.
of the area” (West
Virginia Coal
Association 39).
REBUTTAL:
However, evidence suggests that water monitoring
practices are not effectively or consistently practiced by
• to
Mining
companies
protect
• mining
We should
stop According
companies.
the “Clean
Water
Act,
local water resources, as
mountain
top removal
the
Army Corps
of Engineers was
supposed to regulate
“[w]ater quality is
coal
mining
because
the
actual
filling
of the it
streambed
itself” throughout
but opponents
monitored
the
pollutes
local water
of mountain
top removal often
miningaccuse
processmining
and steps
reservoirs
“poisoned
companies
of “lack of enforcement”
and
have
[are] taken to
treat
any
some twelve
hundredto sue (Mitchell
streams and
preserve the
attempted
106).
biology” (West Virginia Coal
miles of rivers and
Association 39).
streams” since 1970
(House 21).
REBUTTAL:
While coal companies bring jobs to mined areas, they
fail
to provide adequate economic
support. According
Argument
Counterargument
to
Erik Reece, a University of Kentucky
professor
and
• We should stop mountain top
• Mountain top removal coal
environmental
activist,
mining
jobs
have
not improved
removal coal mining
because
it
mining
improves
quality of
hurts Appalachians,
“scraping
Appalachian
poverty
rates. Reece
that since
lifeexplains
for local residents
by
awaythe
notregion’s
just coal but
also therate has
providing
“high-waged
1964,
poverty
decreased
from jobs
freedoms of Appalachian
capable
of supporting
thirty
one percent
thirty, which
indicates
that soresidents,”
who musttoconsume
families,
up to twice
called
high
mining jobs have
not paying
significantly
water
withpaying
high “arsenic
the average wage in
levels”
and
send
children
to
impacted the economy or qualityAppalachia”
of life for(Quinn A10).
schools situated “below ponds
Appalachian
people (53).
holding billions of gallons of
sludge” that may flood
dangerously (House 19).