Gerardo Torcedo
Writing 10 section 31
Moberly
September 4, 2012
Reading Response 1: Chapter 1 Everything’s an Argument
In their article Everything’s an Argument Andrea A. Lunsford, John J.
Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters state the many different types of arguments that are
exposed to people in their everyday lives. They support their claim by providing many
examples of different types of situational arguments and places where arguments are in
use. Their purpose is to reveal to their audience the affects an argument can make by
using the right type and revealing to us on how society uses arguments to not only win
over people’s supports but also altering people’s mood and actions. They seem to have a
young, educational audience in mind because of their informational tone and their effort
into exposing their audience into the importance and power of the use of arguments.
“Can something as innocuous as a hoodie branded with your school’s logo be an
argument? And would it make a difference if that apparel were being sold by Victoria’s
Secret?”
This quote stood out to me due to the fact that having just a school’s logo wouldn’t really
have an argumentative stance but with the collaborative work of a famous well known
brand like Victoria Secret then its leaves rooms for audiences to think of a certain
message. The seemed cool because just adding a name brand to a certain object can
create an entire different image and meaning.
“Arguing isn’t always about winning or even about changing others’ views”
This quote stood out to me because being familiar with the word argue and how its used
in our every day lives, we usually don’t see an argument as a way of persuading others to
buy a product or even change their religious point of view. After reading what an
argument can mean and the different meaning it holds I understand that argue is more of
a universal word.
“If you know familiar prayer or mantra, think for a moment of what is “argues” for and
how it uses quiet meditation to accomplish the goal”
This makes me interested because I never actually thinking that prayers are a way of
argument and stands for a true meaning. I always believed that prayer was just said to ask
for a certain offering. This makes me interested because this was a great example in their
statement.
These authors do a great work in providing readers with information that they need to
know and then can execute even better. What I like with the format of the text is that the
subtitles tell the readers what the next topic is about. They introduce the topic, give
examples and information, connect it to everyday lives then provide another example
with a though provoking answer. This seemed like it worked very well and I personally
felt I learned what they wanted their audience to partake.
The medium of the text is informational. The audience is students. The purpose of this
text is to provide information to students about how argument can be used in many
different ways for many different types of purposes.
Throughout reading this text I found that I learned many things about what can be
considered an argument. Because of the relations that the authors provided from the text
to our everyday lives allowed me to connect to the reading and strongly agreed to
everything said. When reading about ethos pathos and logos this showed me that I am
more of pathos. I was able to connect the reading with my everyday lives and see that the
differed types of arguments are being used. For example advertisements on billboards,
when going to church and even street signs I was able to think back to what the books has
argued and noticed that I fully agreed to what has been stated.