Week 11: Reading Response
The main idea of chapter 8 revolves around argument. The chapter describes argument as a position a writer takes and how she/he backs it up. How a writer defends his stance is critical in the writing process. The chapter also talks about the purposes of argument like persuading others, communicate research/ conclusions, explain an issue, raise questions, among others. It also defines different types of arguments like casual, proposal and definitional. The main ideas of chapter 9 would be very similar to chapter 8, arguments. Chapter 9 goes more deep on how to actually construct arguments. It talks in depth about questions that shape arguments like research questions, disciplinary and publication contexts, purpose, qualifications, structure, credibility, etc. It also talks about the structure of different types of arguments.
The readings of both chapters connect to my major, Criminal Justice, in many ways. This is because when a person goes to trial, the judge is responsible for taking a stance depending on the evidence presented. The judge rules whether the person is innocent or guilty and backs up his stance with the evidence. If we take that further back, when a person is accused of something, the accuser must have an argument and evidence to back up his stance. When examining evidence, one must create an argument as to what happens, and collect evidence to back up the position. This made me understand that no matter what branch of criminal justice I direct myself for, arguments are important.
Both readings helped me understand the major assignment, AVA, because of the obvious, advanced visual ARGUMENT. I did my assignment on sex trafficking in the United States. While some people state that this crime does not occur on the United States, I argue that it does. Now, I had to present evidence and back up my position. I learned that any argument is not only about taking a stance, it is about backing it up with evidence.
The readings prompt me to ask how to know which type of argument is appropriate for a specific situation, and how do the structures make them differ, if they are all directed towards taking a stance?
Lastly, I chose the first gif because I thought this week’s reading were quite interesting and I enjoyed reading them. The second one, shows somewhat my reaction after learning all about arguments. Lastly, the third gif is because I was kind of confused as to all the different types of arguments.
