Day 16: Argument & Persuasion

Write: You must take a stand on one of these issues (death penalty, legalized marijuana, gun control, assisted suicide, immigration reform) and argue for or against it. This is not a time to be wishy washy or a moment to embrace the spectrum. Draw a line in the sand and stand on one side or the other.

Working with Argument & Persuasion:
Argument --> appeal to audience's sense of reason
Persuasion --> appeal to audience's feelings and values

THESIS!!! Your claim. Your assertion. It's debatable. It's concise. It's amazing.

Ethos: Ethical appeal (writer takes aim at reader's desire for credibility and reasonable argument)
Pathos: Emotional appeal (writer takes aim at reader's hearts)
Logos: Rational Appeal (writer takes aim at reader's ability to reason logically)

• Inductive Reasoning: moving from particular to the general, from evidence to generalization or conclusion
• Inductive Leap: movement from particular to general
• Deductive Reasoning: moving from general to the particular
• Syllogism: an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions (premises), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and shares a common or middle term not present in the conclusion (e.g., all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs )

Fallacies --> review (p. 326). Eight fallacies listed. Break into groups and work to write a fallacy for the topics you wrote about at start of class. Share fallacies on board.

Reading:
Half the class reads The Racial Reality of Policing and the other half reads In Defense of Football. In your group, answer the following questions:

• What is the essay about? Summarize for the other group. Define SAS.
• How is the essay organized?
• Did you find any fallacies?
• Ethos, pathos, or logos?