Personal Reaction: Chapter nine was not really any new
information for me, rather a reinforcement/expansion on ideas that I have already
been taught. We touched on logical fallacies in English 121, but the chart at
the end of the chapter is much more in depth and something that I plan to reference
when writing my essay. I really liked how the chapter included an example essay
with their own annotations to exemplify how the concepts that they are
discussing can be applied to real papers.
Professional Reaction: Chapter nine focuses on how to
effectively take a stand, whether it is in your academic writing, or everyday
life. There are several components to successfully take a stand, starting with
generating ideas. During this process, the writer must begin by finding an
issue. The issue must not only interest the writer, but should also take into
account the target audience. After the topic is decided, create a vague and
debatable question that you wish to answer, then answer it with your thesis. Following
the completion of your thesis, use both formal reasoning and informal Toulmin
reasoning to refine your position. After you have logically reasoned through
your position, the next task is to find evidence that supports your position. As
you begin to look for evidence, categorize your claim into one of the three
following categories: substantiation, evaluation or endorsing policy. Claims
that are substantiation answer the question “what happened?”, claims of evaluation
answer “what is right?”, while claims of policy answer “what should be done?”;
during this categorization make sure that you consider you target audience. After
you have identified the purpose of you claim, it is time to find supporting
evidence. Supporting evidence can be either facts, expert testimony, or
firsthand observations. The next component to successfully take a stand is
planning, drafting and developing. During this process, the writer must assess
their working thesis and make sure that the evidence that they gathered still
supports its original claim. If it does not, the writer must update their thesis
to match the evidence that they gathered. After the thesis is complete, the
writer organizes their ideas in a way to persuade their audience. Additionally,
writers make sure that uncommon terms are defined, they have utilized ethos,
pathos and logos and that all sources are credited. The next component of
taking a stand is basic revising and editing. The last component of taking a
stand is being able to recognize logical fallacies. Logical fallacies can make
readers come to false conclusions or distort evidence which is why they should
be avoided at all costs.
- Clayton Peppler
Photo from: http://tamaralexow.com/2015/07/06/taking-a-stand/
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