Essay One, drawn from The True American, is Due September 21:
Option One
Develop a thesis that addresses these questions: What are the challenges of achieving the American Dream as we find ourselves in a place where the terror that threatens America from the outside collides with the barbarian within? In other words, how does this collision of forces make the American Dream more precarious and fragile than ever? What forces of light and wisdom are illuminated in The True American that might help us navigate out of this crisis?
What is the "barbarian within"?
When self-interest and ambition are not tempered by virtue and morality, they curdle into a toxic tribalism, racism, and prejudice that hurl hate at the "Outsider," or "Los Otros," as the scapegoat for all of one's problems, and for explaining why one is not getting "a big enough piece of the pie."
Option Two (simplified)
Develop a argumentative thesis that answers the following question: How does a Presidential campaign that many say features a racist, xenophobic demagogue (a leader who preys on prejudice, racism, and xenophobia rather than use rational argument) parallel the crisis of two Americas described in The True American?
Sample Thesis
The True American addresses the crisis of two Americas, which have many parallels to the current Presidential campaign evidenced by ________________, ___________________, _________________, and ___________________.
Option Three (more specific)
How does David Brooks' essay "The Moral Bucket List" speak to the moral crisis described in The True American?
Sample Thesis
David Brooks' essay "The Moral Bucket List" complements The True American evidenced by __________, _________, ____________, and __________________.
One. Critical Thinking is learning to cultivate informed opinions and to purge yourself of uninformed or misguided opinions.
Why do we read and write essays? They're just someone's opinions. Aren't all opinions alike? "
Some people say after reading an essay, “Well, it’s just an opinion.” But are all opinions alike?
Robert Atwan in his American Now textbook writes six major types of opinions.
As you will see, some are more appropriate for the kind of critical thinking an essay deserves than others.
One. Inherited opinions: These are opinions that are imprinted on us during our childhood. They come from “family, culture, traditions, customs, regions, social institutions, or religion.”
People’s views on religion, race, education, and humanity come from their family.
Inherited opinions come from cultural and social norms.
In some cultures, it's okay to tell others your income. It's a taboo in America.
We are averse to eating dogs in America because eating dogs is contrary to America’s cultural and social norms. However, other countries eat dogs without any stigma.
We are also averse to eating insects in America when in some countries grubs are a delicacy.
We think it's normal to slaughter trees every year as part of our celebration of Christmas.
We eat until we're so stuffed we cannot walk in America; in contrast, in Japan they follow the rule of hara hachi bu, which means they stop at 80% fullness.
Peanut butter in America represents Mom's Love; in France and Brazil, however, peanut butter is trash and an insult to place in front of someone.
In America, we put dry cereal into a bowl and then pour milk over it. That is not practiced in a lot of other countries.
In America when a woman says yes to a man's date proposal, the man, Louis C.K. tells us, will shake his fist like a tennis champion and scream, "Yeah!" We admire this behavior because we grow up seeing it.
We soak up these types of opinions through a sort of osmosis and a lot of these beliefs are unconscious.
Two. Involuntary opinions: These are the opinions that result from direct indoctrination and inculcation (learning through repetition). If we grow up in a family that teaches us that eating pork is evil, then we won’t eat at other people’s homes that serve that porcine dish.
Or we may, as a result if our religious training, abjure rated R movies.
Or we may have strong feelings, one way or another, regarding gay marriage based on the doctrines we’ve learned over time.
We may have strong feelings about immigration policy based on what we learn from our family, friends, and institutions.
We may have strong feelings about the police and the prison system based on what we learn from family, friends, and institutions.
Three. Adaptive opinions: We adapt opinions to help us conform to groups we wish to belong to. We are often so eager to belong to this or that group that we sacrifice our critical thinking skills and engage in Groupthink to please the majority.
A student from China back in the 1940s or 1950s was raised in the country. He went to a city school and the richest boy made a sculpture of a butterfly. Everyone loved the butterfly but my student. He explained that a butterfly had 4 wings, not 2. He was sent to the "dunce corner" for the whole day.
He should have kept his mouth shut or pretended that butterflies have 2 wings. That's an example of Groupthink.
Atwan writes that “Adaptive opinions are often weakly held and readily changed . . . But over time they can become habitual and turn into convictions.”
For example, it’s easy for one to be against guns in Santa Monica. However, those views might be less “adaptive” in rural parts of Kentucky or Tennessee.
It's easy to be a vegan in Southern California, but you'll have more challenges being a vegan in certain parts of Texas, Kansas, and the Carolinas where barbecue is king.
Four. Concealed opinions. Sometimes we have strong opinions that are contrary to the group we belong to so we keep our mouths shut to avoid persecution. You might not want to proclaim your atheism, for example, if you were attending a Christian college.
Five. Linked opinions. Atwan writes, “Unlike adaptive opinions, which are usually stimulated by convenience and an incentive to conform, these are opinions we derived from an enthusiastic and dedicated affiliation with certain groups, institutions, or parties.”
For example, the modern “Tea Party” people or self-proclaimed Patriots embrace a series of linked opinions: Obama is not American. Obama is a socialist. Obama is helping terrorists get across the boarder. Terrorists helped elect Obama. Obama wants to strip Americans of their right to own guns so that the government and/or terrorists can move in and take Americans’ freedoms.
As you can see, all these opinions are linked to each other. Believing in one of the above opinions encourages belief in the other.
Six. Considered opinions. Atwan writes, “These are opinions we have formed as a result of firsthand experience, reading, discussion and debate, or independent thinking and reasoning. These opinions are formed from direct knowledge and often from exposure and considering other opinions.”
Often considered opinions result in examining mythologies or fake narratives that are drilled down our throats and we deconstruct these false narratives so that we can see the truth behind them.
There are many fake narratives:
Columbus “discovering” America.
The European pilgrims “sharing” with the American Indians.
White slave owners “blessing” Africans with Christianity.
The pharmaceutical industry making our health job one.
Mexican workers in America "stealing" jobs from Americans.
Poor people "choose" to be poor.
Poor people deserve to be poor because they're bad, morally flawed human beings.
Obese people got fat from being morally flawed such as being selfish and gluttonous.
Developing critical thinking skills means being able to pick apart a false narrative and examine the true narrative behind it.
Some would define literacy as developing critical thinking skills and that failure to do so is to remain a mindless consumer, an obedient child to the parental authorities of market trends and advertising.
It's your choice: You can either swallow the blue pill (blissful ignorance) or the red pill (uncomfortable, often painful truth).
Two. Critical thinking is being alone.
Critical thinking requires solitude in general and solitary reading specifically. You need to quote Sherry Turkle and Louis C.K. You can’t use other people as “spare parts to fix your fragmented self,” as Sherry Turkle says. You have to be alone to connect with yourself before you connect with others. You have to be able to have solitude to sustain focus and critical thought.
Three. Critical thinking repels hype, the bipolar disorder of mass consumerism with the consumer hangover.
Consumerism is based on a sort of bipolar disorder, hype and the promise of ecstasy followed by the crash of disappointment and the hedonic treadmill: acclimating to pleasure to the point of numbness.
Four. Critical thinking repels propaganda, chicanery, and other forms of fallacious thinking.
I read a book about nutrition and it turns out the NYT best seller came up with information
Five. Critical thinking repels binary arguments in favor of nuanced ones. See page 6 of From Inquiry to Academic Writing. Real arguments are not binary (either/or); rather, sophisticated arguments explore the gray area, nuance, and complexity. Any argument that is cut and dry is not worthy arguing about. The death penalty, for example, is full of compelling evidence on the pros and cons.
Six. Critical thinking explores opposing views (and does not live in its own brain loop of fanboys).
If you’re a critical thinker, you stave off bullheaded ignorance by exploring your opponents’ views because your credibility depends on it. Additionally, you have intellectual curiosity and humility, which compel you to not be complacent with your positions.
Seven. Critical thinking is metacognition or The Third Eye, which addresses mindless bad habits (student essay about boyfriend who was a proxy for her hostility against her father).
As we said earlier, some people, either through going to college or some kind of spontaneous epiphany or simply life’s responsibilities and demands, are forced to evaluate their self-destructive behavior and proceed accordingly.
Eight. Critical thinking doesn’t focus on the trees at the expense of the forest. You can give things a macro look.
For example, you don’t major in something for money if that major and career make you miserable and depressed in the long-term.
Use example from film Welcome to the Doll House.
Nine. Critical thinking repels pride.
You can’t say to yourself, “I’m a critical thinker and people who aren’t like me are cave trolls.”
You have to have certain amount of humility to be a critical thinker because a critical thinker always reminds himself of two things:
One. How much stuff out there I don’t know.
Two. How dumb I’ve been in the past and how dumb I can be at any given second under the right circumstances.
Ten. Critical thinking is the accumulating of a vocabulary to give specific qualities to the sophisticated ideas you are pursuing.
You may need to know the following words and terms (a very partial list to be a critical thinker):
Schadenfreude
Make your audience drink your Kool-Aid: Make them believe in whatever it is you’re selling.
Evidence and proof: proof is absolute and conclusive; evidence is neither.
Ad Hominem
Straw Man
Proxy
Passive-aggressive
Canard: an unfounded story that turns out to be B.S.
Meme (imitated behavior that spreads through culture like selfies, photographing one’s restaurant meal and posting on social media, etc.)
Trope is a cultural stereotype that gains popularity in a culture; for example, on TV the bumbling father is a trope, as is the conniving teenage cheerleader and the effete and demure high school English teacher.
Effete means lacking masculinity.
Demure means modest and overly shy.
Elitist
Populist
Oligarchy (small group controls the country)
Corpitocracy (corporations control the country)
Hobbesian: the worldview that people are barbarians and brutes that can only be controlled by absolute authority.
Sturgeon’s Law
Rabelaisian (from French writer Rabelais): grotesque, unrestrained, exaggerated humor
Hedonism: the worship of pleasure as the highest life experience
Nihilist: one who believes in no meaning, no write or wrong, literally nothing.
Moral Absolutist
Moral Relativist
Narcissist
Eleven. When you become a critical thinker, you’ll find, from observing other people who have undergone a rigorous education, that you will be joining a new tribe, so to speak, and that there will be some distance between you and some family members and friends.
Old bonds will be broken. Some people can’t handle this, and they go back to their non-critical thinking ways in order that they can belong to their old tribal allegiances. I’ve taught dozens upon dozens of personal narratives about people’s educational journey, and this painful break between family and friends is a recurring theme.
To add to the pain of breaking ties, there is envy, which can be explained with the analogy of a bucket of crabs.
Non-critical thinkers know deep down that their ignorant state is a form of bondage and they want you to keep them company in their misery.
Clearly, you are better served at becoming a critical thinker and getting the hell out of that crab bucket.
Conclusion
Ignorance is not your friend.
Conformity to the fashion trends is not your friend.
Staying ignorant so as to not offend family and friends is not in your best interests.
And don’t tell family and friends: “I’m educated now; you’re not, so we have to part ways.” That’s obnoxious.
I had a friend who never went to college and as I got more serious in my studies, I never criticized him or explicitly told him we couldn’t be friends anymore; we simply grew apart.
It’s in your best interests, financially, spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, etc., to become a critical thinker.
One. How does Rais’ medical bill of over 60,000 dollars speak to his search for the American Dream?
He arrives in America to find vertical upward mobility, gets shot by a racist, is nearly blind, suffers from nightmares and general PTSD, is asked to identify the criminal, and by the way, your bill for getting shot in the head is over 60K and growing with multiple eye operations (63).
Even Rais’ boss Salim, who is initially friendly and pays for the first medical bill, becomes cold and makes Rais say, “I was a dead horse to him” (65).
Two. What was Stroman’s “True American” manifesto?
We read the implications of this manifesto in Laura Miller’s book review:
Stroman would eventually renounce his former racist beliefs and actions, although some skeptics (including his own sisters) question the authenticity of his remorse. It was not lost on the condemned man that, during his final years on death row, it was a passel of mostly foreign strangers — above all the Israeli documentarian Ilan Ziv, but also assorted international opponents of capital punishment — who tried to help and reform him; his family, by contrast, made themselves scarce. During his first days in prison, however, Stroman was unrepentant, claiming, “We’re at war. I did what I had to do,” and mouthing other grandiose, macho and ultimately empty mottos lifted from movies and popular songs. He circulated a manifesto — taken from the Internet and containing the usual denouncements of government, gun control, liberals, racial minorities and immigrants — to which he gave the title “True American.”
The irony, of course, is that Bhuiyan, with his indomitable optimism, energy and determination, is much truer to the American ideal than the man who tried to kill him. In “The True American,” Giridharadas portrays two cultures contemplating each other, not so much Muslim/Bangladeshi and Texan as two versions of America itself. One, Stroman’s, looks back from a faltering present to an idealized past. “He felt himself and people like him to be standing on a shrinking platform at which minorities and immigrants and public dependents were nibbling away,” Giridharadas writes. The other side, Bhuiyan’s, looks toward the future and puzzles over the established Americans’ inability to seize their opportunities and shape their fates. “You guys are born here, you guys speak better than me, you understand the culture better than me, you have more networks, more resource [sic],” Bhuiyan imagined asking Stroman’s people. “Why you have to struggle on a regular basis, just to survive?”
Bhuiyan has a few theories about that, not all of which Giridharadas endorses. But what both men seem to concur on is the broken nature of poor white American communities, particularly the weakened ties between parents and children. “So much lonely, so much alone, even detached from their own family,” Bhuiyan tsked when he looked around him after first arriving on these shores. (That — however much he respected, loved and felt indebted to them — he’d still left his own parents behind in Bangladesh suggests that Bhuiyan may not find American isolationism a totally alien impulse.)
In the final chapters of “The True American,” Giridharadas recounts hanging out with Stroman’s troubled daughters and ex-wife over the course of a few days, delivering a finely textured portrait of lower-class despair and excruciatingly incremental struggles to regain control of life. This is where the power of his book makes its deepest impression, where it becomes more than Bhuiyan’s tale of immigrant gumption and almost superhuman mercy. Not that Bhuiyan doesn’t remain a shining figure, one of those individuals the rest of us want to cluster around like a campfire on a chilly night, but the truth is that most of us are a lot more like the Stromans: blinkered, self-justifying and swamped by our circumstances. This juxtaposition of the clay-footed reality of most lives with the incandescence of our potential pretty much defines not just the American condition, but the human one, as well. The whole story will always include both.
We read on page 77 that Stroman’s manifesto is a
worldview braided together by a variety of ideologies and outlooks: Fox News talking-head points . . . Aryan Brotherhood racism and Texan exceptionalism; Cato Institute libertarianism and middle-aged white-guy bitterness; old-fashioned nativism and Focus on the Family-style concern about social decay; “True American” national pride and a post-9/11 clamoring for “moral clarity.”
But Stroman is not portrayed as having well thought ideas or informed opinions; rather, he has mindlessly absorbed propaganda to support his “affirmed instincts” (77).
Three. How does our profile of Stroman add to the irony of the book’s title?
We read on page 86 that he is an unloved, abused boy, an isolated American who grows up hating The Other. Xenophobia and hating the stranger, or the other, is too often a fake cause of Americans’ problems.
In contrast, Rais comes from a loving family. He embodies America’s “family values” more than Stroman who claims to be protecting “American values.” With one eye, Rais doesn’t give up. He gets a job at an Olive Garden (116). Rais has some good luck. A friend gets him into computer training (128) and the Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation Program gives Rais $50,000 (129).
In America, the family is a “weakening institution” (87). Children become transients, alienated from their stepfathers, going in and out of the legal system, going to special ed, getting unskilled labor and then blaming the other, the “foreigner” (87).
Four. What insight about human freedom does Rais learn about human freedom on page 121?
Conspiracies aside, what Rais was perhaps discovering was that the liberty and selfhood that America gave, that had called to him from across the oceans, could, if carried to their extremes, fail people as much as the strictures of a society like Bangladesh. The failures looked different, but they both exacted the toll of wasted human potential. To be, on one hand, a woman in Bangladesh locked at home in purdah [female seclusion], unable to work or choose a husband, voiceless against her father; and to be, on the other, a poor, overworked, drug-taking woman in Dallas, walking alone in the heat on the highway’s edge, unable to make her children’s fathers commit, too estranged from her parents to ask for help—maybe these situations were less different than they seemed. What Rais was coming to see, though his Olive Garden immersion, was the limits of freedom for which had had come to America—how chaos and hedonism and social corrosion could complicate its lived experience.
In other words, Rais came from a society where freedom was too limited and now he was in a country where freedom was starving for boundaries.
3 Types of Claims Or Thesis Statements
Identifying Claims and Analyzing Arguments from Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky’s From Inquiry to Academic Writing, Third Edition
We’ve learned in this class that we can call a thesis a claim, an assertion that must be supported with evidence and refuting counterarguments.
There are 3 different types of claims: fact, value, and policy.
Claims of Fact
According to Greene and Lidinsky, “Claims of fact are assertions (or arguments) that seek to define or classify something or establish that a problem or condition has existed, exists, or will exist.
For example, Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow argues that Jim Crow practices that notoriously oppressed people of color still exist in an insidious form, especially in the manner in which we incarcerate black and brown men.
In The Culture Code Rapaille argues that different cultures have unconscious codes and that a brand’s codes must not be disconnected with the culture that brand needs to appeal to. This is the problem or struggle that all companies have: being “on code” with their product. The crisis that is argued is the disconnection between people’s unconscious codes and the contrary codes that a brand may represent.
Many economists, such as Paul Krugman, argue that there is major problem facing America, a shrinking middle class, that is destroying democracy and human freedom as this country knows it. Krugman and others will point to a growing disparity between the haves and have-nots, a growing class of temporary workers that surpasses all other categories of workers (warehouse jobs for online companies, for example), and de-investment in the American labor force as jobs are outsourced in a world of global competition.
All three examples above are claims of fact. As Greene and Lidinsky write, “This is an assertion that a condition exists. A careful reader must examine the basis for this kind of claim: Are we truly facing a crisis?”
We further read, “Our point is that most claims of fact are debatable and challenge us to provide evidence to verify our arguments. They may be based on factual information, but they are not necessarily true. Most claims of fact present interpretations of evidence derived from inferences.”
A Claim of Fact That Seeks to Define Or Classify
Greene and Lidinsky point out that autism is a controversial topic because experts cannot agree on a definition. The behaviors attributed to autism “actually resist simple definition.”
There is also disagreement on a definition of obesity. For example, some argue that the current BMI standards are not accurate.
Another example that is difficult to define or classify is the notion of genius.
In all the cases above, the claim of fact is to assert a definition that must be supported with evidence and refutations of counterarguments.
Claims of Value
Greene and Lidinsky write, “A claim of fact is different from a claim of value, which expresses an evaluation of a problem or condition that has existed, exists, or will exist. Is a condition good or bad? Is it important or inconsequential?
In other words, the claim isn’t whether or not a crisis or problem exists: The emphasis is on HOW serious the problem is.
How serious is global warming?
How serious is gender discrimination in schools?
How serious is racism in law enforcement and incarceration?
How serious is the threat of injury for people who engage in Cross-Fit training?
How serious are the health threats rendered from providing sodas in public schools?
How serious is the income gap between the haves and the have-nots?
Claims of Policy
Greene and Lidinsky write, “A claim of policy is an argument for what should be the case, that a condition should exist. It is a call for change or a solution to a problem.
Examples
We must decriminalize drugs.
We must increase the minimum wage to X per hour.
We must have stricter laws that defend worker rights for temporary and migrant workers.
We must integrate more autistic children in mainstream classes.
We must implement universal health care.
If we are to keep capital punishment, then we must air it on TV.
We must implement stricter laws for texting while driving.
We must make it a crime, equal to manslaughter, for someone to encourage another person to commit suicide.
The Importance of Using Concession with Claims
Greene and Lidinsky write, “Part of the strategy of developing a main claim supported with good reasons is to offer a concession, an acknowledgment that readers may not agree with every point the writer is making. A concession is a writer’s way of saying, ‘Okay, I can see that there may be another way of looking at the issue or another way to interpret the evidence used to support the argument I am making.’”
“Often a writer will signal a concession with phrases like the following:”
“It is true that . . .”
“I agree with X that Y is an important factor to consider.”
“Some studies have convincingly shown that . . .”
Identify Counterarguments
Greene and Lidinsky write, “Anticipating readers’ objections demonstrates that you understand the complexity of the issue and are willing at least to entertain different and conflicting opinions.”
Developing a Thesis
Greene and Lidinsky write that a thesis is “an assertion that academic writers make at the beginning of what they write and then support with evidence throughout their essay.”
They then give the thesis these attributes:
Makes an assertion that is clearly defined, focused, and supported.
Reflects an awareness of the conversation from which the writer has take up the issue.
Is placed at the beginning of the essay.
Penetrates every paragraph like the skewer in a shish kebab.
Acknowledges points of view that differ from the writer’s own, reflecting the complexity of the issue.
Demonstrates an awareness of the readers’ assumptions and anticipates possible counterarguments.
Conveys a significant fresh perspective.
Working and Definitive Thesis
In the beginning, you develop a working or tentative thesis that gets more and more revised and refined as you struggle with the evidence and become more knowledgeable of the subject.
A writer who comes up with a thesis that remains unchanged is not elevating his or thinking to a sophisticated level.
Only a rare genius could spit out a meaningful thesis that defies revision.
Not just theses, but all writing is subject to multiple revisions. For example, the brilliant TV writers for 30 Rock, The Americans, and The Simpsons make hundreds of revisions for just one scene and even then they’re still not happy in some cases.
Four Models for Developing a Working Thesis
The Correcting-Misinterpretations Model
According to Greene and Lidinsky, “This model is used to correct writers whose arguments you believe have been misconstrued one or more important aspects of an issue. This thesis typically takes the form of a factual claim.
Examples of Correcting-Misinterpretation Model
Although LAUSD teachers are under fire for poor teaching performance, even the best teachers have been thrown into abysmal circumstances that defy strong teaching performance evidenced by __________________, ___________________, ________________, and _____________________.
Even though Clotaire Rapaille is venerated as some sort of branding god, a close scrutiny exposes him as a shrewd self-promoter who relies on several gimmicks including _______________________, _______________________, _________________, and ___________________.
The Filling-the-Gap Model
Greene and Lidinsky write, “The gap model points to what other writers may have overlooked or ignored in discussing a given issue. The gap model typically makes a claim of value.”
Example
Many psychology experts discuss happiness in terms of economic wellbeing, strong education, and strong family bonds as the essential foundational pillars of happiness, but these so-called experts fail to see that these pillars are worthless in the absence of morality as Eric Weiners’s study of Qatar shows, evidenced by __________________, __________________, ___________________, and _____________________.
The Modifying-What-Others-Have-Said Model
Greene and Lidinsky write, “The modification model of thesis writing assumes that mutual understanding is possible.” In other words, we want to modify what many already agree upon.
Example
While most scholars agree that food stamps are essential for hungry children, the elderly, and the disabled, we need to put restrictions on EBT cards so that they cannot be used to buy alcohol, gasoline, lottery tickets, and other non-food items.
The Hypothesis-Testing Model
The authors write, “The hypothesis-testing model begins with the assumption that writers may have good reasons for supporting their arguments, but that there are also a number of legitimate reasons that explain why something is, or is not, the case. . . . That is, the evidence is based on a hypothesis that researchers will continue to test by examining individual cases through an inductive method until the evidence refutes that hypothesis.”
For example, some researchers have found a link between the cholesterol drugs, called statins, and lower testosterone levels in men. Some say the link is causal; others say the link is correlative, which is to say these men who need to lower their cholesterol already have risk factors for low T levels.
As the authors continue, “The hypothesis-testing model assumes that the questions you raise will likely lead you to multiple answers that compete for your attention.”
The authors then give this model for such a thesis:
Some people explain this by suggesting that, but a close analysis of the problem reveals several compelling, but competing explanations.
Types of Argument
Informal argument is a quarrel, or a spin or BS on a subject; or there is propaganda. In contrast, formal or academic argument takes a stand, presents evidence, and uses logic to convince an audience of the writer’s position or claim.
In a formal argument, we are taking a stand on which intelligent people can disagree, so we don’t “prove” anything; at best we persuade or convince people that our position is the best of all the positions available.
Thesis Must be Debatable
Therefore, in formal argument the topic has compelling evidence on both sides.
The thesis or claim, the main point of our essay, must therefore be debatable. There must be substantial evidence and logic to support opposing views and it is our task to weigh the evidence and come to a claim that sides with one position over another. Our position may not be absolute; it may be a matter of degree and based on contingency.
For example, I may write an argumentative essay designed to assert America’s First Amendment rights for free speech, but my support of the First Amendment is not absolute. I would argue that there are cases where people can cross the line.
Groups that spread racial hatred should not be able to gather in a public space. Nor should groups committed to abusing children be able to spread their newsletters and other information to each other. While I believe in the First Amendment, I’m saying there is a line that cannot be crossed.
Thesis Is Not a Fact
We cannot write a thesis that is a statement of fact. For example, online college classes are becoming more and more available is a fact, not an argument.
We cannot write a thesis that is an expression of personal taste or preference. If we prefer working out at home rather than the gym, our preference is beyond dispute. However, if we make the case that there are advantages to home exercise that make gym memberships a bad idea, we have entered the realm of argumentation.
It is an over simplification to reduce all arguments to just two sides.
Should torture be banned? It’s not an either/or question. The ban depends on the circumstances described and the definition of torture. And then there is the matter of who decides who gets tortured and who does the torturing? There are so many questions, qualifications, edicts, provisos, clauses, condition, etc., that it is impossible to make a general for/against stand on this topic.
Why Argumentation Is Relevant
You make arguments for daily life problems all the time:
Should I go on Diet X or is this diet just another futile fad like all the other diets I’ve gone on?
Should I buy a new car or is my old car fine but I’m looking for attention and a way to alleviate my boredom, so I’m looking for the drama of a colossal purchase, which will be the source of conversations with others? In other words, am I looking for false connection through my rampant consumerism?
Should I break up with my girlfriend to give me more time to study and give me the “alone time” I need, or continue navigating that precarious balance between the demands of my job, my academic load, and my capricious, rapacious, overbearing, manipulative, emotionally needy girlfriend? (here the answer is embedded in the question)
Should I upgrade my phone to the latest generation to get all the new apps or am I just jealous that all my friends are upgrading and I fear they’ll leave me out of their social circle if I’m languishing with an outdated smartphone?
Should I go to Cal State and graduate with 20K debt or go to that prestigious private college that gives my résumé more punch on one hand but leaves me with over 100K in debt on the other?
Do I really want to get married under the age of thirty or am I just jealous of all the expensive presents my brother got after he got married?
Whether you are defining an argument for your personal life or for an academic paper, you are using the same skills: critical analysis, defining the problem, weighing different types of evidence against each other; learning to respond to a problem intellectually rather than emotionally; learning to identify possible fallacies and biases in your thinking that might lead you down the wrong path, etc.
We live in a win-lose culture that emphasizes the glory of winning and the shame of defeat. In politics, we speak of winning or losing behind our political leaders and their political agendas. But this position is doltish, barbaric, and often self-destructive.
Many times, we argue or I should say we should argue because we want to reach a common understanding. “Sometimes the goal of an argument is to identify a problem and suggest solutions that could satisfy those who hold a number of different positions on an issue” (8) Sometimes the solution for a problem is to make a compromise. For example, let's say students want more organic food in the college cafeteria but the price is triple for these organic foods and only one percent of the student body can afford these organic foods. Perhaps a compromise is to provide less processed, sugar-laden foods with fresh fruits and vegetables, which are not organic but at least provide more healthy choices.
Your aim is not to win or lose in your argument but be effective in your ability to persuade. Persuasion refers to how a speaker or writer influences an audience to adopt a belief or to follow a course of action.
3 Means of Persuasion
According to Aristotle, there are three means of persuasion that a speaker or writer can use to persuade his audience:
The appeal of reason and logic: logos
The appeal of emotions: pathos
The appeal of authority: ethos
Smoking will compromise your immune system and make you more at risk for cancer; therefore, logic, or logos, dictates that you should quit smoking.
If you die of cancer, you will be abandoning your family when they need you most; therefore an emotional appeal, or pathos, dictates that you quit smoking.
The surgeon general has warned you of the hazards of smoking; therefore the credibility of an authority or expert dictates that you quit smoking. If the writer lacks authority or credibility, he is often well served to draw upon the authority of someone else to support his argument.
The Rhetorical Triangle Connects All the Persuasive Methods
Logos, reason and logic, focuses on the text or the substance of the argument.
Ethos, the credibility or expertise from the writer, focuses on the writer.
Pathos, the emotional appeal, focuses on the emotional reaction of the audience.
The Elements of Argument
Thesis Statement (single sentence that states your position or claim)
Evidence (usually about 75% of your body paragraphs)
Refutation of opposing arguments or objections to your claim (usually about 25% of your body paragraphs)
Concluding statement (dramatic restatement of your thesis, which often also shows the broader implications of your important message).
Thesis
Thesis is one sentence that states your position about an issue.
Thesis example: Increasing the minimum wage to eighteen dollars an hour, contrary to “expert” economists, will boost the economy.
The above assertion is an effective thesis because it is debatable; it has at least two sides.
Thesis: We should increase the minimum wage to boost the economy.
Antithesis: Increasing the minimum wage will slow down the economy.
Evidence
Evidence is the material you use to make your thesis persuasive: facts, observations, expert opinion, examples, statistics, reasons, logic, and refutation.
Refutation
Your argument is only as strong as your understanding of your opponents and your ability to refute your opponents’ objections.
If while examining your opponents’ objections, you find their side is more compelling, you have to CHANGE YOUR SIDE AND YOUR THESIS because you must have integrity when you write. There is no shame in this. Changing your position through research and studying both sides is natural.
Conclusion
Your concluding statement reinforces your thesis and emphasizes the emotional appeal of your argument.
Learn to Identify the Elements of Argument in an Essay by Using Critical Thinking Skills
To read critically, we have to do the following:
One. Comprehend the author's purpose and meaning, which is expressed in the claim or thesis
Two. Examine the evidence, if any, that is used
Three. Find emotional appeals, if any, that are used
Four. Identify analogies and comparisons and analyze their legitimacy
Five. Look at the topic sentences to see how the author is building his or her claim
Six. Look for the appeals the author uses be they logic (logos), emotions (pathos), or authority (ethos).
Seven. Is the author's argument diminished by logical fallacies?
Eight. Do you recognize any bias in the essay that diminishes the author's argument?
Nine. Do we bring any prejudice that may compromise our ability to evaluate the argument fairly?
Critical Analysis of Dinesh D'Souza Essay
Lesson for Rhetorical Analysis (Chapter 4 from Practical Argument, Second Edition)
Rhetoric refers to “how various elements work together to form a convincing and persuasive argument” (90).
“When you write a rhetorical analysis, you examine the strategies a writer employs to achieve his or her purpose. In the process, you explain how these strategies work together to create an effective (or ineffective) argument.”
To write a rhetorical analysis, you must consider the following:
The argument’s rhetorical situation
The writer’s means of persuasion
The writer’s rhetorical strategies
The rhetorical situation is the writer, the writer’s purpose, the writer’s audience, the topic, and the context.
We analyze the rhetorical situation by doing the following:
Read the title’s subtitle, if there is one.
Look at the essay’s headnote for information about the writer, the issue being discussed, and the essay structure.
Look for clues within the essay such as words or phrases that provide information about the writer’s preconceptions. Historical or cultural references can indicate what ideas or information the writer expects readers to have.
Do a Web search to get information about the writer.
Example of How the Rhetorical Situation Gives Us Greater Understanding About the Text
I came across a book about the alleged limitations of alternative energy only to find that the author is paid by the oil industry to write his books.
I came across a book by an author who writes about nutrition and I learned that his findings were contradicted by new research, which the writer did not address because the research refuted his book’s main premise and the publisher had already paid him a .75 million-dollar advance.
I came across a book that refuted the health claims of veganism only to find that the author blamed her severe health problems on a twenty-year vegan diet. This last example could hurt or help the argument depending on how the argument is documented. Was the author showing a strong causal relationship between her illness and her vegan diet? Or was her connection correlational?
When we examine the writer, we ask the following:
What is the writer’s background? Does he work for a think tank that is of a particular political persuasion? Is he being paid by a lobbyist or corporation to regurgitate their opinions?
How does the writer’s background affect the argument’s content?
What preconceptions about the subject does the writer seem to have?
When we analyze the writer’s purpose, we ask the following:
Does the writer state his or her purpose directly or is the purpose implied?
Is the writer’s purpose simply to convince or to encourage action?
Does the writer rely primarily on logic or on emotion?
Does the writer have a hidden agenda?
How does the author use logos, pathos, and ethos to put the argument together?
When we analyze the writer’s audience, we ask the following:
Who is the writer’s intended audience?
Does the writer see the audience as informed or uninformed?
Does the writer see the audience as hostile, friendly, or neutral?
What values does the writer think the audience holds?
On what points do the writer and the audience agree? On what points do they disagree?
Consider the Author’s Stylistic Techniques
Simile: A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the word like or as.
Example: “We must not educate the masses because education is like a great flame and the hordes of people are like moths that will fly into the flames at their own peril.”
In the above example “like a great flame” is a simile.
“Gorging on plate after plate of chicken fried steak at HomeTown Buffet, I felt like Jonah lost in the belly of a giant, dyspeptic whale on the verge of spitting me back into the throng of angry people.”
Metaphor: A metaphor is a comparison in which two dissimilar things are compared without the word like or as. “We must educate the masses to protect them from the disease of ignorance.”
Allusion: An allusion (not to be confused with illusion) is a reference within a work to a person, literary or biblical text, or historical event in order to enlarge the context of the situation being written about.
“Even though I am not a religious man, I would agree with Jesus who said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to Heaven, which is why rich people are in general against the minimum wage and the social and economic justice a healthy minimum wage exacts upon our society.”
Parallelism: Parallelism is the use of similar grammatical structures to emphasize related ideas and make passages easier to follow.
“Failure to get your college education will make you languish in the abyss of ignorance, weep in the chasm of unemployment, and wallow in the crater of self-abnegation.”
Repetition: Intentional repetition involves repeating a word or phrase for emphasis, clarity, or emotional impact (pathos).
“Are you able to accept the blows of not having a college education? Are you able to accept the shock of a low-paying job? Are you able to accept the disgrace of living on life’s margins?”
Rhetorical questions: A rhetorical question is a question that is asked to encourage readers to reflect on an issue, not to elicit a reply.
“How can you remain on the outside of college when all that remains is for you to walk through those open gates? How can you let an opportunity as golden as a college education pass you by when the consequences are so devastating?”
Checklist for Analyzing an Argument (your own or a reading you’re evaluating)
What is the claim or thesis?
What evidence is given, if any?
What assumptions are being made—and are they acceptable?
Are important terms clearly defined?
What support or evidence is offered on behalf of the claim?
Are the examples relevant, and are they convincing?
Are the statistics (if any) relevant, accurate, and complete?
Do the statistics allow only the interpretation that is offered in the argument?
If authorities and experts are cited, are they indeed authorities on this topic, and can they be regarded as impartial?
Is the logic—deductive and inductive—valid?
Is there an appeal to emotion—for instance, if satire is used to ridicule the opposing view—is this appeal acceptable?
Does the writer seem to you to be fair?
Are the counterarguments adequately considered?
Is there any evidence of dishonesty or of a discreditable attempt to manipulate the reader?
How does the writer establish the image of himself or herself that we sense in the essay? What is the writer’s tone, and is it appropriate?
The 5 Ways to Introduce Your Argument
According to Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky in their college text From Inquiry to Academic Writing, there are 5 major ways to introduce your argumentative essay.
One. The Inverted-Triangle Introduction
Another way to see the inverted-triangle is to think of moving from a general topic to a specific thesis.
First, we begin with a broad description of the problem we want to address.
Second, we examine some widely held but inadequate or misguided assumptions about the topic.
Third, we respond to those misguided assumptions by presenting our thesis.
For example, we could raise the No Child Left Behind Act as a popular political movement. We could bring up some misguided assumptions about NCLB, namely the idea that NCLB is an “objective” standard that makes students and teachers accountable to core standards. Then the thesis could be to dismantle these assumptions by showing its class bias, its profit-motive for the test makers, and its abysmal, laughably nonsensical questions. We could even show how the top schools in the world, coming from Finland, don’t use standardized tests.
Two. Narrative Introduction
A narrative grabs your reader’s attention. A good narrative should be like a King Cobra snake sinking its fangs into your reader. Or if you’d like a different metaphor, a good metaphor should be like a Muay Thai expert who slams his palm into your solar plexus, compelling you to keel over. In other words, a strong introduction commands your attention.
Example
So your ego’s been damaged. Your girlfriend told you that you both “need to take a breather” and get some “quality alone time” so that maybe you can get back together. But that time never comes. When you start calling her again, she says things like, “I think we need to start seeing other people.” And “Since getting away from you, I feel like I’ve been given my life back.” And worse, “I think being your girlfriend was like dying a slow painful death.” And then the final nail in the coffin: “I’m seeing someone. It’s serious, so you’ll need to stop calling me—or I’ll call the cops.”
At this point, any man with half a brain realizes the relationship is officially over. If you’re a healthy-minded dude, you wish her well and hope she finds the happiness and romantic bliss she couldn’t find with you. But you’re not that dude. You’re a spiteful SOB whose ego needs to see her life miserable in your absence. To see her squirm and fail as she tries to make it in the world without you gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Her miserable existence “proves” that indeed you were the best thing that ever happened to her. You need to hear through the grapevine that she’s unhappy with her “dating life” and that she has a dead-end job with an obnoxious, penny-pinching boss who micromanages her every move. You need to know that her credit card bills and other expenses have crippled her finances and that she has had to move back with her parents.
And then you get what you’ve been craving more than anything—You see her at a party standing all alone by a bowl of potato chips and onion dip. She’s overweight, pouting, makeup running down her face. At which time you walk a circle around her, shake your head in disdain, puff on your Cuban cigar, and say, “Look at you now, sweetheart. Look at you now.” And then with a sneer you walk away from her as you make your grand exit from the party. Of course, you’re flanked by your eye-catching entourage—two slender scandalously dressed super models who accompany you as you get inside your silver Ferrari Barchetta Pininfarina you bought with the riches afforded by your new Fortune 500 company. As you sit in your three-hundred-thousand-dollar Italian sports car and your “girls” run their sensuous fingers through your luxurious head of hair, you see your ex-girlfriend, still alone at the party, now looking at you through the parted curtains and she stares at you like a sad, little puppy dog.
This gratifying scenario would have lasted longer, only your three-hundred-pound mother in a muumuu wakes you from your dream and tells you to get off your fat ass. You promised her you’d find a job by now and you’ve got less than an hour before your interview at Toys R Us. As you lay on your filthy bare mattress and listen to your mother berate you for your failed existence, you think back to your English professor who warned you that dropping out of college would have deleterious effects on both your professional and personal life, which would include ____________________, _________________, ________________________, and _______________________.
Three. The Interrogative Introduction
You ask your readers to enter the controversy at hand by asking one or more pertinent questions about your topic.
Example
Have you ever had a professor in some kind of writing class, whether it be English, history, philosophy, or political science, who seemed to be grading you less on your critical thinking skills and more on your eagerness to conform to his personal worldview? Have you felt that students, who wrote far inferior essays to yours, were being rewarded with higher grades merely for “sucking up” to the professor? Perhaps universities need to pass a Fair Grade Act that holds instructors accountable for not letting their personal biases infringe on their commitment to grading the students’ essays on student learning outcomes and discourage professors for giving high grades based on student sycophantism.
Four. The Paradoxical Introduction
You “appeal to readers’ curiosity by pointing out an aspect of the topic that runs counter to their expectations.”
Example
Dieting actually makes you fatter than you were before. The paradox of dieting is that the more we buy diet books and study the newest advances in nutrition the fatter we get. The only way to lose weight and keep that weight off is to be in a permanent state of semi-hunger and only an infinitesimal percentage of the human race can endure such prolonged agony. The superior alternative to dieting is to _________________________.
Five. The Minding-the-Gap-Introduction
You point out that something is missing in the research about a given topic. Your essay’s purpose is to fill in that gap.
Examples
Current earthquake preparedness fails to address how phone apps can give us twenty minutes warning of an earthquake.
Concussion studies on football players have failed to look at small pre-concussive events.
The benefits of CrossFit training have not been put in context of inadequate training for the trainers and data about permanent injuries resulting from CrossFit training.
Lesson on Using Sources (adapted from The Arlington Reader, fourth edition)
We use sources to establish credibility and to provide evidence for our claim. Because we want to establish credibility, the sources have to be credible as well.
To be credible, the sources must be
Current or up to date: to verify that the material is still relevant and has all the latest and possibly revised research and statistical data.
Authoritative: to insure that your sources represent experts in the field of study. Their studies are peer-reviewed and represent the gold standard, meaning they are the sources of record that will be referred to in academic debate and conversation.
Depth: The source should be detailed to give a comprehensive grasp of the subject.
Objectivity: The study is relatively free of agenda and bias or the writer is upfront about his or her agenda so that there are no hidden objectives. If you’re consulting a Web site that is larded with ads or a sponsor, then there may be commercial interests that compromise the objectivity.
Checklist for Evaluating Sources
You must assess six things to determine if a source is worthy of being used for your research paper.
The author’s objectivity or fairness (author is not biased)
The author’s credibility (peer reviewed, read by experts)
The source’s relevance
The source’s currency (source is up-to-date)
The source’s comprehensiveness (source has sufficient depth)
The author’s authority (author’s credentials and experience render him or her an expert in the field)
Warning Signs of a Poor Online Source
Site has advertising
Some company or other sponsors site
A political organization or special interest group sponsors the site.
The site has many links to other biased sites.
Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Summarizing Sources
“A summary restates the main idea of a passage in concise terms” (314).
A typical summary is one or two sentences.
A summary does not contain your opinions or analysis.
Paraphrasing Sources
A paraphrase, which is longer than a summary, contains more details and examples. Sometimes you need to be more specific than a summary to make sure your reader understands you.
A paraphrase does not include your opinions or analysis.
Quoting Sources
Quoting sources means you are quoting exactly what you are referring to in the text with no modifications, which might twist the author’s meaning.
You should avoid long quotations as much as possible.
Quote only when necessary. Rely on summary and paraphrase before resorting to direct quotes.
A good time to use a specific quote is when it’s an opposing point that you want to refute.
Using Signal Phrases or Identifying Tag to Introduce Summary, Paraphrase, and Quoted Material
According to Jeff McMahon, the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
Jeff McMahon notes that the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors, Jeff McMahon observes, that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor.
The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor, Jeff McMahon points out.
Common identifying tags (put link here)
Strategies for Writing Your Essay (adapted from The Arlington Reader, Fourth Edition)
One. Know what type of writing your doing:
- Description
- Comparison and contrast
- Process analysis (how to do something)
- Narrative (we write narratives for many reasons: catharsis of demons, explanation of an epiphany that changed our lives, an account of remarkable suffering and resilience, an account of something that was excruciatingly funny, to name a few examples)
- Define a term that your reader needs to understand in greater depth
- Persuasion (persuade readers and/or listeners to act as opposed to argumentation which is to win people’s minds over an issue, but not necessarily change their behavior)
- Cause and effect analysis
- Argumentation
The takeaway from the above is that you should always know what type of essay is generated from the assignment options the professor gives you.
Brainstorm of list of topics and thesis statements that are relevant to the essay.
Most writers need to get the bad stuff out of the way, so there’s no shame in coming up with five bad thesis statements before getting to a good one. That’s a natural course of events.
Always make sure your thesis addresses the essay prompt.
Your thesis is a single sentence that drives your whole essay. The thesis in argumentation is often called your claim.
Generally speaking, a thesis is the main argument or controlling idea of your essay. It makes a claim that intellectually sophisticated, challenging to common assumptions, compelling, and can is supportable with evidence.
The more obvious a thesis, the less compelling it is to write. The more a thesis reaches for insight or challenges common assumptions, the more compelling and sophisticated it is.
Bad thesis:
Smartphones are a nuisance in the class.
Better thesis
Rather than ban students from using their smartphones in the class, college instructors should integrate these and other personal technological devices into their classroom teaching.
Writing an introduction to your essay
Before transitioning from your introduction to your thesis, you should look at some effective introduction strategies:
Briefly narrate a compelling anecdote that captures your readers’ attention.
State a common false argument or false perception that your essay will refute.
Offer a curious paradox to pique your readers’ interest.
Ask a question that your essay will try to answer.
Use a fresh (not overused) quotation or parable to stir your readers’ interest.
How to Set Up a Counterargument in Your Rebuttal Section (The Templates)
Some of my critics will dismiss my claim that . . . but they are in error when we look closely at . . .
Some readers will 0bject to my argument that . . . However, their disagreement is misguided when we consider that . . .
Some opponents will be hostile to my claim that . . . However, their hostility is unfounded when we examine . . .
While Author X is guilty of several weaknesses as described by her opponents, her argument holds up to close examination in the areas of _________________, ______________, _____________, and ______________.
Even though author X shows weakness in her argument, such as __________ and ____________, she is nevertheless convincing because . . .
While author X makes many compelling points, her overall argument collapses under the weight of __________, ___________, ___________, and ______________.
Agreement / Addition / Similarity
The transition words like also, in addition, and, likewise, add information,reinforce ideas, and express agreement with preceding material.
in the first place
not only ... but also
as a matter of fact
in like manner
in addition
coupled with
in the same fashion / way
first, second, third
in the light of
not to mention
to say nothing of
equally important
by the same token
again
to
and
also
then
equally
identically
uniquely
like
as
too
moreover
as well as
together with
of course
likewise
comparatively
correspondingly
similarly
furthermore
additionally
Opposition / Limitation / Contradiction
Transition phrases like but, rather and or, express that there is evidence to the contrary or point out alternatives, and thus introduce a change the line of reasoning (contrast).
although this may be true
in contrast
different from
of course ..., but
on the other hand
on the contrary
at the same time
in spite of
even so / though
be that as it may
then again
above all
in reality
after all
but
(and) still
unlike
or
(and) yet
while
albeit
besides
as much as
even though
although
instead
whereas
despite
conversely
otherwise
however
rather
nevertheless
nonetheless
regardless
notwithstanding
Cause / Condition / Purpose
These transitional phrases present specific conditions or intentions.
in the event that
granted (that)
as / so long as
on (the) condition (that)
for the purpose of
with this intention
with this in mind
in the hope that
to the end that
for fear that
in order to
seeing / being that
in view of
If
... then
unless
when
whenever
while
because of
as
since
while
lest
in case
provided that
given that
only / even if
so that
so as to
owing to
inasmuch as
due to
Examples / Support / Emphasis
These transitional devices (like especially) are used to introduce examples assupport, to indicate importance or as an illustration so that an idea is cued to the reader.
in other words
to put it differently
for one thing
as an illustration
in this case
for this reason
to put it another way
that is to say
with attention to
by all means
important to realize
another key point
first thing to remember
most compelling evidence
must be remembered
point often overlooked
to point out
on the positive side
on the negative side
with this in mind
notably
including
like
to be sure
namely
chiefly
truly
indeed
certainly
surely
markedly
such as
especially
explicitly
specifically
expressly
surprisingly
frequently
significantly
particularly
in fact
in general
in particular
in detail
for example
for instance
to demonstrate
to emphasize
to repeat
to clarify
to explain
to enumerate
Effect / Consequence / Result
Some of these transition words (thus, then, accordingly, consequently, therefore, henceforth) are time words that are used to show that after a particular time there was a consequence or an effect.
Note that for and because are placed before the cause/reason. The other devices are placed before the consequences or effects.
as a result
under those circumstances
in that case
for this reason
in effect
for
thus
because the
then
hence
consequently
therefore
thereupon
forthwith
accordingly
henceforth
Conclusion / Summary / Restatement
These transition words and phrases conclude, summarize and / or restate ideas, or indicate a final general statement. Also some words (like therefore) from the Effect / Consequence category can be used to summarize.
as can be seen
generally speaking
in the final analysis
all things considered
as shown above
in the long run
given these points
as has been noted
in a word
for the most part
after all
in fact
in summary
in conclusion
in short
in brief
in essence
to summarize
on balance
altogether
overall
ordinarily
usually
by and large
to sum up
on the whole
in any event
in either case
all in all
Obviously
Ultimately
Definitely
Time / Chronology / Sequence
These transitional words (like finally) have the function of limiting, restricting, and defining time. They can be used either alone or as part of adverbial expressions.
at the present time
from time to time
sooner or later
at the same time
up to the present time
to begin with
in due time
as soon as
as long as
in the meantime
in a moment
without delay
in the first place
all of a sudden
at this instant
first, second
immediately
quickly
finally
after
later
last
until
till
since
then
before
hence
since
when
once
about
next
now
formerly
suddenly
shortly
henceforth
whenever
eventually
meanwhile
further
during
in time
prior to
forthwith
straightaway
by the time
whenever
until now
now that
instantly
presently
occasionally
Many transition words in the time category (consequently; first, second, third; further; hence; henceforth; since; then, when; and whenever) have other uses.
Except for the numbers (first, second, third) and further they add a meaning of time in expressing conditions, qualifications, or reasons. The numbers are also used to add information or list examples. Further is also used to indicate added space as well as added time.
Space / Location / Place
These transition words are often used as part of adverbial expressions and have the function to restrict, limit or qualify space. Quite a few of these are also found in the Time category and can be used to describe spatial order or spatial reference.
in the middle
to the left/right
in front of
on this side
in the distance
here and there
in the foreground
in the background
in the center of
adjacent to
opposite to
here
there
next
where
from
over
near
above
below
down
up
under
further
beyond
nearby
wherever
around
between
before
alongside
amid
among
beneath
beside
behind
across
Thesis statements or claims go under four different categories:
One. Claims about solutions or policies: The claim argues for a certain solution or policy change:
America's War on Drugs should be abolished and replaced with drug rehab.
Two. Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that a person, thing, policy or event caused another event or thing to occur.
Social media has turned our generation into a bunch of narcissistic solipsists with limited attention spans, an inflated sense of self-importance, and a shrinking degree of empathy.
Three. Claims of value: These claims argue how important something is on the Importance Scale and determine its proportion to other things.
Global warming poses a far greater threat to our safety than does terrorism.
Four. Claims of definition. These claims argue that we must re-define a common and inaccurate assumption.
In America the notion of "self-esteem," so commonly taught in schools, is in reality a cult of narcissism. While real self-esteem teaches self-confidence, discipline, and accountability, the fake American brand of self-esteem is about celebrating the low expectations of mediocrity, and this results in narcissism, vanity, and sloth.
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