Updated for 9-12-16: The True American Lesson 4: Study Questions, Author Video, 3 Types of Claims, 3 Pillars of Argument

El Camino College English 1C Grading Rubric

Similarities and Differences Between English 1A and 1C

One. Both classes require thesis-driven essays supported with logic, credible research, and MLA in-text and Works Cited citations.

Two. English 1A requires 8,000 words written; 1C requires 6,000.

Three. Both have argumentative essays though 1C may emphasize argumentation more.

Four. Both 1A and 1C may have a counterargument-rebuttal section requirement in the essay, but this is emphasized more in 1C.

Five. While both 1A and 1C require inductive and deductive reasoning evidenced in the students' essays, the language of this type of reasoning is emphasized in 1C. You don't have to make reference to this type of reasoning in your essay. Rather, your essay should have evidence of this type of reasoning.

Six. While both 1A and 1C require critical thinking skills evidenced by the student's ability to identify logical fallacies in written works and especially arguments, 1C emphasizes logical fallacies more than 1A. The 1C student could identify a fallacy in his or her opponent's argument and this would be considered an asset by the 1C instructor.

Seven. While both 1A and 1C require critical analysis of research sources and arguments to distinguish bias from credible sources, 1C emphasizes this process more than 1A.

Eight. In 1C, instructors have a higher expectation for argumentative sophistication and grammar skills than they do in 1A.

Essay Guidelines

One. Your essay should be uploaded to turnitin on the day of class, no later than the time class starts.

Two. Your essay should be 1,250 words, about 5 pages, double-spaced using 12 font TimesNewRoman. On a separate page that does not count toward your word total is your MLA Works Cited page.

Three. Usually a research paper is about 80% your own words and 20% quoted, paraphrased, and summarized sources. You introduce sources with signal phrases: Common identifying tags (put link here). Signal phrases help you avoid plagiarism, give you credibility by virtue of the source's value, which briefly explain, and show that you are current on the topic.

Four. To make sure your essay is connected and relevant to the assigned text, be sure to refer to the text (The True American in this case) at least once per page by using a quotation, paraphrase, or summary.

Five. You can start with any appropriate introduction technique. The purpose of an introduction is twofold: Connect reader to your thesis and show reader you are an engaging, compelling writer. Never bore your reader in your introduction with a generic, obvious, or self-evident statement often beginning with "In today's society . . ."

Six. Your essay is graded by thesis, support and evidence for your thesis, appropriate research and signal phrases, appropriate MLA documentation, diction (writing clean, clear sentences and precise word choice), punctuation, and grammar.

Seven. Your thesis, which is your main point or argument, should be the engine that drives your essay.

Eight. You should shoot for 8 or 9 paragraphs in your essay.

Nine. Your paragraphs should be "meaty," about 120-150 words long, so that typically you'll have no more than 2 paragraphs per page.

Ten. It's common for the introduction paragraph to be as many as 200 words long.

Eleven. It's okay to have 2 introduction paragraphs before the thesis paragraph.

Suggested Outline for 8- or 9-paragraph essay

Paragraph One: Introduction that hook's reader's interest and connects reader to your thesis. You might for example write about the tension the American poor have for immigrants who are perceived to be having more success at achieving the American Dream.

You might elaborate on how this tension is creating the "two Americas" the author writes about in his book, The True American. To shed light on this tension, you might ask why do immigrants often do a better job of achieving the American Dream than the American-born poor?

You might write two anecdotes, one about an immigrant and the other about an American-born citizen you know and show their different paths and how these paths coincide with The True American's narrative. If you choose this method, you will probably have two introduction paragraphs.

Paragraph Two or Three. Thesis paragraph that contains 4 or 5 mapping components that you will flesh out in your body paragraphs.

Paragraphs Three through Seven (or 4-8): Body Paragraphs

Paragraph Eight (or 9) is your conclusion that restates your thesis in a more emotional, powerful manner as we see here at the Harvard Writing Center.

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."

Sample Thesis

Anand Giridharadas' The True American convincingly shows the causes behind the giant divide between immigrants and the American-born poor. These causes include _______________, _______________, _______________, ________________, and __________________.

Sample Thesis

Anand Giridharadas makes the convincing case that as the American Dream, upward economic mobility, becomes more and more difficult, America is dividing into an tiny educated elite class and a forgotten class that we ignore at our peril.

Another Thesis

Anand Giridharadas makes the convincing case the America's Mark Stromans are a despised and forgotten class whose sense of collective insult imperils America in several ways, including _____________, ______________, _______________, and _______________.

Another Thesis

Giridharadas argues convincingly that Mark Stroman is our own creation, the product of America's neglect of the working class, elite America's condescension toward the lower classes, and America's failure to nourish society with moral absolutes. We can conclude therefore that we are all guilty of Mark Stroman's crime.

Another Thesis

Anand Giridharadas' The True American is a piece of shameful liberal demagoguery that would have us believe that Mark Stroman's evil is not the result of his individual responsibility but rather some sort of "collective guilt" that we all share in order that the author can disseminate his elitist left-wing socialist "kumbaya" propaganda.

Another Thesis

While Giridharadas does a good job of showing the tension and animosity between the "two Americas," the elitist and working class, his book ultimately is a manipulative propaganda piece that emphasizes so much forgiveness, socialist redistribution of wealth, and collective guilt that the book is a colossal moral failure in its inability to address the urgent need for justice, economic meritocracy, and individual responsibility.

Another Thesis

Those who attempt to dismiss Giridharadas as a manipulative left-wing hack prove to be intellectually and morally bankrupt evidenced by their failure to address systemic shifts in the economy that are destroying the middle class, failure to acknowledge the unraveling of the American family and the moral foundation such a family provides, and failure to give credit to the contribution that immigrants make by passing on their family's moral richness to American society.

Essay Option Two

Develop a argumentative thesis that answers the following question: How does the current 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 ___________________.

Another Sample Thesis

The True American dug out of the crypt an ugly America at war with the rest of America. This divided America is both illustrated in The True American and the current Presidential campaign evidenced by ____________, ___________, _____________, and __________________.

Essay 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 __________________.

Another Thesis

Raisuddin Bhuiyan embodies the virtues discussed in David Brooks' "The Moral Bucket List" evidenced by _____________, ____________, _______________, and _____________________.

Example of a Thesis That Requires Introduction with Extended Definition

Anand Girdharadas' masterpiece The True American makes a persuasive case for us to shun the metastasizing cancer of xenophobia and in its place embrace cosmopolitanism. By examining xenophobia, as an ideology, in the context of Girdharadas' book and cosmopolitanism, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a false American and a true one.

Two Paragraphs That Define Important Terms Followed by the Thesis

The ideology of xenophobia, fear of the stranger, is rooted in ignorance, economic catastrophe, and the kind of desperate bigotry that needs to blame a scapegoat for what appears to be a world of overwhelming chaos that is replacing what the xenophobe perceives to be his lost paradise, an age where he felt a sense of power, entitlement, and belonging. For example, Donald Trump is the consummate xenophobe demagogue who has galvanized a swath of America's isolationist xenophobes in his quest to reside as America's Commander in Chief. As we read The True American, we see this xenophobia fuel white supremacist Mark Stroman's murder spree against men of color whom Stroman perceives to be Muslim terrorists. Giridharadas masterfully and compassionately shows that America is rife with legions of Mark Stroman's, unhinged, fatherless souls with no moral guidance or economic prospect, or sense of belonging. These broken spirits are vulnerable to the hate-filled ideologies of white supremacists and other rancid ideologues.

In stark contrast, Girdharadas juxtaposes this toxic xenophobia with Raisuddin Bhuiyan, the victim of Stroman's shooting spree who forgave his assailant and provided economic and emotional support to Stroman and Stroman's family. Bhuiyan is the antithesis of the xenophobe. Bhuyan is the cosmopolitan, the educated, moral citizen of the world whose immigration to America provides America with the type of people and resources that can make America a great country. When America embraces cosmopolitanism, the ideology that we all share a common morality and humanity, we become true to our country's mission.

Examining these opposite ideologies, Anand Girdharadas' masterpiece The True American makes a persuasive case for us to shun the metastasizing cancer of xenophobia and in its place embrace cosmopolitanism. By examining xenophobia, as an ideology, in the context of Girdharadas' book and cosmopolitanism, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a false American and a true one.

Suggested Outline for Your Essay (slightly different than previous outline)

Paragraph 1: Explain a major conflict in the book such as the struggle for the American Dream between immigrants and American-born poor.

Paragraph 2: Write your thesis by answering an important question from the essay prompt.

Paragraphs 3-8: Write paragraphs that support your thesis.

Paragraph 9: Your conclusion is a restatement of your thesis with greater emotional power (pathos). Harvard has a good explanation of the conclusion paragraph.

Final page: MLA Works Cited (you can try Easy Bib). Be sure to using hanging indent format for MLA. Here's a Create MLA Works Cited video. Here's the 2016 MLA Format.

The Above Outline Needs to be Modified If You're Using Terms That Need to be Defined

For example, if your thesis contains terms that require extended definition, you may need to define your terms in your introductory paragraph.

Example of a Thesis That Requires Introduction with Extended Definition

Two Paragraphs That Define Important Terms Followed by the Thesis

Writing Effective Introduction Paragraphs for Your Essays

Weak Introductions to Avoid

One. Don’t use overused quotes:

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

“To be or not to be, that is the question.”

Two. Don’t use pretentious, grandiose, overwrought, bloated, self-regarding, clichéd, unintentionally funny openings:

Since the Dawn of Man, people have sought love and happiness . . .

In today’s society, we see more and more people cocooning in their homes . . .

Man has always wondered why happiness and contentment are so elusive like trying to grasp a bar of sudsy, wet soap.

We have now arrived at a Societal Epoch where we no longer truly communicate with one another as we have embarked upon the full-time task of self-aggrandizement through the social media of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et al.

In this modern world we face a new existential crisis with the advent of newfangled technologies rendering us razzle-dazzled with the overwhelming possibilities of digital splendor on one hand and painfully dislocated and lonely with our noses constantly rubbing our digital screens on the other.

Since Adam and Eve traipsed across the luxuriant Garden of Eden searching for the juicy, succulent Adriatic fig only to find it withered under the attack of mites, ants, and fruit flies, mankind has embarked upon the quest for the perfect pesticide.

Three. Never apologize to the reader:

Sorry for these half-baked chicken scratch thoughts. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and I didn’t have sufficient time to do the necessary research for the topic you assigned me.

I’m hardly an expert on this subject and I don’t know why anyone would take me seriously, but here it goes.

Forgive me but after over-indulging last night at HomeTown Buffet my brain has been rendered in a mindless fog and the ramblings of this essay prove to be rather incoherent.

Four. Don’t throw a thesis cream pie in your reader’s face.

In this essay I am going to prove to you why Americans will never buy those stupid automatic cars that don’t need a driver. The four supports that will support my thesis are ______________, ______________, _______________, and ________________.

It is my purpose in this essay to show you why I'm correct on the subject of the death penalty. My proofs will be _________, _______, _________, and ___________.

Five. Don’t use a dictionary definition (standard procedure for a sixth grade essay but not college in which you should use more sophisticated methods such as extended definition or expert definitions):

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines metacognition as “awareness or analysis of one’s own learning or thinking process.”

General Principles of an Effective Introduction Paragraph

It piques your readers’ interest (often called a “hook”).

It is compelling.

It is timely.

It is relevant to the human condition and to your topic.

It transitions to your topic and/or thesis.

The Ten Types of Paragraph Introductions

One. Use a blunt statement of fact or insight that captures your readers’ attention:

It's good for us to have our feelings hurt.

You've never really lived until someone has handed you your __________ on a stick.

Men who are jealous are cheaters.

We would assume that jealous men are obsessed with fidelity, but in fact the most salient feature of the jealous man is that he is more often than not cheating on his partner. His jealousy results from projecting his own infidelities on his partner. He says to himself, “I am a cheater and therefore so is she.” We see this sick mentality in the character Dan from Ha Jin’s “The Beauty.” Trapped in his jealousy, Dan embodies the pathological characteristics of learned helplessness evidenced by ___________, _______________, ________________, and _______________.

John Taylor Gatto opens his essay “Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why” as thus:

I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom. Boredom was everywhere in the world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn’t seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren’t interested in learning more. And the kids were right: Their teachers were every bit as bored as they were.

Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teacher’s lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there. When asked why they feel bored, the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you might expect. Who wouldn’t get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades? If even that. Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigid than those imposed upon the children. Who, then, is to blame?

Gatto goes on to argue in his thesis that school trains children to be servants for mediocre (at best) jobs when school should be teaching innovation, individuality, and leadership roles.

Two. Write a definition based on the principles of extended definition (term, class, distinguishing characteristics) or quote an expert in a field of study:

Metacognition is an essential asset to mature people characterized by their ability to value long-term gratification over short-term gratification, their ability to distance themselves from their passions when they’re in a heated emotional state, their ability to stand back and see the forest instead of the trees, and their ability to continuously make assessments of the effectiveness of their major life choices. In the fiction of John Cheever and James Lasdun, we encounter characters that are woefully lacking in metacognition evidenced by _____________, ______________, _____________, and _______________.

According to Alexander Batthanany, member of the Viktor Frankl Institute, logotherapy, which is the search for meaning, “is identified as the primary motivational force in human beings.” Batthanany further explains that logotherapy is “based on three philosophical and psychological concepts: Freedom of Will, Will to Meaning, and Meaning in Life.” Embracing the concepts of logotherapy is vastly more effective than conventional, Freud-based psychotherapy when we consider ________________, ______________, __________________, and ________________.

Three. Use an insightful quotation that has not, to your knowledge anyway, been overused:

George Bernard Shaw once said, “There are two great tragedies in life. The first is not getting what we want. The second is getting it.” Shaw’s insight speaks to the tantalizing chimera, that elusive quest we take for the Mythic She-Beast who becomes are life-altering obsession. As the characters in John Cheever and James Lasdun’s fiction show, the human relationship with the chimera is source of paradox. On one hand, having a chimera will kill us. On the other, not having a chimera will kill us. Cheever and Lasdun’s characters twist and torment under the paradoxical forces of their chimeras evidenced by _____________, _______________, ______________, and __________________.

Four. Use a startling fact to get your reader’s attention:

There are currently more African-American men in prison than there were slaves at the peak of slavery in the United States. We read this disturbing fact in Michelle Alexander’s magisterial The New Jim Crow, which convincingly argues that America’s prison complex is perpetuating the racism of slavery and Jim Crow in several insidious ways.

Five. Use an anecdote (personal or otherwise) to get your reader’s attention:

When my daughter was one years old and I was changing her diaper, she without warning jammed her thumb into my eye, forcing my eyeball into my brain and almost killing me. After the assault, I suffered migraine headaches for several months and frequently would have to wash milky pus from the injured eye.

One afternoon I was napping under the covers when Lara walked into the room talking on the phone to her friend, Hannah. She didn’t know I was in the room, confusing the mound on the bed with a clump of pillows and blankets. I heard her whisper to Hannah, “I found another small package from eBay. He’s buying watches and not telling me.” 

That’s when I thought about getting a post office box.  

This could be the opening introduction for an essay topic about “economic infidelity.”

As we read in Stephen King’s essay “Write or Die”:

“Hardly a week after being sprung from detention hall, I was once more invited to step down to the principal’s office. I went with a sinking heart, wondering what new sh** I’d stepped in.”

Six. Use a piece of vivid description or a vivid illustration to get your reader’s attention:

My gym looks like an enchanting fitness dome, an extravaganza of taut, sweaty bodies adorned in fluorescent spandex tights contorting on space-age cardio machines, oil-slicked skin shrouded in a synthetic fog of dry ice colored by the dizzying splash of lavender disco lights. Tribal drum music plays loudly. Bottled water flows freely, as if from some Elysian spring, over burnished flesh. The communal purgation appeals to me. My fellow cardio junkies and I are so self-abandoned, free, and euphoric, liberated in our gym paradise.
But right next to our workout heaven is a gastronomical inferno, one of those all-you-can-eat buffets, part of a chain, which is, to my lament, sprouting all over Los Angeles. I despise the buffet, a trough for people of less discriminating tastes who saunter in and out of the restaurant at all hours, entering the doors of the eatery without shame and blind to all the gastrointestinal and health-related horrors that await them. Many of the patrons cannot walk out of their cars to the buffet but have to limp or rely on canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and other ambulatory aids, for it seems a high percentage of the customers are afflicted with obesity, diabetes, arthritis, gout, hypothalamic lesions, elephantiasis, varicose veins and fleshy tumors. Struggling and wheezing as they navigate across the vast parking lot that leads to their gluttonous sanctuary, they seem to worship the very source of their disease.

In front of the buffet is a sign of rules and conduct. One of the rules urges people to stand in the buffet line in an orderly fashion and to be patient because there is plenty of food for everyone. Another rule is that children are not to be left unattended and running freely around the buffet area. My favorite rule is that no hands, tongues, or other body parts are allowed to touch the food. Tongs and other utensils are to be used at all times. The rules give you an idea of the kind of people who eat there. These are people I want to avoid.

But as I walk to the gym from my car, which shares a parking lot with the buffet patrons, I cannot avoid the nauseating smell of stale grease oozing from the buffet’s rear dumpster, army green and stained with splotches and a seaweed-like crust of yellow and brown grime.

Often I see cooks and dishwashers, their bodies covered with soot, coming out of the back kitchen door to throw refuse into the dumpster, a smoldering receptacle with hot fumes of bacteria and flies. Hunchbacked and knobby, the poor employees are old, weary men with sallow, rheumy eyes and cuts and bruises all over their bodies. I imagine them being tortured deep within the bowels of the fiery kitchen on some Medieval rack. They emerge into the blinding sunshine like moles, their eyes squinting, with their plastic garbage bags twice the size of their bodies slung over their shoulders, and then I look into their sad eyes—eyes that seem to beg for my help and mercy. And just when I am about to give them words of hope and consolation or urge them to flee for their lives, it seems they disappear back into the restaurant as if beckoned by some invisible tyrant.

The above could transition to the topic of people of a certain weight being required to buy three airline tickets for an entire row of seats.

Seven. Summarize both sides of a debate.

America is torn by the national healthcare debate. One camp says it’s a crime that 25,000 Americans die unnecessarily each year from treatable disease and that modeling a health system from other developed countries is a moral imperative. However, there is another camp that fears that adopting some version of universal healthcare is tantamount to stepping into the direction of socialism.

Eight. State a misperception, fallacy, or error that your essay will refute.

Americans against universal or national healthcare are quick to say that such a system is “socialist,” “communist,” and “un-American,” but a close look at their rhetoric shows that it is high on knee-jerk, mindless paroxysms and short on reality. Contrary to the enemies of national healthcare, providing universal coverage is very American and compatible with the American brand of capitalism.

Nine. Make a general statement about your topic.

From Sherry Turkle’s essay “How Computers Change the Way We Think”:

The tools we use to think change the ways in which we think. The invention of written language brought about a radical shift in how we process, organize, store, and transmit representations of the world. Although writing remains our primary information technology, today when we think about the impact of technology on our habits of mind, we think primarily of the computer.

Ten. Pose a question your essay will try to answer:

Why are diet books more and more popular, yet Americans are getting more and more fat?

Why is psychotherapy becoming more and more popular, yet Americans are getting more and more crazy?

Why are the people of Qatar the richest people in the world, yet score at the bottom of all Happiness Index metrics?

Why are courses in the Humanities more essential to your well-being that you might think?

What is the difference between thinking and critical thinking?

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.

Outlining Your Essay

Suggested Outline for Your Essay

Paragraph 1: Summarize book.

Paragraph 2: Highlight 3 or 4 major themes that you find to be the most compelling and relevant from the book.

Paragraph 3: Write your thesis by answering an important question from the essay prompt.

Paragraphs 4-8: Write paragraphs that support your thesis.

Paragraph 9: Your conclusion is a restatement of your thesis with greater emotional power (pathos).

Final page: MLA Works Cited (you can try Easy Bib). Be sure to using hanging indent format for MLA. Here's a Create MLA Works Cited video. Here's the 2016 MLA Format.

The Above Outline Doesn't Work If You're Using Terms That Need to be Defined

For example, if your thesis contains terms that require extended definition, you may need to define your terms in your introductory paragraph.

Example of a Thesis That Requires Introduction with Extended Definition

Anand Girdharadas' masterpiece The True American makes a persuasive case for us to shun the mestastasizing cancer of xenophobia and in its place embrace cosmopolitanism. By examining xenophobia, as an ideology, in the context of Girdharadas' book and cosmopolitanism, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a false American and a true one.

Two Paragraphs That Define Important Terms Followed by the Thesis

Suggested Outline for Your Essay (slightly different than previous outline)

Paragraph 1: Explain a major conflict in the book such as the struggle for the American Dream between immigrants and American-born poor.

Paragraph 2: Write your thesis by answering an important question from the essay prompt.

Paragraphs 3-8: Write paragraphs that support your thesis.

Paragraph 9: Your conclusion is a restatement of your thesis with greater emotional power (pathos). Harvard has a good explanation of the conclusion paragraph.

Final page: MLA Works Cited (you can try Easy Bib). Be sure to using hanging indent format for MLA. Here's a Create MLA Works Cited video. Here's the 2016 MLA Format.

The Above Outline Doesn't Work If You're Using Terms That Need to be Defined

For example, if your thesis contains terms that require extended definition, you may need to define your terms in your introductory paragraph.

Example of a Thesis That Requires Introduction with Extended Definition

Two Paragraphs That Define Important Terms Followed by the Thesis

Essay One, drawn from The True American, is Due September 21:

Option One

What is the "barbarian within"?

Sample Thesis

Another Thesis

Essay Option Two

Sample Thesis

Another Sample Thesis

Essay 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 __________________.

Another Thesis

Raisuddin Bhuiyan embodies the virtues discussed in David Brooks' "The Moral Bucket List" evidenced by _____________, ____________, _______________, and _____________________.

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.

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?