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 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 _____________________.
Review of Comma Splices
You can help identify and correct comma splices by doing three things.
First, learn the definition of a comma splice: A comma splice is connecting two complete sentences with a comma when you should use a period or a semicolon.
Examples
My grilled salmon had no salt or pepper, however, it was in spite of the seasoning oversight rather tasty.
I wasn’t really mad at the driver who cut me off on the 405, in a more accurate sense, I pitied him with all my heart, mind, and soul.
Dieting does not make you lose weight, to the contrary, dieting will on average make you gain 12 pounds over a 6-month period.
Second, learn when a sentence begins, when the same sentence ends and when ANOTHER sentence begins after the first sentence.
A complete sentence has a subject, a verb, and makes a complete thought.
Example
My grilled salmon had no salt or pepper.
My salmon was rather tasty.
I wasn’t really mad at the driver.
I pitied the driver with all my heart, mind, and soul.
Dieting does not make you lose weight.
Dieting will on average make you gain 12 pounds over a 6-month period.
Third, learn that the punctuation you use to bridge two sentences is CRUCIALLY DIFFERENT with coordination conjunctions (FANBOYS, for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) than it is with conjunctive adverbs:
accordingly, furthermore, moreover, similarly, also, hence, namely, still, anyway, however, nevertheless, then, besides, incidentally, next, thereafter, certainly, indeed, nonetheless, therefore, consequently, instead, now, thus, finally, likewise, otherwise, undoubtedly, further, meanwhile.
You use a comma when you separate two sentences with FANBOYS ( for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
Examples
My grilled salmon had no salt or pepper, but it was rather tasty.
I wasn’t really mad at the driver, for I pitied the driver with all my heart, mind, and soul.
Dieting does not make you lose weight, yet dieting will on average make you gain 12 pounds over a 6-month period.
You use a period or a semicolon when you separate two sentences with a conjunctive adverb. Most grammarians agree that a comma should occur AFTER the conjunctive adverb.
Examples
My grilled salmon had no salt or pepper. However, I found it was rather tasty.
I wasn’t really mad at the driver. To the contrary, I pitied the driver with all my heart, mind, and soul.
Dieting does not make you lose weight. Worse than not achieving its purpose of helping you to lose weight, dieting actually will on average make you gain 12 pounds over a 6-month period.
Dieting does not make you lose weight. However, you should be warned that dieting will actually make you on average gain 12 pounds over a 6-month period.
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. Checklist for Critical Thinking
My attitude toward critical thinking:
Does my thinking show imaginative open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity? Or do I exist in a circular, self-feeding, insular brain loop resulting in solipsism? The latter is also called living in the echo chamber.
Am I willing to honestly examine my assumptions?
Am I willing to entertain new ideas—both those that I encounter while reading and those that come to mind while writing?
Am I willing to approach a debatable topic by using dialectical argument, going back and forth between opposing views?
Am I willing to exert myself—for instance, to do research—to acquire information and to evaluate evidence?
My skills to develop critical thinking
Can I summarize an argument accurately?
Can I evaluate assumptions, evidence, and inferences?
Can I present my ideas effectively—for instance, by organizing and by writing in a manner appropriate to my imagined audience?
Ways to Improve Your Critical Reading
- Do a background check of the author to see if he or she has a hidden agenda or any other kind of background information that speaks to the author’s credibility.
- Check the place of publication to see what kind of agenda, if any, the publishing house has. Know how esteemed the publishing house is among peers of the subject you’re reading about.
- Learn how to find the thesis. In other words, know what the author’s purpose, explicit or implicit, is.
- Annotate more than underline. Your memory will be better served, according to research, by annotating than underlining. You can scribble your own code in the margins as long as you can understand your writing when you come back to it later. Annotating is a way of starting a dialogue about the reading and writing process. It is a form of pre-writing. Forms of annotation that I use are “yes,” (great point) “no,” (wrong, illogical, BS) and “?” (confusing). When I find the thesis, I’ll also write that in the margins. Or I’ll write down an essay or book title that the passage reminds me of. Or maybe even an idea for a story or a novel.
- When faced with a difficult text, you will have to slow down and use the principles of summarizing and paraphrasing. With summary, you concisely identify the main points in one or two sentences. With paraphrase, you re-word the text in your own words.
- When reading an argument, see if the writer addresses possible objections to his or her argument. Ask yourself, of all the objections, did the writer choose the most compelling ones? The more compelling the objections addressed, the more rigorous and credible the author’s writing.
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?
Being a Critical Reader Means Being an Active Reader
To be an active reader we must ask the following when we read a text:
One. What is the author’s thesis or purpose?
Two. What arguments is the author responding to?
Three. Is the issue relevant or significant? If not, why?
Four. How do I know that what the author says is true or credible? If not, why?
Five. Is the author’s evidence legitimate? Sufficient? Why or why not?
Six. Do I have legitimate opposition to the author’s argument?
Seven. What are some counterarguments to the author’s position?
Eight. Has the author addressed the most compelling counterarguments?
Nine. Is the author searching for truth or is the author beholden to an agenda, political, business, lobby, or something else?
Ten. Is the author’s position compromised by the use of logical fallacies such as either/or, Straw Man, ad hominem, non sequitur, confusing causality with correlation, etc.?
Eleven. Has the author used effective rhetorical strategies to be persuasive? Rhetorical strategies in the most general sense include ethos (credibility), logos (clear logic), and pathos (appealing to emotion). Another rhetorical strategy is the use of biting satire when one wants to mercilessly attack a target.
Twelve. You should write in the margins of your text (annotate) to address the above questions. Using annotations increases your memory and reading comprehension far beyond passive reading. And research shows annotating while reading is far superior to using a highlighter, which is mostly a useless exercise.
An annotation can be very brief. Here are some I use:
?
Wrong
Confusing
Thesis
Proof 1
Counterargument
Good point
Genius
Lame
BS
Cliché
Condescending
Full of himself
Contradiction!
Sharpening Your Thesis
The following section is adapted from Writing with a Thesis: A Rhetoric Reader by David Skwire and Sarah Skwire:
Make sure you avoid the following when creating your thesis:
- A thesis is not a title: Homes and schools (title) vs. Parents ought to participate more in the education of their children (good thesis).
- A thesis is not an announcement of the subject: My subject is the incompetence of the Supreme Court vs. The Supreme Court made a mistake when it ruled in favor of George W. Bush in the 2000 election.
- A thesis is not a statement of absolute fact: Jane Austen is the author of Pride and Prejudice.
- A thesis is not the whole essay: A thesis is your main idea/claim/refutation/problem-solution expressed in a single sentence or a combination of sentences.
- Please note that according to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition, "A thesis statement is a single sentence that formulates both your topic and your point of view" (Gibaldi 42). However, if your paper is more complex and requires a thesis statement, your thesis may require a combination of sentences.
Quick Checklist for Your Thesis Statement:
_____ The thesis/claim follows the guidelines outlined above
_____ The thesis/claim matches the requirements and goals of the assignment
_____ The thesis/claim is clear and easily recognizable
_____ The thesis/claim seems supportable by good reasoning/data, emotional appeal
Successful Thesis Template Examples
McMahon's argument that we should embrace Syrian refugees is flawed evidenced by ____________, ______________, ______________, and ___________________.
McMahon's contention that as a general principle we do not have moral integrity is form of cheap cynicism that collapses under the weight of various fallacies, which include ______________, _____________, ____________, and __________________.
The New Jim Crow is a failed/successful analogy to the original Jim Crow because __________________, ________________, _____________________, and __________________.
While Alexander makes a compelling critique of the mass incarceration system, her analogy between Jim Crow and incarceration as "The New Jim Crow" collapses when we consider ______________, ______________, ___________, and ______________.
While through Alexander's own admission the analogy between Jim Crow and mass incarceration as "The New Jim Crow" is not a perfect one, we can make the case that those who would dismiss her analogy entirely are in grave error when we consider these major flaws in their thinking, which include ___________, ___________, _____________, and _______________.
Michelle Alexander has written a brilliant critique of mass incarceration in which she points out its moral bankruptcy in ways that are beyond dispute. However, her book is a failure because she squandered the opportunity to point out the real causes of this moral bankruptcy, which include __________, ___________, __________, and ____________.
The assertion that Alexander's book falls short because it fails to address the deeper problems caused by free market capitalism collapses when we consider ___________, __________, ___________, and ________________.
While Alexander's book is hardly perfect and contains some serious flaws, her overall argument is compelling when we consider ____________, ____________, __________, and _______________.
Use stipulation (show conditions or requirements) and nuance (showing subtle distinctions) to inform your thesis and give it appropriate sophistication for a complicated topic:
If you keep your costs down and major in something that utilizes your passions and has strong market value, getting a college degree, while not guaranteeing financial success, is your best play for entering the job market.
Use concession clause
While majors in the humanities would probably not be in your best financial interests, marketable majors such as finance, accounting, computer science, and engineering should give you upward economic mobility if you can keep your costs down.
While the job market is declining while college costs continue to skyrocket, going to college is still your best play for upward economic mobility unless you are a tech or sales whiz.
Use refutation thesis
The argument of going to college or not is a false argument since there is overwhelming evidence that compels us to conclude that going to college is our best financial play. The real argument is WHAT kind of major do we pursue and at WHAT cost? In other words, the argument should focus on the ratio of financial potential to college costs.
The question isn't going to college or not; the real question is do I major in a "safe bet" and approach my career like a soulless mercenary or do I choose my major based on my passions and say the hell with making money?
We should not either major in a "safe bet" or a passion-based guarantee of lifelong poverty; rather, we should seek a balance.
Study the Templates of Argumentation
While the author’s arguments for meaning are convincing, she fails to consider . . .
While the authors' supports make convincing arguments, they must also consider . . .
These arguments, rather than being convincing, instead prove . . .
While these authors agree with Writer A on point X, in my opinion . . .
Although it is often true that . . .
While I concede that my opponents make a compelling case for point X, their main argument collapses underneath a barrage of . . .
While I see many good points in my opponent’s essay, I am underwhelmed by his . . .
While my opponent makes some cogent points regarding A, B, and C, his overall argument fails to convince when we consider X, Y, and Z.
My opponent makes many provocative and intriguing points. However, his arguments must be dismissed as fallacious when we take into account W, X, Y, and Z.
While the author’s points first appear glib and fatuous, a closer look at his polemic reveals a convincing argument that . . .
Thesis that is a claim of cause and effect:
Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children tend to be narcissistic people of privilege who believe their sources of information are superior to “the mainstream media”; who are looking for simple explanations that might protect their children from autism; who are confusing correlation with causality; and who are benefiting from the very vaccinations they refuse to give their children.
Thesis that is a claim of argumentation:
Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children should be prosecuted by the law because they are endangering the public and they are relying on pseudo-intellectual science to base their decisions.
To test a thesis, we must always ask: “What might be objections to my claim?”
Prosecuting parents will only give those parents more reason to be paranoid that the government is conspiring against them.
There are less severe ways to get parents to comply with the need to vaccinate their children.
Critical Writing
Applying your critical thinking to academic writing
You will find that your task as a writer at the higher levels of critical thinking is to argue.
You will express your argument in 6 ways:
One. You will define a situation that calls for some response in writing by asking critical questions. For example, is the Confederate flag a symbol of honor and respect for the heritage of white people in the South? Or is the flag a symbol of racial hatred, slavery, and Jim Crow?
Two. You will demonstrate the timeliness of your argument. In other words, why is your argument relevant?
Why is it relevant for example to address the decision of many parents to NOT vaccinate their children?
Three. Establish your personal investment in the topic. Why do you care about the topic you’re writing about?
You may be alarmed to see exponential increases in college costs and this is personal because you have children who will presumably go to college someday.
Four. Appeal to your readers by anticipating their thoughts, beliefs, and values, especially as they pertain to the topic you are writing about. You may be arguing a vegetarian diet to people who are predisposed to believing that vegetarian eating is a hideous exercise in self-denial and amounts to torture.
You may have to allay their doubts by making them delicious vegetarian foods or by convincing them that they can make such meals.
You may be arguing against the NFL to those who defend it on the basis of the relatively high salaries NFL players make. Do you have an answer to that?
Five. Support your argument with solid reasons and compelling evidence. If you're going to make the claim that the NFL is morally repugnant, can you support that? How?
Six. Anticipate your readers’ reasons for disagreeing with your position and try to change their mind so they “see things your way.” We call this “making the readers drink your Kool-Aid.”
He can’t even articulate his hatred or the target of his hatred. He felt “anger and the hate towards an unknown force” and anyone with “shawls on their face.”
He bullied anyone who looked different, and his violence escalated.
In many ways, he is like the terrorist Mohammed Atta. We read, “He would become the patriotic American inverse of ‘Mohammed Atta and all them fanatics’ from 9/11.
Comments