September 11, 2008 by Mike Wall

Today, September 11, 2008, in Mr. Lazarow's class we first discussed and asked questions about the essay that was assigned on the 10th (Due Sept. 17).

Here are a few of the things that we discussed for the essay...
The rules of "I" - use the collegiate method (use "I" whenever you feel it is necessary)
Be selective about which questions to answer (DO NOT feel the need to answer all of them).
Definately DOUBLE SPACE your essay.

The main purpose of today's class was to learn about the Toulmin Model of Argument: The Path to Writing Better Essays (Presented in a power point presentation)

These are some of the notes I took:
- The Toulmin Model of Argument
- Essay pre-writing method and philosophy
- A bad foundation (thesis) = a bad essay
- Make sure you have a strong thesis
- All verbal communication is persuasive to some degree
- Everything uttered is intended to get the listener to agree
- Stephen Toulmin
- British philosopher/logician
- Arguments (6 parts)
- Claim, Grounds, Warrants, Backing, Qualifiers, Rebuttals
- Triad (Claim, Grounds, Warrants)
- Claim
- Statement being argued (arguer makes assertion)
- Consider audience as arguer
- The conclusion of the argument is also the start
- What the audience will also believe at the end
- Everything in the argument relates back to the claim
- When reading, you ask, "What's the bottom line?"
-Different types of claims
- 1) Claims of FACT
- about the past
- 2) Claims of JUDGEMENT/VALUE
- opinions, attitudes, and subjective evaluations (present)
- 3) Claims of POLICY
- Advocate courses of action to undertake (future)
- Before selecting your claim be sure to pick the appropriate one for your essay
- Our perspectives aren't immediately accepted as truths
- Others will challenge, forcing you to provide proof in support

That's about as far as we went before the bell rang...

This blog was posted by Mike Wall