Analyzing an Argument

1
Analyzing an Argument
2
Reading an Argument Questions to Ask

• Who wrote this argument?
• (occupation, personal background, political
  leanings)
• Audience? (rarely aimed at a general audience)

3
Other questions to ask???????

• Where was the passage originally printed?
• When was the argument written? (What do you know
  about that time period?)
• Why was the argument written? Purpose? Goal?

4
Outside info

• Anytime you can bring prior knowledge to the
  discussion, do so
• Anything you know about a situation, time period,
  person, etc. use that in your essay
• AP graders like to see that you know more than
  what was on the test
• You will not be penalized for not knowing about a
  subject

5
Toulmin Analysis

• Claim statement you ask others to accept
• Grounds evidence that supports the claim
• Warrant links the grounds and the claim
• Backing additional support to the warrant
• Qualifier indicates the strength between the
  grounds and warrant
• Rebuttal counter-argument to the claim

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Qualifiers

• Few
• Rarely
• Some
• Sometimes
• In some cases
• It seems
• It may be
• More or less

• Many
• Routinely
• Most
• Often
• Under those conditions
• For the most part
• possibly

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Example of Toulmin

• http//owlet.letu.edu/contenthtml/research/toulmin
  .html
• Basic idea and simple example
• http//writing.colostate.edu/guides/reading/toulmi
  n/index.cfm
• Very thorough