Week three tues thurs

Composition IIWeek Three

ThursdaySeptember 8, 2016

DUE TODAY:• Milestone 3 to Drop

Box• Have read:

Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

• For your participation points for the day:• Please write 1-2 paragraphs (8-15 sentences) about Mary

Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. You can write a brief summary, your impressions on the introduction, or anything that indicates that you have read and comprehend the material.

• Writing about how you did not understand the material is not acceptable

• Use legible penmanship and include your name and the date on your paper

• Please bring your papers to the front when completed

Take Out a Pen and Paper

• Use a semi colon when using a title and subtitle in an attributive tag– Example: In Allison Davis’s new book, Howard the Duck: An Inspiration

to All, she explores the relationship between a community and their heroic mascot.

• Avoid multiple negatives– Use affirmative forms rather than several negatives– Example: • Unclear: Less attention is given to children with no visible signs of neglect, but

these children who experience emotional neglect cannot be ignored.• Clearer: More attention is given to children who have visible signs of neglect, but

those children who are neglected emotionally should not be ignored.

Mechanics Tips

• Avoid unclear pronoun references– Be sure the pronouns you use refer clearly to a noun in the current or

previous sentence– Example:• Unclear: He promised the people of the community that he would never litter again,

but he promised more than he could deliver.• Clearer: Jason “The Litter Bandit” Noble promised the people of the community that

he would never litter again, but he promised more than he could deliver.

• Unclear: The scientists were paid to lie about the results of their research. They wrote about the scandal and submitted it to all the major newspapers in the country.

• Clearer: The scientists were paid to lie about the results of their research. Undercover reporters Lisa Todd and Mary Walnut wrote about the scandal and submitted it to all the major newspapers in the country.

Mechanics Tips (Cont.)

• Written during the Enlightenment period– Emphasis on reason

• In insisting on the rationality of woman, Wollstonecraft drew out the radically egalitarian implications behind the Enlightenment project

• Written to argue against those who believe women should only receive a domestic education and the popular “conduct books” of the time

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

• What was the central theme of Wollstonecraft’s argument?• Who was she arguing with?• What are some of the reasons Wollstonecraft uses to support her

argument?• In her opinion, who’s fault is it that women are denied an education?

Do you agree?• Do you feel this argument is logically constructed?• Does Wollstonecraft appeal to her audience's emotion or logic?

Wollstonecraft and Argument

• A Vindication of the Rights of woman was well received after its publication. After Wollstonecraft’s death, however, her husband published a biography on her personal life. This revealed that she had been involved in love affairs, mothered an illegitimate child, and attempted suicide. After these intimate facts about her life were revealed, society rejected Wollstonecraft and her work and the piece did not see a reemergence until the nineteenth century.– Why did Wollstonecraft lose credibility?– Did these facts about Wollstonecraft’s personal life change her argument?– How do our personal beliefs influence the way we view an argument?– Do you think Wollstonecraft kept these facts about her life a secret on

purpose?

In-Class Discussion

Reference pages 3-22

Argumentation and Writing

•What comes to mind when you hear the word “argument”?•How would you define argument?

What is an Argument?

• An exchange of diverging or opposite views

• A reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others than an action or idea is right or wrong

• A statement or series of statements for or against something

• A discussion in which people express different opinions on something

• BUT there is no universally agreed upon definition of argument

Argument

• A quarrel or fight• Academically and

professionally speaking argument does not imply anger

• Argument should be a creative and productive activity in which we engage in a conversation with those we respect

Argument is not…

• A debate with winners and losers• Although debate is a form of argument, academic

writing and debate have very little in common• The popular practice of debate in politics and as a

scholastic extracurricular activity promotes the idea that argument has a winner and a loser

• The goal of argument in academic writing is not to win a game, but to find and promote the best belief or course of action

Argument is not…

• Simply having an opinion on a topic or course of action

• A successful argument must be supported by reason and research

• Passion is helpful when constructing an argument, but without proof and reason it is of no value to the academic community or your cause

Argument is not…

• Explicit argument- directly states its controversial claim and supports it with reason and evidence– Very direct and concrete– As a process and procedure

• Implicit argument- indirectly creates an argument to persuade others to take a certain point of view– Often used in poems, photos, and cartoons– The reader or viewer must decide what the author is trying to convey

Arguments can be explicit or implicit

Implicit Argument Example

• What argument is this cartoon making?

• Why is it implicit?• Do you agree or

disagree?

• Was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman an implicit or explicit argument?

• What was the controversial claim?• What reasons and evidence supported this claim?

Class Discussion

• Argument requires justification of its claim• Argument is both a process and a product• Argument combines truth-seeking and persuasion

Defining Features of an Argument

• A set of two or more conflicting assertations• The attempt to resolve the conflict through an appeal to reason

An argument must have…

• Wife: Don’t forget that we are going to Petersburg this Saturday to spend the weekend with my parents

• Husband: Don’t you remember? I told you I am going to Ian’s bachelor party this Saturday in Chicago.

• Wife: No, I don’t remember you telling me that. You never told me that!

• Husband: Well, I did tell you– several times! I reminded you just two days ago before I left for work.

– What are the conflicting assertions?– Who is attempting to resolve the conflict through an appeal to reason?

Example Argument:

• An arguer is obligated to clarify and support the reasons presented– This will require the reader or other arguer to reexamine and clarify their

assumptions

• Without this clarification and reexamination the argument falls short and may deteriorate into a quarrel– Example: If the Wife simply threw her hands in the air and stormed out of the

room without resolving the conflict, she would not be arguing but quarreling

Justification of Its Claim

• Husband: I also told you after I received the invitation four weeks ago. It has been on the calendar for a whole month!

• Wife: (goes and gets calendar) I do not see any Bachelor party marked on this calendar.

• Husband: Are you sure? (checks calendar) …O.K. maybe I forgot to write it on this calendar, but it has been in the calendar on my phone and I know I told you about it a few times.– How did Husband clarify and support his claim?– How did Wife clarify and reexamine her assumptions?– What do you think the outcome of this argument will be? Why?

Example Argument (Cont.)

• Listening to other points of views causes a person to reexamine their own beliefs to justify assumptions they have taken for granted

• As an arguer begins to clarify their own position on an issue, they also begin to clarify their listener’s (or reader’s) position on that same issue

• Helps a arguer accommodate their listener’s views by:– Adjusting their own position– Developing reasons that appeal to their listener’s values

Assumptions and Beliefs

• Wife: If I have told you once, I have told you one hundred times. If you have plans put them on the calendar. Especially for weekends. If I had known you were busy I would have told them we couldn’t make it. But, now they are expecting us. You are coming with me to Petersburg.

• Husband: Just because I don’t write it down doesn’t mean I can’t go. This is really important to Ian. I am a groomsman in his wedding next month. I have to go. You know I love visiting with your parents, but this is something I cannot miss.– How is Husband making Wife reexamine her own beliefs on this issue?– Is he appealing to her values with his argument?– How has the new information changed how you feel about this conflict?


• Argument as a process:– When two or more parties seek the best solution to a question or problem

• Argument as a product:– Each product is any person’s contribution to the conversation at any given

moment

A process and a product

• Wife: My sister is bringing the new baby to Petersburg and I wanted to meet her. I don’t feel comfortable driving all the way across the state by myself. Especially since I am seven months pregnant. I want you to come with me to spend the weekend with my family. It is really important to me.

• Husband: How about I leave the party early on Sunday morning? I can pick you up, then we can drive to Petersburg. We will be there in time for lunch with your parents and your sister.

• Wife: Then we have to turn around and drive back! What if you left the party Saturday night instead? We would not arrive at Petersburg until after dinner, but we would be there for breakfast in the morning.– What are some solutions presented through the process of argument?– What are some products of this argument?


• Truth seeking- discovering truths and facts about the topic or idea– Addresses the subject matter

• Persuasion-convincing the audience/listener/reader to reexamine or change their beliefs or understanding– Discovering what your audience believes and values– What evidence will you need to persuade you audience?

Truth seeking and persuasion

• Husband: I can’t leave the party early. We have tickets to a show at 11:00PM.

• Wife: A show? What show?• Husband: A band Ian is really into is playing in Chicago. I have

never heard of them, but we are going to see them.• Wife: Why do you need to go to the show? I think you should just

go out for dinner and drinks and then come home. You don’t even care about that band.– Who is truth seeking in this argument?– How is Wife using persuasion in this argument?– How can Husband persuade Wife to let him see the band? What

evidence or reason might he employ?


• Break into groups and answer the following questions:

• Consider the introduction to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. – What reason or evidence did she use to validate her

claim that women are entitled to an education?– How was her argument controversial? What societal

values was she trying to change?– What aspects of her argument were truth seeking?– How was Wollstonecraft using persuasion in her

argument?

Break into groups

• Journals due to Blackboard by midnight 9/11• Tuesday 9/13– No assignment– Get a head start on reading Sleepy Hollow

• Thursday 9/15– Have read first half of Sleepy Hollow– Sleepy Hollow Quiz Today!

DUE NEXT WEEK:

Week three tues thurs

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