Civil Arguments and Their Claims

The following political cartoon can be found at the beginning of the chapter on Analyzing Arguments from The Language of Composition:

"Toles argues that the country is in danger of being devoured by 'crazed rhetoric'."

This political cartoon helps demonstrate the danger of engaging in arguments that divide and alienate instead of enlighten or accomodate.

1. We discussed the article by Amy Domini at the front of your new photo-copied packet, looking specifically at where she might have given way to accusation or blame or dismissal.

2. We discussed the first building block of a solid argument: A claim.

              We studied page 2 of your packets and completed the activity together, being sure that we                knew the difference between a claim statement and a topic statement.

               There are three types of claims: claims of fact, claims of value, and claims of policy

Students were assigned the rest of the packet as reading for the weekend.  Notes should be taken on the New York Times Editorial "Felons and the Right to Vote," following the directions given at the beginning of the piece (page 92).  Bring your annotations to class TUESDAY.

Tomorrow is our first 4 square debate.  Be sure to bring your Conversational Roundtable to class to use.