1 / 13

The Opposing Side

The Opposing Side. Why Should I Present the Opposing Side?. Strengthens your credibility Knowledgeable Fair Interested in finding the truth Addresses the reader’s objections Can help fuel your argument. What are Opposing Arguments?. Arguments against a claim, evidence, or explanation.

rhea
Download Presentation

The Opposing Side

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. The Opposing Side

  2. Why Should I Present the Opposing Side? • Strengthens your credibility • Knowledgeable • Fair • Interested in finding the truth • Addresses the reader’s objections • Can help fuel your argument

  3. What are Opposing Arguments? • Arguments against a claim, evidence, or explanation. • (Explanation: interpretation of evidence or explanation of how evidence proves claim). Degrees of Opposition Completely Agrees Partially (Dis)agrees Disagrees • Practice: Argue against this claim, evidence, and explanation. • College students should participate in athletics. • 80% of college athletes earn above a 2.5 GPA. • Therefore, being involved in athletics helps students become academically successful.

  4. How Can I Find Opposing Arguments? Identify the Most Important Opposing Arguments • Start with the opposing arguments that first come to mind. • Consider your audience and the opposing side—Who are they? What do they believe? What do they want? Why? Identify More Subtle Opposing Arguments • Find other opposing arguments by identifying your claims, evidence, and explanations. • Ask yourself, how might a reasonable person argue against this? • Try negating or partially negating your claims, evidence, and explanations. • Think of counterexamples. Check your opposing arguments by asking, “Would a reasonable person argue this?”

  5. Tips • Don’t just list multiple counterarguments. Consider a few of the most relevant counterarguments in some depth.

  6. How Should I Address Opposing Arguments? • Two Ways: • Prevent Opposing Arguments • Add enough details and explanations so the reader doesn’t have any objections • Present and Respond to Opposing Arguments • Introduce opposing arguments and respond to them • Although opponents may believe X… • Proponents of this bill argue Y because of Z; however… How will you decide which approach to use?

  7. How Should I Present the Opposing Side? • Be specific and provide the reasons for their claims • Be brief—don’t emphasize or support their points too much • Be fair—take counterarguments seriously; do not belittle them • Respondimmediately to opposing arguments

  8. How Should I Respond to the Opposing Side? • Concede, BUT show why the audience should accept your argument anyway. • Partially refutethe counterargument—“yes, sometimes…” and show why the audience should accept your argument. • Completely refuteit— show why the counterargument is mistaken.

  9. What if I Can’t Refute Opposing Arguments? Qualify or change your claim! Be open-minded 

  10. Where Should the Counterargument Go? The Intro: The Last Body P: The First Body P: Every Body P: When would you use each of these?

  11. An Example… • Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution. • Internal combustion engines cause a great deal of air pollution. Driving a private car is a typical citizen's most air polluting activity. • Hybrid cars combine a gasoline engine with a battery-powered electric motor, which means that less pollution is produced. • Cars generally have a long lifespan, meaning that a decision to switch to a hybrid car will make a long-term impact on pollution levels. • Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution.

  12. Practice: Dialogue • Review your main point and supporting points. • Write a dialogue between you and your opposing side. • What will you argue? • How will they respond? …

  13. Chart • Claim/evidence  Counter claim/evidence  Response/refutation • In-class essay on the opposing side

More Related