Essay 2: Analysis of Bad Argument
Overview
Project Goals
• Learn how to identify and critically respond to bad argument: logical fallacy, weasel wording, dog whistles.
• Develop skills used in research, writing, and argumentation.
• Continue to develop objective and concrete language choices and thinking.
Summary
Write an analytical essay that breaks down the worst parts of an overall bad argument and discuss how and why it’s bad it can be made better. How the essay is formatted and executed is up to the writer, but the essay should include all of the Essay Components. Skipping any will result in point penalty.
The essay should begin with a brief appraisal of the rhetorical situation and with the goals of the student. Those goals are up to the student as long as they are demonstrating understanding of the concepts at the core of this unit.
Your goal can be to rebuild the argument in a way that avoids the fallacies but helps to accomplish their arguments goals. It can be to establish that none of their arguments are compatible with their audience and demonstrate how or why. It can be to show ways that these bad arguments can be recognized for what they are. It can be to talk about the culture, the environment that encourages or allows these bad arguments. It can be something else.
You should get this idea approved, just in case.
Prewrite
Prewriting for this essay will focus on researching and outlining. Most of the information gathered in this step will be used for the drafting of the essay. That time should all be used most efficiently by planning and organizing ideas.
Steps for the prewrite
Choose a rhetor or choose a speech.
Make sure this is the right length or content that you can cover in an essay of this size. This will likely be between five and 15 minutes in length, depending upon the density of information.
Rhetor means speaker or writer. In this context speech is being used to include any long form piece of speaking or writing. It can be an actual speech, interview, debate, etc. It can also be a compilation of statements from the same speaker as long as the compiled statements are all about the same thing or demonstrate the same qualities of the speaker.
Pick the speech or argument that will be the center of the essay. This can be a speech given; it can be a compilation of pieces of different speeches.
Identify and evaluate the bad arguments
Identify five statements from the content. For each, quote the statement, identify the fallacy, and briefly explain why that statement is that fallacy. If the statement is a statement of fact and it is incorrect, give the correct information.
How to format the Prewrite:
I. That persons
Summarize the rhetorical situation
a. Quoted Statement
i. Type of Fallacy
ii. Why it is that fallacy or what the correct information is.
b. Quoted Statement
i. Type of Fallacy
ii. Why it is that fallacy or what the correct information is.
c. Quoted Statement
i. Type of Fallacy
ii. Why it is that fallacy or what the correct information is.
d. Quoted Statement
i. Type of Fallacy
ii. Why it is that fallacy or what the correct information is.
e. Quoted Statement
i. Type of Fallacy
ii. Why it is that fallacy or what the correct information is.
Essay
Essay Components:
The essay should do the following:
1. Briefly appraise the goals and flaws of the overall argument. This is your essay’s overall point and what your work should be guided by.
a. Who is the speaker or writer? What is their purpose in this argument (speech, argument, etc) Is the bad argument due to design or incompetence or a little of both? Do they have an argument to make or are they trying to completely avoid dealing with an issue?
2. Support or prove your appraisal of the speaker’s goals and flaws by using several of their arguments as examples.
a. Identify the statement
b. Identify the type of fallacy or false the statement.
c. Deduce the reasons or intentions
d. Present a better argument or the true information.
3. Essay minimum requirements
a. 1400-1800 words long. See rubric for penalties incurred going outside of this word count range. Word count in header must accurately count only essay words.
b. 6-12 paragraphs. This is not a requirement but a guide. Your work is not automatically flawed if your essay is outside of this, but check your paragraph organization and style choices. We do not do five paragraph essays. A five-paragraph essay is shorter and simpler, typically 500-800 words.
c. 6 sources minimum cited in the essay minimum.
The source being examined does not count.
2. Bibliography
a. 10 minimum sources. 6 minimum must be work cited in the essay.
A successful analysis must be as complete as possible and unbiased. It must examine all of the elements involved, and it must place any analyzed medium or source in the context of the all similar media and sources.
STEPS
1. Analysis: Break down the arguments.
2. Evaluation: Judge the type and value of the arguments and the accuracy of the statements of fact. Devise and defend a thesis statement. An overall assessment of the rhetor’s credibility, based on trends in argumentation.
3. Grouping: Determine which elements area alike and which are different.
4. Induction: Infer a pattern across a small set of elements, then then generalize the pattern to all elements in the set. What type of statements and language does the rhetor use most?
5. Synthesis: Assemble elements into a new structure
Rhetorical situation
• Audience
• Rhetor
• Text
• Context
Language
Identifying the difference between objective fact and subjective opinion
• Fact vs Opinion
• Concrete vs Abstract
• Subjective vs Objective
• General vs Specific
Evaluating Arguments
• Strength of support for arguments
• Accuracy of statements of fact
Evaluating sources
o Credibility of rhetor and publisher
o Bias and accuracy of text
• Language and bias of source
Essay Outline
This is a sample outline. You are encouraged to arrange your essay as you see fit, but all of the components in the outline must be included in your essay.
*Average paragraph length is 200 words
Introduction (part)
1) Hook (paragraphs)
a) A brief overview/introduction of the rhetor (and source). Thesis.
b) Goals of essay, method of analysis and evaluation
Body (part)
Prove the thesis with evaluations of statements (of opinion and fact)
Cite sources for most of your evaluations.
2) Publisher
a) Introduce source publisher
b) Evidence of credibility
3) Credibility and background of rhetor(?)
Abstracting: survey of the sample articles
4) Give examples of numerous arguments and evaluate the arguments and facts.
It’s best to group common arguments or fallacy types.
Grouping and induction
5) Group the statements; identify trends.
6) Evaluation of language support and accuracy
Conclusion
What does the credibility and the relationship between the rhetor and audience say about the state of media, audiences, etc.
7) Overall evaluation of the source
8) What the relationship is to the audience
9) Call to action
