Response to "Writing an Argument"

This gave great ideas and tips on how to write, set-up, research and organize argument papers and op-eds. It gave me better descriptions of an op-ed in context of who writes them, for what reasons and who they are read by. From this I will have a better idea of what I am aiming for when I put together my op-ed. It needs to be fairly short, very persuasive, well reasoned, for a large audience and display that I truly care about the topic. I need to make an “intellectual inquiry” in a game of attack, but not war; I will respectfully disagree with conflicts of my interest. My view will have a good reason to matter to the audience and it will invite responses. The near end of the reading gave excellent reflection questions for self and peer editors.
I think that since arguing in the U.S. culture is so open and deemed as “healthy expressions of commitment and caring” that it is good to argue and share your ideas and opinions. Arguing forces us to test our ideas against evidence or find a new way of thinking about the topic. It is intriguing to find out that arguing is a process of discovery, and “academic argument is one of the key means of making new knowledge”. You must show what is convincing you to take your side of the argument so strongly; match wit and knowledge, find flaws in the opposing sides’ faulty reasoning and deny indefensible claims. To impose the opinion on the reader, the arguer will use an evaluation of the topic with an emphasis on analysis will present your idea, and the reader will suspend judgment and withhold questions until the end, when they will have a discovery. It gave me the idea that imagination will help us come to appreciate new complexities and discoveries if we have open minds and willingness to explore our own opinions and question our state of mind.
I liked the example of the claim that Rob is a narcissist because I am going to talk about narcissism in my argument too. I learned I need to state “what definition of narcissism provides the basis for the claim about Rob, including the behaviors of a narcissist”.
This reading also gave me a few more research tools to use. Sites like infoplease, CIA World Factbook and American Factfinder may be one of my sources. One thing I need to make sure I do for my argument paper is state why anything I write about matters. I need to relate it to what is at stake. As for how I will explain, I will try to answer “what do you believe is true if your claims from evidence are valid”. I will look out for any “logical fallacy” used in my paper, and use this reading as a little checklist for reviewing my argument and making it stronger.