An argument is a form of persuasive writing and speaking. It is a personal opinion or idea about an issue that is both controversial and current. These issues can be political, social, economic, or moral. An argument is written to potentially change the audience's opinion in favor of the writer or speaker. Arguments are objective and supportable with facts and other evidence that can be proven. As a critical reader, do not confuse an argument with a fight; they are very different. When you write an argumentative essay, you are trying to persuade people to agree with your opinion.
Be aware that some claims will contain faulty logic. These are probably not supportable. Many of these claims are someone's strong opinion.
Think of an argument as being a triangle composed of audience, the claim, and the writer. Who is the audience for this argumentative essay or speech? Are they going to like, dislike, or be neutral about the argument? What is the claim? How is it developed? Is the evidence in the right places to be convincing? Is the research limited to the sources that support the claim? What is the writer's position and credibility: an authority or a concerned citizen? Remember that feeling strongly about an issue does not automatically enable a writer to argue about the issue effectively. The writer needs to back up the claim clearly and convincingly with current and accurate information.
Where will you find arguments? Every day you hear arguments from someone trying to persuade others to do something or to think about something. Every newspaper and magazine has an editorial section whether online or in print. Letters to the editors are arguments. These include arguments for or against a position. Be careful when you read these to evaluate whether or not the writer has included supportable and valid evidence that can be proven. Other media that include arguments are speeches and political campaign materials. Think about different types of nonfiction that you have read that stated a position and then supported that position. Then there is the complaint box. But the writer better support that complaint!
When you evaluate an argument you need to consider two steps.
When evaluating an argument it will help if you look for signal words. These words will indicate that the writer has provided reliable and supportable evidence. Words such as fact, evidence, authority, documentation, research, testimony, or expert will indicate that the writer has taken time to look for support. Also look for quotations and references. A writer will sometimes follow the proposition or claim by using transition words such as: since, because, or due to the fact.
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Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.
It is evident that a great democratic revolution is going on; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history. Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family inheritance from generations; force was the only means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power. However, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich; equality penetrated into the Government through the Church, and the serfs took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles. The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. The want of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries soon rose, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons. While the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be perceptible in State affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised. Gradually the spread of mental achievements, and the increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became a means of government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the State. The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the Government by the aristocracy itself.
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