D#8, HW#1, Reading Reflection

All of the websites were directly related with writing and gathering information for our research papers. The first website was about writing the research paper and guidelines that should be followed. The second website was an online writing assistant, useful for when you have questions while writing your paper. The third website described how to write, develop, and narrow down your thesis statement. The fourth website was also about thesis statements - supporting the thesis, stating the thesis, and developing the supporting paragraphs. The fifth website was about arguing in context, stating the proposition, anticipating opposition, and expanding your argument. The last website was about how to use sources outside of books and articles, such as films, interviews, radio, tv, etc. I think these outside sources are better to use (but still using some books), but you have to make sure the information is reliable and credible.

In Everything's an Argument, chapter 5 it instructs you in how to think rhetorically. Thinking rhetorically allows you to see the end result of things, and allows you to portray that to your reader. You also have to understand the purpose of an argument - is it meant to stir up emotions, upset people, or whatever the purpose is. It's also important for the reader to understand who is making the argument. This chapter also instructs how to identify your audience and gives you guidelines to keep your paper appealing to them. This chapter tells you about pathos, ethos, style, and logos, which we've already read about. Starting on page 129 there is a very detailed guide to writing a rhetorical analysis.

Chapter 6 is about structuring arguments. It covers in depth how to create a Toulmin argument. The steps in this process include making a claim, qualifier, stating good reasons, warrants, backing, evidence, authority, conditions of rebuttal, and response. Some guideline Toulmin gives is to state your claims clearly, claims should be supported with evidence and good reason, claims should be based on assumptions readers will most likely accept.

In chapter 8 it discusses evaluations. When writing it's important to not leave the reader confused. You need to define your writing. Different ways to do this include formal definitions, operational definitions, and definitions by example. This chapter tells you how to develope a definitional argument-formulating claims, crafting definitions, matching claims to definition, and considering design and visuals. This chapter also has a detailed guide how to write and argument of definition.