Argument Abounds

As a result of reading student drafts, I now have some advice of problems to watch for:

In the RESTATEMENT of OPPONENT’S POSITION, remember that the opponent states his/her position in the form of claim and support (Which sounds like “This thing is true because…”). If you state it in the form of “You say this… and then you claim that…” the result is that the tone seems to be accusatory. Instead, try something like “I was really interested in the part of your article that explains…. because…” or “I know that you believe …..because….. and I wanted to explore this idea further.”

In the section that requires you to express the circumstances under which you AGREE with your OPPONENT’S POSITION, be sure to be specific about why, when, and how you might agree. Don’t just say, “I can see your point,” or “that could be true in some ways.” Also remember that by saying “I agree …. is true when …. happens,” you are ALREADY implying that you believe the thing is NOT TRUE when the thing does NOT happen. You should not say this here in a Rogerian Argument. Your goal is to make your opponent listen to you, to build a relationship with him/her. Watch out for words like “BUT…HOWEVER…ALTHOUGH…” in this section. Don’t let these slip in!

Your TRANSITION should directly address your opponent and invite him/her to consider a new way of thinking. Don’t just launch in to the argument that supports the second position and call it transition. Transition needs to gently help the reader move along into the next part of the argument.

Remember to bring the draft of your Rogerian Assignment on Friday, 3/30.

As we discussed in class today, please be curteous to your peer reviewers by typing your draft (double-spaced), and by bracketing and labeling (in pencil or pen) the following major parts of your paper in the margin:

1. Restatement of Opposing Position (this is the position held by the author to whom you are writing the letter)
2. Agreement with Opposing Position
3. Transition to 2nd Position (this is most likely the position that you hold, but remember that you don’t HAVE to claim it as your own… you can keep the “some people believe” stance if you like)
4. Statement of 2nd Position
5. Agreement with 2nd Position
6. Resolution

Remember that the peer review and self-assessment are part of the process grade, so to avoid losing points, you need to be in class prepared with a draft. If unavoidable circumstances prevent your attendance, you may print the review forms and have the peer review done in the writing center instead. If you choose to do this, however, you will still miss the grade from Friday’s daily activity.

Having said this, here are the forms:

Rogerian Peer Review and Rogerian Self-Assessment