Chapters 9 & 10

It has been a while since our class has had a journal assignment. To be completely honest, the break from them was legit. I don't mind not having to do journals. Chapter 9 starts off with contrasting reporting and arguing. Obviously, reporting is just simply stating facts that are observed. This would include summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and essentially just describing what takes place. Arguing is a completely different story. People argue in order to establish a point they possess. They use claims and proof to try to sway the audience to their side of the topic. Then, the text mentions ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos deals with credibility and authority. Pathos appeals to the emotions. Finally, logos appeals to reason and logic. To have a strong argument, the writer must include aspects of each in his or her writing. Another important aspect of arguments are warrants. These are the connections between the claims made and the evidence that supports those claims. Without warrants, the argument is simply just an opinion without proof to support it. Now with arguments, comes counterarguments. These can also be called rebuttals. A rebuttal is simply a statement meant to disprove the other opinions on the issue at hand. The writer can do this with evidence collected. Chapter 10 focuses on integrating the evidence found in resources. The writer must be able to determine which evidence will be best for the issue. Then they must intelligently place the evidence where it will get best utilized. However, it can't be just random information. It must be able to tie into the writing in a unique way to support the author's view. When a writer includes multiple forms of reliable evidence, a counterargument is almost insignificant. A great written argument will already prove different sides of the issue wrong before they can even have an opportunity to ask questions.