Question 1:

Thesis Statements and Arguments

·         Read one of the following articles, located in the Week 4 Electronic Reserve Readings:

o    “Children Have the Right to Be Protected From Bullying”

o    “The Health Care System Favors the Wealthy and Harms the Poor”

o    “Middle Class Remains Elusive for Blacks and Latinos”

o    “Marijuana Should Be Legalized for Medical Use”

·         Post your response to the following: 

o    Identify the thesis statement in the article.

o    What strategies does the author use to formulate the thesis?

o    What makes the author’s argument viable and compelling?

o    How does the author of this article organize information to build the argument?

o    Does the author include any counterarguments? Why or why not?

ANSWERS FOR QUESTION 1:

I selected the article “Children Have the Right to be Protected From Bullying”. I believe the thesis statement for this article is “A child who deliberately and consistently uses physical assault or verbal abuse to inflict fear or harm is a bully”. The author organizes the information by creating questions and then giving very descriptive and informative answers. I did not notice any counterarguments and I believe that the author did this because he wanted to inform more so than have a discussion.

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I believe the thesis statement is: “Marijuana prohibition applies to everyone, including the sick and dying. Of all the negative consequences of prohibition, none is as tragic as the denial of medicinal cannabis to the tens of thousands of patients who could benefit from its therapeutic use.” This author used words like ‘valued evidence’, ‘public support’ and ‘favorable findings’ as a strategy to gain the audience’s positive perspective to their argument.  They talk about the differences between recreational and medical use as well as past propositions and reasonings for these findings.  Mostly, the author talks about the positive effects marijuana has, leaving counterarguments open for discussion since there was no information given about the negative people find in this currently illegal substance.

Question 2:

Counterarguments

·         Post your response to the following:

o    How does a writer address counterarguments in a paper without weakening his or her own position?

o    How does a writer refute these counterarguments in the paper in an effective, yet respectful, way?

ANSWERS FOR QUESTION 2:

To address counterarguments in your paper you will need facts to support your stance and be prepared to debate over the topic. Example: My topic is “Mandatory military services or community services” One of my arguments may be countries with mandatory military services has less wars or countries with mandatory military services are not attacked because other countries fear its citizens. I believe by using counterarguments within your paper it helps make your paper stronger because you have facts to back up your statements.

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To avoid weakening an argument using counterarguments, first find some common ground by finding something an opposing side can agree on without forfeiting your position, our audio lesson 5 suggests something like this, ” Emphasize that everybody cares about keeping the roads safe, but we might disagree about how much freedom we should give up to achieve that.”  This shows that there is an agreeable term that both sides want to achieve, but the disagreement lies on how to achieve that, which is the writers argument.  Carefully constructing a counterargument supported by facts and credibility shows that you have considered the other side as well.  The makes your argument stronger.

http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pls_1256103381/audio_lessons/alt_05/comp/audio_lessons/lesson05/audio_lesson05big.html

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when a writer addresses counterarguments it is a good idea to stick to fact and try to keep emotion out of it. When a writer uses personal bias or emotional responses their argument is weakened. Again, I think that by using factual information and stating sources a writer is able to refute counterarguments in a effective and respectful manner.