Journal #8

In this section of They Say I Say, the concept of argumentative writing is explored. Mainly, it focuses on framing an argument in context to enhance the meaning and educational value of what you are saying. As an introduction, a scenario is given where a speaker is arguing the validity of a certain philosopher’s ideas, but he gives no context or reason as to why he is defending the philosopher’s work. This makes the topic boring for the audience, and pointless because the knowledge has no application in their mind. It moves into the importance of providing a broader context, specifically using the ideas of other opposing opinions, to support your own arguments. It gives a number of helpful outlines and styles of integrating other people’s ideas into your own writing. Something I found interesting was the idea of introducing the other person’s opinion before your own, clarifying the topic for the reader and giving the writing a good hook to start off with. I also found it interesting the ways the book gave to introduce people’s ideas. For example, the “standard views” introduction forces the reader to consider what they’ve always thought was conventional, opening them up to new ideas they hadn’t thought of before. I found the templates involving an opinion you’ve always had to be less helpful, because rather than starting off by giving context, it goes straight to the idea that you are arguing your own opinion. This, I think, can have a negative impact on the reader if they disagree with you, because they may think less of the writing overall if they start out disagreeing with it. Overall, I found the reading to be very helpful. Argumentative writing is my favorite type of writing, and being able to use these strategies in my next essay will be enjoyable.