Designing and Writing Effective Arguments - Essay Example

NARRATIVE ARGUMENT al Affiliation) The of the book suggests that determination of a position would be accurate if a proper plan is developed on how to go about a particular argument. According to the author, an argument is not accurate if it is just presented for the sake of presentation. When people develop argument, then they manage to develop cases that would stand challenge when presented. Three concepts that have been identified by the author include establishment of facts, obtaining statistical evidence and empiricism in the evidence that is presented. When these facts are obtained in objective manner, then the author suggests that the argument presented by the writer is likely to be appealing to the targeted audience. The result of the appeal such argument present endows the writer with authority in his presentation. From the book, it is easy to point a few steps that the author has identified as the paramount process of ensuring effective arguments. First, the author suggests that there is a need to identify the weaknesses and the strengths of the argument. This should be further narrowed to specific weaknesses and strengths that are much more relevant to the argument. The writer is expected to take time to think of ideas that may support the position that they had identified. Narrative Argument In the book, the author has tried to explain in details what narrative argument is and what entails the development of such argument. The author point that; a narrative argument is the argument which is developed through telling a story or a narrative. Narrative argument has been misconstrued to mean the same as a conventional argument. However this is not usually the case. Conventional arguments usually lack enough fact and figures that would work towards validating their position. This is in contrast with the narrative argument that always rely on the story itself it to justify and validate the position that one takes. The main objective of narrative argument according to the author is to ensure that the writer exploits the characterization of the story as presented by the writer so as to develop a justification that can be used as a support to the argument they are fronting. The same acumen by the writer of identifying the quality of the characters may be extended to the plot of the story. A plot of a story has certain sequence through which a story progress. Usually, arguments are always presented in a certain sequence. It is this attribute of arguments that may allow the writer to borrow a flow of a plot to ensure that they use such story to justify their arguments. Settings and climaxes of stories and narratives may always be used to try to justify a narrative argument. The author has identified six steps that they believe have a potential of resulting into a successful narrative argument. According to the author, the first important step is picking of an argument to make. After picking an argument, one is required to examine issues that may be regarded as controversial and which interest them. It is after this examination that one would be expected to choose a side which they would like to defend. There are several examples that may be referred to on such an argument. For example, one may choose to be for or against the homosexuality or for or against picketing. However the position one takes in such arguments, the author believes that intelligence gathering is required to defend whichever side one takes. The second step that the author has identified is the selection of the story relevant to the writer’s argument. It is one thing to chose a position and another to find a story that would resonate with the position that resonate with the story that had already been identified. If one wants to argue to support picketing, then they may be required to find the success stories of picketing or tell of a story how a revolution by a certain group of people resulted to positive change in a place. The author identifies the third stage as the point where the writer has to find a perspective which they would love to use. This usually is determined by whether the writer wants to present the story as a first person or as a third person narrator. Such decisions are usually influenced by whether the writer wants to tell a story about their friends or people they know. In that case, the writer may choose to be the third person narrator. On the other hand, should the writer decide to tell the story about themselves, then it they may use first person. Sometimes the choice of a perspective may be determined by gender of the writer. A male writer telling the story of a female friend may chose to go with the perspective of the narrator. The fourth and most important part as identified by the author is that the writer should write their thesis statement which clearly illustrates to the audience what they want to tell them and why they should take their time to listen to the argument. In case the writer is advancing an argument that supports picketing, then they may want to start their argument by stating that , if it were not for the legalization of picketing, and freedom of expression, racial discrimination would still be experienced in America. The two last steps that the author has identified is the fact that the writer needs to relay their story through the use of powerful descriptive statements that would stimulate the senses of the audiences as well as their emotions. Lastly, it is upon the writer to ensure that they give their narrative argument a powerful conclusion that presents a good summary of the story before restating the thesis. The summary should be able to let the reader know that the story is important and that it explains and supports the viewpoint presented. From the review of the author’s suggestion in the book and examination of the sample narrative arguments that have been presented in the book, it would be right to assert that narrative arguments have a strong influence on the audience. This is because in presents real evidences that the audience can associate with. Work cited Faigley, Lester, and Jack Selzer. Good reasons : Designing and Writing effective arguments. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 2004. Print. Read More