The Argumentation - Essay Example

Argumentation, according to the New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language is “the mental process of constructing a chain of reasoning in words or writing”. In most cases, it is important to establish a good sort of reasoning, particularly in college so as to express thoughts or ideas pertaining to a particular topic. Strong arguments, needless to say, portray what we mean are the most appropriate and the strongest point in a subject being argued. At the collegiate level, strong argumentation helps to develop the power of reasoning and balance the consequences of those who will go to face a true world full of uncertainties. To provide strong documentation regarding this, three essays are meant to be analyzed argumentatively such as “Violent Media is Good for Kids “by Gerard Jones, “Why Suing College Students for Illegal Music Downloading is Right” by Marci A. Hamilton, and “What’s a Girl to Read” by Liza Featherstone. Here, upon thorough analysis, Liza Featherstone’s argument appeared to be the most effective, followed by Marci A. Hamilton’s, and anngAnalyzid the least by Gerard Jones. In Featherstone’s argument, she introduced that most widely read teen magazines expose something unreasonable content for teen-aged girls to read that could win their desire over something which in one way or another could affect one’s life.

AnalysinJones'sg the essay Featherstone actually promulgates that this is the strongest argument. She tried to look at one sense that in order for those publishing companies to do business and earn a profit, they landed on a sort of drawing teen-aged girls’ attention to the world of “reality”,

that being real is being “in” to the world of fashion. Girls, who seemed to be always on trend, passionately purchase magazines that would bring them into the world of fashion and reality. From the essay, it says there that “reality is a place where bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and girls have a political, intellectual and creative life of their own”. This quote simply means that teen-ager especially girls are easy prey to trends and fashion, they are actually the easy target of these teen magazines promising lots of opportunities to become real but are actually ambiguous when tried to be analyzed. Featherstone just wants to convey the truth about trending teen magazines which should be considered when it comes to their content as these publications, in one way or another could affect one’s life especially the ever-growing population of modern and relentless teen-aged girls.

The argument by Marci A. Hamilton is not as effective as with Featherstone. In her essay, she revealed that copyright is something that should be protected. In her argument, she clearly reiterated that illegal music downloading is not right that’s why students must be punished. But, her argument does not offer a full grasp of who should truly be liable for this. Why is it that only students must be sued for this, well, in fact, illegal downloading could be done by anyone. In one of the statements in her essay, it says there that, “In early years, adults and students alike believed that whatever came across their computer could be and ought to be downloaded cost-free”. This statement does not conform to the title of the essay wherein only college students are sued not considering adults who are also taking part in this illegal act.

The least effective argument was presented by Gerard Jones. First and foremost, the title itself creates a negative impact on part of the reader. We cannot deny the fact that different people have different beliefs in life, much with their views in life. Jones’s argument about how violent media can transform one person from being passive and benevolent to being active and malevolent is

just a product of letting the kids read Marvel Comics. In his essay, he says there that “Fear, greed,  power-hunger, range: these are aspects of ourselves that we try not to experience in our lives but often want, even need, to experience vicariously through stories of others”. Somehow the development of oneself into being fearless and superior is not merely the effect of exposing oneself to violent stories but some factors are also attributed to this. Family orientation, peer pressure, and the environment are some of the factors that could be accounted for. Another is that, Jones’ argument, if further analyzed, could still be subject to verification and argumentation thus, this one’s the least effective argument.

The essays by Featherstone, Hamilton, and Jones are three different argumentations on different fields of life. Each presents the negative and positive outcomes of the subjects being argued upon. But even though, analyzing the three, still revealed which arguments outweigh the other in terms of presenting the ideas, how the ideas were supported by other details, and the way the author conveys the truth about the subject. The Featherstone argument is the most effective because it depicts the reality of how teen magazines affect the ideology of teen-aged girls just to be real and “in”. Comparatively with Featherstone, Hamilton’s argument is less effective because her argument needs further clarification as to why college students are only to be sued for music’s illegal downloading when in fact anyone could take part in this. The least effective argument was with Jones because it’s not only with violent media that kids could develop a sense of selfhood, a lot of factors can also be considered.

It is crucial that you identify first the weaknesses of the opposing ideas being presented in the essay subject so that you can establish the strongest idea you’ll going to expose as you analyze each argument.