Classical, Rogerian, or Toulmin models of argumentation

ESSAY #4: Classical, Rogerian, or Toulmin models of argumentation

Purpose: We’ve been reading and discussing readings on the various roles people play in public life. As you write this essay, you need to look at how we relate to each other and ourselves.

Potential topics:
● We hear a lot about the virtues of being connected, and we find ourselves at the center of a new world in which the pleasures and pay-offs of “connectedness” are taken as an increasingly indisputable fact of life. Does this new cultural ideal live up to its billing?
● As we spend more and more of the day plugged in, are we losing the capacity to think of ourselves as a community?
● Living at the center of a world in which we are perpetually in contact, constantly communicating, and boundlessly informed, are we using all our vaunted access to remain truly connected?
● Are the roles we play a true reflection of who we actually are?
● Do we live in a culture that allows us the full agency to create our own roles? If we don’t, how do we negotiate those cultural expectations that demand we take on only those roles that are scripted for us?
● How do we create the cultural leeway to think, choose, and identify for ourselves?

Sources: Any two+ of the readings from Acting out Culture plus one+ source from outside the book. Your outside source should come from somewhere legitimate, so I suggest something from the JJC library’s databases (you may have to enter your JJC username and password): http://libguides.jjc.edu/az.php

Audience: Your initial audience is the teacher and classmates.
Length: Minimum 1500 words.
Stance: This assignment is thesis driven. The best papers will have a clear argument/reading of the text supported with evidence from the text.
Citations: Make sure you create in-text citations and cite all three+ of your sources on your Works Cited page.

● You’ll be using two articles from Acting out Culture, so you can cross-reference those, like we did on the last essay: to do that, see #9 on pages 473 and 474 of Everything’s an Argument or refer to the Purdue OWL: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

● For your outside source, you should be able to determine what kind of source it is and look up how to cite in, again, in either Everything’s an Argument or the Purdue Owl.

Once again, you need to write a 1500-word argumentative essay on the issue of social media. Include at least 3 sources, at least two from Acting out Culture and at least one that is NOT from our book.

Classical
Introduction: explain why the topic should have our attention
Background: offer key facts in your case
Proposition: state whether or not you think social media has a negative or positive impact on people
Proof: support your claim and back it up with a reason or a piece of evidence; offer textual support and an explanation of the quoted or paraphrased material.
Refutation: anticipate opposing viewpoints but rebut them
Conclusion: summarize most important points

Rogerian
Introduction: state the question to be answered
Opposing views: describe opposition’s views in objective persona
Understanding: concede circumstances when opposition’s views might be valid
Your position: state whether or not you think social media has a negative or positive impact on people
Contexts: describe contexts in which your position applies/works well
Benefits: demonstrate how your position benefits those who disagree

Toulmin
Claim: main point or position
Data: evidence supporting claim
Warrant: underlying assumption that connects the data and claim