Argument Clinic

Toulmin's Model of argument analysis: http://owlet.letu.edu/contenthtml/research/toulmin.html

University of Nebraska page on Toulmin: http://www.unl.edu/speech/comm109/Toulmin/index.htm

Useful for understanding warrants

Warrants defined as APPEALS to ethos, logos, or pathos:

http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Persuasive%20Appeals/Persuasive%20Appeals.htm

Advice on developing an argument from an AP reader: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/features/8495.html

Fallacious Reasoning and Faulty Warrants

http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html

The Main Sections or "Chunks" of an essay that evaluates an argument using Toulmin's model:

• A precise, brief paraphrase of the claim and the writer's intention to defend, refute, or qualify it.
• An analysis of the key data that support the argument.
• The writer's evaluation of that data.
• An analysis and evaluation of the warrants that form the basis of the argument.
• The writer's defense or critique of those warrants.
• A conclusion that visualizes the benefits or dangers of supporting the claim.
• Sample essay which has all of the chunks: Anita D.doc (The essay is a bit pollyanna. It is just a model.)
• Here is Yvonna"s refutation.

• ---

Sample Argument evaluation from a released AP exam:

In 2001 The American Scholar published an excerpt from a talk given by English author Margaret Drabble. In her talk, Drabble claimed that "Our desire to conform is greater than our respect for objective facts." Using appropriate evidence from your reading, observation, and/or experience, write a carefully-reasoned essay defending, challenging, or qualifying Drabble's assertion about conformity.

Argument analysis template for this prompt as a Google doc:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcnqcv64_125gfnf5kcr 

here as an rtf: Analysis_Evaluation_Template.rtf

A controversial argument: "Science vs. Religion: Some Tough Questions" by Chet Raymo

• What is Raymo's claim?

• What evidence does he offer to support the claim?

• What warrants, both implicit and explicit, form the foundation of the argument?

Prompt:

Defend, refute, or qualify Raymo's argument by analyzing and evaluating the data and warrants that support his claim.

Toulmin analysis "write to think" template for this prompt

The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing: 

http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/nb-home.html