After going through the videos again and listening more carefully to what was being said, I learned that an argument is really based off of opinions. There is not necessarily any “right answer” unless its an obvious situation or topic you’re trying to prove. By arguing a point, you need to state facts that support what you believe in. If you don’t have anything to back up what your opinion is, you aren’t going to be able to persuade the listener into agreeing with you that you in fact are correct. I also noticed by the “taxi video” the way he responded to the driver. Even though he didn’t necessarily agree with him, he calmly justified what he though and used logic to prove his disagreement. By doing this the taxi (from what the guy made it sound like) to his facts into consideration and was able to see both sides of things rather than just what he believed in. Also, I learned from the first video that the way you approach a disagreement is a lot. You can just be forceful with what you have to say and throw facts out in someone’s face because they are more than likely to get defensive and not even take into consideration of what you believe.
Facts
Verbal Awareness
Reasoned Arguments
From our brief class discussion, the videos, and the readings I collected a few things of how to better write and argumentative paper. The first thing, and one of the most important things is knowing what you’re talking about. If you are trying to convince someone that you are right, you need to know how to persuade the listener and have facts that you can use to back yourself up. One of the major things I realized that is important is realizing and understanding the counter-argument. I never really took into consideration of making it known that you can understand or agree with some of their argument, yet at the same time use a support system that will prove your side to be correct. By doing this it kind of eases the listener to realize that you aren’t being narrow minded so it leaves a better chance for them to agree with you. The last thing I have came to know by personal experience is just by the way you argue a topic. If you’re trying to prove you’re right, don’t be negative and bull-headed because chances are they won’t even listen to you.