PERMISSIONS
This handbook is published by Radford University. Purchasers of the electronic version of the text may print copies for their
own use.
RADFORD UNIVERSITY
CORE HANDBOOK
CORE CURRICULUM
Laurie Cubbison, Kim Gainer, Candice Benjes Small, Megan Elder-Taylor, Scott Dunn, Erin Berman,
Guy Axtell, Aryn Bartley, Michele Ren, Frank Napolitano, Susan Van Patten, Jeremy Carter
RADFORD UNIVERSITY
RADFORD, VIRGINIA
To the extent possible under law, Radford University has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to Radford University Core Handbook, except
where otherwise noted.
CONTENTS
Authors
vi
HOW TO USE THIS ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOK
Detailed Table of Contents
Introduction to University Core A and this Handbook
2
17
CORE 101
Core 101 - Introduction
23
Core 101 - Personal Essay Assignment
24
Core 101 - Opposing Viewpoints
37
Core 101 - Academic Argument Essay
62
CORE 102
Core 102 - Introduction
76
Core 102 - Research Narrative
78
Core 102 - Researched Argument
97
Core 102 - Speech Analysis
111
Core 102 - Informative Speech
118
139
CORE 201
Core 201 - Introduction
141
Core 201 - The Logical Structure of Arguments
143
Core 201 - Formal and Informal Fallacies
151
Core 201 - Appeals to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
155
Core 201 - Framing, Word Choice, and Biases
163
Core 201 - Using Research to Support Your Arguments
170
Core 201 - Argument Analysis Assignment
179
Core 201 - Annotated Bibliography
182
Core 201 - Persuasive Speech Assignment
187
CORE 202
Core 202 - Introduction
197
Core 202- Ethical Reasoning and Analysis
199
Core 202 - Developing as an academic writer
224
Core 202 - Group Communication
226
Appendix A - Core 101
248
Appendix B - Core 102
254
Appendix C - Core 201
266
Appendix D - Core 202
287
AUTHORS
This handbook was written by the following people: Guy Axtell, Aryn Bartley, Candice Benjes Small, Erin Berman, Laurie
Cubbison, Scott Dunn, Megan Elder-Taylor, Kim Gainer, Frank Napolitano, Michele Ren, Jeremy Carter, and Susan Van Patten.
HOW TO USE THIS ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOK
DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction to University Core A and this Handbook
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What is University Core A?
Why are you required to take Core Curriculum courses, including those in University Core A?
What additional courses am I required to take as part of the Core Curriculum?
Why is the University Core A Handbook so important to my education at Radford University?
What is the relationship between University Core A and academic integrity?
What resources are available to help me meet the Standards of Student Conduct?
What do I do if I need help with my University Core A courses?
What is the Learning Assistance and Resource Center (LARC) and how can I get help there?
How do I get help at McConnell Library?
How is University Core A evaluated?
Core 101. Essentials of Written and Oral Communication
Core 101. Essentials of Written and Oral Communication
Introduction to Core 101
Personal Essay
Objective I. Explore a focused topic in writing.
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What is an essay?
How do I focus my ideas?
What is a thesis statement?
Does a personal essay have to have a thesis statement?
Where should I place my thesis statement?
How do I use my thesis statement to talk to other people?
How is a thesis statement like a claim?
Objective II. Demonstrate awareness of purpose and audience through language and style choices.
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Why should I care about my audience?
Who is my audience?
How do I show that I have considered my audience?
How do I write for an audience that includes my instructor?
What do I want to accomplish through my communication?
D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S / R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K
6. How can I use language appropriately and effectively to accomplish my writing goals?
Objective III. Use topic sentences and appropriate transitions.
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How do I begin a personal essay?
What is a topic sentence?
What is the purpose of a body paragraph in a personal essay?
How do I structure a body paragraph in a personal essay?
What is an illustration?
What is a transition?
How can I make an effective transition?
How do I conclude a personal essay?
Objective IV. Use standard written English when appropriate.
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What is grammar?
What is usage?
What is the difference between grammar and usage?
Why should I care about usage?
What counts as “proper” grammar?
What if I don’t use “proper” grammar?
Opposing Viewpoints
Objective I. Evaluate the assumptions and arguments of different authors.
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What is an argument?
How do I identify an author’s assumptions?
How do I identify an author’s argument?
How do I compare and contrast multiple authors?
What is an effective argument?
What is an ineffective argument?
Objective II. Identify ethos, logos, and pathos.
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What is logos?
What should an author consider when using logos in an argument?
What is ethos?
What should an author consider when using ethos in an argument?
What is pathos?
What should an author consider when using pathos in an argument?
How can logos, ethos, and pathos work together?
What is the rhetorical triangle?
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9. How are logos, ethos, and pathos related to the rhetorical triangle?
Objective III. Integrate quotations and paraphrases from a reading into an essay.
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What is a primary source?
What is a secondary source?
Can an author use primary and secondary sources in the same piece of writing?
What is a tertiary source?
How does a writer signal that she is using a source?
How does a writer signal that she is finished using a source?
How does a writer signal his opposition to a source’s opinion?
Objective IV. Cite sources correctly, both via in-text citations and in a list of sources.
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What is a quotation?
When should I quote?
How long should a quotation be?
What is a paraphrase?
When should I paraphrase?
What is effective paraphrasing?
When does paraphrasing become plagiarism?
How do I use signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases?
How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence?
How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence if I am not quoting a complete sentence?
What punctuation should I use with quotations?
What is plagiarism?
Why should I cite?
How can I avoid plagiarism?
What is common knowledge?
What is APA?
How do I format references?
What do I do if my source differs from the basic pattern for a reference?
How do I format in-text citations?
Objective V. Use tone, mechanics, and style appropriate to a college-educated audience.
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What are mechanics?
What resources are available to help me with mechanics?
What is tone?
How does a writer control tone?
What is style?
Is style fixed?
How does audience affect style?
D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S / R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K
8. What is genre?
9. How does genre affect style?
10. What is academic writing?
Academic Argument Essay
Objective 1. Make a debatable claim about a topic.
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What is a claim?
When is a claim debatable?
How do I begin an argument essay?
How do I introduce a topic and explain its significance?
How do I use my thesis statement to state a main claim and key supporting ideas at the same time?
How do I use my thesis statement and key ideas to organize my argument?
How do I use my thesis and key ideas to organize my argument when speaking?
What is the purpose of a body paragraph in an argument essay?
How do I structure a body paragraph to support my thesis?
Objective II. Support all claims with evidence.
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What are the types of evidence?
How do you decide how much evidence you need?
How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos?
What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
Objective III. Analyze a multifaceted issue in writing.
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Why is it important to be able to analyze an issue?
What kinds of things should I consider when analyzing an issue?
How do I identify the different people involved in an issue?
How do I identify the facts of an issue?
How do I identify what is at stake in an issue?
How do I conclude an argument?
Objective IV. Acknowledge the Legitimate Concerns of Others.
1. Why is it important to acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others?
2. How do I acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others?
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Core 102- Advanced Written and Oral Communication
Core 102- Introduction
Research Narrative
Objective I. Create a Research Question.
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What is research?
Why should I do research?
What is the research process?
How do I pick a topic?
What is background research?
Are there topics I should avoid?
What is a research question?
How do I create a research question?
What are some examples of effective and ineffective research questions?
Objective II. Create a search strategy.
1. What is a search strategy?
2. How do I create a search strategy?
Objective III. Identify keywords, synonyms, and related terms.
1. What are keywords?
2. How do I choose keywords?
3. How do I build up a bank of search words?
Objective IV. Use non-subject-specific databases appropriately matched to the target assignment.
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What is a library database?
What is the library catalog?
What is SuperSearch?
How are SuperSearch and the library catalog different from Google?
Why should I use a library database?
How do I get help with library research?
Objective V. Apply critical reasoning in critiquing claims made by experts, media, or other sources of information.
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How do I know if a source is credible?
How do I know if a source is appropriate for my project?
Who is an expert?
How do I decide if someone is an expert?
D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S / R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K
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How do I decide if someone’s expertise is relevant?
How do you know if you should trust the expert?
What is bias?
How can I read all my sources?
Why should I take notes?
How does note-taking help me to understand a text?
Which aspects of the text should I consider when taking notes?
How does good note-taking help me to avoid plagiarizing?
How should I approach taking notes?
What strategies are available to me when taking notes?
Researched Argument
Objective I. Incorporate a variety of appropriate sources into an essay that contributes to a complex conversation.
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What is a complex conversation?
How do my sources contribute to a discussion?
How can I identify an author’s motives?
How can I identify an author’s intended audience?
How can I identify a source’s place within an ongoing conversation?
How do I distinguish between sources of opinion and sources of information?
Objective II. Write a thesis statement that attempts to distinguish the student’s ideas from a number of perspectives.
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What techniques for handling sources can help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can summarizing help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can paraphrasing help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can quoting help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can attributions help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
What words and phrases can I use to show how my ideas compare with another person’s ideas?
How can I use adverbial clauses to show how my ideas compare with another person’s ideas?
How can I position my thesis to make use of a summary, paraphrase, or quotation to show how my ideas compare with
the ideas of others?
9. How can I word my introduction and thesis to make use of words, phrases, and clauses that show how one person’s
ideas compare with the ideas of others?
Objective III. Find examples and other types of evidence to support a claim.
Objective IV. Identify one’s own and others’ biases with regard to the topic.
1. Why is it important for me to identify my biases?
2. What is confirmation bias?
3. How do I avoid confirmation bias?
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Objective V. Locate appropriate sources.
Objective VI. Create references correctly.
1. Why should I provide references?
2. What format should I follow for my references?
3. Do I need to memorize the format for my references?
Speech Analysis
Objective I. Identify the overall theme or message of a speech.
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How do I identify the purpose of a speech?
What are different types of speeches?
How can I distinguish the main claim from the supporting claims?
How can I identify the key ideas used by a speaker?
Objective II: Recognize how a speaker tailors a speech to his or her audience and speaking context.
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Who is the audience?
What is the speaking context?
How does a speaker tailor his or her speech to a particular audience?
What is the difference between verbal and nonverbal communication?
What is a symbol?
What are effective techniques of vocal delivery?
What are effective techniques of physical delivery?
What can I learn from analyzing a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Informative Speech
Objective I. Organize a Speech Using a Manageable Number of Clearly-Stated Key Ideas.
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What is the purpose of an informative speech?
What is the difference between an informative speech and a persuasive speech?
How can I make sure my message is clear and focused?
How can I use language in ways that are appropriate for my audience?
What are the different kinds of support that I can use to develop my main claim and my supporting claims?
How do I know if I have enough support?
How will my use of examples and evidence in CORE 102 differ from the use I made of them in CORE 101?
How can I determine the best order for my support?
When can support stand alone?
D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S / R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K
Objective II. Arrange Key Ideas in a Logical Order.
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What are the different ways to organize the body of a speech?
Why should I outline my speech?
What should I base my outline on?
What are the guidelines for a properly formatted outline?
Once the body is complete, what else should I include with the outline?
Objective III. Use organizational cues to help the audience follow a speech’s key ideas.
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How do I help the audience follow the main points of my speech?
What are some types of transitions?
How can I use my delivery to emphasize my speech’s organization?
How do I write an introduction to a speech?
Why do I create an attention-getting step?
What are some types of attention-getters?
How do I know which type of attention-getter may be best for my topic and audience?
How do I incorporate pathos into my attention-getter?
How do I build credibility and rapport with the audience in the attention-getting step?
How do I state my topic?
How do I make my speech relevant to my audience?
How do I do a preview step?
How should each main point and its supporting information be organized?
How do I compose a speech conclusion?
Objective IV. Develop strategies for delivering your speech with confidence.
1. What are some physical and mental strategies for minimizing nerves/discomfort when giving an oral presentation?
2. How do I best deliver a speech introduction?
3. How do I best deliver a speech conclusion?
Core 201-Topics in Critical Inquiry
Core 201 Introduction
The Logical Structure of Arguments
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What is inductive reasoning?
What are the limitations of inductive reasoning?
What is required for appropriate cause and effect reasoning?
What is required for an appropriate generalization?
What is deductive reasoning?
What is a premise?
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R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K / D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Why should I evaluate the truth of a premise?
How do I evaluate the truth of a premise?
Why should I evaluate unstated or suppressed premises as well as stated ones?
How does argument diagramming or outlining help to illuminate the structure of an argument?
What is the purpose of diagramming or outlining an argument?
What are the steps to diagramming or outlining an argument?
How can the argument’s paragraphing help me evaluate how the author uses premises?
How is a conclusion like a thesis statement?
Formal and Informal Fallacies
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What are fallacies?
What is a formal fallacy?
Why is it important to recognize formal fallacies?
What is an informal fallacy?
How can ethos, logos, and pathos be used to test an argument for fallacies?
How do fallacies weaken arguments?
Where can I find more information about generalizations, fallacies, analogies, and syllogisms?
Appeals to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
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How do I evaluate an appeal to ethos?
How do I recognize when an appeal to ethos is manipulative?
What fallacies misuse appeals to ethos?
How do I evaluate an appeal to logos?
How do I recognize when an appeal to logos is manipulative?
What fallacies misuse appeals to logos?
How do I evaluate an appeal to pathos?
How do I recognize when an appeal to pathos is manipulative?
What fallacies misuse appeals to pathos?
Under what contexts are fallacies committed?
Framing, Word Choice, and Biases
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How do effective communicators choose language for their arguments?
What uses of language are inappropriate?
What is propaganda?
How can I tell if language is being used as a tool for audience manipulation?
What is framing bias?
What is confirmation bias?
What can I learn about fallacies from advertising?
When can I trust a poll or survey?
How does scientific sampling lead to credible premises?
D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S / R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K
10. How can reliance on scientific reasoning reduce bias?
Using Research to Support Your Arguments
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How is research like a conversation?
Why do I need to use different types of sources?
What makes a source scholarly?
What is peer review?
How are scholarly sources different from popular sources?
Is everything published in a journal a scholarly article?
How can I identify a scholarly source?
Why should I use scholarly sources?
How can I best read scholarly sources?
When should I use popular sources?
Where can I find scholarly sources?
Why are there different databases?
Why should I use a subject-specific database?
What information do I need to collect in order to cite scholarly sources?
How do I avoid plagiarism while incorporating sources into my own work?
Why should I address different viewpoints?
How do I integrate different viewpoints into my arguments?
Why do I need to represent the other side fairly?
How can I evaluate the credibility of these sources?
Argument Analysis Assignment
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What is an argument analysis?
What tasks do I perform that will help me begin an argument analysis?
What is the place of evaluation in an argument analysis?
What type of writing is used for argument analysis?
What should I include in a critique of an argument?
Annotated Bibliography
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What is an annotated bibliography?
Why do I need to write one?
What is the difference between an annotated bibliography and a list of references?
What is an abstract?
What should I include in an annotation?
What should I not include in an annotation?
In what order should I list my sources in my annotated bibliography?
Can I use an online tool to create my references?
How can preparing an annotated bibliography help me refine research questions and answers?
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Persuasive Speech
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What is a persuasive speech?
How do I use an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors to shape the purpose of my speech?
How is a persuasive speech different from an informative speech?
How is persuasion different from manipulation?
How do I word a claim?
How do I use others’ arguments in the context of a claim?
How do I use language to enhance a presentation?
How do I structure my persuasive speech?
How do I cite my sources to enhance my credibility and help the audience understand my presentation?
How can I use nonverbal communication to enhance my message?
How do I create an effective visual aid?
How do I integrate my visual aids into my presentation without being distracting?
How do I cite images correctly on the visual aid?
Core 202 – Topics in Ethical Inquiry
Core 202 – Introduction
Ethical Reasoning
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What is meant by “ethics”?
What is not “ethics”?
What does it mean to be ethical?
Do “ethical” and “moral” mean the same thing?
What are values?
What are some examples of ethical issues?
How can I effectively apply critical reasoning to an ethical issue?
When I debate ethical issues, what is my responsibility to people who are part of the dialogue?
What are ethical judgments?
How can I distinguish ethical judgments from other kinds of value judgments?
What are ethical arguments?
What is an ethical dilemma?
What is the role of values in ethical dilemmas?
What ethical dilemmas are more common in real life?
What is an ethical violation?
How does self-interest affect people’s ethical choices?
What is the difference between good ethical reasoning and mere rationalization?
What kinds of rationalizations do people make for their actions?*
How can I tell what is the “right” thing to do?
D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S / R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K
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What is moral relativism?
What is the main weakness of moral relativism?
What is universalism?
What is consequentialism?
What is utilitarianism?
How does utilitarian reasoning operate?
How has utilitarian reasoning been applied?
What is the main weakness of utilitarianism?
How do I apply utilitarianism in real life?
What is deontology?
What is duty-based ethics?
What is rights-based ethics?
What is the appeal of deontology?
What is the main weakness of duty and rights-based ethics?
How can I apply deontology in real life?
What is virtue ethics?
What is care ethics?
How does virtue ethics operate?
What kinds of questions are asked by virtue ethics?
How has virtue ethics been applied in the real world?
What is the main weakness of virtue ethics?
How can I apply virtue ethics in real life?
How do these theories fit into my ethics toolbox?
How do I use ethical reasoning to make decisions?
How do I recognize an ethical situation?
How do I identify stakeholders?
How do I identify the different perspectives and positions held by stakeholders?
How can I research stakeholder positions?
How do I identify the ethical actor?
How can I use critical thinking in this process?
What are criteria?
How do I identify possible actions?
How do I evaluate the possible options?
How can mapping or diagramming help me to examine the consequences of decisions or positions with ethical
consequences?
54. What else should I consider before acting?
55. Am I done after acting?
56. Do people really do all this when making ethical decisions?
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Developing as an academic writer
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How can being too informal hurt my writing and speaking style?
How can being too formal hurt my writing and speaking style?
Why is it important to consider connotation when making word choices for an academic essay?
What is the most appropriate level of formality for an academic essay?
How do I incorporate the terminology of the course into my essay?
Group Communication
Contribute to team meetings.
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What is a team?
What are the different types of teams?
Why do I need to know how to work in a group?
What makes a team effective?
How can I contribute to my team?
What are the different roles that may need to be performed by group members?
What are the different behaviors that may be exhibited by group members?
What is deviant behavior?
What are examples of deviant behavior?
How can deviant behaviors be avoided or addressed by the group?
How do I avoid engaging in deviant behaviors?
How do I know what roles to take on?
What is leadership?
What leadership behaviors should everyone in the group exhibit?
Working with your team mates
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Why should all members be encouraged to contribute to a group?
What are different communication styles?
How does my group deal with different communication styles?
What are the benefits and challenges represented by each communication trait?
What are some ways for my group to keep a dominant communicator from taking over the conversation and to
ensure that quieter members contribute?
Foster a constructive team climate.
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What is a supportive group climate?
What is a defensive group climate?
How do you change a defensive climate to a supportive one?
What is cohesion?
How do groups build social cohesion?
D E TA I L E D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S / R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y C O R E H A N D B O O K
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11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
How do groups build task cohesion?
How is cohesion related to group climate?
How do I communicate in a way that builds and maintains relationships?
What are discounting messages?
How do I avoid discounting messages without enabling groupthink?
What are disconfirming messages?
How do I avoid disconfirming messages?
What is feedback?
Why is it important to give feedback?
How do I give constructive feedback?
How do I respond constructively to feedback?
What are additive tasks?
What are conjunctive tasks?
How do I know whether a task should be additive or conjunctive?
Respond effectively to conflict.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What is conflict?
Why is some conflict normal and necessary for a group?
What are the types of conflict?
How do individuals respond to conflict?
What are some ways to manage conflict?
What can you do when a conflict has arisen?
What are the roles of consensus and compromise in resolving conflicts?
Why does it matter what you do about conflict?
Group Presentations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How is my group’s presentation different from an individual speech?
How can my group’s presentation seem cohesive?
How does my group transition between speakers?
How does my group play to the strengths of individual speakers?
What is appropriate behavior for the people who aren’t currently speaking?
Should we plan to rehearse our presentation?
Appendix
Core 101
1. Personal essay (example)
2. Opposing viewpoints essay (example)
3. Academic argument essay (example)
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Core 102
1. Research narrative (example)
2. Researched argument essay (example)
3. Speech analysis essay (example)
Core 201
1.
2.
3.
4.
Fallacies and other types of manipulative arguments (supplement)
Persuasive speech (supplement)
Argument analysis essay (example)
Annotated bibliography (example)
Core 202
1. Ethical Reasoning (supplement)
1. Evaluating Criteria
2. Stakeholder Analysis
2. Ethical Analysis Essay (example)
3. Group Communication (supplement)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Norming group behavior
Leadership
Virtual teams for online classes
Developing ideas and plans as a group
Managing group meetings
INTRODUCTION TO UNIVERSITY
CORE A AND THIS HANDBOOK
This Handbook is designed to be used throughout a four-course sequence. These four courses, which most students take in
their freshman and sophomore years, are
• CORE 101—Essentials of Written and Oral Communication,
• CORE 102—Advanced Written and Oral Communication,
• CORE 201—Topics in Critical Inquiry, and
• CORE 202—Topics in Ethical Inquiry.
Together, these courses make up a part of your education known as University Core A: Core Foundations. University Core
A is itself part of a larger component of a university education: the Core Curriculum, a concept you may recall hearing about
during New Student Orientation.
What is University Core A?
University Core A is a series of four courses that develop skills that cut across disciplines. The central focus of the University Core A sequence is how to think critically, to write and speak clearly, and to conduct research carefully. University Core
A courses will help you enhance your ability to be self-reflective and will allow you to ponder modern issues—for example,
the impact of technology and the rise of social media—that affect you. You will also have the opportunity to explore ethical
issues that are important in your life.
Why are you required to take Core Curriculum courses, including those in University Core A?
You may consider University Core A courses to be ‘outside’ your major. It is therefore reasonable for you to ask why you are
being required to take these courses. The answer has to do with ideas about the goal of a university education. The phrase
“Core Curriculum” is associated with the belief that a university education is most effective if it requires students to take
courses not only ‘within’ but ‘without’ a major. The Core Curriculum is meant to help all students acquire certain universitylevel knowledge, skills, and perspectives regardless of major.
People sometimes have the notion that universities exist in order to prepare each person to enter a particular profession.
Certainly professional preparation is one of the purposes for pursuing a degree in higher education, but it has never been
the only reason. The goal of a university is to create mature, responsible, well-educated students who are in command of
a diverse body of knowledge and who possess a love of learning and the intellectual skills to meet the challenges of a com-
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plex, multi-cultural, and ever-changing world. With these skills not only will you be able to succeed in any number of professions, but you will also have the skills to be an informed citizen and a contributing member of your community. After all, the
university’s mission is to not merely educate students but to provide undergraduates with a solid foundation for lifelong
learning. University Core A courses are the beginning of this process of lifelong learning.
What additional courses am I required to take as part of the Core Curriculum?
The Core Curriculum requirements consist of courses in four categories. The courses presented in this e-textbook — Core
101, 102, 201, and 202 — form University Core A. However, you are also required to take additional general education
courses. Depending on your major, you may be required to take specific courses in the following categories.
You are required to take courses in University Core B – Core Skills and Knowledge. These courses introduce you to the primary branches of knowledge:
• One Math course
• One Natural Science course
• One Humanities course
• One Visual and Performing Arts course
• One Social or Behavioral Science course
You are also required to take two courses in College Core A – National and International Perspectives. These courses
develop your roles as citizens not only of the nation, but also the world:
• One course in U. S. Perspectives
• One course in Global Perspectives
The last category of Core Curriculum Courses is College Core B – Supporting Skills and Knowledge. This category is aimed
at expanding your knowledge in areas related to your major. Depending on your major, you may be directed to choose particular courses in the following:
• An additional course in Math or Natural Science
• An additional course in Humanities, Visual & Performing Arts, or Foreign Languages
• An additional course in Social & Behavioral Sciences or Health & Wellness
Why is the University Core A Handbook so important to my education at Radford University?
This Handbook provides you with the advice and information that will help you master skills that you will be developing
throughout the entire University Core A sequence. You will use this textbook in each of these four courses to learn how to
think critically, to conduct research, and to communicate both orally and in writing.
This Handbook will not only be helpful in helping you succeed in University Core A. You will also find this textbook helpful
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throughout your academic career. For example, if you take UNIV 100, you will be asked to do projects that draw on skills
covered in the University Core A textbook. In fact, most courses you take at Radford University will require the use of these
skills in one form or another, and each major requires the use of these skills. Ask your adviser or one of your instructors
what role oral and written communication, research skills, and critical thinking play in your particular major. You may be
surprised to see just how integral these skills are to your major courses.
What is the relationship between University Core A and academic integrity?
Your instructors will expect you to think critically, to conduct research, and to communicate both orally and in writing. In
addition, they will expect you to be familiar with the concept of academic integrity and to behave in ways consistent with
that concept. In Core A you will be introduced to that concept.
You already may have noticed that the Radford University Honor Code Pledge is posted in every classroom and included in
every course syllabus:
I shall uphold the values and ideals of Radford University by engaging in responsible behavior and striving always to
be accountable for my actions while holding myself and others to the highest moral and ethical standards of academic
integrity and good citizenship as defined in the Standards of Student Conduct.
In terms of academic integrity, the Standards of Student Conduct lists the following violations:
• cheating,
• fabrication and falsification,
• multiple submission,
• abuse of academic materials,
• complicity in academic dishonesty,
• and plagiarism.
(Standards of Student Conduct, n.d., pp. 7-8)
Take the time now to find out what is meant by each item on the list. For example, do you know all the forms that “plagiarism” can take? You must document ideas and information borrowed from sources even if you put the ideas and information
into your own words. Many students who fail to familiarize themselves with the concept of plagiarism assume that they only
need to document direct quotations. But think a minute: if you borrow another person’s argument without documenting
it, aren’t you creating the misleading impression that you came up with the idea—a violation of the Standards of Student
Conduct?
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What resources are available to help me meet the Standards of Student Conduct?
You will find information on plagiarism in several places in the Core A Handbook. Look for answers to What is plagiarism?
and How can I avoid plagiarism? under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment in CORE 101. You also will find information
in the section Cite sources correctly, both via in-text citations and a list of sources. In the Research Narrative assignment
under CORE 102, look for answers to What is common knowledge? and How does good note-taking help me avoid plagiarizing? and related questions.
In addition to this Handbook and the Standards of Student Conduct, you will find a page on Academic Integrity at the Dean
of Students’ website that includes “Tips for Avoiding Academic Integrity Violations.” Advice also is available at Avoiding
Plagiarism, a McConnell Library site. The Handbook includes some but not all of the information at the McConnell site, but
you can additionally access an online D2L module, as well as examples of how plagiarism affects people in the real world.
What do I do if I need help with my University Core A courses?
If you have questions about University Core A courses, the first person to talk to is your instructor. But there are additional
resources available to you. Two of those resources are the Learning Assistance and Resource Center (LARC) and
McConnell Library.
What is the Learning Assistance and Resource Center (LARC) and how can I get help there?
The Learning Assistance and Resource Center (LARC) provides individual and group tutoring sessions in many subject
areas, including those addressed in University Core A courses. The LARC is located on the first floor of Walker Hall. For
individual tutoring, you must make an appointment, either by calling 540-831-7704 or by going in person to Walker 126.
During the fall and spring semesters, the LARC is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Time slots for tutoring fill
quickly, so if you think you may benefit from tutoring, call early in the semester.
In one-on-one sessions, tutors focus on many skills areas. For example, they may help you address basic writing issues, such
as strong thesis development, organization, and supporting documentation, as well as sentence structure and grammar.
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In addition to one-on-one sessions the LARC offers themed workshops throughout the semester that address common student challenges identified by instructors. The LARC also offers online Learning Guides, including Writing Tips and Reading
Tips.
How do I get help at McConnell Library?
The reference librarians at McConnell Library are very happy to help you with your research questions. During fall and
spring semesters, reference librarians are available during these hours: Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; ThursdayFriday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-10 p.m.
There are several ways you can get rapid assistance from a reference librarian during the above hours.
• Talk with a librarian on a drop-in basis at the reference desk (located on the Main Level of the library).
• Call the reference desk at 540-831-5696 (from Roanoke, call 857-8920 and ask for x5696).
• E-mail [email protected].
• SMS/text 5403182235.
• IM via chat box embedded on the library website or through instant messaging RULibSpot:
AIM: RULibSpot
Yahoo: RULibSpot
MSN: [email protected]
You may also want to schedule a reference consultation by calling the reference desk.
In addition to providing assistance to individual students, McConnell Library offers workshops on such issues as documentation and plagiarism. Be on the lookout for announcements of these workshops on the library portal and in your email box.
How is University Core A evaluated?
Core 101, 102, 201, 202 and Honors 103, 201, and 202 are assessed using student work. The 100-level courses are
assessed in the first year of the assessment cycle, and the 200-level courses are assessed in the second year. We assess
these courses using embedded assessment, which means that we collect and rate student essays and presentations. When
you turn in your major assignments to Desire2Learn, those assignments are collected and submitted to the Office of Academic Assessment, where 10 percent of the assignments from your section will be chosen randomly for rating. Student and
instructor information are removed from the assignments, and then the selected projects are given to external raters, who
use rubrics to evaluate the assignments. The results are then used to make changes in this handbook, the official course
descriptions, or in the outcomes the courses are designed to meet.
CORE 101
CORE 101 will provide you with an introduction to college-level reading, writing, and speaking.
In CORE 101 you will learn about
• the writing process,
• genre,
• style,
• audience, and
• standard written English.
You may already be familiar with some of these terms, but by the end of the semester you should understand these concepts in greater depth and be able to make more effective use of them.
In addition to helping you develop your reading and writing skills, the course also will introduce you to basic oral communication skills. Always keep in mind that the advice for written assignments may be applied to spoken communication as well.
In order to accomplish the goals of the course, you will complete three major projects:
• a personal essay,
• an opposing viewpoints essay, and
• an academic argument.
This section of the Handbook is organized by these projects. The first part is devoted to the Personal Essay, the second to
the Opposing Viewpoints essay, and the third to the Academic Argument.
CORE 101 - PERSONAL ESSAY
ASSIGNMENT
For this assignment, you will use various writing processes to develop an essay on a personal topic. You will be given an
opportunity to explore the topic in rough form, but the final version of the essay will be in standard written English.
The project is designed to help you meet several objectives that are important for a successful writer. It will help you to
• explore a focused topic in writing,
• demonstrate awareness of an audience and purpose through language and style choices,
• use topic sentences and appropriate transitions, and
• use standard written English when appropriate.
Objective I. Explore a focused topic in writing.
For writers, developing a clear focus is an essential part of the writing process. For readers, a clear focus is essential for
their understanding of a writer’s message and purpose. The following section of the Handbook will introduce you to the
factors that are important for creating a piece of writing with a clear focus.
Specifically, this section will offer answers to these questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What is an essay?
How do I focus my ideas?
What is a thesis statement?
Does a personal essay have to have a thesis statement?
Where should I place my thesis statement?
How do I use my thesis statement to talk to other people?
How is a thesis statement like a claim?
1. What is an essay?
An essay is a relatively short piece of nonfiction prose that explores an idea or topic. Essays are written for many reasons.
For example, an essay may recount an event, develop a position on an issue, or describe a person, place, or thing.
Notice that this description does not specify a format. (Even length is left vague.) The organization, the length, the style,
the tone—often these are determined not by any template but by an author making choices in response to purpose, context, and audience.
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In the past, one choice may have been made for you. In grades K-12, some instructors assign the five-paragraph theme:
introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, concluding paragraph. That organization may have worked as a school
exercise, but going forward you cannot always rely upon that template. In reality, essays have as many paragraphs as they
need to have. If you are exploring a complex issue, five paragraphs may not be enough. On the other hand, under some circumstances even fewer than five paragraphs may be appropriate. Always keep in mind that your instructors will provide
specific guidance on the appropriate length and format for particular writing assignments.
2. How do I focus my ideas?
Initially, you may be unsure about what you want to say, and you may have to do some preliminary writing to begin to
develop your viewpoint. But even before that, you may need to write a bit to make certain that the subject is narrow enough
to be manageable. This writing in order to establish a focus is something that you do for yourself, without being concerned
about how it will come across to an audience. As you write informally (even a bulleted list can help), react to your own writing. If you are writing about a broad subject, notice the topics within the subject. Consider zeroing in on one of them. Ask
yourself what interests you about this new subject and how it is important to you or other people. Think of yourself as going
through a writing funnel—broad at the top, narrow at the bottom—and repeat the process until you settle upon something
doable within the space, time, and resources available to you.
3. What is a thesis statement?
The thesis statement is “in charge” of an essay. It identifies the subject, indicates your viewpoint, and often forecasts the
essay’s organization. While drafting, return repeatedly to the thesis statement to make certain that it is still in charge of
the essay. If a passage does not explain or illustrate the thesis, then you have three options: eliminate the passage, revise
it so that it is relevant, or consider changing the thesis statement. Authors continually develop their ideas as they write, so
revising (even replacing) a thesis statement is not a sign that the writing process is going badly; instead, it is a reminder that
writing is thinking.
Example of a thesis statement:
I admired my cousin’s decision to enlist because she had to withstand criticism from people who thought women
shouldn’t be in the army and because in basic training she had to stand up to physical and mental challenges that I
don’t think I could face.
This thesis statement provides quite a lot of guidance for both writing and reading the essay. Writer and reader are equally
able to see what the subject of the essay is and what is being stated about the subject, and both writer and reader can see
how the essay should be organized.
Subject: cousin’s decision to enlist.
Statement about subject: writer admires cousin’s decision.
Organization: No matter how many body paragraphs there are, they will be divided into two sections. One section
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will group together the paragraphs on this topic: cousin “had to withstand criticism from people who thought women
shouldn’t be in the army.” Another section will group together the paragraphs on this second topic: “in basic training
she had to stand up to physical and mental challenges.”
The thesis also suggests a further subdivision under “in basic training she had to stand up to physical and mental challenges.” In this section of the essay, paragraphs could be divided into ones devoted to ‘physical challenges’ and ones
devoted to ‘mental challenges’.
4. Does a personal essay have to have a thesis statement?
While many personal essays include a direct statement of the thesis, in some personal essays the thesis may be implied
rather than stated outright.
Imagine, for example, that in your personal essay you decide to write about the way someone influenced you. The influential individual could be a relative, a friend or classmate, an employer or a teacher. As you shape your essay, you would not
simply assemble a collection of miscellaneous observations about the person; instead, you would be selective and focus on
details about this person that show his or her impact upon you.
Let us say that the person who influenced you is a grandparent. You may know a lot about this individual: personality traits,
family and marital history, medical history, educational background, work experience, military experience, political and religious beliefs, hobbies, tastes in music, etc. But as you shape your essay about how this individual affected you, you wouldn’t
try to catalog all that you know. Instead, you would try to create a dominant impression by including details that guide your
reader toward the idea that is central to the essay. For example, if you developed certain habits and attitudes as you and
your grandparent worked together on a project, that experience might provide the focus for the essay. If you chose details
consistent with that focus, then you wouldn’t need to state that this was the point of the essay. Your readers would understand that that was the governing idea based on the details you had so carefully chosen.
Whether the thesis is stated outright or implied, then, the personal essay will have a governing idea—an idea that is “in
charge” of what you decide to include in the essay in terms of content, vocabulary, sentence structure, and tone. In short,
the personal essay may not have a thesis statement, but it will have a thesis.
5. Where should I place my thesis statement?
In shorter essays, the thesis statement tends to be found in the first paragraph, often in the last sentence of that paragraph.
In longer essays it may take longer to lay the groundwork for the statement. In some cases, the thesis is in fact stated in the
final paragraph: the essay may open with a question and work through answers and state the thesis as a conclusion. Wherever the thesis appears in the essay, keep in mind that sometimes it takes more than one sentence to adequately convey a
thesis.
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6. How do I use my thesis statement to talk to other people?
Your readers will need to be able to grasp what the essay is about, what your viewpoint is, and how the essay will be structured. Without this information, your audience may not always know what to make of the information you are providing.
For example, you may describe something, but your audience may wonder what point you are trying to illustrate if they
don’t know what the essay is about, don’t have of sense of your viewpoint, and don’t know where the essay is heading.
At the outset, a thesis statement provides the initial “instructions” that your audience needs in order to follow your reasoning. After the opening, the thesis statement continues to play a role when language from it reappears as the audience
advances through the essay. Each time the thesis statement is echoed, readers are reminded of the subject and of your
point of view.
Example of reinforcement of thesis statement:
Thesis: I admired my cousin’s decision to enlist because she had to withstand criticism from people who thought
women shouldn’t be in the army and because in basic training she had to stand up to physical and mental challenges
that I don’t think I could face.
Echo as topic sentence of body paragraph: After my cousin made the decision to enlist, she had to break the news to
her parents, who expected her to remain near home and to get a job locally.
7. How is a thesis statement like a claim?
In everyday speech, when we say that someone has “claimed” something to be true, often we are implying that we will not
believe a statement unless the speaker provides support for it. In that sense, a thesis statement is like a claim. Through your
thesis statement, you have expressed your viewpoint on a subject, but your audience may not accept your viewpoint unless
you explain your reasoning and provide evidence.
In persuasive writing and speaking, one way in which the two terms are similar is that both state something that can be
argued. The statement “President George W. Bush was the forty-third president of the United States” is not arguable and
is therefore neither a thesis nor a claim. The statement that “The Veterans Administration should be exempt from budget
cuts in order to serve veterans of the Iraq war” is arguable and is therefore a claim or thesis.
In a personal essay, you may not think of your thesis as “arguable” in the same way as a claim in a persuasive essay would
be arguable, but in fact you can think of it as something that should need to be demonstrated—backed up through explanations and illustrations.
If the thesis does not need to be demonstrated, then there may not be much purpose in writing the essay. For, example, like
the statement that George W. Bush was the forty-third president, the statement that “Senior proms are exciting” would not
be considered arguable by most people and likely would not spark a reader’s interest and make her want to keep reading.
On the other hand, the thesis statements below would need to be explained and illustrated. In that sense, these Personal
Essay thesis statements are equivalent to claims that are “arguable.”
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• The evening was nearly ruined because parents acting as dress-code vigilantes threw several people out of the prom.
• My team spent hours planning the prom and managed to head off a repeat of the after-prom drinking that caused some
parents to question whether the prom should be held this year.
• Everyone was able to attend the prom proudly because our prom committee got several stores to loan outfits to make
certain everyone would feel like they fit in.
• I opted to attend an alternative prom because the principal refused to allow a same-sex couple to attend.
• Although some parents objected to allowing a same-sex couple to attend, the prom was a great success because we felt
like everyone was respected so we were really a class—all of us together.
Objective II. Demonstrate awareness of purpose and audience through language and style choices.
Audience awareness is one of the defining characteristics of college-level writing and speaking. Your audience will be the
reader, viewer, or listener who encounters and interprets your work.
The following sections will help you to understand why you should consider your audience carefully. It also will suggest
ways for tailoring written or oral communication to suit your audience and your purpose or goals.
Specifically, this section will offer answers to these questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Why should I care about my audience?
Who is my audience?
How do I show that I have considered my audience?
How do I write for an audience that includes my instructor?
What do I want to accomplish through my communication?
How can I use language appropriately and effectively to accomplish my writing goals?
1. Why should I care about my audience?
You need to make writing choices based on an audience just as you will need to make choices based on your purpose or
your subject matter. Members of your audience may have certain expectations, and if you violate those expectations, you
may lose their interest and possibly even their respect. Those expectations may include
• length,
• format,
• style,
• tone, and
• content.
Even if your audience has no strong expectations, you need to consider that certain choices of language, arguments, and
examples may be more successful for one audience as opposed to another audience. You have been making such choices
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for nearly as long as you have been communicating, both in speech and in writing. You only have to think about the difference between text messages you send to friends and the high school reports you have written to recognize that you already
understand that it is important to consider your audience when choosing what to say and write.
2. Who is my audience?
There are two types of audiences: an ideal and an actual one. The ideal audience is made up of the types of people you
hope will read, view, or listen to your work. They may be members of a scholarly field, like physics or history, or they may
be everyday people with shared experiences, beliefs, or values. Your audience might have a particular relationship with you
and might encounter your text under particular circumstances, such as in a town hall meeting, classroom presentation, or
local newspaper.
You imagine an ideal audience as you create your text, but in the end your actual audience might turn out to be very different, with experiences, beliefs or values that don’t match those of the audience you were imagining. In addition, your actual
audience might encounter your work outside of its intended context. For example, you may write an editorial for The Tartan or Whim, thinking that only members of the Radford University community will read it. In fact, your editorial could be
read by family members in other states or complete strangers from other countries. If your actual audience knows nothing
about you, it will form an impression of you based solely on your paper, speech, or video. Given these uncertainties, it can
be tempting to simply forget about any audience, ideal or imagined. However, doing so would be a grave mistake because
the effectiveness of your work is a direct result of your careful consideration of how an audience, either ideal or actual, may
react to it.
3. How do I show that I have considered my audience?
To show that you have considered your audience, you must present ideas in ways that the audience is accustomed to
seeing. For example, a paper for an English course might rely on an analysis of specific words and phrases from a poem,
play, or novel. The paper might also show that its ideas respond in some way to a discussion that was started by experts
on the literary text. A presentation in a sociology course, on the other hand, might rely on evidence obtained through controlled experiments and direct observations of people’s behaviors. It may also explain how these observations compare
with observations made by experts on that particular subject.
You need to consider non-academic audiences with similar care. For example, the audience of The New York Times tends to
be less politically, fiscally, and socially conservative than that of The Wall Street Journal. Knowing this, a writer would tailor
her communication accordingly. Similarly, a speaker might address a group of small business owners much differently from
how she would address a Parent-Teacher Association. Each audience values different ideas and would be receptive to different arguments, and a speaker is unlikely to succeed if she does not consider them beforehand.
4. How do I write for an audience that includes my instructor?
In cases where an instructor is your audience, it certainly is appropriate to think of him or her as someone who will grade
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your work. It is also, however, very helpful to think of an instructor as a representative of a scholarly discipline. In other
words, your instructors—whether in English, psychology, chemistry, or criminal justice—read essays and books that present arguments and evidence in a manner that is convincing to experts in their fields. What constitutes “evidence,” or “clear
writing” varies greatly from one discipline to another. Therefore, the key to writing successfully for audiences in different
disciplines is to learn what constitutes effective communication in each field.
5. What do I want to accomplish through my communication?
Every text—whether it is written, oral, visual—is trying to do something. In other words, every text has a purpose or goal. Its
purpose might be very clear and straightforward. For example, the purpose of an advertisement is very obvious: an advertisement is trying to get the viewer to buy a product. On the other hand, the purpose of a creative short story might be
more difficult to describe: it might be an attempt to understand one’s experience, to share one’s thoughts, to surprise or
challenge the reader, to critique social practices, and so on. A literary analysis often tries to get the reader to consider a
new interpretation of a text like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, while a classroom presentation might communicate the various ways in which labor practices in China affect prices at big box stores in the United States. Notice that all of the above
“purposes” are verbs rather than nouns. In other words, to have a purpose when speaking or writing is to take action, to try
to “do” something: to argue, investigate, persuade, or explain.
6. How can I use language appropriately and effectively to accomplish my writing goals?
In order to use language effectively, you need to evaluate your text’s purpose and audience, along with the context of its
presentation.
Some things to consider:
• Where and how will your text be published and/or circulated?
• Will you be presenting your work orally or in written form?
• What time or space limits might you face?
• What is your relationship to your audience? Are you strangers? Friends? Relatives? Are you social or professional
equals?
• Will formal or informal language be more effective in addressing your audience?
• Will an appeal based on reason and evidence be effective with your audience?
• Will an appeal based on emotion or shared values be effective with your audience?
• Will an appeal based on your credibility or the credibility of your sources be effective with this audience?
• To what degree might anecdotes, jokes, and so on, be appropriate or inappropriate for your audience and purpose?
• What kinds of grammatical structures and/or language practices does your audience use? How much do you want to
conform to or challenge the way your audience uses language?
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• How much will communication conventions or spelling matter to your audience?
Objective III. Use topic sentences and appropriate transitions.
Topic sentences and transitions provide the framework for an essay or speech. They help you as you work to develop your
ideas in an organized fashion, and they guide your audience members as they work to follow your reasoning and see how
your explanations and examples fit into an overall picture.
The following sections will help you to understand how to create and use topic sentences and transitions, as well as how to
create an introduction and a conclusion for your personal essay.
Specifically, this section will offer answers to these questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
How do I begin a personal essay?
What is a topic sentence?
What is the purpose of a body paragraph in a personal essay?
How do I structure a body paragraph in a personal essay?
What is an illustration?
What is a transition?
How can I make an effective transition?
How do I conclude a personal essay?
1. How do I begin a personal essay?
The first paragraph (sometimes the second as well) is the reader’s introduction to the essay. However, the introduction to
the final draft of your essay may not be the introduction that you wrote for the first draft of the essay. As you shape and
reshape your essay, you may find your ideas evolving so that the paragraph you wrote as a way to get started no longer
works as the opening for the finished essay. Finding that you have to replace the essay’s introduction does not indicate
that you have done something wrong. Instead, it indicates that you have done something right: you have used the writing
process to develop your ideas. In fact, many writers find that the last thing they finish is the introduction—when they have
completed sorting out what it is they want to say.
When you craft the introduction for the finished essay, you may use it to signal the subject of the essay and to indicate your
viewpoint. You may state your thesis in the introduction, and you may use it to forecast the essay’s organization.
The above type of information can be helpful to a reader. However, there is one more way in which you can use the introduction: to capture the interest of your reader. A clear thesis, a careful organization—these will be lost on a reader who
decides to put down your essay and pick up something else to read instead. When you develop your introduction, try to
hook your reader. One way to do so is to describe a memorable individual, scene, or event. Make your description vivid and
detailed. Seize the reader’s interest by showing her that this is not a run-of-the-mill person, place, or incident.
Some writers include a quotation or a question in the introduction. This strategy can work, but be careful not to seem to
be following a worn-out formula. Some quotations have been trotted out again and again until they come across as platitudes—stale statements that are unlikely to excite the reader. For example, “Love conquers all” was first written (in Latin)
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by the Roman poet Virgil more than two thousand years ago. After being repeated for two thousand years, the statement
may not seem to be a novel or exciting way to introduce an essay.
2. What is a topic sentence?
A topic sentence states the main point, or key idea, of a paragraph. For example, in this excerpt from “Is social media making
us socially awkward?” by Janie Maitland (2013), the first sentence is the topic sentence:
Keeping up with friends from your past is also easy with social media. Not that it’s incredibly hard to call your best
friend from fifth grade from time to time, but with social media you can keep up with not only your long-lost BFF, but
your entire fifth grade class.
Topic sentences not only serve to guide your paragraph structure, they are also there to further your thesis, or main claim.
Compare the thesis below with examples of topic sentences. Notice how each topic sentence reinforces an idea that can be
traced back to an element of the thesis.
Thesis:
I admired my cousin’s decision to enlist because she had to withstand criticism from people who thought women
shouldn’t be in the army and because in basic training she had to stand up to physical and mental challenges that I
don’t think I could face.
Topic sentences:
After my cousin made the decision to enlist, she had to break the news to her parents, who expected her to remain
near home and to get a job locally.
She also had to put up criticism from the people she went to school with who were raised to expect women to marry
and start families at a young age.
Even her employer opposed her decision because although he was a veteran, in his day women only joined auxiliary
services.
3. What is the purpose of a body paragraph in a personal essay?
Body paragraphs should serve to strengthen and develop the ideas that you laid out in your introduction and/or via your
thesis or main claim. Your body paragraphs also should help to guide the reader through your points, so they should be clear
and focused.
Notice that each example topic sentence in What is a topic sentence? identifies a point that would be developed into a body
paragraph.
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4. How do I structure a body paragraph in a personal essay?
In an argument essay, writers often use the PIE (Point, Illustration, Explanation) format: state the point (topic or key idea),
illustrate the point, explain the point. In a personal essay, sometimes the explanation may be omitted. What is vital for a
body paragraph in a personal essay is that (1) it include a single point (a topic sentence or key idea) that furthers the thesis
and (2) that the point be fully developed via an illustration or example of some sort. Each body paragraph also should contain some sort of transition from the paragraphs that follows it.
5. What is an illustration?
Illustrations generally are examples or pieces of evidence to show the reader what your points are telling them. For example,
in her article “Is social media making us socially awkward?”, Janie Maitland (2013) tells her audience that “Without social
media, it’d be impossible…to keep up with all of” the people she’s met as a result of moving around a lot. She follows up by
showing:
When I reunited with my best friend from Florida…reconnecting was so easy because…She already had a list of my
friends that she had seen on my Facebook page that she had wanted to meet, and I already knew what kind of topics
interested her…
While her audience might very well believe her when she “tells” them that social media has helped her to stay connected to
important people in her life, the illustration serves to make it much clearer and much more unique to her experience.
6. What is a transition?
A transition is a signal to readers that you are moving from one point or idea to another point or idea. This signal shows
your audience that a new sentence or paragraph has some connection to the previous sentence or paragraph.
Transitions often remind readers of what was covered in the previous sentence or paragraph. When the transition reminds
readers of a previous idea while introducing a new one, the new idea exists within a context. As a result, readers see that
the new sentence or paragraph is a link in a chain of sentences or paragraphs.
Without transitions, it may be hard follow the logic of an essay because readers may not be able to tell why the new sentence or paragraph is being introduced. In extreme cases, poor or missing transitions may make an essay seem too much
like a loose collection of sentences or paragraphs rather than a focused piece of writing.
7. How can I make an effective transition?
At the sentence level—usually within a paragraph—a transitional word or phrase might be sufficient. Common transitional
words or phrases include also, another, furthermore, in addition to, and so on. Between paragraphs, however, it’s generally a
good idea to show how the idea you are leaving behind is related to the one you are starting.
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One way to show how the idea you are leaving behind is related to the one you are starting is to begin a paragraph with a
sentence that has two parts to it: one part referring back to an idea from the previous paragraph and another part introducing the idea that the new paragraph will focus on.
Example:
Although I knew I would have to walk the dogs morning and evening, I had not counted on having to get up in the
middle of the night to let them in to my room every time it thundered—and it thundered a lot that summer.
Careful repetition of language from the previous paragraph in the beginning of the new paragraph can help create a transition that reminds readers of an old idea while introducing a new one. The example below illustrates how this kind of transition works, with the phrase at the beginning of the second paragraph echoing a phrase in a preceding sentence.
Example:
In this case, it’s a good idea torepeat a key word or phrase from the last sentence of one body paragraph in the first
sentence of the next.
Repeating a key word or phrase will make it easier for your reader to see how you got from point A to point B. If at
any time you find it difficult to create a transition from one paragraph or idea to the next, you may need to re-order
your paragraphs to create a more logical progression.
Be careful to place the transitional sentence at the beginning of the new paragraph. Do not attach it to the end of the old
paragraph. Even though the transition sentence may recap language or ideas from the old paragraph, as soon as the new
idea is stated, the essay has moved on to new territory.
8. How do I conclude a personal essay?
Your task in concluding is to remind the reader of where the essay has taken them and why its message matters. There is
no need to construct a dramatic sitcom-style conclusion; nor does the conclusion need to state the obvious by using the
phrase “in conclusion.” Also avoid the pitfall of bringing up new issues that you did not cover in the body of the essay. Above
all, the conclusion should not feel forced, so don’t tack on a “moral” or a “lesson” that might come across as an afterthought.
Instead, reemphasize what you’ve already said, with the conclusion growing out of the step-by-step progression of the
essay. One way to conclude is to simply reword and restate the thesis and key ideas. Alternately, you can create a “frame”
for the essay by returning to something from the introduction. This strategy creates a sense of closure for the audience by
bringing readers full circle, that is, back to the beginning. For example, if you started your essay with a question to draw the
reader in, a full-circle conclusion might end by answering that attention grabbing question.
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Objective IV. Use standard written English when appropriate.
Your Core courses are intended to help you meet the expectations of both your instructors and your future employers, and
both audiences are likely to expect you to communicate in standard written English.
Specifically, this section will offer answers to these questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is grammar?
What is usage?
What is the difference between grammar and usage?
Why should I care about usage?
What counts as “proper” grammar?
What if I don’t use “proper” grammar?
1. What is grammar?
A rough and ready definition of grammar is that it is a set of rules by which a language operates. But defining grammar
is a little more complicated than that because for any language there are several different versions of grammar. One of
these versions will be a descriptive grammar that covers the way a language is actually used by its speakers. Another version, though, will be a prescriptive grammar that reflects beliefs about how a language should operate. These prescriptive
expectations about how a language should work often are held by people in authority, such as teachers and employers. If
your audience includes people who embrace a prescriptive grammar, you need to be able to adapt to that set of language
rules in order to meet audience expectations.
2. What is usage?
Usage is a set of writing and speaking conventions—that is, a set of standards that language users have agreed upon for particular contexts. For example, in some types of writing, such as formal reports, contractions may be frowned upon. A writer
would be expected to spell out “they are” instead of writing “they’re.” The contraction “they’re” is not ungrammatical, but
people who are creating and receiving communications have agreed that contractions are not appropriate within a particular context. In another writing situation, contractions may be perfectly acceptable because of different usage expectations.
3. What is the difference between grammar and usage?
Grammar is a matter of following the rules that allow a language to work, but usage is a matter of convention, a set of standards that language users have agreed upon for a particular context. This distinction is important because a text could be
completely free of grammar mistakes but still contain errors of usage.
4. Why should I care about usage?
Your ability to communicate effectively partly depends upon your ability to shape language to fit the demands of particular
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situations. In certain academic and professional contexts, you will be expected to use what has been called, variously, Well
Edited American Prose (WEAP), Standard American English, or Network Standard English. Whatever label you use, this
variety of English is linked to the social classes and racial and ethnic class groups that have held political power. It is therefore the variety of language that is most frequently used in the arenas—such as business and academia—that are associated
with political power. Your ability to succeed in these academic and professional contexts may be impacted by your ability
to utilize WEAP effectively.
5. What counts as “proper” grammar?
While many of us are trained to think that there are “proper” and “improper” modes of grammar, this approach isn’t necessarily current. Certain types of grammar are more appropriate for certain situations. Thus, in a scientific research paper you
might be expected to use the form of language preferred in academic and professional settings that is known as Well Edited
American Prose (WEAP), but on Twitter you would be expected to rely on another form of language. Furthermore, conventions of “proper” grammar change over time. Therefore, rather than learning only one “proper” version of grammar, it is
important to learn how to choose between types of grammar. Always adopt the register or variety of English that is suitable
for the communication situation. Whether you use “who” or “whom”, whether you use “he or she” instead of “they”—these
decisions hinge less on what is “proper” grammar than on what is appropriate for the communication situation you find
yourself in.
6. What if I don’t use “proper” grammar?
Very few of us naturally speak or write using the grammatical forms that characterize Well Edited American Prose (WEAP)
or other types of writing that may be preferred in academic and professional settings. English is characterized by a range
of dialects that are often dependent upon geographical region and ethnicity. In addition, there are numerous registers of
English—varieties of English suitable for specific social or professional situations—that may depart in some ways from the
conventions of Well Edited American Prose (WEAP). The fact that your instructor asks you to write using WEAP doesn’t
mean that the other language forms you or others may use are inferior forms of English. Nor does it mean that you have to
leave those other forms of English behind. Rather, you are being asked to become accustomed to recognizing the demands
of the communication situations in which you find yourself and to evaluating which modes of English are appropriate and
effective for those contexts.
References for Personal Essay Section
Maitland, J. (2013, December 9). Is social media making us socially awkward? Whim Internet Magazine, Retrieved from
http://www.ruwhim.com/?p=40370
CORE 101 - OPPOSING
VIEWPOINTS
For this assignment you will analyze ideas about a subject by comparing approaches to the subject in two separate texts. As
you do so, pay special attention to (1) the specific language in each text and (2) the methods of argument adopted by each
author.
As with other assignments in the Core, you will be given an opportunity to explore the topic in rough form, but the final
version of the essay will be in standard written English.
Completing the project will help you to gain the information and to practice the skills that you will need in order to
• evaluate the assumptions and arguments of different authors;
• identify ethos, logos, and pathos;
• integrate quotations and paraphrases from a reading into an essay;
• cite sources correctly, both via in-text citations and in a list of sources; and
• use tone, mechanics, and style appropriate to a college educated audience.
Objective I. Evaluate the assumptions and arguments of different authors.
To analyze an argument, you need to identify both the steps of the argument that the author spells out and the author’s
assumptions, which are sometimes implied rather than stated. In order to help you evaluate the assumptions and arguments of different authors, this section will provide answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is an argument?
How do I identify an author’s assumptions?
How do I identify an author’s argument?
How do I compare and contrast multiple authors?
What is an effective argument?
What is an ineffective argument?
1. What is an argument?
An argument is a systematic attempt to support a debatable claim using logical explanations and reliable evidence. The
thesis or claim is debatable because not everyone would agree with it. Stating a debatable claim alone is not sufficient for
an argument, however. The author must also explain her reasoning and offer adequate and appropriate examples or data
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or other forms of evidence to support the claim.
2. How do I identify an author’s assumptions?
Often a writer or speaker expects her audience to share a particular belief or attitude. Such an assumption might not be
an outright part of an argument. In fact, assumptions frequently are implied instead of being directly stated. However, an
assumption may be part of an argument’s foundation because the writer or speaker is constructing that argument in the
belief that the audience shares her attitudes or beliefs. The assumption is often a byproduct of a person’s standpoint, social
position, and/or political leanings.
An example of an assumption might be the following opening to a piece on tanning beds:
“We all want that perfect summer tan.”
What is the author assuming here? Are there people who might not want “that perfect summer tan”? Who might they be?
How can you, as a reader, point out the assumption the author is making here without attacking the author personally?
3. How do I identify an author’s argument?
Writers and speakers often state their argument as part of their introduction. In this opening to a piece on children’s beauty
pageants by J. Salzano (2013), her main claim is made in the final sentence:
When most people think of normal activities for a six year-old girl, they picture a sea full of Barbie dolls, coloring books
and dress up clothes … Popular shows such as “Toddlers and Tiaras”, which revolves around exaggerated filming of
child pageantry shows America one narrow view of what the pageant world is all about …The media distorts how society views pageants but they can be beneficial because they give children contestants useful life lessons and they can
be viewed on the same positive level as other popular competitive sports.
In journalistic writing, it’s also common to find the argument in the title, as in the article “Pet ownership in college can be a
full time job” (Banus, 2013).
Sometimes the argument is made in the conclusion. Sometimes, however, an argument is never distilled into one or two
sentences. In that case, it’s up to the audience to decide what argument is being made based on the sum of all the claims the
author makes.
4. How do I compare and contrast multiple authors?
There are a variety of ways to compare the arguments made by different authors. In the case of this assignment, you want
to look at the approach that different authors take to the same topic or issue.
An obvious place to start is by comparing their claims. What is each arguing? Where do they agree with one another?
Where do they disagree?
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You might also start by comparing the underlying assumptions. Do the social or political perspectives of each author make
a difference in how they approach the issue? Does each author appreciate all aspects of the other’s position? Does each
author recognize that someone else may have a stake in the situation that is different from her own? Do both authors recognize their own biases or preconceptions?
Or you might compare the evidence that each uses. Does one author include more authoritative sources than the other?
Does one rely too much on anecdotal evidence, that is, individual stories that, no matter how interesting, may not be typical? Is one author missing a crucial illustration that a reader might need to fully grasp a point?
5. What is an effective argument?
An effective argument supports a main claim—that is, a thesis—with a set of supporting claims. These key supporting ideas
often are stated as topic sentences in body paragraphs. Each stage of the argument—each key supporting idea—is illustrated with logical and reliable evidence.
An effective argument also shows a clear understanding of opposing viewpoints and does its best to acknowledge competing claims.
For example, in her argument in support of Oregon’s “pay it forward” college tuition plan, B. Dudley (2013) agrees with one
set of opponents when she suggests that “we certainly agree that both the state and federal governments’ contributions to
higher education need to be increased.” Yet she concludes that “pay it forward” is a good interim plan by arguing that “those
are battles that will be fought out over several years. In the meantime, our students need and deserve a chance to get a college education without incurring enormous unrelenting debt.”
Dudley has not only acknowledged a set of opponents here, she has agreed that their argument is the best long-term goal.
6. What is an ineffective argument?
An argument may be ineffective for a variety of reasons. Maybe the “argument” does not make a claim that an academic
audience would disagree with. For example, “smoking is bad for you” might be considered an ineffective argument, not
because it is wrong but because your audience already knows this.
An argument also might be ineffective because the support for it is nonexistent. Paragraphs may make claim after claim
while offering little to no evidence or illustration. Another reason that an argument may be ineffective is that the support
is not logical. An example of an illogical argument would be that global warming doesn’t exist because it snowed in the Arizona desert last winter. An argument also may be ineffective if the evidence is unreliable, as would be the case if an author
used material from a corporation’s website to praise or defend the company.
An argument also might be ineffective because it is too broad, which makes the claim difficult to “prove” in a short essay.
Claims that gun control is needed/not needed or that abortion should be legal/illegal are examples of assertions that may
lead to overly broad—and therefore ineffective—arguments.
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Making a broad claim about an ongoing debate also makes it difficult to bring new perspectives to the discussion.
Objective II. Identify ethos, logos, and pathos.
When writers and speakers want to persuade their audiences, they have a series of tools or strategies at their disposal.
These strategies can be called modes of persuasion. Because of their effectiveness, these modes have been employed by
countless people over thousands of years. Among them were the ancient Greeks, who recognized that speakers frequently
appealed to logic, to the speaker’ own character, and to the audience’s emotions. The Greeks labeled these efforts, respectively, as appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos.
To help you identify and analyze the use of the three modes of persuasion, this section of the Handbook will answer the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What is logos?
What should an author consider when using logos in an argument?
What is ethos?
What should an author consider when using ethos in an argument?
What is pathos?
What should an author consider when using pathos in an argument?
How can logos, ethos, and pathos work together?
What is the rhetorical triangle?
How are logos, ethos, and pathos related to the rhetorical triangle?
1. What Is logos?
An appeal to logos relies upon on reason or logic. If an author appeals to logos, she is implying that her argument is convincing because it is rational (i.e., it “makes sense”).
The following logos-based appeal from Grist Magazine’s website aims to convince readers that they should do something
about global warming:
• every year since 1992 has been warmer than 1992;
• the ten hottest years on record occurred in the last 15;
• every year since 1976 has been warmer than 1976;
• the 20 hottest years on record occurred in the last 25;
• every year since 1956 has been warmer than 1956; and
• every year since 1917 has been warmer than 1917.
(Beck, 2006)
Ideally, appeals to logos stand on their own, regardless of who is speaking and without the need to appeal to emotions.
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2. What should an author consider when using logos in an argument?
While authors are free to draw on any of the three modes of persuasion, most effective arguments are grounded in logic,
the careful use of reasoning and evidence.
To determine whether a logos-based appeal is effective, ask the following questions:
• How rational are the author’s claims? Are they logical?
• Does the author have enough information to support his argument? Is the information sufficient?
• Is the author’s information typical, or is it so unusual that it really can’t be used to suggest that the claims in the
argument are generally true?
• How reliable are the author’s facts? Is his information accurate?
• Does the information the author is including actually have any bearing on his claims? Is the information relevant?
When you ask whether the author’s information is sufficient, typical, accurate, and relevant, you are applying the STAR
criteria: Sufficiency, Typicality, Accuracy, and Relevance. For more information on the STAR criteria, see the answer to the
question How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos?
3. What is ethos?
An appeal to ethos emphasizes the character of the author or speaker. If an author appeals to his ethos, he is suggesting
that an audience should believe his claims because he is honest, trustworthy and knowledgeable.
If the writer emphasizes his authority or qualifications, or if he appeals to a shared sense of morality, he is making an appeal
to his ethos. The following byline from LiveScience.com appeals to ethos by listing the author’s credentials:
Raghu Murtugudde is executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Forecasting System at the University of Maryland
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) and a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and
Oceanic Science. (LiveScience, 2013)
This statement of Murtugudde’s credentials is a rather overt appeal to his ethos, but there are many subtler versions of
such appeals. A writer bolsters her ethos by presenting her papers in error-free prose, with no formatting anomalies. A
speaker increases his ethos by dressing suitably and using style and tone appropriate to his audience. Both writers and
speakers bolster their ethos by being knowledgeable and fair.
4. What should an author consider when using ethos in an argument?
To determine whether an ethos-based appeal is effective, ask the following questions:
• How knowledgeable is the author about her topic?
• Is the author employing a confident, authoritative tone in her writing?
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• Is the author using reliable sources?
• Has the author cited her sources accurately?
• Does the author acknowledge the existence of other points of view?
• Should the author be using other modes of appeal along with ethos, or is her argument primarily ethos-based?
• Has the author proofread her work?
5. What is pathos?
An appeal to pathos uses emotion to persuade. If an author appeals to pathos, she is counting on an emotional response
(pity, compassion, anger, excitement, nostalgia, among others.) to bring the reader/listener over to her side. To remember
the meaning of the word “pathos,” think of the word “pathetic.” While that term carries negative connotations in current
usage, a more neutral interpretation would be “emotional.”
If the writer uses exaggerated, emotionally charged language or stories, she is likely using a pathos-based appeal. The following is a pathos-based appeal from the trailer for Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth meant to convince viewers
that they should do something about global warming (and, of course, watch the movie):
The Arctic is experiencing faster melting. If this [Arctic ice] were to go, sea level worldwide would go up 20 feet. . . .
Here’s Manhattan. The World Trade Center Memorial would be underwater. Think of the impact of a couple hundred
thousand refugees and then imagine 100 million. . . . We have to act together to solve this global crisis. Our ability to
live is what is at stake. (Gore, 2007)
Gore’s statement about the World Trade Center Memorial clearly appeals to our emotions. After all, he could have chosen
countless other landmarks in the country, but he chose the site commemorating the loss of several thousand innocent civilians from an act of terrorism. We might assume, then, that his primary goal is to instill a sense of grief, fear, and outrage.
6. What should an author consider when using pathos in an argument?
To determine whether a pathos-based appeal is effective, ask the following questions:
• How vivid and engaging is the author’s language?
• What kinds of anecdotes or stories does the author include that seem intended to appeal to his reader’s emotions?
• Should the author be using other modes of appeal along with pathos, or is his argument primarily pathos-based?
7. How can logos, ethos, and pathos work together?
It is important to note that one passage or even statement might draw on more than one appeal. The passage above from
Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth certainly is designed to evoke emotion, but it also relies on observations of the increasing
speed of melting in the Arctic. The following example from economists Gernot Wagner and Martin L. Weitzman combines
all three forms of appeal:
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What is scarier still is the uncertainty about the truly extreme outcomes [of climate change]. Our own calculations
estimate that there is a roughly 5 percent to 10 percent chance that the eventual average temperature could be 6
degrees Celsius higher [than pre-industrial levels], rather than 3. What this would mean is outside anyone’s imagination, perhaps even Dante’s. (Wagner & Weitzman, 2013; brackets added)
Wagner and Weitzman refer to their “own calculations” (ethos) about the percent chance that temperature increases
would double original expectations (logos). They then invoke the poet Dante Alighieri, whose Inferno describes the torments of Hell in hauntingly vivid fashion (pathos).
It is important not only to recognize the use of the different appeals, but also to evaluate their effectiveness. To what extent
are you convinced by the different modes of persuasion? To what extent should you be?
8. What is the rhetorical triangle?
The rhetorical triangle is a term used to describe the three major components of a communication situation: the author,
the audience, and the text. The author is the speaker or writer who produces the text, the audience is the listener or reader
who receives the text, and the text is the set of words and/or images that is transmitted (or communicated) between the
two parties (i.e., the author and the audience).
You can visualize this relationship like this:
Audience
Author
Text
The three points of the rhetorical triangle reflect and influence each other. For example, a speaker who is advocating for a
new sports team on campus will present himself differently and argue different points depending upon whether he is making his case to a group of students or to the Radford University Board of Visitors. Good communicators know that a change
in any one of the three elements of the rhetorical triangle will affect the other two elements.
9. How are logos, ethos, and pathos related to the rhetorical triangle?
Logos, ethos, and pathos can be paired with the three points of the rhetorical triangle. Logos relies upon the rational qualities of the text or message to convince the reader/listener; ethos emphasizes the qualities of the author; and pathos draws
on the emotional response of the audience.
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You can visualize the relationship like this:
Audience (Pathos)
Author (Ethos) Text (Logos)
While it is helpful to recognize the relationship between logos, ethos, and pathos and the three points of the rhetorical triangle, it is also important to note that actual communication situations are more complicated. For example, a speaker at a
funeral might begin to cry as he relates a story of the deceased, thus bringing his audience to tears. It would be inappropriate, in this instance, to associate pathos only with the audience.
Objective III. Integrate quotations and paraphrases from a reading into an essay.
As a writer, you often may need to distinguish between your voice and the statements of ideas, information, and opinions
found in your sources. This section of the Handbook is intended to help you develop your ability to do so.
Specifically, this section will offer answers to these questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What is a primary source?
What is a secondary source?
Can an author use primary and secondary sources in the same piece of writing?
What is a tertiary source?
How does a writer signal that she is using a source?
How does a writer signal that she is finished using a source?
How does a writer signal his opposition to a source’s opinion?
1. What is a primary source?
A primary source may be an original document, a first-hand account, or a contemporary report. The precise nature of a primary source may differ by subject. For students of history, accounts by participants or witnesses would be primary sources.
Such accounts might be found in letters, diaries, business ledgers, or newspaper articles that are contemporary with events.
For students of literature, a primary source might be a novel, poem, or play script. In biology, a primary source may be
data generated through observations and recorded in lab notebooks; alternately it may be a groundbreaking study, such
as Charles Darwin’s On the Origins of Species. The one constant in determining whether a source is primary is that it serves
as an original starting point for later writing in which the primary source is explored, discussed, analyzed or repurposed in
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some way.
2. What is a secondary source?
Secondary sources make use of primary sources by repurposing the information and ideas in them. Authors of secondary
sources may analyze or comment upon primary sources or may use elements from them in arguments. An example of a secondary source would be an article written by a twenty-first century historian about injuries suffered by nineteenth-century
soldiers. The historian’s primary sources might include letters, journals, and newspaper reports from the period, as well as
reports from army commissions and from representatives of early medical-relief organizations. Working from these primary sources, the historian would develop an interpretation of events, and this interpretation would be considered a secondary source.
3. Can an author use primary and secondary sources in the same piece of writing?
For various reasons, some authors make simultaneous use of both primary and secondary sources. Often authors wish to
talk about issues within the context of earlier discussions in order to show where their argument fits into an ongoing conversation within their field or within the culture at large.
In that case, an author developing his own interpretation of an issue often looks at what others have argued before him
(secondary sources), as well as at the original evidence those arguments were based upon (primary sources). As part of
his own interpretation, the author may reject a claim he from a secondary source by arguing that evidence from a primary
source contradicts the claim. Or he may partly agree with a claim in a secondary source but may argue that evidence from
a primary source supports modifying that claim in some way.
Alternately, an author may bring up a secondary source because its argument supports some aspect of her own interpretation of primary source evidence and she wishes to position her interpretation within the context of the earlier argument.
4. What is a tertiary source?
Tertiary sources rely exclusively on secondary sources. They restate and repurpose the information in secondary sources
by surveying, reviewing, synthesizing, or commenting upon that information. An article in an encyclopedia that is based
entirely on secondary sources would be an example of a tertiary source. For instance, the editors of Wikipedia require that
its volunteer authors work from secondary sources rather than primary ones. Since the volunteers are required to use secondary sources and not allowed to use primary sources, all Wikipedia articles are tertiary sources.
Secondary sources are one step removed from primary sources, but tertiary sources are two steps removed. Tertiary
sources are often considered reference tools rather than sources that students should directly rely upon in their own writing. At the beginning of a research project, students may wish to consult a tertiary source to get an overview of the subject
and to develop a list of search terms, but many instructors require students to then move on and locate primary and sec-
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ondary sources for the actual writing of the project.
5. How does a writer signal that she is using a source?
When writers make use of sources, they signal that fact to their audience by mentioning the source or its author in at least
one sentence. This reference to a source is sometimes called an attribution.
Often the author or the title of the source is paired with a verb that shows the reader that the emphasis in the sentence is
on what the source has to say. This helps the reader distinguish between sentences that state the source’s viewpoint from
sentences that represent the viewpoint of the writer using the source.
Example of an author attribution with verb:
Murphy (1991) pointed out that in the first half of the nineteenth century people worked hard to spread information
about how to prevent disease but did not emphasize how to treat diseases (p. 141).
Example of a title attribution with verb:
The Diary of a nursing sister on the western front (1915) describes how soldiers were wounded so badly that the nurses
could not treat their blood loss quickly enough (n.p.).
6. How does a writer signal that she is finished using a source?
A writer can signal that her reliance on a source is at an end by once again referring to the author (or title if anonymous).
The writer also can signal that reliance on a source is at an end by positioning an in-text citation at the end of the passage
in which she has been using a source (see examples in the section How do I format in-text citations?).
A writer who signals the end of reliance on a source can simultaneously communicate her response to the source. Here is
an example of a sentence that could accomplish both tasks:
The author of Into the Wind calculated the benefits of wind-powered turbines, but he didn’t discuss whether turbines
harm wildlife (Gertner, 2013).
This sentence recaps what the writer found helpful but also introduces a topic that the source did not cover. Because it
introduces a fresh topic, a sentence like this might be found at the start of a new paragraph.
7. How does a writer signal his opposition to a source’s opinion?
A writer who disagrees with only some elements of a source may recap areas of agreement before introducing objections.
Many words and phrases allow for this two-step process.
It is true that the factory will provide jobs, but a site should be chosen outside the flood plain.
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Although the study demonstrates that the factory will provide jobs, a site should be chosen outside the flood plain.
The article reports that the factory will provide jobs. However, a site should be chosen outside the flood plain.
A writer who disagrees strongly with a source will state her disagreement outright. She will also explain why she disagrees.
Many words and phrases allow for stating disagreement and introducing reasons for disagreement.
The argument that the factory will bring jobs should be rejected because the environmental damage will be greater
than any economic benefit.
In spite of the economic benefits described in the article, the proposal should be rejected because the environmental
damage will be greater than any economic benefit.
Objective IV. Cite sources correctly, both via in-text citations and in a list of sources.
One of the most important skills you can develop as a student is the ability to use outside sources correctly and smoothly.
Academic knowledge builds on the knowledge of others. When we use quotations and paraphrases, we start with ideas that
have been established by others in order to build on them to develop our own ideas. Proper citations not only give credit
to those whose ideas we’re using, but they also provide an address for others to follow, so that they can use those ideas as
well.
Learning to cite correctly will allow you to avoid plagiarism, as many plagiarism cases arise from sloppy note-taking and a
misunderstanding of when you need to cite your sources.
Specifically, this section will offer answers to these questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
What is a quotation?
When should I quote?
How long should a quotation be?
What is a paraphrase?
When should I paraphrase?
What is effective paraphrasing?
When does paraphrasing become plagiarism?
How do I use signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases?
How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence?
How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence if I am not quoting a complete sentence?
What punctuation should I use with quotations?
What is plagiarism?
Why should I cite?
How can I avoid plagiarism?
What is common knowledge?
What is APA?
How do I format references?
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18. What do I do if my source differs from the basic pattern for a reference?
19. How do I format in-text citations?
1. What is a quotation?
A quotation is one of the ways by which you may make use of a source. You can use quotations to support and illustrate
points in your essay. Carefully selected quotations also help establish your credibility by demonstrating that you are familiar with key sources.
A quotation is made up of exact words from the source, and you must be careful to let your reader know that these
words were not originally yours. To indicate your reliance on exact words from a source, either place the borrowed words
between quotation marks or if the quotation is forty words or more, use indentation to create a block quotation.
You will need to determine when to quote and how long each quotation should be. These questions are discussed in the
two sections that immediately follow this one.
Once you have determined the answers to those questions, certain strategies will help you smoothly fit quotations into
your writing.
• Signal phrases help you integrate quoted material into your essay.
• Quotations must be made to work within the grammar of your sentences, whether you are quoting phrases or complete
sentences.
• Quotations must be properly punctuated.
• Quotations must be properly documented.
2. When should I quote?
Quote when the exact wording is necessary in order to make your point. For example, if you were analyzing the style
choices in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, you would quote because it would be important to illustrate
exact wording in a discussion of word choice and sentence structure. You would also quote if the exact wording captures
information, tone, or emotion that would be lost if the source were reworded.
Source: It has begun. It is awful—continuous and earthquaking.
Quoting to preserve emotion: One nurse described an artillery exchange between the two sides as
“awful—continuous and earthquaking” (Diary of a nursing sister, 1915, n.p.).
3. How long should a quotation be?
Quote only as many words as are necessary to capture the information, tone, or expression from the original for the new
context that you are providing. Lengthy quotations actually can backfire on a writer because key words from the source
may be hidden among less important words. In addition, your own words will be crowded out. You will be quoting when
you should be explaining the significance of the quoted material and making it work within the context of your own writ-
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49
ing. Never quote a paragraph when a sentence will do; never quote a sentence when a phrase will do; never quote a phrase
when a word will do.
Source: It has begun. It is awful—continuous and earthquaking.
Quoting everything: One nurse described an artillery exchange between the two sides. She wrote, “It has begun. It is
awful—continuous and earthquaking” (Diary of a nursing sister, 1915, n.p.).
Quoting key words: One nurse described an artillery exchange between the two sides as “awful—continuous and
earthquaking” (Diary of a nursing sister, 1915, n.p.).
4. What is a paraphrase?
A paraphrase preserves information from a source but does not preserve its exact wording. A paraphrase uses vocabulary
and sentence structure that is largely different from the language in the original. A paraphrase may preserve specialized
vocabulary shared by everyone in a field or discipline; otherwise, the writer paraphrasing a source starts fresh, creating
new sentences that repurpose the information in the source so that the information plays a supportive role its new location.
5. When should I paraphrase?
Paraphrase when information from a source can help you explain or illustrate a point you are making in your own essay, but
when the exact wording of the source is not crucial.
Source: I divide this map into two parts: that which anyone can do now, and that which requires the help of lawmakers.
Paraphrase: Lessig (2004) argues that legislators will need to address the problem but that other people can get
involved as well (p. 275).
If you were analyzing Lessig’s style, you might want to quote his map metaphor; however, if you were focusing on his opinions about the need to reform copyright law, a paraphrase would be appropriate.
6. What is effective paraphrasing?
Effective paraphrasing repurposes the information from a source so that the information plays a supportive role in its new
location. This repurposing requires a writer to rely on her own sentence structure and vocabulary. She creates her own sentences and chooses her own words so that the source’s information will fit into the context of her own ideas and contribute
to the development of her thesis.
Source: Citizens of this generation witnessed the first concerted attempt to disseminate knowledge about disease
prevention and health promotion, downplaying or omitting altogether information about disease treatment.
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Effective Paraphrase: Murphy (1991) pointed out that in the first half of the nineteenth century people worked hard
to spread information about how to prevent disease but did not emphasize how to treat diseases (p. 141).
7. When does paraphrasing become plagiarism?
A paraphrase should use vocabulary and sentence structure different from the source’s vocabulary and sentence structure.
Potential plagiarism occurs when a writer goes through a sentence from a source and inserts synonyms without rewriting
the sentence as a whole.
Source: Citizens of this generation witnessed the first concerted attempt to disseminate knowledge about disease
prevention and health promotion, downplaying or omitting altogether information about disease treatment.
Potential plagiarism: People of this period observed the first organized effort to share information about preventing
disease and promoting health, deemphasizing or skipping completely information about treating diseases (Murphy,
1991, p. 141).
The sentence structure of the bad paraphrase is identical to the sentence structure of the source, matching it almost word
for word. The writer has provided an in-text citation pointing to Murphy as the source of the information, but she is in fact
plagiarizing because she hasn’t written her own sentence.
8. How do I use signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases?
Use signal phrases that mention your source to help your reader distinguish between the source and your own ideas. Mentions of sources may be called attributions.* Attributions often rely on verbs that capture the act of expression.
Some verbs of expression:
• admit
• argue
• assert
• claim
• complain
• observe
• point out
• report
• state
• write
Use different verbs of expression to avoid being monotonous but also because some verbs are better for some situations.
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For example, to stress weakness in a source’s argument, you might choose to write that your source ‘admits’ or ‘concedes’ a
point.
Paraphrase with signal phrase:
Volunteers might have to work at all hours of the day, staying up all night preparing bandages to be used after the next
battle, as one nurse serving on the western front reported (Diary of a nursing sister, 1915, n.p.).
Quotation with signal phrase:
In her diary, the nurse lamented that “One of the most stabbing things in this war is seeing the lines of empty motor
ambulances going up to bring down the wrecks who at this moment are sound and fit” (Diary of a nursing sister, 1915,
n.p.).
Some signal phrases do not make use of verbs but rely on phrases like ‘according to’ or ‘in the opinion of’ or ‘in the view of’.
*For further information on attributions, see How can attributions help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of
others? under the Researched Argument assignment in CORE 102.
9. How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence?
Each quotation should be an element inside one of your own sentences. Quotations rarely stand alone.
Example of an incorrect placement of quotation:
The anonymous author wrote about conditions for nurses during World War I. “One of the most stabbing things in this
war is seeing the lines of empty motor ambulances going up to bring down the wrecks who at this moment are sound
and fit” (Diary of a nursing sister, 1915, n.p.).
Notice that the quotation stands alone. It is not an element within one of your own sentences. Some beginning writers
might try to correct the problem by changing the period after “World War II” to a comma. However, that simply tacks one
sentence to the end of another and creates a punctuation error known as a “comma fault.” Instead, each quotation must
work within the grammar of one of your sentences.
One way to make a quotation work with sentence grammar is to place it after a verb of expression.
The anonymous author of Diary of a nursing sister (1915) wrote, “One of the most stabbing things in this war is seeing
the lines of empty motor ambulances going up to bring down the wrecks who at this moment are sound and fit” (n.p.).
10. How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence if I am not quoting a complete sentence?
A quoted phrase can play any number of roles in the grammar of a sentence: verb, subject or object, adjective or adverb.
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Look at the example below and pretend that there are no quotation marks. Would the sentence still be grammatical? Yes.
That fact shows that the quoted material works with the grammar of the sentence.
The nurse makes the ambulances sound like tow trucks going to retrieve demolished vehicles when she writes that it
was horrible to watch “empty motor ambulances going up to bring down the wrecks” of men (Diary of a nursing sister,
1915, n.p.).
To integrate a quotation into a sentence, omitting words from the source is acceptable if you follow two rules: use ellipses
(…) to signal the omission and avoid distorting the source’s meaning. It is also acceptable to adjust capitalization and grammar provided that you follow two rules: use brackets [ ] to signal the change and, again, avoid distorting the source’s meaning.
Lessig (2004) argues against the position that “[f]ile sharing threatens…the ability of creators to earn a fair return
from their creativity” (203).
When Lessig (2004) wrote his book, nearly everyone in the music industry felt that “[f]ile sharing threaten[ed]…the
ability of creators to earn a fair return from their creativity” (203).
11. What punctuation should I use with quotations?
Place quotation marks at the start and the end of direct quotations unless the quotation is long enough (forty or more
words) to justify the use of the block quotation format.
In-text citations follow rather than precede final quotation marks. An in-text citation is not found in the words that you are
quoting; it is something you create from the information you locate in order to identify the source for your readers.
If the quotation immediately follows a verb capturing the act of expression, place a comma after the verb:
Lessig (2004) wrote, “A free culture has been our past, but it will only be our future if we change the path we are on
right now” (p. xv).
Under limited circumstances, a colon (:) can be used to introduce a quotation. The quotation must re-identify or restate a
phrase or idea that immediately precedes the colon.
Lessig (2004) reached a radical conclusion about copyrighted material: “It should become free if it is not worth $1 to
you” (p. 252).
12. What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is using someone else’s work without giving him or her credit. “Work” includes text, ideas, images, videos, and
audio. In the academic world, you must follow these rules:
• When you use the exact words, you must use quotation marks and provide a citation.
• When you put the information into your own words, you must provide a citation.
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• When you use an image, audio, or video created by someone else, you must provide a citation.
Plagiarism could happen with a sentence, a paragraph, or even just a word! For example, Stephen Colbert, of the television
show The Colbert Report, made up the word “truthiness,” meaning something that sounds like it should be true. If you say in a
paper something has a ring of “truthiness”, you should cite Colbert. If someone else’s words catch your interest, you should
cite them.
Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. Penalties can range from failing the assignment to being expelled from Radford
University. See the Dean of Students’ Academic Integrity site for the RU Honor Code and information for students charged
with an Honor Code violation.
Pleading ignorance of plagiarism or the Honor Code will not excuse you from violations. As an adult, you are expected to
know and understand RU policies. For more information, see these sections in the Introduction to University Core A and to
this Handbook: What is the relationship between University Core A and academic integrity? and What resources are available to help me meet the Standards of Student Conduct?
13. Why should I cite?
Whenever you use sources, it is important that you document them completely and accurately. You make your work more
useful to your reader through complete and careful documentation, so you should think of documentation as essential
rather than as an “add on” tacked on at the last minute.
When asked why they should cite your sources, many students reply, “So you don’t get accused of plagiarizing.” It is true
that you must provide citations crediting others’ work so as to avoid plagiarism, but scholars use citations for many reasons:
• To make your arguments more credible. You want to use the very best evidence to support your claims. For example, if
you are citing a statistic about a disease, you should use a reputable source like the World Health Organization or
Centers for Disease Control (CDC). When you tell your reader the statistic comes from such a source, she will know to
trust it– and thereby trust your argument more.
• To show you’ve done your homework. You want to make it clear to your audience that you’ve researched your subject
and know what you are talking about. As you dive deeper into your research, you will probably find certain authors are
experts on the topic and are mentioned in most of the articles and books. You should read these experts’ works and
incorporate them into your paper.
• To build a foundation for your paper. Great breakthroughs in scholarship are accomplished by building on the earlier,
groundbreaking work of others. For example, Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravitation would not have been possible
without Johannes Kepler’s law of planetary motion. What articles, books, texts, etc inspired you to create your
argument? You want to provide references to the works which led to your thesis.
• To allow your readers to find the sources for themselves. Someone interested in your topic may be inspired to read
some of the articles and other sources you used to write your paper. The citation within the paper tells them what part
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of your argument is best addressed by a particular source, and the full citation in the bibliography provides them with
the information needed to locate the original work.
14. How can I avoid plagiarism?
Don’t procrastinate. Students who rush their work can make careless mistakes, such as forgetting to include a particular
citation, or not having all the information needed for documentation. Students under pressure may also make poor choices,
such as not documenting sources and hoping the professor won’t notice. Believe us–your professor will notice, and you
won’t like the long-term consequences.
Take careful notes. You need to be very clear in your notes whether you are writing down word-for-word what you found
somewhere else, or if you are jotting down your own idea. You should take down all the information you will need to create
your citations.
Cite your sources. Whenever you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or share an unusual fact, tell your reader where the information came from.
Document at the same time you draft. As you begin drafting, prepare a correctly formatted References page that captures
the information also needed for in-text citations. Insert these citations into your paper as you are writing it. If you cite-asyou-go, you won’t consume time looking up information all over again, and you make it less likely that you will misidentify
or omit necessary documentation.
Get comfortable with the required citation style. The most commonly used citation styles on our campus are APA, MLA,
and Chicago/Turabian. While they share many similarities, they also have differing requirements in regards to what and
when to cite.
Ask your professor. If you’re not sure about citing something, check with your instructor. Ultimately, she will be the one
grading your assignment–or bringing you up on plagiarism charges.
15. What is common knowledge?
Common knowledge is information that is accepted and known so widely you do not need to cite it:
• Common sayings or cliches. Examples: Curiosity killed the cat. Ignorance is bliss.
• Facts that can be easily verified. As you are conducting your research on a topic, you will see the same facts repeated
over and over. Example: You are writing a paper on presidential elections, and you want to mention that Ronald Reagan
was elected in 1980. Although you might not have known this fact before your research, you have seen it multiple times
and no one ever argues about it.
• Facts that you can safely assume your readers know. Examples: Richmond is the capital of Virginia. The North won the
U.S. Civil War. Fish breathe using gills.
Not all facts are common knowledge. You will still need to cite:
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• Facts that surprise you or your reader. Example: Michelangelo was shorter than average (Hughes & Elam, 2009, p. 4).
• Facts that include statistics or other numbers. Example: As of June 2009, 42 states had laws that explicitly ban gay
marriage, and 6 states have legalized it (States debate, 2009, n.p.).
• If you use the exact words of another writer, even if the content within could be considered common knowledge.
Example: Lincoln’s first campaign dates to “1832, when he ran as a Whig for the Illinois state legislature from the town
of New Salem and lost” (Lincoln, 2008, p. 451).
Common knowledge can be course-specific. For example, the number of bones in the leg could be considered common
knowledge in an athletic training course. But if you are using that fact in an English paper, you cannot assume your professor would have that knowledge, and you would need to cite it.
Remember, if you have any questions about whether something is common knowledge, ask your professor for advice.
16. What is APA?
Different fields prefer different methods of documenting the use of sources. One style is called APA, from the initials of the
American Psychological Association. Its use is not limited to psychology, however. Many social sciences follow the APA or a
similar style. Because the APA and similar formats are so widespread, APA is used in University Core A. However, all styles
capture the same type of information as the APA. When it comes to documentation, learn to notice and apply the particular
style that you are asked to use.
McConnell Library maintains a web site on the APA style: APA…for Radford University Undergraduates.
If you are asked to use a different style, these other McConnell Library sites may be useful:
• MLA Style…Citations
• Chicago Style Citations.
17. How do I format references?
References record bibliographic information about sources that have been cited in the text. The necessary information is
author, title, and details about publication (where and when the source was published and who published it). The order of
the information and the punctuation, abbreviation, and spacing conventions may differ depending on the documentation
style you are following, but the purpose of the references will be the same: to allow a reader to quickly locate your sources.
Basic APA-style reference for a book:
Pojman, P. (2003). Food ethics. Boston, MA: Penguin.
Every APA reference is a variation of the above pattern.
APA-style reference for an article:
Cruz, G. (2009, December 14). Clean-air campus. Time, 70.
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If the source’s author is unknown, the title leapfrogs in front of the date. The date remains in the second position; it is never
used at the start of a reference.
APA-style reference for an anonymous source:
Contraception and corporations. (2013, August 2). New York Times, A18.
18. What do I do if my source differs from the basic pattern for a reference?
The basic pattern is easy to recognize, but it is impossible to memorize all the variations. Some sources are available online;
some sources are audiovisual instead of print; some sources have translators and editors. These and other details find their
way into references. Learn to consult resources that illustrate some of the variations, and then ask yourself which examples
seem closest to the source you are trying to document. Creating helpful references for your readers requires attention to
both the basic pattern and to details, as well as problem-solving skills and creativity.
McConnell Library maintains a web site that explains and illustrates APA documentation (APA…for Radford University
Undergraduates), including a page called “I can’t find my example!” that will walk you through the process if you can’t seem
to find an appropriate model.
19. How do I format in-text citations?
In-text citations point readers toward a source that a writer is using in her own article or essay. They are placed inside your
paragraphs, a position that explains why they are called “in-text.” In-text citations are also called parenthetical citations
because information identifying the source will be placed inside parentheses ( ). A writer citing using the APA style will provide the following in-text information for her readers:
• Author’s last name (title if source is anonymous)
• Year of publication
• Page numbers
There are two approaches to formatting the in-text citation. In one approach, the name of the author (title if source is
anonymous) is included with year and page numbers inside the parentheses:
In the first half of the nineteenth, century people worked hard to spread information about how to prevent disease
but did not emphasize how to treat diseases (Murphy, 1991, p. 141).
In this approach, all information—author, year, page number—is placed within parentheses.
In the other approach, the source’s author (title if anonymous) is not placed inside parentheses.
Murphy (1991) pointed that in the first half of the nineteenth century people worked hard to spread information
about how to prevent disease but did not emphasize how to treat diseases (p. 141).
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After the author’s name is introduced, the date of the source immediately follows (in parentheses), and the page numbers
are provided (in parentheses) at the end of the sentence.
Objective V. Use tone, mechanics, and style appropriate to a college-educated audience.
Just as the authors you read establish their ethos through their professionalism and expertise as demonstrated in their
writing, you must do so as well through your writing. Your grammar, tone, and dialect can affect your readers’ opinion of
you. Careful attention to these areas of writing can lead your readers to think highly of you, and in the case of your instructors, lead to better grades and good letters of recommendation. However, carelessness in these areas can lead your reader
to dismiss what you have to say, and in the case of your instructors, lead to poorer grades and a reluctance to write letters
of recommendation for you.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
What are mechanics?
What resources are available to help me with mechanics?
What is tone?
How does a writer control tone?
What is style?
Is style fixed?
How does audience affect style?
What is a genre?
How does genre affect style?
What is academic writing?
1. What are mechanics?
Sentence structure, grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation are the mechanics of writing. Well-constructed sentences,
accurate spelling, correct grammar, and appropriate usage and punctuation are baseline skills expected of writers on the
college level, and deficiencies in these areas can detract from a writer’s ethos. It is not necessary to be a complete expert in
the area of mechanics, but you should seek out resources that will help you learn how to edit your drafts.
2. What resources are available to help me with mechanics?
Two resources are available to help you recognize and correct problems with mechanics. One resource is the free tutoring
available at the Learning Assistance and Resource Center (LARC). Tutors will not edit papers for you, but they will help
you identify writing issues and provide explanations and pointers. Appointments at LARC may be made by calling
540-831-7704 or by stopping by 125 Walker Hall during business hours. However, please be advised that appointments slots
at LARC fill up very quickly. Be proactive. If you feel that you may need the assistance of a tutor, sign up early in the semester.
You can also check with the LARC staff to see whether they can refer you to any online tutoring services.
The second resource is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). The Purdue OWL is an extensive web site that will be useful
to you both academically and professionally. Its pages on Mechanics, Grammar, and Punctuation provide links to numerous
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topics under those headings.
3. What is tone?
Imagine a person saying “Thank you” enthusiastically because someone has been a great help. Now imagine her feeling that
someone has not been very helpful. She says “Thank you” politely but without any enthusiasm. She uses a different tone.
In writing as in speech, tone is the attitude a writer adopts toward her subject or audience. An author may, for example, be
solemn or flippant about her subject; or she may address her audience jokingly, as if she were writing to old friends, or seriously, as if she were writing to a potential employer.
4. How does a writer control tone?
Writers may make use of sentence structure, word choice, and punctuation to establish tone. Even capitalization and italicization may be used to convey the writer’s attitude toward her subject or audience. Writers also can convey tone through
careful choice of examples and comparisons, as well as through the use of metaphors and similes. The following examples
illustrate the same idea being conveyed in different tones.
Formal, serious tone:
It takes millions of dollars to incarcerate young people convicted of marijuana possession. We should be concerned
about having to divert resources to deal with this nonviolent offense because we need the funds to improve childhood
nutrition and reduce classroom overcrowding.
Informal, flippant tone:
It only takes millions of dollars to lock up kids caught passing the time smoking weed. Why should we worry about
chump change like that when we don’t have more important stuff to take care of—like, oh, I don’t know—childhood
nutrition and overcrowded classrooms?
5. What is style?
A music composer who favors certain keys, rhythms, and tempos can be distinguished from a composer who favors a different mix of musical elements. Each composer has a style—a characteristic manner of composing.
Writers have styles, too. The elements that help create a characteristic manner of writing include
• vocabulary,
• figures of speech,
• kinds of sentences,
• structures within sentences,
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• sentence length,
• rhythmic patterns, and
• vowel and consonant patterns.
One writer may, for instance, frequently rely on metaphors from nature to explain her ideas. In addition, she may favor linking sentences with the conjunctions “and” or “but,” and within sentences she may like setting up series of balanced phrases.
These characteristic features of her writing would be part of her style.
6. Is style fixed?
A writer or a speaker may adapt her style to get her messages across to a specific audience or within a particular context.
For example, word limits often are placed on entries in handbooks like this one. A writer who would typically include figures
of speech in her writing might find herself editing them out in order to keep from going too far over the word limit. Or a
writer might adjust her style to be more or less formal, depending on the circumstances. Or she might alter her style to
include vocabulary appropriate for a report written by someone in her profession. The style in any piece of writing may be
a mix of elements characteristic of the writer with elements chosen for the occasion.
7. How does audience affect style?
Writers make style choices in order to communicate effectively with an audience. A writer’s awareness of audience may
influence decisions about what examples and arguments to include, as well as decisions about sentence structure, vocabulary, and figures of speech. For instance, a writer whose audience includes music lovers and professional musicians may use
musical metaphors even if she does not usually do so.
A writer will try to determine the background and interests of her audience as she tries to decide how best to communicate
with them. How familiar is the audience with the subject matter? What is the attitude of the audience toward the subject?
How old are the members of the audience? What is their level of education? Is the audience largely made up of members
of a particular industry or profession? What socioeconomic classes are present in the audience? Is the audience predominantly of one gender? The answers to questions like these may help a writer make style choices.
8. What is a genre?
Writing comes in different forms that we call genres. We recognize the existence of a genre when we notice that different
examples of writing all seem to follow the same set of conventions. The different examples of writing will share certain elements of content and may be similar in format, tone, and style. The letter of application is an example of a genre. It follows
a recognizable format, is written in a formal style and tone, and includes content intended to demonstrate a good match
between an applicant and a job. An application letter that did not conform to these genre expectations probably would not
make it very far through the hiring process.
Other examples of genres include grant proposals, research reports, travel brochures, and business prospectuses. In fact,
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everything from a birth notice to an obituary may be considered an example of a genre if it is written according to a set of
conventions.
What is true of writing is true of speaking as well. From the graduation speech to the wedding toast to the
eulogy—audiences will have expectations about content, format, tone, and style of oral communication similar to their
expectations for written communication.
9. How does genre affect style?
Readers’ expectations may be based in part on genre, and a writer working within a genre needs to demonstrate an awareness of expectations or risk alienating an audience. Since one element of genre can be style, the writer needs to make
appropriate style choices.
An example of a writer making style choices to meet genre expectations would be a student using email to communicate
with an instructor. Faculty use university email accounts to perform their professional duties. In terms of genre, faculty may
expect email messages to be closer to business letters than, for example, text messages. Business letters usually include
polite greetings and closings and are written more formally than text messages. Abbreviations, slang, and emoticons that
are common in text messages are uncommon in business letters; and spelling and punctuation that might be left uncorrected in a text message would be corrected in a business letter. The student-as-writer who is aware of genre expectations
like these may communicate more effectively to the instructor-as-audience.
10. What is academic writing?
Like all writing, academic writing is intended for a particular audience and context. The audience for academic writing
includes individuals within the university community, some of them instructors with advanced degrees. Essays, proposals,
laboratory research reports, annotated bibliographies, and article and book reviews are among the genres of academic
writing; and different lengths, formats, and documentation styles generally are specified for each. Authors of academic
writing are expected to familiarize themselves with models and stated expectations (including discipline-specific ones) and
to demonstrate their ability to fulfill them.
In addition to following models and specified guidelines, authors writing for an academic audience should be attuned to
unstated expectations. Academic writing is produced within a community, and any community has shared values and customary ways of communicating. Writers for an academic community need to learn and use academic and discipline-specific
vocabulary. Writers should also develop the ability to use styles, tones, and forms of reasoning and argumentation that are
accepted as appropriate for each academic genre. In many of these genres, for example, the writer is expected to adopt an
objective tone and to rely upon logical argumentation with little or no reliance upon emotional or personal appeals.
References for Opposing Viewpoints
Banus, S. (2013 , April 17). Pet ownership in college can be a full time job. The Tartan. Retrieved from
http://www.rutartan.com/wordpress/?p=5498
CORE 101 - OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS / RADFORD UNIVERSITY CORE HANDBOOK
61
Beck, C. (2006, October 31). One record year is not global warming – Luckily, there are plenty more years to consider.
Grist. Retrieved from http://grist.org/climate-energy/one-record-year-is-not-global-warming/
Diary of a nursing sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915. (1915). Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood. Retrieved
from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18910/18910-h/18910-h.htm
Dudley, B. (2013, July 10). A desperate measure for desperate times. New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/07/09/study-nowpay-later/desperate-times-call-for-desperatemeasures
Gertner, J. (2013, September). Into the wind. Fast Company 178, 92-109.
Gore, A. (2007, March 20). An Inconvenient Truth trailer. YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=wnjx6KETmi4&list=PL2575351FD4F196F6
Hughes, A. and Elam, C. (n.d.). Michelangelo. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Retrieved from
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T057716pg4
Lessig, L. (2004). Free culture: The nature and future of creativity. New York, Penguin.
Lincoln, Abraham. (2008). International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. W. A. Darity, Jr.. Vol. 4. 2nd ed. Detroit:
Macmillan Reference USA, 450-452. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale, p. 451.Murphy, .
Murtugudde, R. (2013, November 27). Climate change needs an elephant whisperer. LiveScience. Retrieved from
www.livescience.com/41578-climate-change-needs-communicators.html
Salzano, J. (2013, April 10). Glitter and glamour: Inside children beauty pageants. The Tartan.Retrieved from
www.rutartan.com/wordpress/?p=5459
States Debate Marriage Rights. (2009, June). World News Digest. Facts On File News Services.
Murphy, L.R. (1991). Enter the physician: The transformation of domestic medicine, 1760-1860. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of
Alabama Press.
Wagner, G., & M. Weitzman. (2013, October 10). Inconvenient uncertainties. The New York Times. Retrieved from
www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/opinion/inconvenient-uncertainties.html.
CORE 101 - ACADEMIC ARGUMENT
ESSAY
Both as a student and as a professional, you may be asked to examine complicated situations and to develop and support
positions that reflect the complexity of the issues involved. For example, if you go into education, you may be asked to
develop and support a recommendation for a remedial reading program based upon a careful analysis of the costs and
impacts of competing proposals. If you go into a medical field, you may be asked to develop and support a recommendation
for the long-term care of a patient who has suffered a catastrophic injury. Whatever field you enter—management, criminal justice, social work, information technology, or any other—you are likely to confront challenging issues that require you
to analyze data and evidence and to report out your conclusions in professional language and according to a professional
format. The Academic Argument assignment is intended to help you develop the writing skills necessary to perform such
an analysis and to report the results.
In the course of this assignment, you will write a thesis-driven essay that articulates reasons and examples that support
your claims. Your objectives as you work your way through this assignment will be to
• make a debatable claim about a topic,
• support all claims with evidence,
• analyze a multifaceted issue in writing, and
• acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others.
Objective 1. Make a debatable claim about a topic.
Central to any Academic Argument is a claim. This section will define this fundamental concept and address related concepts, such as how the claim is reflected in a thesis statement and how it is used to guide the development of the essay. In
particular, this section will answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What is a claim?
When is a claim debatable?
How do I begin an argument essay?
How do I introduce a topic and explain its significance?
How do I use my thesis statement to state a main claim and key supporting ideas at the same time?
How do I use my thesis statement and key ideas to organize my argument?
How do I use my thesis and key ideas to organize my argument when speaking?
What is the purpose of a body paragraph in an argument essay?
How do I structure a body paragraph to support my thesis?
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1. What is a claim?
A claim is an idea—or point—about a topic or issue that a writer or speaker makes in an argument. For example, let’s say
that your topic is social media. Claims about social media might include one of the following:
• Social media help people stay in touch across long distances.
• Social media are hurting the communication skills of young Americans.
• Social media are useful tools for social movements.
• Social media are responsible for “slacktivism.”
2. When is a claim debatable?
A claim is debatable when it says something about the topic or issue that is not common knowledge or that most people
have not generally agreed upon. Once again taking the topic of social media as an example, making the claim that “many
people use social media” would not be debatable. But writing that “social media are hurting the communication skills of
young Americans” would be debatable because the author must prove both that there is a problem with the communication skills of younger Americans and that social media are the cause of it.
3. How do I begin an argument essay?
Many students make the mistake of beginning their essays in overwhelmingly broad or obvious terms. For example, a
student writing about the politics of same-sex marriage might begin a paper by saying, “People have been falling in love
and getting married for thousands of years.” A sentence like this simply postpones the real work of an essay by giving its
audience information that any reasonable person would already know. Students usually write overly vague introductions
because they have been taught to “start broad” and then “narrow their focus.” More experienced writers understand that
everything in an introduction needs to contribute substantially to their argument.
There is no strict formula for composing an introduction, but effective introductions usually do the following:
• introduce the problem or issue;
• explain the problem or topic’s significance to a community that may include the reader;
• make a debatable claim about the topic or issue in a thesis statement, possibly one that includes supporting arguments;
and
• explain how the thesis contributes to the conversation in some way.
4. How do I introduce a topic and explain its significance?
There is no single formula for introducing a topic and explaining its significance, but here are some methods that writers
return to again and again:
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• Providing information or data that draw the audience’s attention to the problem or issue. To present her research on
electric car usage and ownership, Yuliya Chernova writes:
Electric cars are still such a novelty that little is known about their owners and how they use the vehicles. But
recent research is beginning to unlock some of the mysteries. Plug-in vehicles—those that run entirely on battery power or that combine electric and gasoline drives—represent less than 1% of total U.S. vehicle sales, but
in the past three years their numbers have grown rapidly. Sales nearly tripled in 2012 and are on track to nearly
double this year, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association, a trade group. (Chernova, 2013)
• Employing anecdotes that dramatize the problem or issue. Brad Tuttle begins his article, ”The Major Problem with
Cheap Electric Cars,” with the following account:
Mitsubishi is the latest in a long line of automakers to slash prices on an electric car, the unpronounceable, unfortunately named i-MiEV. The model is now the cheapest electric vehicle (EV) on the market, yet it’s still hard to
imagine many drivers excitedly running out to buy one. (Tuttle, 2013)
• Responding to a quotation that addresses the problem or issue in some way. Columnist George F. Will quotes President
Barack Obama to begin his own argument about the United States’ policy on Iran’s nuclear program:
In his disproportionate praise of the six-month agreement with Iran, Barack Obama said: “For the first time
in nearly a decade, we have halted progress of the Iranian nuclear program.” But if the program, now several
decades old, had really been “halted” shortly after U.S. forces invaded neighboring Iraq, we would not be desperately pursuing agreements to stop it now, as about 10,000 centrifuges spin to enrich uranium. (Will, 2013)
5. How do I use my thesis statement to state a main claim and key supporting ideas at the same time?
You can use your thesis statement to state your main claim—the central point of the essay—but you also can use it to forecast the supporting claims that will explain and illustrate the main claim.
Here is a basic thesis statement:
Social media are useful tools for social movements.
This thesis statement, while it could be the main claim of an essay, does not hint at the path you will follow to explain and
illustrate your claim.
Now look at this second, more elaborate thesis statement:
Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been indispensable tools to young activists from Tahrir
Square to Wall Street.
Here the general claim about social media has been made more specific as you have introduced particular examples of
social media and occasions when these media proved to be significant. You have given your readers a clearer picture of
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what the essay will be about.
6. How do I use my thesis statement and key ideas to organize my argument?
While your main claim should guide the entire argument, key ideas included in the thesis statement can be used in topic
sentences to guide your paragraphs.
Using the sample claim, “Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been indispensable tools to young
activists from Tahrir Square to Wall Street,” the argument might be outlined as follows:
1. Introduction: Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been indispensable tools to young activists
from Tahrir Square to Wall Street.
2. Twitter contributed to
1. Arab Spring
2. Occupy Wall Street
3. Facebook contributed to
1. Arab Spring
2. Occupy Wall Street
4. YouTube contributed to.
1. Arab Spring
2. Occupy Wall Street
5. Conclusion: The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements may not have happened without the use of social
media.
In the above outline, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are used to divide the body of the essay into three main sections, and
then those sections are subdivided into Egypt and the United States. Alternately, you could divide the body of the essay
into two main sections—one for Egypt and the other for the United States—and then subdivide by Twitter, Facebook, and
YouTube. The resulting outline would look like this:
1. Introduction: Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been indispensable tools to young activists
from Tahrir Square to Wall Street.
2. Arab Spring
1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. YouTube
3. Occupy Wall Street
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1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. YouTube
4. Conclusion: The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements may not have happened without the use of social
media.
Either of these outlines would be a clear progression from the thesis statement and would help the reader to see how each
key idea furthers the main claim.
7. How do I use my thesis and key ideas to organize my argument when speaking?
A thesis statement that includes key ideas is a useful way to guide organization in both written and oral communication.
Consider the thesis “Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been indispensable tools to young
activists from Tahrir Square to Wall Street.” The audience knows up front that you will cover at least three social media sites
and at least two social movements in your discussion of young activists. They are well prepared for what will be covered in
your speech and will be more likely to follow your argument. Conversely, if you promise these details and skip something,
you are likely to confuse or disappoint your audience.
8. What’s the purpose of a body paragraph in an argument essay?
As with a personal essay, a body paragraph in an argument should be organized around a single point or supporting claim
that furthers the thesis, should be fully developed with evidence (such as an illustration or an example), should contain a
transition from the paragraph that precedes it, and should prepare the way for the paragraph that will follow it.
9. How do I structure a body paragraph to support my thesis?
Many authors use the PIE format to structure their essays. PIE = point, illustration, explanation. The point furthers your
thesis or claim, the illustration provides support for the point, and the explanation tells your audience why the evidence
you have provided furthers your point and/or your thesis.
For example, in his argument against the +/- grading system at Radford, student-writer Tareq Hajj makes the Point
that “Without the A+, students with high grades in the class would be less motivated to work even harder in order to
increase their grades.”
He Illustrates with a quote from a professor who argues, “ ‘(students) have less incentive to try’ (Fesheraki, 2013).”
Hajj then Explains that “not providing [the most motivated students] with additional motivation of a higher grade … is
inequitable.”
Through his explanation, Hajj links back to his claim that “A plus-minus grading scale … should not be used at Radford
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University” because, as he explains, it is “inequitable.” The PIE structure of his paragraph has served to support his thesis.
Objective II. Support all claims with evidence.
Nowadays, it is common to read or hear the statement that “everyone is entitled to his opinion.” It is indeed true that people
are free to believe whatever they wish. However, the mere fact that you believe something is not an argument in support
of a position. If your goal is to communicate effectively, you must provide valid explanations and sufficient and relevant
evidence to convince your audience to accept your position. If you cannot, it may be time to modify that position. In other
words, “everyone is entitled to his opinion, but no one is entitled to have his opinion go unchallenged.” So “challenge” your
opinion by considering how it stands up to the answers to the following questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What are the types of evidence?
How do you decide how much evidence you need?
How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos?
What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
1. What are the types of evidence?
Any essay should provide illustrations for each of its points, but it is especially important to provide reliable evidence when
preparing an academic argument. Evidence for an academic argument can be based on primary source material or data
(your own experience and/or interviews, surveys, polls, experiments, that you have created and administered). Evidence
can also stem from secondary source material or data (books, journals, newspapers, magazines, websites or surveys, experiments, statistics, polls, and other data collected by others).
Let’s say, for example, that you are arguing that college instructors should let students use cell phones in class. Primary
source material might include a survey that asks students if policies forbidding cell phone usage actually stop them from
using their phones in class and/or interviews with professors about what their cell phone policies are. Secondary sources
might include articles about the issue from Faculty Focus or The Chronicle of Higher Education.
2. How do you decide how much evidence you need?
Three important terms are defined in the Opposing Viewpoints section of this Handbook: ethos*, logos*, and pathos*. Writers and speakers are generally most successful with their audiences when they can skillfully and appropriately balance
these three types of appeals, including the appeal to logos, which refers to the evidence and reasoning presented in support
of a thesis. In appealing to the reasoning ability of the audience, an author or speaker might use a combination of different
types of evidence, such as anecdotes, accepted facts, case studies, statistics, and experiments; analogies and logical reasoning; and citation of recognized experts on an issue.
How much of such evidence and reasoning is enough? This question is not always easy to answer. You cannot rely on intuition or on any formula. Rather, you need to become a careful, skilled judge of the quality and quantity of evidence and of
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the reasoning offered in support of claims. In addition, the answer to how much evidence to present will depend upon what
kind of argument you are trying to make.
To review ethos, logos, and pathos, return to the Opposing Viewpoints assignment and read the answers to these questions:
• What is ethos?
• What is logos?
• What is pathos?
3. How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos?
Mapping or diagramming your arguments may help you judge whether you are adequately supporting an appeal that
depends upon evidence and reasoning. Applying the STAR Criteria—Sufficiency, Typicality, Accuracy, and Relevance—is
one such technique for assessing whether your argument has sufficient depth and clarity.
Measure
Sufficiency
Typicality
Accuracy
Question
Examples & Notes
Is there enough evidence cited to
support the conclusion?
Generally, only “strongly” and not “weakly”
supported conclusions should be accepted. The
more controversial a claim is, the more evidence
authors should provide before expecting an
audience to accept it. If the evidence is not
sufficient, the author may need to modify or qualify
the claim, by stating that something is true
‘sometimes’ rather than ‘always’.
Is the cited evidence typical or
representative?
If an author makes a claim about a whole group but
the evidence is based on a small or biased sample of
that group, the evidence is not “typical.” Similar
problems stem from relying just on personal
experiences (anecdotal evidence) and from ‘cherry
picking’ data by citing only the parts that support a
conclusion while ignoring parts that might
challenge it.
Is the cited evidence up to date
and accurate?
Authors using polls, studies and statistics must ask
whether the data were produced in a biased way
and also ask whether the sample was large and
representative of its target population so that
results were outside the ‘margin of error’. (Margin
of error: If a sample is too small or not well chosen,
results may be meaningless because they may
represent random variation.)
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Relevance
Is the cited evidence directly
relevant to the claim(s) it is being
used to support?
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An author may supply lots of evidence, but the
evidence may support something different from
what the person is actually claiming. If the evidence
is not relevant to the claim, you may need to modify
or qualify the claim—or even to acknowledge that
the claim is indefensible.
4. What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
The last element of the STAR criteria is Relevance. The evidence you are considering as potential support for your claims
may be related in some way to the issue you are discussing, but you must ask yourself whether it actually serves to prove
your claims or to disprove the claims of those who disagree with your assertions—in other words, whether it is relevant.
The difference between ‘relevant’ and ‘related’ can be illustrated by the claim that
College instructors should let students use cell phones in class.
Relevant support for that claim would be
surveys by yourself or others that show that strict policies prohibiting cell phones do not discourage students from
using them.
You could use that relevant information to argue that
instructors should instead consider finding ways to incorporate smart phones into their teaching methods, for example, by asking students to use a student response app on their phones during class.
Evidence that is related, in this case, might include sources on
laptop or tablet usage in class. Neither your argument nor your claims focus on the use of those devices. However, in
cases where specific information about cell phone use is unavailable, this related material might still provide useful
information. You may be able to argue by analogy, suggesting that student use of laptops or tablets may parallel student use of cellphones.
Objective III. Analyze a multifaceted issue in writing.
The popular news media tend to present every issue as an either/or argument: Democrat vs. Republican; right vs. wrong;
Mac vs. PC. Such divisions do make information easy to digest and categorize. In academia and in the professional world,
however, people strive to unearth the complexities in every argument. Every issue you will encounter in these settings is
multifaceted—many-sided—and will prompt more questions than answers. A primary way in which academics and professionals make sense of this complexity is through writing. As John C. Bean (2011) has argued, writing helps us to develop
our critical thinking skills and communicate our ideas effectively (p. 4). These two skills are essential in every discipline and
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profession, so it is important that you begin to develop them early on in your college career. The following sections will provide you with some principles for engaging complex subjects in writing by answering the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Why is it important to be able to analyze an issue?
What kinds of things should I consider when analyzing an issue?
How do I identify the different people involved in an issue?
How do I identify the facts of an issue?
How do I identify what is at stake in an issue?
How do I conclude an argument?
1. Why is it important to be able to analyze an issue?
Strong critical thinking skills help you to make better decisions personally and professionally. Your critical thinking skills
will be put to the test every day of your life, whether you are preparing a proposal at work, deciding which candidate to
vote for, or choosing which type of car to buy. It is in your best interest, then, to develop your critical thinking skills as much
as possible.
In addition to the personal and professional benefits, thinking critically also has social benefits. Frequently, you will find
yourself in positions where you may wish to convince people that your ideas are worth considering. You may speak or write
to encourage a transformation in your community or to help others better understand an issue you find significant. Regardless of whether you want to find alternative sources of energy, explain the role of gender in popular culture, or improve
parking on campus, you will need to communicate effectively, showing that you understand the topic at hand and illustrating how your ideas contribute to the conversation.
2. What kinds of things should I consider when analyzing an issue?
In order to understand an issue thoroughly, you will need to analyze the different facets of the issue: namely, the facts of
the issue and what is at stake and the people involved in the conversation,. You will need to identify their various opinions,
the reasons given for those opinions, and the attitudes and beliefs that underlie those opinions.
Questions to consider include these:
• What reasons do people give in support of their opinions? To what extent are those reasons backed up by reliable facts?
• What kinds of philosophies or belief systems underlie particular opinions on an issue? To what extent is there room for
compromise between different perspectives?
• What are the consequences or implications of different perspectives or opinions on an issue?
• Which opinions (if any) do you agree with? What is convincing about the opinions that you agree with? What is
unconvincing about the opinions that you disagree with?
• What new and unique perspective, opinion, or approach can you add to the conversation?
• How does your own opinion or your own perspective impact the way you respond to viewpoints on an issue?
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3. How do I identify the different people involved in an issue?
Usually, any complex topic features multiple stakeholders: people who have an interest in or are affected by the outcome
of decisions revolving around the issue. One of your goals as a student or a professional will be to identify the main parties
involved. As you read a text, ask yourself:
• Who are the different individuals or groups involved?
• What are the interests of these individuals or groups?
• What opinions have been stated or arguments made by the individuals or groups?
• Who are the different individuals or groups affected by decisions about this issue?
• What are the interests of each affected individual or group?
• What opinions have been stated or arguments made by affected individuals or groups?
• Does the bias or agenda of any of the above stakeholders weaken the credibility of their arguments?
• Are the authors of any of the sources you are using associated with any individuals or groups that could be considered
stakeholders? Does that association weaken the credibility of those sources?
When trying to identify the different people involved in an issue, it can be very helpful to take notes on the people or groups
cited by the author. Write down what each person or group says about the topic and compare their positions.
The following example from CNN.com illustrates an issue with numerous stakeholders:
Since news first broke about the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, people began wondering how something so horrible could happen. Within a few hours, before the magnitude of the tragedy was fully known, reports
began to surface that the shooter, Adam Lanza, was autistic or had Asperger’s syndrome in addition to a possible personality or anxiety disorder such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. … However, national autism organizations cautioned against speculation about a link between violence and autism or Asperger’s. (Falco, 2012)
It is relatively easy to determine the stakeholders in the above quotation. While the most obvious are the alleged shooter,
the victims, their families, and of course, anyone concerned with preventing violence in schools, Falco’s article provides
insight into two other groups of people who have interest in the shootings: mental health professionals and those with
mental conditions. The rest of the article lists the opinions of experts, who argue against a link between those with Autism
Spectrum Disorder and violence.
4. How do I identify the facts of an issue?
When identifying the facts of an issue, a good place to start is with recently-published sources that strive to be as objective
as possible. For more on evaluating sources for their accuracy and relevance, see the sections of this Handbook that answer
these questions: How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos? and What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
After you find several sources that meet proper standards for reliability and accuracy, look for aspects of the issue on which
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all or most of your sources agree, or try to find those aspects that nobody contests. The information that you gather as a
result of this process will help you construct a baseline that you can use as you examine and evaluate the arguments of people with various positions on the issue.
5. How do I identify what is at stake in an issue?
Good writers always ask themselves the questions “so what?” or “why should people care about my ideas?” It’s the writer’s
job to articulate what’s at stake in his writing, and it’s the reader’s job to understand what’s at stake. Sometimes, writers
can be very straightforward, leaving little room for mistaking or overlooking what is at stake. Writing about how a scandal
involving the British banking system can affect her audience, Denver Business Journal writer Heather Draper declares,
A global scandal involving London-based Barclays bank and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) may seem
like a distant problem, but it could affect Denver taxpayers. (Draper, 2012)
While Draper clearly states that a problem in one part of the world can affect a community thousands of miles away, other
writers are less explicit. Take, for example, the following editorial from The Roanoke Times, which talks in general about the
significance of a relatively minor compromise in the U.S. House of Representatives:
The level of comfort most Americans are feeling over the budget deal approved by the House of Representatives last
week speaks more to the national hunger for boring but stable governance than to the brilliance of the compromise
itself. Compromises, of course, are not designed to tickle anyone’s fancy. Their beauty lies in the aversion of more sorrowful consequences. Those consequences are well-known, lurking not in the imagination but in our collective shortterm memory. October’s government shutdown and near miss with the menace of a credit default visited harm on the
nation’s economy and its good name. (“A small but significant deal”, 2013)
Though not as explicit as Draper’s article, the editorial from The Roanoke Times argues that Americans’ happiness with the
budget deal is an indication of how much they have come to expect partisan fighting and a shutdown of the United States
government in October, 2013.
6. How do I conclude an argument?
Concluding an argument has some things in common with concluding a personal essay, so start by reviewing How do I
conclude a personal essay? As with the personal essay, you want the conclusion to grow naturally out of the ideas in the
paragraphs that preceded it, and you want to avoid bringing up new issues not previously covered in the essay. Specific
strategies that worked for the conclusion of the personal essay may work for an argument as well, such as returning to
something, such as a question, from the beginning of the essay or speech in order create a sense of closure.
One very natural move to make in the conclusion is to show why the argument matters. What is the significance of the issue
that has been the subject of the argument? What are the implications for stakeholders, who may include members of the
audience? Will their lives be impacted, for better or worse, by facets of the issue that is under debate?
Another natural move to make in the conclusion is to advocate action. What steps should be taken by stakeholders, their
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representatives, or society as a whole? Would it be wise for society to invest in research and search for a solution to a problem identified in the argument? Are there changes people should make in their lives? Are there political or social reforms
stakeholders should be advocating? Should individuals or groups be taking steps to get involved in a political process or a
social movement?
Showing why the argument matters and proposing actions are ways to “conclude” while at the same time encouraging the
audience to continue thinking about the issue that has been the subject of the argument.
Objective IV. Acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others.
Arguments take place in the context of real world situations, and each situation affects a wide range of people. These people can be considered stakeholders—individuals who have an interest in the outcome of an issue—and they may be part of
your audience. To help you communicate with stakeholders, this section will answer two questions:
1. Why is it important to acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others?
2. How do I acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others?
1. Why is it important to acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others?
Like you, stakeholders* have needs and wants, and like you, they will want to be heard. In order to achieve your goals, you
need to be able to work with these stakeholders to see how both your goals and their goals can be achieved. Working with
them requires that you communicate to them your willingness to listen to them, just as you hope they will be willing to listen to you.
When you’re studying a situation in order to develop an argument, then, you need to figure out who is affected by the situation and how they are affected. Consider the following questions:
• Who are the people who benefit from the current situation?
• How are people who benefit likely to be affected by any changes?
• Who are the people who are harmed?
• How are people who are harmed likely to be affected by any changes?
• How do your priorities match up to those who benefit?
• How do your priorities match up to those who are harmed by the current situation?
2. How do I acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others?
After you have analyzed the different facets of an issue you will be ready to respond with your own perspective. Remember
that the purpose of scholarly writing or speaking is to participate in a larger conversation. To be an ethical—and effective—participant in that conversation, it is important for you to thoughtfully and respectfully acknowledge the views of
other people, whether you agree with their positions or not.
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• Acknowledge the philosophies or belief systems that underlie the views of other people. Show that you understand that
it is legitimate for people to have approaches, beliefs, and priorities different from your own.
• Show that you have read and understood other people’s opinions by careful and accurate use of sources.
• Show that you are fair and respectful by avoiding loaded or biased language when you paraphrase or summarize the
opinions of others.
• Consider directly quoting key statements to show that you are willing to let other people “speak up” even if you
disagree with them in whole or in part. Be careful to quote accurately and to avoid placing the quotations in a context
that might create a misleading impression.
• Show readers that you are not afraid to let them consider other points of view by using documentation to help them to
locate sources that contain opinions different from your own.
Having accurately and ethically represented the positions of others, you are now ready to present and explain your own
position. In fact, by acknowledging opposing viewpoints, you are actually preparing yourself to write the strongest argument possible. Acknowledging opposing positions in advance allows you to respond to those positions and decreases the
likelihood that your audience will think of a challenge to your argument that will be left unanswered.
References for Academic Argument
A small but significant deal. [Editorial]. (2013, December 16). The Roanoke Times. Retrieved from
http://www.roanoke.com/opinion/editorial/2451620-12/a-small-but-significant-deal.html
Bean, J. C. (2011). Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom. 2nd ed. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
Chernova, Y. (2013, September 23). Who drives electric cars? A close-up look at a small but fast-growing group of Americans. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/
SB10001424127887324123004579055112450200336
Draper, H. (2012, July 20). LIBOR scandal may cost Denver schools money. Denver Business Journal. Retrieved from
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/print-edition/2012/07/20/libor-scandal-may-cost-denver-schools.html
Falco, M. (2012, December 19). Groups: Autism not to blame for violence. CNN.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/
2012/12/17/health/connecticut-shooting-autism/index.html?iref=allsearch
Tuttle, B. (2013, December 7). The major problem with cheap electric cars. Time. Retrieved from
http://business.time.com/2013/12/07/the-major-problem-with-electric-cars/?hpt=hp_t5
Will, G.F. (2013, December 8). Nuclear “containment” least worst option in Iran. The Boston Herald. Retrieved from
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/op_ed/2013/12/nuclear_containment_least_worst_option_in_iran
CORE 102
CORE 102 - INTRODUCTION
CORE 102 will reinforce the writing skills that were emphasized in CORE 101. At the same time, the course will formally
introduce research, oral communication, and critical thinking skills that will be important for your academic and professional success.
In CORE 101, your instructor may have expected you to speak as a part of your class participation. CORE 102 will step up
oral communication expectations by asking you to develop and deliver a speech that probably will be more structured and
longer than any of the speeches or comments that you were asked to make in the earlier course. You also will be asked to
carefully examine another person’s speech. To help you on both these assignments, the Handbook includes advice on public
speaking.
In CORE 101 you probably were asked to write using sources that your instructor assigned you to read. Now, you will be
guided toward locating reliable sources appropriate for developing and supporting an argument. You will demonstrate that
you can locate such sources through effective use of the search tools and techniques covered in the Handbook.
In CORE 101, when you were challenged to support a thesis statement, you were taking the first step toward the study of
good reasoning. Now, for CORE 102, the Handbook introduces concepts that will allow for a closer look at the reasoning in
arguments. You will apply these concepts to critiquing arguments, but also to creating one.
These ongoing and new skills are reflected in the list below from the official university syllabus for CORE 102. There, the
course is described as one in which students learn about
• the rhetorical principles* that inform successful oral and written communication;
• key concepts in argumentation including informal fallacies;
• research as inquiry, using both print and digital sources to gather information on a topic;
• evaluation of the quality of information; and
• use of information as evidence to support arguments.
In order to accomplish these goals, you will complete four major projects:
• a narrative about your research,
• an argument based on that research,
• an analysis of a speech given by someone else, and
• a speech that you will develop and deliver.
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The CORE 102 section of the Handbook is organized by these projects. The first part is devoted to the Research Narrative,
the second to the Researched Argument, the third to the Speech Analysis, and the fourth to the Informative Speech.
*rhetorical principles: When you set out to use language to influence listeners or speakers, you want to make use of rhetorical principles—that is, you want to be aware of what communication methods will be the most effective. This means thinking about what will work for a particular message delivered to an actual audience in a specific context.
CORE 102 - RESEARCH NARRATIVE
For this project, you will reflect upon the various strategies you used, the insights you gained, and the obstacles you
encountered during the process of researching and writing a Researched Essay.
The specific skills that this assignment will help you develop are the ability to
• create a research question,
• create a search strategy,
• identify keywords, synonyms, and related terms,
• use non-subject-specific databases appropriately matched to the target assignment, and
• apply critical reasoning in critiquing claims made by experts, media, or other sources of information.
Your instructor may ask you to turn in your finished Research Narrative after you complete the Researched Argument, but
that does not mean that you only work on the Research Narrative after completing the Researched Argument. Concepts
that you need to grasp in order to develop the Researched Argument are introduced under the Research Narrative heading. Basically, you need to be keeping notes and writing reflections for the Research Narrative as part of the process of working toward your Researched Argument.
Objective I. Create a Research Question.
Research starts from the impulse to find the answer to a question. It comes from the need to know something that you
don’t already know. It might be the solution to a particular kind of problem, the knowledge that satisfies curiosity about
something, or an explanation that clears up a point of confusion. Research may be set in motion by anything from the wish
to determine whether a particular car would be both reliable and affordable, to the need to make a well-informed choice
between treatment options, to the desire to cast a meaningful vote in a presidential election.
You likely will be assigned research in courses beyond CORE 102, so one purpose of this assignment is to help you develop
skills that you can rely upon throughout your university career. However, as the examples in the previous paragraph suggest, research may called for whenever a person needs the answer to a question. This section is therefore intended to help
you learn how to develop effective research questions not only within the classroom, but also for personal and professional
reasons.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is research?
Why should I do research?
What is the research process?
How do I pick a topic?
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6.
7.
8.
9.
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What is background research?
Are there topics I should avoid?
What is a research question?
How do I create a research question?
What are some examples of effective and ineffective research questions?
1. What is research?
At the college level, research is much more than simply ‘looking up’ information. If you want to know the capital of Myanmar
or what year George Washington died, you can simply Google that question and quickly find an answer. That’s not research.
True research is more like a hunt for clues. You have an interest in a topic, and then, like the detective Sherlock Holmes, you
will poke around and discover evidence that helps you learn more about your topic. A good research paper does not simply
summarize what other people say about your topic, but brings together sources in a new way in order to answer new questions or solve new problems.
2. Why should I do research?
We do research because we have questions that we want to answer. Those questions may be personal, such as:
• What kind of car should I buy?
• What do I have to do in order to become an athletic trainer?
Or the questions could be more academic:
• How did the Civil War affect the economy of the United States in 19th Century?
• What is the best way to treat a patient suffering from gluten intolerance?
Ultimately, the questions will be professional:
• What impact will the proposed development have upon traffic in this neighborhood?
• Which of these three software packages will best suit the needs of my company?
• Does this individual qualify to be certified as a foster parent?
Whether your questions are personal, professional, or course-related, research is valuable for the following reasons:
• You will learn about your topic and improve your understanding of it by locating information on the topic from reliable
sources.
• You will reach conclusions and form opinions that you can trust and defend.
• You will strengthen the ethos and logos of your writing. By citing high-quality sources and using reliable data, you
demonstrate to your reader that your conclusions and recommendations should be taken seriously.
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3. What is the research process?
When you get a research assignment, you may think the process is linear—that you proceed in a straight line: choosing a
topic, finding some sources, writing a paper.
In fact, the process is much messier. Yes, you start with a topic, but that topic often evolves or changes as you conduct your
research. You may realize that your topic is too broad or too narrow or that you really are more interested in Y than in
X. When you actually start writing your paper, you may discover that you need additional sources beyond those you had
already found or that you need to cover an additional subtopic that you hadn’t realized was important at the beginning of
the project.
Reversing course (and even restarting) does not mean that you are doing something wrong. Instead, this start-stop-returnand-redo process is essential. In fact, scholars and professional writers rely on the same process.
More than the topic may change during the research process. Your understanding develops as you learn things that you
didn’t know before. You may form opinions about subjects you never considered before, or you may change opinions that
you held previously. It is for these reasons that the research assignment places such emphasis on the importance of asking
questions at the outset of the process. The research process does not begin with the certainty that you know what you will
find, and you may find yourself following a roundabout route before you are satisfied that you have reached sound conclusions about your topic.
4. How do I pick a topic?
Students often report that picking a topic is the hardest part of a research project, but do not be intimidated if you are
called upon to decide what to write about. Instead, find ways to make sure you choose a topic that can be developed into a
project that you find interesting. You may be working on the project for several weeks, and no doubt during that time you
will prefer writing about a topic that appeals to you rather than one that does not.
Sometimes a course will have a theme to which your topic should relate; sometimes the instructor will throw it open to any
topic of interest to you. Whichever is the case, one or more of the strategies below may help you settle upon a topic:
• Look through the course syllabus and the readings, including assignments for future class meetings. A unit or the topic
for a week or a particular reading may catch your eye.
• Connect the course theme to something you care about, such as a hobby or your potential major. For example, if you are
taking a course about diet and nutrition and you are planning to be a teacher, you could research ways to promote
healthy eating to kindergarteners. If you are interested in reality television, you could develop a research question
about food-related shows such as Top Chef.
• Do background research to uncover possible topics. Reference tools like Wikipedia may not be suitable as formal
sources for academic or professional research projects, but you can use them to orient yourself at the beginning of a
project—to identify what is controversial, significant, or engaging about a topic in order to help you decide whether to
pursue it and how to begin defining it.
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5. What is background research?
Background research involves looking at sources that will give you an overview of your topic but that you won’t necessarily
rely upon directly in your final paper. You may be hesitant to take the time to look at such sources because they may not
‘count’ towards your paper. That is, you probably won’t cite them or include them in your list of sources. But looking at encyclopedia entries, Wikipedia, and general interest websites will give you a better handle on your research project at the very
beginning, when you are trying to orient yourself to the topic.
Background research can help you identify the main issues relevant to a topic. It also can help you determine what vocabulary, people, places, and events are associated with a topic. These terms can then be used to search databases and catalogs
in order to locate sources that you can rely upon directly and that will be cited and listed in your bibliography
Background research also can help you recognize what is common knowledge about a topic. Being able to identify common
knowledge, and determining whether your audience will be familiar with this knowledge, may help you decide how much
space you need to spend on certain information. Being able to identify common knowledge also will help you distinguish
what you need to cite from what is so well known that no one particular source deserves credit for the information.
Background research, then, helps you see the “big picture” and makes it easier to accomplish many necessary tasks: from
choosing a topic to locating sources, from deciding what information to include to documenting your use of sources.
6. Are there topics I should avoid?
Your instructor may have a list of ‘forbidden topics’. Often these are topics that are so overdone that not much is left to add
to the conversation. Abortion, gun control, marijuana legalization, the dangers of tanning beds—these topics may appear
on lists of overdone topics. These topics also are often so complex that it’s difficult to write effectively about them in a
5-7 page essay. If you are very interested in pursuing a topic that has been written about frequently, you can talk to your
instructor about finding a creative and manageable way to approach it.
Before you settle on a topic, it’s a good idea to confirm that research on it is available. Students in the past have struggled
with topics that are very current. Because research takes a while to be published, an event that happened in the last few
months may not have much written about it. Topics that are very local in nature, such as ghost stories about Radford University, also could be challenging because very little may have been published.
You still may be able to write on these topics, though. You could use articles about urban legends at universities in general;
or for a current event, you could look at the historical context. Ask your instructor for advice, and consult the instructional
librarians, who are available to answer questions in person or via phone, email, or messaging.
7. What is a research question?
Once you have chosen a topic as a starting point and have done some background research, you are ready to zero in further
by developing a research question. A research question is a focused, clear, and arguable question that will be at the center
of your project.
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A research question is a better approach than having just a general topic for two main reasons:
• First, asking a question will help you enter the research process with an open mind, and without an open mind, any
“research” you do will be simply going through the motions.
Let’s say you would like to buy a car and decide to do some research before making a purchase. If you set out already having
decided that you want to buy a particular make and model, then you will only search for information that supports a decision that you have already made. The “research” will have been a waste of time and effort. On the other hand, if you start
by asking, “Which car has the features that I want for a price that I can afford,” then you are likely to uncover information
that you were unaware of before you began researching vehicle options.
• Second, a research question may help you refine your topic so it is manageable. In CORE 102, you may be writing papers
that are only 5 to 7 pages long. That’s not nearly enough space to fully explore a broad topic like “obesity in children” or
“violence and video games.” Entire books have written about these issues, so for a much shorter piece of writing, you
will need to focus on something specific—in other words, something that you can do justice to in the limited space and
time that is available.
8. How do I create a research question?
Background research is again your friend. It will help you answer preliminary questions like the ones below, and the
answers to the preliminary questions will help you zero in on an even more specific research question.
• Why is the topic significant? Who or what is affected?
• To whom is the topic important?
• Why is the topic controversial?
• What issues do people raise as they debate the topic?
• What proposals have been made in response to the issues?
• What arguments have been raised for the proposals?
• What arguments have been raised against the proposals?
Imagine a biology class in which one topic is stem cell research. As a topic, stem cell research is huge—much too big a subject
for a 5-7 page paper! But if you do some background research, you will discover information about techniques for creating
stem cells, about current attempts to use stem cells to treat disease, and about the people who may benefit from stem cell
therapy. Having learned these facts, you can formulate a research question, such as “How have researchers responded to
federal restrictions on the use of fetal stem cells?”
Ideally, you will come up with a number of possible research questions, and then you will be able to ask yourself what question will allow you to explore the aspect of the topic you personally find most interesting.
Once you have settled upon a research question, keep in mind that your project may evolve over time. As discussed in
an earlier section, change is part of the research process. Do not be surprised, then, if you find yourself modifying your
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research question from the one you started with. As the project—including the research question—evolves, be certain to
check in with your instructor to make sure you stay on track for the assignment.
9. What are some examples of effective and ineffective research questions?
Ineffective: Is obesity in children harmful?
This ineffective research question is unclear. What is the definition of “harmful”? This question is an invitation to a catalogue of vague and sweeping generalizations about how obesity is ‘bad’.
Effective: What school programs result in the greatest decrease in obesity among elementary school children?
This effective research question is clear. It specifies a category of children (elementary school age), identifies a particular
agent of change (the schools), and pinpoints an action (programs for decreasing obesity).
Ineffective: Do violent video games make people violent?
This ineffective question is unfocused. This area of research has thousands of articles and many books; you could never do
it justice in a short paper or presentation.
Effective: Do violent video games desensitize teenagers to violence?
This effective question is focused. It narrows the topic down to a specific outcome (desensitization) and a specific audience
(teenagers).
Ineffective: Should Americans eat healthier?
This question is ineffective because most people would find the issue not worth arguing about. Most members of your
audience would say that, of course, Americans should eat healthier.
Looking at it from your point of view, would answering this question help you learn something that you don’t already know?
Like asking whether obesity in children is harmful, the question calls for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, and from the start of the project you would know that the answer is ‘yes’.
Effective: Would a tax on soda lead to decreased obesity in Americans?
This effective question is open to argument. Would taxing soda really decrease the amount of junk food Americans consumed, or would Americans find equally unhealthy alternatives to soda? Or would the soda manufacturers find ways
around such a tax law? The question about taxing soda is worth exploring.
Objective II. Create a search strategy.
You will be most effective at research if you start with a plan for carrying out your project. The following two questions will
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help you develop plans that can be used for nearly any library research project you are assigned, either for a college course
or as part of your professional responsibilities.
1. What is a search strategy?
2. How do I create a search strategy?
1. What is a search strategy?
A search strategy is your research plan. It describes how you go about find the sources for your paper. A search strategy
should answer the following two questions.
• What tools will I use to search for sources?
There are different types of sources, and the tools you use will depend upon what type of source you are trying to locate.
Being able to choose and make use of the most appropriate search tool is major element in successful research.
• What words and phrases will I use as I search for sources?
You need to come up with a list of words and phrases to use with the tools that you select. Generally, at the outset of a
project you want to search using keywords. These are words or phrases that you believe are likely to turn up in relevant
sources.
The phrase “research plan” suggests that a search strategy is something you devise at the outset of a project. Remember,
though, that research projects may evolve. So, too, may research strategies. Be prepared to change your search strategy—to return anew to generating keywords, to trying different search tools—as you refine your search question or discover that additional subtopics must be addressed.
2. How do I create a search strategy?
Once you have a research question, make note of important keywords and phrases. Some of those keywords will be found
in the question itself.
Research question: How does pet therapy help children with autism?
Keywords and phrases: pet therapy, children, autism
Here is where background research comes in handy, too. As you were settling upon your research question, you probably
became familiar with a number of words and phrases that may be useful as additional keywords. Refresh your memory by
revisiting sites, and even search out additional sites. For the example above, you could add terms like “therapy dogs” and
“therapeutic horseback riding” to the list of keywords. Include “animal assisted therapy” as a possible keyword, and make
a note of the fact that “Asperger’s syndrome” is a term related to “autism.” Background research also will help you start to
identify the names of key organizations and experts with relevant knowledge.
Along with developing a list of keywords, determine what tools to use by familiarizing yourself with resources at the
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library—its staff and its shelved and online collections. Your search strategy should include paying a visit to the library’s
homepage. From there you can search the library catalogue and its databases to find books and articles on your topic. Your
strategy should also include consulting with the instructional librarians either in person or via computer or phone. The
instructional librarians can offer suggestions for searching effectively and can answer questions about how to access material, whether it is shelved in the library, accessible via full-text database, or available via interlibrary loan.
Another part of your strategy should be using each source to identify additional sources. Take note of newly discovered
keywords and phrases and use them to re-search the library catalogue and databases. In addition, pay attention to the documentation in each source. The citations and reference lists may identify other articles and books you can use.
Objective III: Identify keywords, synonyms, and related terms.
Effective library research begins by identifying the words and phrases that librarians and other information managers use
when referring to your topic. This section will help you to develop lists of words that you can use in a variety of online search
engines. Specifically, it will offer answers to the following three questions:
1. What are keywords?
2. How do I choose keywords?
3. How do I build up a bank of search words?
1. What are keywords?
Keywords are terms that you plug into a search engine in order to find information about a topic. If you have been using a
search engine to locate information on the web, you have been using keywords without even thinking about it. Every time
you use Google or a similar search engine, you enter one or more words that you believe are essential to your topic and
likely to lead you to a website that will answer whatever your question is.
You also are used to refining your keyword searches. That is, you have had the experience of entering terms into a search
engine and getting results that were not exactly what you were looking for. At that point, you entered alternative or additional terms or combinations of terms, and you continued to do so until the results led you to helpful sites.
For academic and professional searches, the trick to finding good search terms is to figure out what words are used by
experts on a topic—what terms will they consider essential. Searching with those words will lead you to the most useful
information.
2. How do I choose keywords?
Choosing keywords is a bit like Goldilocks figuring out where to sleep. In the fairytale, she wanted a bed that was not too
soft and not too hard but just right. Similarly, if your keyword is too broad, then your search returns too many hits, most of
which won’t apply to your topic. If your search term is too specific, you won’t find enough sources to use.
You already may have looked at developing a list of keywords as one element in the answer to the question “How do I create
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a search strategy?”. In addition to those pointers, you may find it useful to make use of one resource in particular as a means
of identifying potential keywords: Wikipedia pages related to your topic. Wikipedia is useful at the keyword stage because
it both provides an overview of a topic and furnishes lists of words and phrases associated with the topic. Suppose you were
posing a research question that in some way touched upon nuclear weapons. Looking at Wikipedia pages would provide a
lot of useful background information about nuclear weaponry but also a lot of terminology associated with the topic. These
terms often are bolded or in the form of web links which can lead you to pages with additional keywords.
Wikipedia may be useful at this stage of your research to orient yourself and to identify keywords that will help you locate
sources. However, you may not want to make direct use of Wikipedia as a source for the finished project. Before you make
any direct use of Wikipedia or similar tools, be certain to check with your instructor as to whether such use would be appropriate. If you use Wikipedia as a source for a finished project without the permission of your instructor, the project grade
may suffer.
For a discussion as to why Wikipedia may not be acceptable as a direct source, go to the question “What is a tertiary
source?”
3. How do I build up a bank of search words?
When you’re using an online catalog or database, how much you find will depend on the words or combination of words you
enter into the search box. It’s always a good idea to come up with as many keywords as you can think of before you begin
searching the catalog or database so that when you’ve found all the entries for one term, which may not be very many at all,
you are prepared to type in another keyword and carry on searching.
You already may have read some suggestions for generating a list of keywords in the answer to “How do I create a search
strategy?” under the previous objective. In addition, try the technique below to help you develop a list of keywords:
• Write down your topic in a word or phrase.
• Write down as many synonyms for the topic as you can think of.
• Answer the question “Who are some famous people associated with this topic?”
• Answer the question “What organizations and businesses are associated with this topic?”
• Answer the question “What publications or other media outlets cover news about this topic?”
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Objective IV. Use non-subject-specific databases appropriately
matched to the target assignment.
Students sometimes attempt to rely on Google as their sole method for finding information. Google is fast and easy to use and generates a huge number of hits. The high
number of results is actually a problem, though. Anyone who uses Google knows what
it’s like to wade through thousands of options to find a few useful, quality sources. You
can become a more efficient searcher by using library resources to help you separate
the quality sources from the trash: sources that are biased, irrelevant, or just plain
wrong. This section will help you understand the way that McConnell Library and its
staff can help you research more effectively. It will provide answers to the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is a library database?
What is the library catalog?
What is SuperSearch?
How are SuperSearch and the library catalog different from Google?
Why should I use a library database?
How do I get help with library research?
1. What is a library database?
A library database is a searchable collection of articles, books, or other media. Each item is indexed by an expert who tags it
with subject headings. In some databases, summaries or descriptions of sources are provided as well. These summaries or
descriptions may be very useful in helping you determine whether particular sources will be suitable for your project.
McConnell Library pays hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for over 250 databases. These subscriptions provide
you with full-text access to resources that you would have to pay for out of your own pocket if you relied upon Google
alone—assuming of course, that you even discovered that the resource existed.
Most databases tend to specialize in a particular discipline: ERIC is for Education, PsycINFO is for psychology, CINAHL is
for nursing. The library also subscribes to a number of general interest databases, like Academic Search Complete. Think of
the general interest ones as the Walmarts of databases: you can get a little bit about just about everything in them. If you
want to do more extensive searching or if the project is in your major, then look towards the ‘boutique’ databases: the ones
that were tailored specifically for your field.
Please note that if a database returns a hit that is not full text, you may still be able to access the source via Interlibrary
Loan. This service is both free and simple to use. When your search of a database turns up a source that is not owned by
the library or is not available on line, you can bring up an interlibrary loan request form that has the necessary information
pre-entered. With only a few keystrokes, your request will be submitted to the interlibrary loan staff.
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2. What is the library catalog?
On the McConnell Library homepage, choose “Catalog” is you want to limit your search to books, DVDs, or CDs that are
part of the McConnell Library collection. For the most part, these are objects that are housed physically in the library building. In addition, a search of the McConnell Library catalog will locate e-books on your topic. The catalog can be searched by
keyword, but also by title, author, or subject (the formal library classification).
If you also wish to locate articles in journals or periodicals, your starting point probably will be a tool called SuperSearch,
which also is available on the library homepage.
3. What is SuperSearch?
SuperSearch is available for the McConnell Library homepage. When you use SuperSearch, entering a word or phrase into
a single box allows you to simultaneously search most of the library’s electronic and print collections. In one step, you can
search the articles, books, DVDs, CDs, and e-books in the McConnell Library catalog while at the same time searching the
majority of databases subscribed to by the library.
SuperSearch is an excellent starting point for a research project. It is helpful when you are not certain which specialized
database to use, and it is useful when you are researching a topic that cuts across disciplines so that you need to consult
more than one database.
To help you make the most of this tool, the library has an online guide for using SuperSearch.
4. How are SuperSearch and the library catalog different from Google?
Google is a free service that indexes websites from around the world. A Google search retrieves sites from individuals,
organizations, governments, corporations, etc. This indexing is done by computers, not people, allowing Google to be much
bigger than any library database.
A Google search allows users to access websites whose owners are eager for traffic, such as companies who want to reach
potential customers. However, because Google (and Google Scholar) are free services, users have limited access to the full
texts of copyrighted articles that must be paid for by someone. Under the current system, publishers charge libraries millions of dollars every year for subscriptions to those articles, and if they were available online for free, the publishers would
go out of business.
Google is great for background research, for accessing older books and articles that are no longer copyrighted, and for
accessing reports from the government or corporations; it is less useful for current articles and books—in other words,
Google is less useful for accessing the most up-to-date noncommercial sources.
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5. Why should I use a library database?
Google can provide great information but some of its results point users to information that may be outdated or not appropriate for academic use. If the library databases are either Walmarts or boutique stores, think of Google as the biggest yard
sale in the history of the world. If you have patience, a lot of time, and a discerning eye, you likely will eventually find some
worthwhile items—books and articles that are the equivalent of the rare finds featured on Antiques Roadshow. However, if
you just choose the first few websites you run across, chances are that the quality of your sources will be uneven.
The library has an annual budget of $1 million. The librarians use these funds to purchase or subscribe to the best possible
sources, both online and in print. You still need to evaluate the sources you find through the library, but on the whole the
quality and appropriateness of these sources tends to be better than the quality and appropriateness of sources returned
by a Google search.
6. How do I get help with library research?
The library reference desk is staffed by instructional librarians: friendly experts who are happy to assist you. The desk is on
the main level in the middle of the building. You can stop by personally, make an appointment, call, e-mail, IM, or text for
help.
• Phone: 540-831-5696
• E-mail: [email protected].
• SMS/text 5403182235.
• IM via chat box embedded on the library website or through instant messaging:
AIM: RULibSpot
Yahoo: RULibSpot
MSN: [email protected]
Objective V. Apply critical reasoning in critiquing claims made by experts, media, or other sources
of information.
When you’re conducting research, it’s not enough to find sources. The sources have to be quality sources: ones that provide
correct information and are appropriate for your topic. This section will show you how to evaluate the quality of your
sources and how to take notes from them that will be useful as you write an essay and prepare a speech. It will provide
answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
How do I know if a source is credible?
How do I know if a source is appropriate for my project?
Who is an expert?
How do I decide if someone is an expert?
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5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
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How do I decide if someone’s expertise is relevant?
How do you know if you should trust the expert?
What is bias?
How can I read all my sources?
Why should I take notes?
How does note-taking help me to understand a text?
Which aspects of the text should I consider when taking notes?
How does good note-taking help me to avoid plagiarizing?
How should I approach taking notes?
What strategies are available to me when taking notes?
1. How do I know if a source is credible?
A credible source is one that you have reason to rely upon. One way to determine whether a source is credible is to apply
the concept of ethos. Is the source trustworthy? Is it authoritative? Is it fair?
Questions like the following can help you judge the whether a source is trustworthy, authoritative, and fair.
• Is the source published in a scholarly journal or by a reputable press?
• Is the author an expert? What is her educational or professional background?
• Does the author cite expert sources?
• Does the author cite up-to-date sources?
• Is the author familiar with different opinions?
• Does the author accurately report arguments with which she does not agree? with?
The concept of logos also is useful for determining whether a source is credible.
• Does the source rely upon rational arguments?
• Does the source rely upon relevant evidence?
• Does the source rely upon sufficient evidence?
Finally, consider the role that pathos plays in the source:
• Is the source’s reliance on emotion kept within reasonable proportions?
• Does the source use emotion without being manipulative?
2. How do I know if a source is appropriate for my project?
To determine whether a source is appropriate for this project, you should be able to answer ‘yes’ to the following questions:
• Is the source credible?
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• Is the source geared toward an academic audience?
• Does the source add to what I already know about my topic?
3. Who is an expert?
An expert is someone with substantial experience and also, typically, formal education in a particular field of study.
Whether or not experts are highly educated, they use what training they have on a daily basis, building up experience over
time.
A focus on a particular field of study is a necessary element in the development of expertise. Nobody can become an expert
in everything. Instead experts specialize in an area that interests them, learning as much as they can and building up their
experience in that area.
Keep in mind that no matter how highly educated and experienced a person is in one field, that doesn’t make them an expert
if the issue at hand is outside his area of expertise. For example, you wouldn’t see a neurologist for the treatment of skin
cancer; nor would you want your dermatologist to treat a broken spine.
4. How do you decide if someone is an expert?
When you’re evaluating someone’s expertise, you’re judging that person’s credibility, including her ethos. Why is that person worthy of being accepted as an authority on a particular topic? You start to answer this question by evaluating her credentials:
• What is her highest degree?
• Was her highest degree earned at a respected university?
• Is her education in the same field of study as the topic she is discussing?
• How much professional work experience does she have?
• Is her work experience in the same field of study as the topic she is discussing?
For this project, you are generally looking for a level of expertise that includes a graduate degree (master’s or doctorate) in
an area of study that is relevant to the topic. If the person has a graduate degree but the degree and her professional experience are unrelated to the topic, then the person is not necessarily an expert. In any field, a layperson is someone who is
considered to be a ‘man-on-street’ without particular authority or expertise on a topic. A neurosurgeon is an expert when
it comes to brain cancer but a layperson when it comes to rocket science because her education and experience are unrelated to that topic.
5. How do you decide if someone’s expertise is relevant?
A person’s field of study and experience are crucial in determining whether someone’s expertise is relevant to your project.
Dr. Linus Pauling was a very well-known scientist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. He was definitely an
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expert in chemistry, with graduate degrees and extensive experience in that field. However, there came a point in his life
where he began promoting Vitamin C to treat cancer and prevent the common cold. In spite of the PhD that entitled him
to put a ‘Dr.’ in front of his name, he wasn’t a medical doctor, and medical doctors viewed his advocacy for Vitamin C as mistaken, misguided, and harmful to the people who believed him and took high doses of the vitamin.
When you evaluate your source’s ethos, think about what field of study most directly applies to the issue you are researching. Does the person you are evaluating have a strong education in that field? If the educational credentials are good, has
the person been using them as part of his or her professional work? If the answers are ‘yes’, then you probably can rely upon
that source. If the answers are ‘no’, then his or her opinion is no better or worse than a layperson’s.
6. How do you know if you should trust the expert?
A hallmark of a trustworthy expert is the willingness to pursue the truth. Trustworthy experts don’t let themselves be
swayed by biases, their own or those of other people. They don’t rely on opinion. Instead they rely on valid, well-designed
research studies, and they acknowledge any limitations or flaws in the studies they use.
7. What is bias?
The word bias refers to a slanted view of an issue, one that ignores facts that would be inconvenient to the person holding
that view. Bias results when someone becomes financially or emotionally invested in a particular situation. They are less
interested in finding out the truth than they are in having their existing opinion be confirmed as correct.
Having a financial interest in an issue is a frequent source of bias. In the late 1990s articles in medical journals promoted
Oxycontin as a less addictive alternative to other narcotics for the treatment of pain. The journal articles appeared to
describe very respectable medical studies, but the acknowledgements revealed that the studies were paid for by Purdue
Pharma, the drug company that manufactures Oxycontin. Since the company sponsoring the studies had a financial interest
in the outcomes, the medical studies may have been biased as a result. We may not know for certain that the funding caused
the studies to be biased, but we should always be concerned when we notice that the sponsor or author of a study has a
financial interest in the results.
Other times people may be biased because of their belief systems. Beliefs—religious, political, or philosophical—may be
held like cherished possessions, regardless of whether the beliefs are supported by sound reasoning and evidence. Some
people would rather deny facts and reject reasoned challenges rather than modify their beliefs because they are emotionally invested in those beliefs.
8. How can I read all of my sources?
Students often think that the proper way to read a source is to start at the beginning and slog through to the end. Effective
researchers, however, employ various reading tactics in order to cover large amounts of material in the most economical
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way possible. After all, it is obvious that you can’t read ten books, in their entirety, in order to write a 5-7 page paper that is
due in two weeks.
Fortunately, scholarly books and articles are organized in a way that makes partial use possible. Make use of that organization to streamline the reading process.
• At the beginning of each book, use the table of contents to identify chapters most relevant to your project.
• At the back of each book, use the index to look up keywords, synonyms, and related terms in order to locate pages most
relevant to your project.
• In scholarly articles, look for section headings that point to the material most relevant to your project.
9. Why should I take notes?
Note-taking is an invaluable strategy that can help you
• identify important ideas,
• identify ideas that you need to clarify,
• identify the way in which one source responds to another,
• determine whether you need to seek additional sources, and
• document your sources.
In order to take good notes, you need to slow down and read actively. In other words, you need to mark or write down
important ideas and make note of any questions you have.
Some students rely heavily on highlighting as a form of ‘note-taking’. However, if you highlight, remember that you have
only flagged passages that may be important; you have not actually sorted out the ideas in the passages. Highlighting
alone does not put you closer to summarizing main and supporting claims, comparing ideas across sources, or making note
of issues that need to be clarified by locating additional sources. In these respects, highlighting hardly qualifies as ‘notetaking’.
10. How does note-taking help me to understand a text?
One of the objectives of CORE 101, the course preceding this one, was to help students develop their ability to “analyze a
multifaceted issue in writing.” The introduction to that section of the Handbook described how the act of writing can help
us focus our thoughts about a subject. We may think that we understand something but then find ourselves unable to put
our ideas about it into words—and if that is the case, do we truly understand?
Taking notes can be a form of writing like any other; writing the notes forces us to put a source’s ideas into terms that we
can understand. Oftentimes, we may realize that the notes we have taken don’t adequately represent the text’s ideas. Then
we know that we need to try again, testing out different words or phrases until we feel comfortable that we truly grasp the
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material.
11. Which aspects of the text should I consider when taking notes?
Most obviously, it’s important to understand what the text is saying:
• What is its main claim or thesis?
• What are its supporting claims?
• What evidence is offered in support of its claims?
• How do the claims or arguments relate to the claims/arguments in other texts I have read?
In addition, consider what aspects of the text are most important for you as a researcher. Think about how the text relates
to your own work and ideas.
• Which ideas or evidence might help me clarify my own thinking?
• Which ideas or evidence could I use to develop my own argument?
• Which ideas do I agree with in full?
• Which ideas could I accept with qualifications?
• Which ideas might I to challenge?
12. How does good note-taking help me to avoid plagiarizing?
You may want to browse the web in order to get ideas about a topic before you write about it, and in fact earlier in this section of the Handbook browsing the web was recommended as a way of coming up with a list of keywords. However, if you
aren’t careful about noting where you have obtained information, you may end up forgetting where you found it. Without
realizing it, you may even type sentences or portions of sentences that you have read online. You may then find yourself
in a very difficult situation—perhaps even facing charges of plagiarism and academic misconduct. To avoid such a situation,
record full information from all websites you visit:
• specific words, ideas, and facts as you encounter them,
• the name of the page,
• the sponsor or author of the page,
• the name of the site if the page is not a homepage,
• the URL or address,
• the date the information was posted, and
• the date you accessed the page.
Similarly, from the very start, keep good records about the articles and books that you locate in databases. Do not promise
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yourself that you will go back later to gather the necessary information. At best, you are wasting time retracing your steps;
at worst, you may not be able to relocate one or more sources.
As you write your paper, be sure to cite all sources immediately after you make use of them. If you keep good notes, citing
as you write should be easy; and it safer and more efficient than the alternative. The problems you may run in to if you fail
to cite at once are similar to the ones you will encounter if you do not keep good notes in the first place: at best, you waste
time going back through your sources; worse, you may not be able to relocate the passages you were relying on; worst of
all, you may have to answer to plagiarism and academic misconduct charges.
Another problem that may occur if you fail to take cite immediately is that you will forget or overlook a section of your
paper that should have been documented. If you cannot relocate the passages you were relying on or if you forget to cite
sections altogether, the paper grade likely will be lowered as a result. Again, you may have to answer to plagiarism and academic misconduct charges.
Another issue to consider as you take notes is the need to carefully distinguish between your words and the words of your
source. If you quote, clearly label the material as quoted and place it within quotation marks. These steps will eliminate the
possibility that you will mistake quoted material for paraphrases of your own creation.
Finally, when you paraphrase, make certain that the ‘paraphrase’ is not itself a form of plagiarism. To avoid plagiarizing
under the guise of ‘paraphrasing’, review these sections under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment in CORE 101: “What
is effective paraphrasing?” and “When does paraphrasing become plagiarism? Under the same assignment, you may also
find these sections helpful:
• What is plagiarism?
• Why should I cite?
• How can I avoid plagiarism?
13. How should I approach taking notes?
Think about which approaches you would like to use when taking notes. You may want to experiment with different ones
in order to figure out which approaches work best for you. Some of the possibilities to consider:
• Should I read a hard or electronic copy of the document?
• Should I write in the margins?
• Should I underline?
• Should I highlight?
• Should I rely upon a mix of underlining and highlighting and writing in the margins?
• Should I copy quotations at length?
• Should I take notes by creating a separate page or file than the original?
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Whatever approaches or techniques you adopt, always include the correct and complete documentation in your notes so
that you won’t have to hunt for it later when it’s time to cite the source in your paper and document the source on your
reference page.
14. What strategies are available to me when taking notes?
Several strategies exist for taking notes, and you may want to consider two in particular.
One helpful strategy is keeping a “double-entry journal.” In the double-entry journal method, you draw a vertical line down
the center of a blank page. To the left of the line you quote or summarize important ideas from the source, including the
page number where you found that idea. To the right of the line, you list your responses and reactions to those important
ideas, which may include answers to these questions:
• What strikes me about the ideas in this source?
• How are the ideas in this source similar to ideas I have encountered in other sources?
• How are the ideas in this source similar to ideas of my own?
• How are the ideas in this source different to ideas I have encountered in other sources?
• How are the ideas in this source different to ideas of my own?
• How might I use or respond to the ideas from the source in my own essay?
With especially difficult sources, the “reverse-outline” can be a helpful note-taking strategy. A reverse outline emphasizes
the organizational structure of the text. In this approach, you either utilize the margins of the text or draw a vertical line
down the center of a separate page (like in the “double entry journal” method). Then, follow these steps:
• Locate and either write out or underline the main argument or idea of the essay.
• Move paragraph by paragraph through the essay.
• On the left side of each paragraph, concisely paraphrase its topic.
• On the right side of each paragraph, explain how it contributes to or supports the main idea of the essay. Does stating
the main idea? Support the main idea? Explore the significance of the main idea?
Like the double-entry journal, the reverse-outline encourages active reading in which you sort out the ideas of the source.
In addition, the reverse outline also is an excellent strategy to use with your own work—a way to take stock of what you
have and determine what needs to be moved, clarified or elaborated upon, or deleted.
CORE 102 - RESEARCHED
ARGUMENT
For this project, you will use a variety of sources to write a paper answering a research question on a complex topic. The
objectives of this project are to help you develop or reinforce your ability to incorporate a variety of appropriate sources
into an essay that contributes to a complex conversation,
• write a thesis statement that attempts to distinguish your ideas from a number of perspectives,
• find examples and other types of evidence to support a claim,
• identify both your own and others’ biases with regard to the topic,
• locate appropriate sources, and
• create references correctly.
One question you may have is how the Researched Argument will differ from the Academic Essay assigned in CORE 101. As
the name implies, the Researched Argument will require you to locate and incorporate multiple sources in order to respond
to others’ argument and to build your own. Broadly speaking, a Researched Argument is longer and less based on personal
opinion and common knowledge. In addition, it may require the use of sources that are more technical or sophisticated
than the sources used in the Academic Essay. Moreover, instead of being a report on a topic, the Researched Argument is
a contribution to a conversation about that topic. In other words, a Researched Argument adds something to an ongoing
discussion, instead of simply repeating information that you have obtained from other sources.
Many of the skills that you will need to complete the Researched Argument have been discussed in the section on the
Research Narrative. This overlap is deliberate; from the beginning of the research process you have to be familiar with
certain concepts so that you can write about them as you go along. In some cases, therefore, you will be referred back to
the Research Narrative to review concepts relevant for both that project and the Researched Argument. You also will be
referred back to concepts and skills that you worked with in CORE 101 that continue to be relevant in CORE 102 (and will
continue to be relevant in CORE 201 and 202 as well).
Objective I. Incorporate a variety of appropriate sources into an essay that contributes to a
complex conversation.
At a university, you take courses in many different departments—in fact, in many different colleges, from COBE to CVPA.
With courses taught in so many different departments and colleges, it may be natural to fall into the habit of looking at
assignments in isolation from other assignments. It also may be natural to fall into the habit of looking at assignments as
being isolated from the world at large.
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In the case of the researched argument, you may find yourself unconsciously assuming that all you need to do is locate some
sources that back up your opinion, document them, and turn in your report. But a well-constructed argument happens in
the context of a conversation. A well-constructed argument both presents the existing discussion about a topic and asserts
the writer’s opinion within the context of that discussion. It answers those who have already spoken and anticipates the
responses of those who might read the argument and join in the conversation as it continues to evolve.
To help you participate in the conversation necessary for the creation of a Researched Essay, this section will answer the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is a complex conversation?
How do my sources contribute to a discussion?
How can I identify an author’s motives?
How can I identify an author’s intended audience?
How can I identify a source’s place within an ongoing conversation?
How do I distinguish between sources of opinion and sources of information?
1. What is a complex conversation?
You should think of your researched argument not only as a conversation but as a complex conversation. Many people will
have participated in the ongoing discussion; many people will participate in the discussion in the future. You need to consider and respond to these multiple voices, with their multiple points of view. If you are fair and open minded, you will consider all viewpoints, even those with whom you disagree at the outset. After listening to all participants in the conversation,
you may back one side or another, argue for a compromise, or even contribute a new perspective that no one has yet recognized or acknowledged.
2. How do my sources contribute to a discussion?
Your sources are themselves arguments. Even if they seem to only provide information, they ‘argue’ for the value of that
information by offering it within the context of an ongoing conversation. You can get at that ‘argument’ and the context in
which it takes place by asking yourself two questions: What motivates the writer or speaker? Who is her audience?
3. How can I identify an author’s motives?
If your source is a written one, try to determine the author’s reasons for writing the article. You may be able to find clues
from where it was published. What other articles are available at the same location? Does the mix of articles imply anything
about the author’s interest in an issue or her position on it? Additionally, is information provided about the publisher or
about the author that might provide clues as to the author’s motives? The answers to these questions would be considered
external clues—evidence found outside the article that may shed light on the author’s interest in an issue and her position
on it.
In addition to external clues, look for internal ones. The author’s language and the examples and explanations that she
chooses to include in the article can hint at her motives. Be alert to an author’s stated motive for writing an article, but also
try to recognize implied values and unstated assumptions.
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If your source is a speech, make use of the same kinds of internal and external evidence. Where was the speech given? What
does that fact tell you about the speaker’s motives for delivering the speech? What does the writer’s choice of language,
examples, and explanations tell you about her interest in an issue or her position on it?
4. How can I identify an author’s intended audience?
You should likewise rely on both external and internal clues as you try to determine who the author’s intended audience
is. Once again, pay attention to where the article was published. What are the characteristics of readers who likely would
be interested in the articles published alongside the source? And once again pay attention to the language, examples, and
explanations chosen by the author. For what audience would these choices be most appropriate? The author may identify
her audience directly; if not, the external and internal clues mentioned above may allow you to deduce who she was writing
for.
If your source is a speech, make use of the same kinds of internal and external evidence. Where was the speech given? What
does that fact tell you about the speaker’s audience? What does the writer’s choice of language, examples, and explanations
tell you about her audience?
5. How can I identify a source’s place within an ongoing conversation?
As you research a particular topic, you may soon find that sources directly refer to other sources. Start with a recent source
to see what people are currently saying about an issue. Pay attention to what the source you’re reading has to say about its
own sources, and look for those sources. Arrange the sources so you can read them in chronological order. That will show
you how the discussion has developed over time. After you’ve read several voices in the discussion, you will start to see
what you can bring to the conversation that others haven’t already said.
6. How do I distinguish between sources of opinion and sources of information?
Your textbooks may appear to focus on conveying information, and you may not have been accustomed to viewing them as
persuasive or as being part of an ongoing conversation. If your textbooks have seemed to have only one purpose—to provide information—you may tend to see all your sources as having that same purpose. As a result, you may be tempted to
approach your sources in only one way: as storehouses of information that you can withdraw from in order to furnish support for your argument.
However, in many sources the goal is not to provide information but to express support for a particular point of view or
action. Those sources may be better used as sources of opinion rather than information. Sources of opinion shape the discussion about the topic. They help you recognize the issues, the arguments, and the positions and alert you to the various
actions that people are advocating.
Because sources of opinion are by their nature biased, do not assume that the information they contain is accurate or complete. After all, the authors may have included only the information that they hope will support their point of view. But they
will tell you a lot about what people think and believe about the topic and so are good places to look for arguments and
for attempts at persuasion. In contrast, sources of information will present the facts that have been uncovered through
research and may say very little, if anything, about how those facts should guide decision-making.
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Objective II. Write a thesis statement that attempts to distinguish the student’s ideas from a
number of perspectives.
One of your goals for this assignment is to consider the ideas of others and to develop your own argument in the context
of those ideas. Your thesis statement can play an important role in helping you place your ideas within the context of other
people’s ideas.
To begin accomplish this goal, begin by reviewing three sections of the Handbook that lay the foundation for considering
multiple perspectives. You will find these earlier sections in the CORE 101 portion of the Handbook. One will be under the
Opposing Viewpoints assignment, and the other two will be under the Academic Argument Essay assignment:
• How Do I Begin an Argument Essay?
This section includes the advice that an effective introduction to an argument essay will generally explain the problem or
topic’s significance to a community, as well as explain how the thesis contributes in some way to a conversation.
• How Do I Introduce a Topic and Explain Its Significance?
Among the strategies that are discussed here are providing information or data that draw an audience’s attention to a problem or issue, employing anecdotes that dramatize the problem or issue, and responding to a quotation that in some way
addresses the problem or issue.
• How does an author signal that she is using a source?
The section discusses how a writer or speaker can signal that she is using a source by mentioning the source or its author in
at least one sentence. Such a direct mention of the source or its author is called an attribution. The section further suggests
that attributions can help an audience tell the difference between sentences that summarize a source’s viewpoint and sentences that represent the viewpoint of the author who is making use of a source as he develops his own argument. See also
How does a writer signal that she is finished using a source?
After you have reviewed these three sections, read the answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What techniques for handling sources can help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can summarizing help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can paraphrasing help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can quoting help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
How can attributions help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
What words and phrases can I use to show how my ideas compare with another person’s ideas?
How can I use adverbial clauses to show how my ideas compare with another person’s ideas?
How can I position my thesis to make use of a summary, paraphrase, or quotation to show how my ideas compare
with the ideas of others?
9. How can I word my introduction and thesis to make use of words, phrases, and clauses that show how one person’s
ideas compare with the ideas of others?
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1. What techniques for handling sources can help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
One step in showing how your ideas compare with the ideas of someone else is to accurately represent those ideas. You
have three methods that you can use to represent someone else’s ideas: summary, paraphrase, and quotation. If you use
one or more of these techniques to accurately represent the ideas of others, you will be in a position to respond to those
ideas: either by embracing them, rejecting them, or modifying them.
In addition to using summaries, paraphrases, and quotations, you can use attributions to signal to listeners and readers
when you are using sources so that they can easily distinguish between your ideas and ideas from your sources. You also
can apply words and phrases that exist just for the purpose of showing the relationships between sentences, and you can
construct introductions to your sentences that signal that you are comparing a source’s ideas with your own ideas.
2. How can summarizing help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
When you summarize, you are attempting to provide your audience with an overall grasp of the content of either the source
or a substantial portion of the source. What is the thesis or main claim of the selection? What are the supporting claims?
What types of evidence are offered in support of the claims?
One way to think of a summary is as a global representation of an argument, one that does not attempt to capture the fine
details that would be visible if you zoomed in on a ‘map’ of the source.
Use in-text citations to document summaries. If you are summarizing the entire source, include only the author’s last name
and the year the source was published. If you are summarizing a portion of the source rather than a source as a whole, point
your reader to the section that you are using. You may do so by using the in-text citation to point the reader to a range of
pages or, more informally, by referring to a chapter title or section title within the summary.
3. How can paraphrasing help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
When you paraphrase, you have made the decision to ‘zoom in’ on a particular passage in the source. You have decided that
specific paragraph(s) or sentence(s) are highly relevant to your argument, either because they support your perspective or
because you want to contrast them with your own ideas.
You may have been told to ‘put it in your own words’ when you paraphrase. Keep two things in mind when you consider the
meaning of the phrase ‘your own words’. First, the phrase does not mean that you must avoid using the fundamental vocabulary of a field or profession. For example, if you are paraphrasing a passage on genetic engineering, you don’t have to come
up with a way around using words such as ‘nucleus’ or ‘DNA’. If you are to successfully enter into a conversation, you need
to share the vocabulary used by other participants in the discussion.
Second, sentence structure falls under the heading of ‘your own words’. That is, you are not paraphrasing if you preserve
the sentence structure of the original passage and simply swap out certain words. The sentence was still created by someone else, and you would in fact be plagiarizing. Even if you replaced every word in the original with synonyms, you would be
plagiarizing if the structure of the original sentence still remained.
When paraphrasing, the best approach is to remind yourself that you are trying to convey your best understanding of what
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a passage says. Focus on ideas rather than sentences. Carefully read until you are confident of your grasp of the ideas, then
close the book or the computer window and do not look at it as you write down your understanding of the passage. If you
go back to compare your paraphrase with the original, do not compare wording against wording; compare idea against idea.
Since a paraphrase is based upon a specific passage, be certain to use a parenthetical citation to point your readers to the
location of the original.
To make the best use of paraphrases, review the answers to these questions under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment in
the CORE 101 section of the Handbook:
• What is a paraphrase?
• When should I paraphrase?
• What is effective paraphrasing?
• When does paraphrasing become plagiarism?
• How do I use signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases?
4. How can quoting help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
When you quote, you have decided that for some reason it is necessary to preserve some of a source’s exact wording. Perhaps the exact wording
• helps you capture the tone of the discussion,
• helps you capture the character or background of a participant in the discussion,
• helps you capture the nature or significance of the issue, or
• must be captured because the meaning of a term or phrase is what is in fact under discussion.
Below is an example of a quotation that is intended to signal to the reader that the issue being discussed is very important:
“For those of us who support the judicious use of familial DNA searching in the US, this case is the Holy Grail we’ve
been searching for,” says Frederick Bieber, a medical geneticist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School” (Cerretani, 2010, para. 3).
Since a quotation is taken from a specific passage, be certain to use parenthetical citations to point your readers to the passage’s location in the source.
Keep these guidelines in mind when you quote:
• Have a good reason to quote.
• Quote no more than necessary.
• Work the quotation into a framework provided by your own sentences.
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• Properly document any quotations.
To make certain that you are quoting appropriately and effectively, review the answers to these questions under the
Opposing Viewpoints assignment in the CORE 101 section of the Handbook:
• What is a quotation?
• When should I quote?
• How long should a quotation be?
• How do I use signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases?
• How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence?
• How do I make a quotation work with the grammar of my own sentence if I am not quoting a complete sentence?
• What punctuation should I use with quotations?
5. How can attributions help me show how my ideas compare with the ideas of others?
A summary or paraphrase may be faithful to the ideas in the original, and a quotation may be well chosen, but those qualities will not be enough to guarantee that you are making good use of your sources. A summary, paraphrase, or quotation
must be placed within a framework created by one of your sentences. An attribution provides one such a framework. An
attribution directly references a writer or a speaker (or the title of a source, if the author is unknown). Below is an example,
with a basic attribution in red:
“For those of us who support the judicious use of familial DNA searching in the US, this case is the Holy Grail we’ve
been searching for,” says Frederick Bieber, a medical geneticist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School” (Cerretani, 2010, para. 3).
Notice that Cerretani has done much more than identify the speaker by name. She has also taken the opportunity to provide background information that suggests that the speaker is a credible source. The entire attribution consists of “says
Frederick Bieber,” plus the information that he is “a medical geneticist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School.” Cerretani is strengthening the credibility of her own argument by demonstrating that it is built upon the ideas of distinguished professionals in the field.
6. What words and phrases can I use to show how my ideas compare with another person’s ideas?
Some words and phrases exist to allow writers and speakers to show how ideas are related to other ideas. In fact, I am using
an example of such a phrase by beginning this sentence with “In fact.” These words and phrases may signal that a sentence
introduces
• an example (for example, for instance)
• an additional argument in support of something (additionally, in addition, also, furthermore, moreover),
• an idea or an example similar to one previously stated (likewise, similarly),
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• a conclusion to a line of reasoning (consequently, in conclusion, therefore, thus),
• an idea or an example that contradicts something or calls it into question (but, however, on the other hand,
nevertheless).
These and similar words and phrases can be used to signal your take on a source, including whether you agree or disagree
with its ideas. In the example below, a writer differs with the comments that a political figure made about vaccination and
uses the word however to signal his disagreement:
No virus respects privacy, however, so public health is never solely personal….
(Specter, 2010, p. 62)
7. How can I use adverbial clauses to show how my ideas compare with another person’s ideas?
An adverbial clause is built around a subject paired with a verb (= clause) and provides a sentence with background information (= adverbial). You can use an adverbial clause to introduce an idea from a source into your sentence. You can then
use the remainder of the sentence to state your own idea.
In the following example, a writer refers to someone else’s idea—that it is hard to define good writing—before stating her
point that it is possible to identify the qualities that detract from good writing.
Although it is difficult to describe all the qualities that make a truly excellent piece of writing effective, it is not difficult
to point to the flaws in a substandard piece of student writing.
(Needell, 2014, para. 2)
In the next example, news coverage about “teleschooling” on snow days receives a response from a writer who presents a
parent’s point of view:
While we continue to find ways to keep students studying even while snowed in, we must also put muscle into legislation that forces businesses to grant parents the option to work from home when weather shuts down schools, and
prohibit the penalizing of caregivers who must miss work when their kids are home on those days.
(Johnson, 2014, para. 5)
Notice the word “Although” at the beginning of one example and the word “While” at the beginning of the other example. A
number of words and phrases may be used to introduce adverbial clauses into sentences. Below are some of them:
• although
• while
• as long as
• because
• even though
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• if
• in order that
• provided that
• since
• though
• unless
• until
• when
• while
8. How can I position my thesis to make use of a summary, paraphrase, or quotation to show how my ideas compare
with the ideas of others?
The introduction to an argument can provide context for the conversation into which you are about to enter. Use summary,
paraphrase, or quotation—or a mix of these techniques—to let your audience know what the issues are. After surveying
what has been already been said on the subject, you can position your thesis statement as the latest contribution to the
discussion.
Below is an example of this strategy. The sentences in red provide background by summarizing arguments on one side of
the issue of animal testing. The sentences in blue represent the response of people supporting the use of animals. The last
sentence, in red, is the thesis of the article that follows.
It has been suggested that several alternative technologies, including computer modeling, micro-dosing, and MRI
scanning, will eventually replace the use of animals in medical research. Strong incentives exist to develop research
models that do not require animals. Animal testing is expensive, and researchers are required by law to explore alternatives. However, animal testing does provide significant benefits that are not easily replicated. While alternative
technologies will reduce the reliance on animals for testing, they cannot replace animal testing altogether.
(Speaking of Research, 2013, para. 1)
9. How can I word my introduction and thesis to make use of words, phrases, and clauses that show how one person’s
ideas compare with the ideas of others?
In the example below, you can see three points at which the language reminds us that an article is part of a conversation in
which ideas will be compared.
It has been suggested that several alternative technologies, including computer modeling, micro-dosing, and MRI
scanning, will eventually replace the use of animals in medical research. Strong incentives exist to develop research
models that do not require animals. Animal testing is expensive, and researchers are required by law to explore alter-
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natives. However, animal testing does provide significant benefits that are not easily replicated. While alternative
technologies will reduce the reliance on animals for testing, they cannot replace animal testing altogether.
(Speaking of Research, 2013, para. 1)
“It has been suggested that” plays a role similar to that of an attribution. This phrase clearly signals that the ideas being
summarized belong to someone other than the author.
The word “However” signals that the author has some reason to disagree with the ideas that she has just summarized.
The adverbial clause “While alternative technologies will reduce the reliance on animals for testing” signals what ideas the
author will accept from her sources as she prepares to make her own contribution to the discussion: that animal testing
cannot be completely replaced.
See also the examples in How does an author signal his opposition to a source’s opinion? under the Opposing Viewpoints
assignment in the CORE 101 section of the Handbook.
Objective III. Find examples and other types of evidence to support a claim.
In order to achieve this objective, you need to revisit the knowledge and strengthen the skills that were first introduced for
the Academic Argument assignment under CORE 101. You can do so by reviewing the answers to these questions:
• What are the types of evidence?
• How do you decide how much evidence you need?
• How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos?
• What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
The differences between CORE 101 and 102 when it comes to using examples and evidence likely will be that you are
expected to
• use more evidence and example,
• use a different mix of the types of evidence,
• use more sources for your evidence and examples,
• use a different mix of sources, and
• locate those sources on your own.
Objective IV. Identify one’s own and others’ biases with regard to the topic.
To achieve this objective begin by reviewing the answer to this question under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment in
CORE 101:
• How do I identify an author’s assumptions?
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Next, return to the Research Narrative and review the answer to this question:
• What is bias?
Both these sections focus on recognizing bias in a source. For the Researched Argument, however, you must take your
examination of bias one step further by identifying your own biases. Consider the following questions about recognizing
your own biases:
1. Why is it important for me to identify my biases?
2. What is confirmation bias?
3. How do I avoid confirmation bias?
1. Why is it important for me to identify my biases?
It is important to recognize your biases because they may interfere with your ability to make the best use of your sources.
You do not want to reject a credible source or overlook important arguments or evidence because they are not consistent
with your biases.
2. What is confirmation bias?
To make the best use of your sources, be alert to a mental habit called confirmation bias. This phrase refers to the tendency
of people to notice and accept evidence and arguments consistent with their pre-existing attitudes, beliefs, and positions.
The flip side of confirmation bias is that people will overlook or reject evidence and arguments not consistent with their
pre-existing attitudes, beliefs, and positions. Unfortunately, people generally are not conscious that their use of sources
may be affected by confirmation bias.
3. How do I avoid confirmation bias?
There are two ways to avoid confirmation bias. One is to start your project with a question that you must answer instead
of with a conclusion that you set out to support. To remind yourself of how a research question can help you keep an open
mind, review the answer to What is a research question? in the section of the Handbook devoted to the Research Narrative.
The second way to combat confirmation bias is to ask questions about yourself that are similar to questions that you might
ask about your sources.
• Do I have an opinion on this issue?
• Do I have feelings about this issue?
• Do I have a stake in the outcome of the issue?
• Do I have political views that influence my opinions or feelings about this issue?
• Do I have religious views that influence my opinions or feelings about this issue?
• Do family members or friends influence my opinions or feelings about this issue?
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• Do personal experiences influence my opinions or feelings about this issue?
• What assumptions do I have about what is most important when it comes to this issue?
• What assumptions do I have about whose needs should take priority when it comes to this issue?
Once you have identified the factors that may bias your approach to your sources, repeatedly remind yourself to put them
aside so that you can give a fair hearing to all the arguments and evidence and not just the ones that are consistent with
your pre-existing attitudes, beliefs, and positions.
Objective V. Locate appropriate sources.
Because you must document the process you follow to locate sources, you will find the information you need to meet this
objective under the following questions in the Research Narrative section of the Handbook:
• What is a search strategy?
• How do I create a search strategy?
• What are keywords?
• How do I choose keywords?
• How do I build up a bank of search words?
• What is a library database?
• What is the library catalog?
• What is SuperSearch?
• How are SuperSearch and the library catalog different from Google?
• Why should I use a library database?
• How do I get help with library research?
• How do I know if a source is credible?
• How do I know if a source is appropriate for my project?
• Who is an expert?
• How do I decide if someone is an expert?
• How do I decide if someone’s expertise is relevant?
• How do you know if you should trust the expert?
You should also review, as appropriate, the answers to these three questions under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment
in the CORE 101 section of the Handbook:
• What is a primary source?
• What is a secondary source?
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• What is a tertiary source?
Objective VI. Create references correctly.
Documentation was introduced in CORE 101 under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment, but like many skills, it should be
revisited and reinforced. The following questions ask you to think about why bibliographies or lists of references are important as well as how you should go about formatting references.
1. Why should I provide references?
2. What format should I follow for my references?
3. Do I need to memorize the format for my references?
1. Why should I provide references?
When you view a document on the web, you will probably notice links embedded in it—words highlighted by color or by
underlining that, when clicked, take readers to additional sites. These sites may be sources that the original document is
based upon or is reacting to. They may be sources that the document’s author thought readers would be interested in visiting in order to further read up on a topic.
These links are simply a modern twist on the old practice of documenting sources by providing bibliographies or lists of references. Authors point toward their sources both as a service to their readers and as a means of strengthening their ethos
by demonstrating that they are familiar with relevant information and important ideas.
2. What format should I follow for my references?
On the web, when readers click on a link, they don’t expect it to be a broken one that leads to a dead end or a “page
not found” message. Similarly, you need to make certain that you provide complete and accurate information about your
sources so that your readers can access them. Over the years, formats have been created for that very reason. These formats or styles guide the writer toward capturing necessary information and organizing it in a way that is clear and easy to
follow. Formats may differ by field or profession, but despite differences in detail, they all try to help readers find sources.
In University Core A courses, generally you will be asked to use APA style for formatting both your in-text citations and the
references in your list of sources. For a review of the APA format, read the following sections under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment in the CORE 101 section of the Handbook.
• What is APA?
• How do I format references?
• What do I do if my source differs from the basic pattern for a reference?
3. Do I need to memorize the format for my references?
Be able to recognize the basic requirements for a format, but do not feel as if you need to memorize every detail.
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First, the most effective way to master the basic format is to use it. Apply the format repeatedly as you looking at examples.
After a while, you will need to check the examples less and less.
Second, it would be impossible to memorize all the variations. Consider this scenario. You have four sources:
• One has an editor.
• One has a translator.
• One is a 3rd edition.
• One is the 2nd volume of a three-volume set.
You may be able to find and memorize separate models for each possibility. Suppose, though, that you had a source with an
editor and a translator that is the second volume of a third edition. Assuming that you could find a model, are you going to
memorize it and all the other possible variations of the basic pattern? A better approach would be to understand the logic
behind the basic pattern and then creatively adapt it to the numerous variations that you will come across.
Finally, although you may be directed to follow APA in CORE 102, you may be instructed to follow different models in other
courses or professionally. The key is not to memorize one model; the key is to develop the ability to identify a pattern, apply
it, and (as the above scenario suggests) adapt it.
References for Researched Argument
Cerretani, J. (2010, October 31). Whodunit? Boston Globe. Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/
2010/10/31/whodunit/
Johnson, E. (2014, February 5). Help parents work from home, too. New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/02/05/virtual-school-on-snow-days/on-snow-days-help-parentswork-from-home-too
Needell, C. (2014, March 10). The problem is in the grading. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/
roomfordebate/2014/03/10/can-writing-on-a-college-entrance-exam-be-properly-assessed/with-writing-theproblem-is-in-the-grading
Speaking of Research. (2013). It is not possible to completely replace animals in medical research. Retrieved March 14, 2014
from Opposing Viewpoints in Context: galegroup.com
Specter, M. (2010). Denialism: How irrational thinking harms the planet and threatens our lives. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
CORE 102 - SPEECH ANALYSIS
In this assignment you will analyze the persuasive appeals used in a speech given by an authority on a topic. By analyzing
the choices made in such a speech, you will develop an understanding of effective techniques for oral communication that
you can then apply to the speeches that you yourself develop and deliver.
The specific skills that this assignment will help you develop are the ability to
• identify the overall theme or message of a speech and
• recognize how a speaker tailors a speech to his or her audience and speaking context.
Objective I. Identify the overall theme or message of a speech.
Before you can evaluate whether a speech is effective or not, you need to know what the speaker is trying to accomplish. To
understand the message or theme of a speech, think about who the audience is and what effect the speaker wants to have
on that audience. This section provides advice that will help you identify what a speech is supposed to accomplish. Specifically, it answers the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
How do I identify the purpose of a speech?
What are different types of speeches?
How can I distinguish the main claim from the supporting claims?
How can I identify the key ideas used by a speaker?
1. How do I identify the purpose of a speech?
Every speech has a different purpose, and the strategies that a speaker chooses will vary greatly depending upon what her
purpose is. To analyze a speech, you need to be able to discuss those strategies in the context of that purpose.
Some of the reasons a person might give a speech include celebrating a friend’s marriage, updating her boss on a project at
work, presenting her research in a classroom, or advocating for a policy she supports at a city council meeting. The purpose
will shape everything about the speech, from the tone to the length. The lighthearted, humorous tone of a wedding toast,
with its celebratory purpose, probably won’t be appropriate in a city council meeting, where the purpose is to deliberate
on proposed ordinances. A speech of ten minutes or more might work in a classroom presentation, where the purpose is
to look at a topic in depth; but someone making a wedding toast would be expected to speak more briefly on an occasion
when a number of friends and relatives propose to speak, each contributing one memorable or witty thought.
2. What are different types of speeches?
There are many types of speeches designed to fulfill many different purposes, but speeches in academic settings are usually
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either informative speeches or persuasive speeches. These are the two types of speeches you’ll give in your Core A classes
and in other courses while you’re at Radford University. Chances are good that the speech you analyze for this assignment
will be one of these types as well.
An informative speech is designed to give the audience a deeper understanding of a topic. You have probably heard teachers give many classroom lectures that are informative. When you give an informative speech in class it will be much shorter
than a professor’s lecture, but you will be trying to accomplish the same goal. Students often give informative speeches
using sources they have found in their research to deepen their own understanding of a topic.
A persuasive speech is designed to convince the audience to agree with a particular claim about an issue. When a politician
gives a speech encouraging audience members to vote for her, she is speaking persuasively. Students often give persuasive
speeches using sources they have found in their research to develop their own position on an issue.
3. How can I distinguish the main claim from the supporting claims?
Once you identify the purpose and type of speech you are analyzing, it is important to figure out the main claim that the
speaker is making in fulfillment of his purpose. Most speakers can choose from several different main claims based on what
message is most likely to help the speaker achieve a particular purpose with a particular audience. For example, a politician
giving a campaign speech typically hopes to convince her audience to vote for her. If her audience is made up of college students, her main message might be “You should vote for me because I will fight for increased funding for higher education.”
If her audience is made up of workers who are almost old enough to retire, her main message might be “You should vote for
me because I will protect social security.”
The majority of a speech will be made up of key points or supporting claims that provide evidence for why the audience
should accept the main message. In the previous example, the politician’s supporting claims might be examples of bills she’s
introduced to increase funding for education or social security. The same methods you use to evaluate evidence in a paper
will help you evaluate the supporting claims used in a speech.
4. How can I identify the key ideas used by a speaker?
Listening is difficult for the average person, and the speaker’s job is to make sure that it’s easy for the audience to remember
what they’ve heard. This is best done with a combination of strong delivery and excellent organization. As you analyze the
speech, ask yourself whether the speaker has used appropriate organizational cues to help the audience follow and remember the main points.
• Has the speaker chosen the order of the main points carefully? If his main points don’t need to be in a particular order,
then has he listed the most important ones first and last—they are the ones that the audience is most likely to
remember?
Has the speaker stated the main points as complete sentences? If the audience walks away and remembers only the main
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points, they should be elements that can be strung together to make the speaker’s case. For example, if a speaker has delivered a speech on packing for a backpacking trip, the take-away points grasped by the audience might be these:
When packing for a backpacking trip, remember to pack as light as possible, always have a dry set of clothes, and be smart
about where you put things you’ll need to get to every day.
Objective II: Recognize how a speaker tailors a speech to his or her audience and speaking
context.
When you analyze someone’s speech, it is essential to determine who the audience is and what the context is so you can
demonstrate whether the speaker tailored the speech appropriately. Imagine an individual giving a speech arguing that
a university should provide more funding for on-campus programs on Friday and Saturday nights. If she is giving that
speech to a group of university administrators, she might focus on the potential for alcohol-free on-campus activities to cut
down on student drinking. If she is giving the speech to a group of fellow students, she might decide to argue that there
aren’t enough fun things to do on the weekends and that more on-campus activities would make campus life more exciting.
Although the purpose is the same, her audience and context would shape how she approached the speech.
Audience and context are such fundamental factors that, if you were asked to analyze a speech without being informed of
the audience and context, ideally you should be able to deduce these factors from the speaker’s choices of language and
content.
To help you recognize how speakers accommodate their audiences and the context, this section of the Handbook will provide answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Who is the audience?
What is the speaking context?
How does a speaker tailor his or her speech to a particular audience?
What is the difference between verbal and nonverbal communication?
What is a symbol?
What are effective techniques of vocal delivery?
What are effective techniques of physical delivery?
What can I learn from analyzing a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.?
1. Who is the audience?
Sometimes—for example, when an employee makes a presentation to fellow employees—the speaker may know exactly
who is in her audience. As a result, she can tailor her speech to those specific individuals. On the other hand, a professional
giving a speech at a trade convention might not know anything more specific than that the audience is made up of people in
the same broad field. Still, even though a broad field is a general category, it does provide some information that may help
the speaker adapt her speech to that audience by relying upon the audience’s familiarity with certain content and vocabulary.
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As you write your speech analysis, look for ways in which the speaker has acknowledged her audience through choices of
content and language. Take into account or try to deduce whatever you can about the audience for the speech. If possible,
determine the audience’s demographics—objective categories like age, gender, and race—and examine the extent to which
the speech is tailored in response to those factors.
Another thing to consider is whether the audience for the speech was a captive audience—that is, an audience that was
compelled to attend the speech. Students in a class are a captive audience because they are expected to attend and may
suffer consequences to their grades if they don’t. By contrast, when an audience chooses to attend a speech, the speaker
can probably assume that they are interested in the topic. When speaking to a captive audience, speakers will try to make
their topics relevant to people who might not be particularly interested.
2. What is the speaking context?
In addition to a specific audience, every speech occurs in a different speaking context. The speaking context is shaped by
things like where and when the speech occurs. Giving a speech in a small classroom that holds fifteen students is different
from giving a speech in an auditorium that holds hundreds of people. Things like the layout of the room, whether there is
a podium or not, and what technology is available to use for presentational aids will all affect how the speaker approaches
the speech. The time of day is also an important aspect of the speaking context. A speaker giving a speech in an 8:00 a.m.
class needs an energetic delivery to make sure a potentially sleepy audience is awake; a speaker giving a speech at 12:00
noon has to account for the fact that audience members might feel that lunch is overdue. When analyzing a speech, you
can’t ignore the influence that the speaking context has on the speech’s content.
3. How does a speaker tailor his or her speech to a particular audience?
A speech can vary greatly depending on what the speaker knows about the audience. Demographic variables like age and
gender may dictate what kinds of messages and supporting claims are found in a speech. For example, the author of one
speech may choose to cite an episode from The Dick Van Dyke show as a way connecting with an audience that is old enough
to appreciate that classic TV show. On the other hand, an author with a different, younger audience may decide that this
younger audience might relate better to a current reality show.
Psychographics—the speaker’s analysis of an audience’s values and interests—can also greatly influence the direction a
speech takes. If a speaker knows (or figures out from their reactions) that her audience disagrees with what she’s arguing
in her speech, then she will have to work hard to change their minds. On the other hand, if she knows they already agree
with what she’s arguing, it will be more effective to use her speech to strengthen their attitudes or to convince them to act
on their attitudes.
4. What is the difference between verbal and nonverbal communication?
A speech is more than a script containing the words of the speech. It is a performance, too. So an analysis of a speech would
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include its delivery, which depends not only on language choices but also on voice qualities and bodily actions. A thorough
speech analysis will cover both verbal and nonverbal communication.
Verbal communication involves the transmission of a message through words. In fact, “verbal” ultimately comes from the
Latin word for—“word.”
Nonverbal communication involves the transmission of a message through anything other than words. The tools of nonverbal communication include facial expressions, appearance, and gestures.
Think of the sentence “Can you give me a ride?” These words represent verbal communication. On the other hand, if a person sticks out his thumb along the side of the road, he will be using nonverbal communication to ask the same question.
Effective oral communication requires an appropriate fit between verbal and nonverbal communication. Consider two
difference scenarios involving the word “banana. If someone is about to slip on a banana peel, an onlooker may yell
“BANANA!” to warn them. However if someone is ordering banana as a topping on a sundae, she would speak in a lower
volume and less urgently. Both situations involve verbal communication because a word is spoken, but vocal (voice) qualities like volume, rate, and pitch—all forms of nonverbal communication—add meaning to the word used.
When verbal and nonverbal messages appear contradictory, audiences tend to believe the nonverbal messages. As part of
your speech analysis, then, examine whether verbal and nonverbal messages agree and reinforce each other. If the verbal
and nonverbal messages seem contradictory or inconsistent, consider whether the mismatches lead to misunderstanding
and analyze the effect of the mismatches upon the ethos of the speaker.
5. What is a symbol?
Both verbal and nonverbal communication may make use of symbols, which are words, actions, or objects that stand for
something. Frequently a symbol will be something concrete that represents an idea. For example, for several centuries the
white dove has been recognized as a symbol for peace. Peace is an abstraction, and the white dove puts us in mind of that
abstraction because of a lengthy tradition that associates the two.
More recently, symbols have played a major role in how we interact with technology. Think about the icons on smart phones
that represent tools and actions. Each icon is a symbol. It is not the tool or the action itself, but it represents—puts us in
mind of—a tool or an action.
To a certain extent, symbols may be arbitrary. That is, there may be nothing about the symbol itself that requires that it
represent a particular idea. The dove has been a symbol for peace, but this abstraction may also be represented by an olive
branch, a broken rifle, a white poppy, or a paper crane. Depending on the context and audience, each may work equally well
as a symbol.
Not only may symbols be arbitrary; they also may be ambiguous. The definition of a symbol is not fixed but depends upon
the meaning people assign to it. One symbol may have different meanings to different people and within different contexts.
For example, the Confederate battle flag could symbolize pride in heritage to one audience but racism to another.
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Because symbols may be arbitrary and ambiguous, as you analyze the speech, consider whether the most effective symbols—whether verbal and nonverbal—have been chosen for the speaker’s audience, message, and purpose.
6. What are effective techniques of vocal delivery?
As you analyze the words of the speaker and how she utters them, consider the following elements of effective vocal delivery.
• Rate and Pause: Does the speaker speak too quickly or too slowly? A delivery that is too fast or too slow or that
features inappropriate pauses may affect the audience’s perception of the speaker and his message.
• Volume: An audience may tune out a speaker who either shouts or talks too softly. However, it is useful for a speaker to
raise and lower her volume to keep the audience’s attention and to help clarify organization of the speech.
• Pitch and Inflection: Changing either of these can change the meaning of the speaker’s message. American audiences
expect women, in particular, to vary pitch more so than men and are more likely to describe a female speaker as boring if
she does not.
• Articulation and Pronunciation: Mispronouncing anything can damage the speaker’s credibility. Did the speaker work
out the pronunciation of names, and places and technical, scientific, or foreign words before using them in the speech?
• Clarity: Did the speaker state her message using vocabulary that make each idea as clear and specific as possible? For
example, stating that something “smelled bad” does not convey as concrete a picture as stating that something “was as
smelly as a garbage dump in the middle of August after a heavy rain.”
7. What are effective techniques of physical delivery?
As you analyze the how the speaker projects himself physically, consider the following elements of effective physical delivery.
• Appearance: Did the speaker dress and groom himself appropriately for the situation? Appearance sends a loud
message about who the speaker is and can build or diminish ethos before the speaker has said a single word.
• Posture: Did the speaker stand erect and avoid slouching and leaning upon a podium or lectern?
• Facial expression: Did the speaker’s facial expressions match his verbal messages, or did these nonverbal cues
contradict his verbal messages?
• Eye contact: In the US it is important for a speaker to look his audience in the eye so he will appear believable. Did the
speaker make repeated eye contact?
• Movement and Gestures: Were the speaker’s movements and gestures meaningful? Did they match and reinforce his
message? If the speaker was presenting in a sizeable room, were the gestures large enough to be seen by people in the
back? The speaker’s clothing may be an issue here. People in the back of a large audience may not be able to see a
speaker’s movements and gestures unless he is wearing colors that contrast with background colors.
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8. What can I learn from analyzing a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.?
To make the most of this section, you may listen to the speech and follow along on a transcript at
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm.
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., closed out a major civil rights march with one of the most famous speeches in
history. King’s speech is famous for its poetic language that continues to inspire listeners fifty years later, but it was also a
speech that was remarkably well-suited to its audience and context. King had a clear sense of his purpose: promoting laws
that would end discriminatory practices. The central message of King’s speech was that racial discrimination had kept the
United States from living up to the promises made in its founding documents. His supporting claims included examples of
ways African-Americans experienced racism. The language in which he phrased his claims had a striking cadence (rhythm)
and featured effective repetition of key words.
King’s speaking context featured a challenge that has been common to speakers since the invention of television: speaking
to multiple audiences at once. The thousands of people who filled the national mall while King spoke had come to Washington to show their support for civil rights and surely didn’t need to be convinced of the evils of racism. However, King
knew that the speech would be broadcast around the nation, so he directed his speech to the sympathetic audience in front
of him as well as the less sympathetic viewers who were likely watching from home. Although he directly addressed the
horrors of American racism, he used quotes from the Declaration of Independence and the patriotic song “My Country
‘tis of Thee” to express admiration of the principles on which the United States was founded. The famous closing lines of
the speech outlined King’s hopeful “dream” of what America can become. King contrasts the ugly realities of racism with
an optimistic portrayal of the United States living up to its potential. His goal is to avoid negativity by inviting everyone
to share in his dream. Ultimately, King’s speech managed to serve several purposes for different audiences. Americans all
over the country were asked to join the cause of civil rights, while those who already supported the cause were inspired to
do more to bring about equality.
CORE 102 - INFORMATIVE SPEECH
In this assignment, you will inform an audience by presenting orally on your research. As you do so, you will need to take
into account not only the content and organization of your speech but also its delivery.
To help you successfully develop, organize, and deliver your Informative Speech, this section of the Handbook will introduce you to the basics of oral presentation. Familiarizing yourself with those basics will help you fulfill four objectives. By
the end of the project, you should be able to
• organize a speech using a manageable number of clearly-stated key ideas,
• arrange key ideas in a logical order,
• use organizational cues to help the audience follow a speech’s key ideas, and
• develop strategies for delivering your speech with confidence.
This portion of the Handbook is not the only resource available to you as you work on preparing your informative speech
and practicing its delivery. You also should make use of the section devoted to the Speech Analysis assignment. Looking
at how another speaker developed, organized, and delivered her speech can provide ideas for developing organizing, and
delivering your own speech.
Objective I. Organize a Speech Using a Manageable Number of Clearly-Stated Key Ideas.
This section of the Handbook will provide you with advice on how to deliver a clear message, divided into a manageable
number of ideas, while demonstrating awareness of context and audience. To do so, it will provide you with answers to the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What is the purpose of an informative speech?
What is the difference between an informative speech and a persuasive speech?
How can I make sure my message is clear and focused?
How can I use language in ways that are appropriate for my audience?
What are the different kinds of support that I can use to develop my main claim and my supporting claims?
How do I know if I have enough support?
How will my use of examples and evidence in CORE 102 differ from the use I made of them in CORE 101?
How can I determine the best order for my support?
When can support stand alone?
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1. What is the purpose of an informative speech?
The purpose of an informative speech is to educate listeners by presenting and supporting a clear, focused message as
objectively as possible, and without directing an audience toward taking a position on an issue. For example, speaking about
the search for an airliner lost at sea, a transportation official focuses on conveying specific, straightforward information to
a room of reporters:
The search for MH370 continues. Our efforts are now focused in the southern Indian Ocean, where a multi-national
team, led by Australia, is combing the waters trying to find debris from the flight.
Our determination to find MH370 remains steadfast. As we have said all along, we will never give up trying to find the
plane—in order to bring closure for the families, and to establish exactly what happened to MH370.
Australia, China and France have already released satellite images, showing objects that may be related to MH370.
Yesterday, on 25 March, the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency (MRSA) received new satellite images from Airbus
Defence and Space, which is based in France. The images were taken on 23 March.
MRSA analysed the images and – in one area of the ocean measuring some 400 square kilometres – were able to identify 122 potential objects. Some objects were a metre in length; others were as much as 23 metres in length. Some of
the objects appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials.
(Hussein, 2014, paras. 1-5)
Here an official reports on the progress of the search in plain and simple language. Similarly, informative speeches in the
college classroom should strive to present ideas in a straightforward manner, with unadorned prose. If it becomes clear
that your speech is presenting a biased point of view or advocating for a specific outcome, then it has ceased to be informative and has become persuasive.
2. What is the difference between an informative speech and a persuasive speech?
Unlike an informative speech, a persuasive speech overtly advocates for a change in the way people do or see things. President John F. Kennedy’s “Civil Rights Address” provides a noteworthy example:
The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether
we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot
eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he
cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all
of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who
among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? (Kennedy, 1963, para. 6)
It is clear that Kennedy is advocating for a change of hearts and minds in the American public. Using the repetition of
words, phrases, and rhetorical questions, Kennedy is working to persuade the American public that discriminatory prac-
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tices against racial minorities are unconscionable, and immediate action is warranted to curb the injustices of the day.
3. How can I make sure my message is clear and focused?
Before you plan your speech, be sure you know what your message is. You should be able to summarize it quickly and
clearly for a listener. In the speech itself, you will need to focus your listener’s attention on your message. Think of a speech
as having the same general expectations as a written essay. In a speech, you present your main idea in a clear, focused, and
specific claim, similar to the way a thesis statement functions in an essay. Emphasize your message clearly and precisely at
a memorable point in the speech. You might choose to do so near the beginning of the speech, near the end, or both.
Remember that—just as in a paper—all parts of the speech should support the message. Your introduction, for example,
shouldn’t only serve as an attention grabber; it should point directly towards your message.
Be sure to provide as many supporting points as you need to support the message, but do not clutter up the speech with
unconnected content. As you research your speech, you likely will find information that is only partially related to your
topic, or not related at all. Evaluate each piece of information to make sure it is relevant.
4. How can I use language in ways that are appropriate for my audience?
Be sure to keep your audience in mind when choosing the tone of your speech by considering questions such as these:
• What is the context of my presentation? Is it a formal or informal situation?
• What kinds of people are in the audience? What do they already know about the subject? What do they need to know
about it? What kinds of preconceived notions might they have?
• What is my relationship to the audience? Are we friends, acquaintances, or strangers? Are we equals or do I have
greater/lesser power than my listeners? Is our relationship professional or casual?
• Will a more or less formal tone be appropriate for my audience?
In addition to the above, remember to engage your audience by expressing your enthusiasm for your topic. Speakers who
are enthusiastic about their topic retain their audience’s attention more effectively than speakers who are disengaged.
5. What are the different kinds of support that I can use to develop my main claim and my supporting claims?
In addition to making use of the following information on examples and evidence, you may want to revisit the answer to
these questions from the CORE 101 section of the Handbook. The first two questions are from the Opposing Viewpoints
assignment; the third is from the Academic Argument assignment.
• What is a primary source?
• What is a secondary source?
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• What are the types of evidence?
Support for a claim in speech, as in writing, may come from primary and secondary sources, as well as from your own observations and experiences. The particular forms that support may take include examples, descriptions, narratives, explanations, survey results, and statistics. In the case of statistics, remember that citing numbers alone will not be sufficient
support for an argument without adequate context and discussion. Also keep in mind that a visual aid that clearly conveys
statistical data may help your audience follow portions of a speech that rely on numerical data.
In addition to examples, descriptions, narratives, explanations, survey results, and statistics, other forms of support include
the following:
• Analogy: Analogies help readers understand unfamiliar concepts by comparing them with familiar ones. Analogies also
point out that one situation is applicable to another:
Example:
The impossibility of enforcing Prohibition may have been one reason for its repeal. A similar argument could be
made for the repeal of marijuana laws.
• Common knowledge: What could a member of your audience be reasonably expected to know? The answer varies
depending on many factors, including age, education, and professional background.
Examples:
The following information …
…might be common knowledge for…
The atomic number of the element carbon…
a chemist or a chemistry major.
The number of votes in the electoral college…
a legislator or a political science major.
The names of actors who were prominent in the 60s…
a member of the Baby Boomer generation or a media studies major.
Definition: Sometimes following a speaker’s reasoning hinges on the correct understanding of a term. Sometimes the
meaning of a word is actually central to the speech. In general, avoid providing the simple dictionary definition, but provide
a definition only when you’re using the word differently from how people might expect:
Example:
While most people think of an argument as a quarrel between two people, we are using the word argument to
represent a claim supported by reasons known as premises.
• Testimony: The words of an authority—either quoted or paraphrased—can help illustrate a point. Be certain that the
source is credible, and if you quote, use only what you need so that the quotation doesn’t take over the speech.
Example:
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According to Aristotle, the definition of rhetoric is “the ability, in each case, to see the available means of persuasion” (Aristotle, 2007, p. 37).
6. How do I know if I have enough support?
In addition to making use of the information that follows, you may want to revisit the answers to these questions under the
Academic Argument assignment in the CORE 101 section of the Handbook:
• How do you decide how much evidence you need?
• How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos?
• What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
The STAR test can help you determine whether you have enough support for the points in your speech. The STAR test asks
whether support is
• Sufficient
• Typical
• Accurate, and
• Relevant.
Clearly, if the speech lacks accurate and relevant support, you have not finished developing your points.
What about sufficient? Imagine that you are informing your audience about the cause of autism and that you rely heavily
upon an article reporting on case studies for twelve children. That is a very small sample of the hundreds of thousands of
children worldwide who have been diagnosed with autism, and as a rule, the smaller the sample size, the less reliable the
results. So if you relied heavily on one article that itself was based on a small sample, probably the support for your informative speech would be insufficient.
Lastly, is your support typical? Imagine that you are speaking about traffic problems in Blacksburg near Virginia Tech and
you share an anecdote about being caught in traffic. However, if your anecdote is about an incident that occurred immediately after a football game that decided whether the Tech football team would make the playoffs, then it may not be typical
of traffic patterns overall. Without examples that are more typical, the support for your informative speech is insufficient.
7. How will my use of examples and evidence in CORE 102 differ from the use I made of them in CORE 101?
The answers to the last two questions included links back to the Academic Argument assignment under CORE 101. That
fact suggests that in order to achieve your current objectives, you need to revisit knowledge and strengthen skills that were
introduced for the earlier assignment. Keep in mind that word “strengthen.” You are not being asked to simply duplicate
what you have already done. Instead, you are being asked to start where you left off and go further.
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The differences between CORE 101 and 102 when it comes to using examples and evidence likely will be that you are
expected to
• use more evidence and examples,
• use a different mix of types of evidence,
• use more sources for your evidence and examples,
• use a different mix of sources, and
• locate those sources on your own.
8. How can I determine the best order for my support?
As you determine the best order for introducing your evidence, consider questions like these:
• How strong is each piece of evidence?
• How relevant is each?
• How typical is each?
• Are some more significant than others?
• Are some more striking or dramatic than others?
• Will some work better at certain locations in the speech?
These questions encourage you to think about the impact each piece of evidence may have and how that impact should
affect your choice of where to place it. Imagine, for example, that you have chosen the following as support for a claim:
• an example
• another example
• expert testimony
• statistics
One example is very dramatic, but the other is important in another way: it is the most typical. The expert testimony will
lend credibility to your speech, and the statistics will help your audience understand that the issue extends beyond a few
isolated examples. However, neither the testimony nor the statistics are as memorable as the two examples. To develop the
point, then, you might settle upon this order:
• typical example—to introduce supporting claim with concrete illustration
• statistics—to show that example is not an isolated one
• expert testimony—to reinforce importance of supporting claim
• dramatic example—to fix claim in audience’s memory
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The above ‘sandwich’ approach will create a strong opening and closing impression. Please, note, however, that the above
is an example and not a formula. In any particular instance, the audience, the message, and the context will determine the
exact order in which you will introduce support for a claim. The only constant is that you should consider the impact your
choices will have upon your audience.
9. When can support stand alone?
Usually support illustrates or helps explain a claim or supporting claim. Sometimes, however, the support seems to stand
alone. When you describe a person or place or narrate an event, you might not state a claim and you might not state outright why certain details are significant. However, that does not mean that your speech will be pointless. When describing
a person or place or narrating an event, determine what the main focus should be. After you settle upon that main focus, be
selective when you choose what to include in your speech.
Imagine that in a speech you describe someone. You may know a lot about this person, but in your speech, you won’t try to
catalogue all possible facts. Instead, ask yourself what is noteworthy about this particular individual. Then select and organize details that illustrate that noteworthy feature. The support will seem to stand alone, but only because by creating a
main focus you made it unnecessary to state and elaborate upon a claim.
Objective II. Arrange Key Ideas in a Logical Order.
You must chose Sufficient, Typical, Accurate, and Relevant (STAR) evidence to support each claim you make in your speech.
You must determine the order in which evidence will be introduced to develop or illustrate each particular key idea. However, you also must come up with a logical order for introducing the key ideas themselves into the speech. Which idea
should be introduced first? Which second? Which third—and so forth?
Choosing an appropriate organizational pattern will help the audience follow your speech and understand the logical relationships between key ideas. The particular pattern that you choose may depend upon the speech’s purpose, as some organizational schemes are natural fits for accomplishing certain goals.
The answers to the following questions will help you arrange the key ideas in your speech in a logical order:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are the different ways to organize the body of a speech?
Why should I outline my speech?
What should I base my outline on?
What are the guidelines for a properly formatted outline?
Once the body is complete, what else should I include with the outline?
1. What are the different ways to organize the body of a speech?
The organizational patterns described below apply whether you are writing an essay or preparing a speech because their
goal is to present information in a way that a reader or listener can process easily.
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You can let the audience know during the introduction how you plan to organize your information by the careful wording
of something called a preview step. You will find additional detail about preview steps under the question How do I do a
preview step? For now, though, it is enough to know that a preview step is one or more sentences that outline the organization of your speech, which will likely correspond to one of the following patterns.
• Spatial—Are you trying to recreate a place in the minds of your audience? This organizational pattern takes the
audience through a sequence of key ideas organized according to where objects or features are located in space. For
example, the organization may take the listener from the exterior to the interior, from right to left, or from top to
bottom.
• Chronological— Are you trying to recreate an event in which one incident follows another? This organizational pattern
takes the audience through a sequence of key ideas organized according to where incidents or actions are located on a
timeline. This is the customary pattern for how-to type speeches.
• Cause/Effect— Are you setting out to show the cause of something or to recommend the steps that will result in a
desired outcome? Determine the sequence of events that leads to the outcome or end result, and follow that sequence
in your speech. If the effect is stated at the outset and then the remainder of the speech focuses on the causes, the
pattern is called Effect/Cause.
• Problem/Solution—Are you describing the solution to a problem? Start by explaining the problem and then work your
way through the elements of the solution. Organize sequentially if one part of the solution must be completed to set the
stage for the next part.
This type of organizational pattern can be informative if you are describing a solution, but if you are attempting to convince
the audience that a particular solution should be adopted, then it becomes persuasive in nature. Because of this fact, this
pattern is more often used in persuasive speeches.
• Topical—Several of the previous patterns are sequential. That is, they require that the key ideas be brought up in a
particular order (for example, chronologically). A topical organization, on the other hand, may be chosen when you have
some leeway in deciding the order in which to bring up each key idea.
Imagine that you wanted to inform an audience about changes in a community and that each change occurred independently of the other changes—that is, one change did not have to take place in order to set the stage for the next change.
A fire may have destroyed a major landmark; the building of a highway may have changed residential patterns; two high
schools may have been consolidated into one. All these changes help you explain to your audience why a way of life has
vanished, but since each change occurred independently, you have some freedom to decide the order in which to introduce
them.
Does this mean that in topical organization key points will be introduced randomly? No. In topically organized speeches,
audiences tend to remember the first and last main points, so order your key ideas with that in mind. In the previous example, you may decide that the loss of the landmark, while regrettable, did not change the community as much as the highway
construction and the high-school consolidation, and so you may decide to open and close with those elements.
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2. Why should I outline my speech?
Once you have your basic content and have decided on an overarching organizational pattern, it can be helpful to begin
thinking of your speech in terms of an outline. Outlining will allow you to lay out the information in a clear and logical way
that will help your audience follow and see connections. Speech outlines, when written in complete sentences, also give
you an excellent source for rehearsing the presentation. While you don’t need to memorize the speech, practicing initially
with the complete-sentence outline can help you feel more confident because you will know what words are going to come
out of your mouth. Practicing with speech outlines also can help keep you from rambling during a presentation, a common
problem with people who don’t have a clear idea of what they intend to say.
3. What should I base my outline on?
Like a paper, the speech outline will take several drafts. As you read and practice with what you’ve written, you likely will
find places where you need to include more information, as well as places where unnecessary information should be cut.
You also may discover ways of wording ideas that may feel more natural than the language included in the first version of
the outline.
Outlines are based on the concept that ideas are logically connected in one of two ways. Ideas may be of equal weight, in
which case they are said to be coordinate. On the other hand, one idea may function as support for another, in which case
the supporting idea is said to be subordinate. These two logical relationships should be apparent in your outline.
Start by identifying the organizational pattern in the body of your speech. The key ideas in that pattern will be coordinate
to each other. List these key ideas as capital Roman numerals.
Next, each key idea must be adequately supported. These supporting points are subordinate to the key ideas. Under each
key idea, list the subordinate ideas, labeling them with capital letters.
Remember that, just as in a paper, documentation is important. The outline should include both in-text (parenthetical) citations and a references page in appropriate APA format.
4. What are the guidelines for a properly formatted outline?
I. Every subpoint must be related to the point main point it is under.
A. Subpoints can be used to clarify the main point.
B. Subpoints can provide support or examples of the main point.
C. Subpoints can be used to further break down the main point.
II. Every point or subpoint should contain only one idea.
A. If there is more than one idea in a point, break it into multiple points.
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B. If a subpoint is repeating the main point in basic idea, reword the main point to delete the subpoint.
III. Main points should be arranged for optimal logical flow.
A. Do not randomly place main points, even if you’re using topical organization.
B. Use one of the organizational patterns discussed to choose your main point order.
IV. If you only have one subpoint, it cannot stand alone.
A. If there is an A, there must be a B.
B. If there is a 1, there must be a 2.
C. If you have a single subpoint and nothing to add, delete it and reword the main point to include that information.
V. Key points should be concise and clear claims or truths, worded as complete sentences.
A. Do not use the outline as a script when delivering the speech.
B. Do use it to make sure your speech makes logical sense.
VI. Sources must be cited within the outline.
A. They can be transferred to your visual aid if appropriate.
B. They will help remind you to orally cite necessary material.
The order of formatting for an outline is as follows:
I.
A.
1.
a.
i.
A quick way to remember the order is that it is “number-letter-number-letter-number,” keeping in mind that “I” and “i” are
Roman numerals.
The “number-letter” pattern is important for showing the relationships between ideas, but the indentation is important,
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too. Be certain to indent consistently as a way of signaling the level of each part of the outline.
5. Once the body is complete, what else should I include with the outline?
Because logical transitions are important to your audience and help them understand connections between information, it
is often useful to go back and write them in, especially between main points. These are not part of the outline format and
are usually signaled through the use of italics.
Example of transition signaled through the use of italics:
I. Some national parks are legally prohibited from charging entrance fees.
A. These parks rely on money from the federal budget.
B. They can suggest donations from visitors.
C. They can charge for certain services within the park, like camping.
But although some national parks are limited in the ways they can bring in revenue, other parks have more freedom to bolster
their resources.
II. Other national parks charge fees for one week or sell one year passes as a way to bolster their budgets.
After you compose the body of the presentation, consider what you want to include in the introduction and conclusion.
Because both sections are best delivered with excellent eye contact, it may be useful to memorize these parts. However,
they are not part of the outline format and generally are included in paragraph form at the beginning and end of the outline.
Objective III: Use organizational cues to help the audience follow a speech’s key ideas.
No matter how well organized a speech may be in terms of its overall pattern, an audience will still benefit from the inclusion of organizational cues. These are signposts that provide directions for effective listening. They may, for example, alert
the reader to points at which a key idea is about be introduced, or they may signal relationships between ideas.
To help you create organizational cues and use them effectively, this section of the Handbook will provide answers to the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
How do I help the audience follow the main points of my speech?
What are some types of transitions?
How can I use my delivery to emphasize my speech’s organization?
How do I write an introduction to a speech?
Why do I create an attention-getting step?
What are some types of attention-getters?
How do I know which type of attention-getter may be best for my topic and audience?
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9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
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How do I incorporate pathos into my attention-getter?
How do I build credibility and rapport with the audience in the attention-getting step?
How do I state my topic?
How do I make my speech relevant to my audience?
How do I do a preview step?
How should each main point and its supporting information be organized?
How do I compose a speech conclusion?
1. How do I help my audience follow the main points of my speech?
Remember that the audience may not “see” the organizational pattern you’re using unless you tell them what you are doing.
You can make use of several strategies to help your audience recognize the pattern and identify the main points.
• Memorize your main points. Most of the speech can be done extemporaneously, which means well-rehearsed but offthe-cuff and usually with the aid of notecards with carefully selected words to keep you on track. However, certain
parts of the speech are best delivered completely from memory. Memorizing your main points will allow you to have
excellent eye contact with your audience. It will also allow you to interact with your visual aid if necessary, and it will
reinforce your ethos as a speaker by demonstrating your confidence and your mastery of your subject. All of these
factors help the audience know that what you are saying is very important and should be remembered.
• Use signpost words or phrases to let your audience know that you’re introducing a new main point. Without signposts,
the audience may think that the new key idea is actually a sub-point of a previous main point. Signposts fall into several
categories. For example, they can be ordinal (ordering numbers), as in “first,” “second,” or “third.” They can be sequential,
as in “next” or “afterward” or “finally.” They can convey that you are about to provide a reason or a cause or an outcome
of something, as in “because of” or “as a result.” They can indicate that you are about to introduce a point than is in
contrast with a previous one, such as in “however” or “on the other hand.”
Be careful when using words like “so” and “then” as signals because often they are not strong enough for the audience to
realize that they are being used to introduce a new main point.
• Include transitional statements to show connections between main points. Transitional statements indicate how a
previous point is related to a new one that you are introducing. Carefully constructed transitional statements reinforce
your ethos and show the audience you’re prepared. In addition, if you are nervous or anxious, they can help you keep
yourself from rambling. Transitional statements come in several major types, but all are designed to show the
relationships between your ideas.
To review the concept of transition, read the answer to these two questions under the Personal Essay assignment in the
CORE 101 section of the Handbook:
• What is a transition?
• How can I make an effective transition?
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2. What are some types of transitions?
Although there are several types of transitions, notice that in all the examples below, the previous main point is referred to
so that the audience is able to grasp how the newly introduced main point is related to the previous one.
• Additive transitions show that the second main point is equal in value to the first.
While you can get around Acadia National Park by car on the park loop, there also are extensive carriage roads that
allow visitors to travel in either direction.
• Contrast transitions show that the second main point is different or opposite from the first.
Although some research shows that a low carb diet can help you lose weight while eating as much as you want, other
research shows that a calorie-restricted diet is a better choice.
• Consequence transitions show that the second main point is related causally to the first.
Because of the decision to not dam the Colorado River to generate electricity, a coal plant is heavily polluting the Grand
Canyon.
• Chronological transitions show the relationship through time of the two main points.
After the chain on the bike has been cleaned, it’s time to apply fresh chain lube.
• Spatial transitions show how the second main point is related in space to the first.
While the crumple zone in the front of the car is useful, many other safety features are located behind the windshield.
Notice that the italicized words in the above examples—while, also, although, because of, after, behind—play important roles
in signaling how the ideas in the transitional statements are related.
3. How can I use my delivery to emphasize my speech’s organization?
Several techniques of nonverbal delivery will allow you to emphasize the signposts and transitional statements that mark
your speech’s organization. In western culture, it is common to nod your head while saying a signpost word or phrase and
to gesture with your hands while making transitional statements.
Appropriately interacting with your visual aid—pointing out a key element, for example—also may help you emphasize that
you are introducing of a new point.
One action to avoid when moving to a new point: shuffling your notecards. Such distracting behavior may imply to the audience that you don’t know your next point. In addition, shuffling through your note cards does not allow for appropriate eye
contact.
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4. How do I write an introduction to a speech?
Once you have the body of a speech or essay organized and composed, start working on the introduction. Do not start
writing the introduction before having completed the content. Very often students who write the introduction too soon
engage in what’s called “throat clearing.” Since they have not written the body of the speech, they have not completely
sorted out their ideas. As a result, in the introduction they meander their way toward the speech’s point (or never reach it
at all) instead of moving toward it efficiently.
An introduction consists of four major steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attention-getter,
statement of topic,
relation of the topic to the audience, and
preview of the main points and organizational pattern.
An introduction should be relatively brief—no more than 10% of your total speech time. Comparatively, in an essay of about
1,000 words, an introduction would take up no more than two paragraphs.
Throughout the introduction, work on building your credibility as a speaker. You may do so through excellent delivery, by
being articulate, and by making choices that are appropriate for the audience.
You also may want to take a moment to mention any reason your audience should consider you a master of the subject,
especially if it is a topic you have a background in or a field you have done research on.
5. Why do I create an attention-getting step?
To capture your audience’s interest, open your speech with an attention-getting step. This step is the equivalent of what
journalists call the “lead” of a story, the hook that is used to get people to read an article. In a speech, it is your chance to
convince the audience that what you have to say is interesting and worth paying attention to.
Sometimes beginning speakers may skip the attention-getter and jump straight to the speech’s topic, opening with a phrase
such as “My speech is about….”This kind of opening statement would bore most audiences. Especially keep in mind that you
may have a captive audience; your classmates are present, but that doesn’t mean that they want to listen. Offer them a
more exciting opener than “Hi! My name is…” or “Today I want to talk about….”
The attention-getter should be clearly relevant to your topic. It should be memorized, and it should be communicated with
both excellent eye contact and strong vocal delivery.
6. What are some types of attention-getters?
You may choose from among several strategies for getting your audience’s attention. Your choice may depend upon the
topic and the context, your assessment of the audience, and your sense of your own strengths as a speaker.
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• Tell a joke.
Telling a joke is sometimes difficult to pull off. If timing is important, a speaker’s nerves may get in the way of a
successful delivery. Consider this option only if the joke is truly funny to strangers and you are confident of your
delivery.
• Tell a story.
A story may be a very strong introduction to a topic. It can be taken from personal experience or told from someone else’s point of view. A story can be a great way to build pathos for your topic. It is often one of the easiest
attention getters because you need to be familiar with the story, but not necessarily memorize it.
• Ask a question.
Questions should be considered carefully. They should be appropriate for the audience and relevant to the topic.
The type of question will affect your audience interaction. Closed questions ask for ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers or for
responses that may include a show of hands or nodding. Open questions lack set answers and may ask more of
the audience.
Example of a closed question: “Show of hands, who here has been out of the country?”
Example of an open question: “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?”
Sometimes no one will volunteer to answer an open question, so you may have to ask someone from the audience to respond. You may need to single out audience members by name or through eye contact to get them to
speak up. On the other hand, you may be able to build ethos and rapport by having a short discussion with your
audience about their answers.
• Use multimedia.
You can show a video clip or play a song segment. Videos or songs should be relevant to the speech’s topic and
not take up more than a quarter of your introduction. (That is 25% of the 10% of your speech allowed for the
introduction. In the introduction to a 10 minute speech, for example, videos or songs would take up no more than
15-20 seconds.)
Be aware that your choice for multimedia will set the tone for the rest of the presentation. If your selection is
fun, witty, and high energy, the audience will expect you to be as well. A mismatch between your delivery and a
multimedia selection may diminish your ethos and cause you audience to become bored once you start talking.
• Rely upon a quotation, a paraphrase of a striking idea, or an interesting fact about your topic. Of the three, the
paraphrase or the interesting fact may be most practical. Direct quotations from written sources may not work in the
context of an oral delivery. Something that was written to be read silently may not sound as good when read out loud.
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Also remember that the attention getting step should be delivered with excellent eye contact. Paraphrases and the statement of an interesting fact can be delivered off the cuff, making it easier to achieve that eye contact. Exact quotations, on
the other hand, must be memorized.
If you use rely upon a quotation, paraphrase, or interesting fact as an attention-getter, be certain to appropriately attribute
its source through an oral citation*.
• Consider unusual attention-getters. These can include games, role-playing, and audience interactions, etc. These can be
effective in convincing the audience that what you have to say will be interesting and worth listening. Make certain,
though, that any such attention-getters set an appropriate tone and energy level for the rest of the presentation.
*Oral citation: An oral citation is the spoken equivalent of an attribution, which is a phrase used in writing to signal that
you are using a source. For more information, see the answer to this question under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment
in the CORE 101 section of the Handbook: How does an author signal that she is using a source?
7. How do I know which type of attention-getter may be best for my topic and audience?
There is never one correct way to get your audience’s attention, but you can keep a few factors in mind as you plan your
speech’s introduction.
• The attention-getter needs to be relevant to your topic. Hitting yourself in the face with a pie will get an audience’s
attention, but unless your speech is about your time in Clown College, such an approach probably won’t be relevant,
and if it’s not relevant it’s not an effective attention-getter.
• The attention-getter needs to be appropriate to the context. Take, for example, the example of a student who pulled out
a (toy) gun in class in the year 1981. This attention-getter could not be used today because the context—in this case, the
academic and legal climate—has changed dramatically since 1981.
Context also included the immediate circumstances of the speech. Where is it taking place? What is the occasion? Some
attention-getters may be more appropriate for some settings and occasions than others.
• Consider your audience—its age, its educational or professional background, its expectations for the type of speech you
are delivering. Some audiences may, for example, be more receptive to jokes, role playing and games than other
audiences.
8. How do I incorporate pathos into my attention-getter?
Depending upon the topic of your informative speech, you may rely more or less on pathos. Your attention-getter is an
especially good opportunity to appeal to your audience’s emotions. A powerful image or an emotional quotation is a good
way to pique your audience’s interest in your topic. A personal story can be even better. By appealing to emotions, you draw
the audience in so that they will be receptive to the logos and ethos-based elements of your informative speech.
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9. How do I build credibility and rapport with the audience in the attention-getting step?
In addition to appealing to pathos, the attention-getting step is also a good time to build ethos. A catchy, relevant attentiongetter shows your audience from the start that you have worked hard to put together a speech that they will find interesting.
The attention-getting step also can be a good time to mention any personal observations or experiences that may be relevant to your topic. For example, if you are giving a speech about the effects of video games on children and you have a niece
who plays a lot of video games, you could start with a story about how she behaves after playing video games. A well-told
personal story like this can both capture the audience’s interest and show that your personal experiences make you passionate about the topic.
You also may mention research or experiences that may make you an expert or master of the topic. For a speech about how
to pack and organize a backpack for a week-long hiking trip, the speaker might start with an exciting story from her threeweek trip backpacking along the Appalachian Trail. That anecdote would let the audience know that she is a master of the
information and topic.
10. How do I state my topic?
After your attention-getter is complete, it’s important to clearly and concisely state the topic. What do you want the
audience to remember and take away from the presentation? This step usually is accomplished in a single sentence. Give
thought to how to word it because a strong statement of topic continues building your ethos but a vague or poorly planned
one can diminish it.
• Example of a vague, unplanned statement of topic:Today I’m going to tell you about what to do if you get hurt while
hiking.
• Example of a clear, planned statement of topic:
You’re going to learn three first-aid techniques to take care of the most common hiking injuries.
11. How do I make my speech relevant to my audience?
When choosing a topic for a presentation, speakers typically consider their audience. During a presentation, it is useful to
explain to them why they should care about the topic—especially if it is one that they might think has no relevance to them.
If you asked the audience questions during your attention-getting step, you may be able to build in that discussion during
this step. Otherwise, you can explain to the audience why they should listen.
Example of making a topic relevant to an audience of college-age students:
Dropping art from elementary and middle school affects some of your sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, and
one day will affect your own children. Earlier most of you said that art and music classes were very important and
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memorable for you when you were kids, so you can see why it’s important to talk about the situation facing children
today and why they aren’t getting the same opportunities.
If you find it difficult to explain why the audience should care about the topic, you may need to reconsider the topic you’ve
chosen. Keep in mind that the act of communication includes the listener, not just the speaker, and take into account the
fact that your audience likely won’t remember your ideas if they don’t care about them.
12. How do I do a preview step?
The final step in the introduction is to preview the organizational pattern for the audience. Provide a quick overview of
your main points and use words and phrases that signal the logical connections between them. By doing so, you alert audience members as to whether they should expect an organization that is spatial, chronological, cause/effect, problem/solution, or topical.
• Spatial preview step:
When looking at the Eiffel Tower’s architecture, we’ll first talk about the base of the structure, then describe the body
of the monument, and end in a discussion of the architecture of the observation deck at the top.
• Chronological preview step:
When we talk about how to tune a guitar, I’ll be breaking it down into 6 easy steps: tuning the sixth string, the A, the
D, the G, the B, and finally the E.
• Cause/Effect preview step:
Noise pollution comes in many forms, including those that are reducible and those that are an unavoidable part of the
ambient environment. This pollution has short and long term effects on people, including physical stress and mental
tension.
• Problem/Solution preview step:
Because of the increased number of residents and tourists in the Grand Canyon, energy and water resources are no
sufficient. A coal burning power plant and water pump were installed, but they create pollution levels in the National
Park that many think are unacceptable. In this presentation, I’ll suggest some new solutions that are being considered.
• Topical preview step:
Oddly, the TSA allows these three types of items as airplane carry-ons: food with gels, some compressed-gas canisters, and certain types of pigs.
13. How should each main point and its supporting information be organized?
After you give the introduction and move into the body of the presentation, each main point should be organized using the
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following five steps. These steps will help the audience follow along, understand, and remember what they were told and
will add SPICE to your speech.
Guidelines for Organizing Key Ideas and Support in the Body of an Informative Speech (Elder-Taylor)
1. Signal each new point. Use words or phrases that indicate to the audience that you are done with one point and are
starting a new point.
2. Proclaim your key idea. Make sure the statement is clear and concise and delivered with excellent eye contact.
3. Identify your support. Make sure it’s relevant, sufficient, and credible.
4. Connect your support to your key idea. Summarize your support and explain how it works together to develop or
illustrate your point.
5. Explain how your point is related to the next. Use logically related transitions to connect with the next main point. In
written work, this step would be the first sentence of a succeeding paragraph.
Example:
(1) Secondly, genetically modified foods usually result in more nutrients available per serving of food. (2) Foods
that are modified to include more nutrients can help provide balanced diets for people who might not otherwise
have access to variety in their food options. (3) One example of this is the Golden Rice Project, whose mission is
outlined at goldenrice.org. They are a group of bioengineers looking for ways to fortify basic staples, like rice, with
beta-carotene. This nutrient often is missing from diets of people in less developed areas, and its absence can have
devastating effects on health, including high incidences of blindness and premature death among children. According
to the Golden Rice Project, 25% of the last 10 million children who died in the world could have been saved by food
fortified with zinc and beta-carotene. (4) Saving children’s lives and preventing blindness are two reasons that people create genetically modified foods with more nutrients than their organic counterparts. (5) Using GMOs can add
nutrients to otherwise unhealthy food options for people in places where food options are available, but generally
GMOs are used to make products disease or pest resistant.
14. How do I compose a speech conclusion?
Leave yourself time to deliver a well-composed conclusion. The conclusion is an opportunity to drive home your thesis and
main points. A strong conclusion can resonate with audience members and help them remember and, if appropriate, act on
what you have said.
The conclusion of speech should be brief, taking up about 10% of the total time allotted. Brief as the conclusion may be,
however, it is an important part of the speech. The conclusion accomplishes the following four steps:
• Signaling the end of your talk.
Let the audience know that you are done with your final main point and are wrapping up. You may include a final
slide or frame on your visual aid that indicates the shift, and using signal words or phrases such as “before I wrap
this up….”
• Summarizing the key ideas.
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If stated as complete sentences, each of your main points can be strung together to recreate the backbone of
your speech. Repeating these for your audience gives them one last opportunity to remember what you want
them to take away from their time spent listening.
• Activating your audience.
Ask yourself what you want the audience to do with the information you have provided them. If the speech is
informative, consider what you want the audience to remember, know, or understand about your topic. If you
want them to take the information and apply it later, then remind them of when it would be useful. For example,
if you have presented an informative speech about recycling, you might conclude with a sentence like this one:
“So now that you know how recycling plants work, I hope you’ll remember what you’ve learned when deciding
what should—and shouldn’t —be recycled.”
• Providing psychological closure.
This final step can have a great impact. It can be a statement that is witty, interesting, or moving. If you don’t plan
out this step, you may end your speech by trailing off and saying something like “Well, that’s it.” Trailing off may
be especially likely to occur if you are nervous.
One way to create a powerful closing statement is by using a circular conclusion. Circular conclusions are created when
the final step of the conclusion refers back to the attention-getting step of the introduction.
Example:
So the next time you’re dreaming of your toes in the sand and a tropical drink in your hand, remember that traveling
internationally can be an affordable experience.
Objective IV: Develop strategies for delivering your speech with confidence.
Your hard work in developing and organizing your speech should help you feel confident. However, even the best-prepared,
most experienced speakers may feel some anxiety when speaking in public. Still, when you properly control and channel the
nervous feelings, you can translate them into an energetic and engaging presentation. The answer to the following questions will help you achieve with controlling and channeling any anxiety you might feel.
1. What are some physical and mental strategies for minimizing nerves/discomfort when giving an oral presentation?
2. How do I best deliver a speech introduction?
3. How do I best deliver a speech conclusion?
1. What are some physical and mental strategies for minimizing nerves/discomfort when giving an oral presentation?
The following strategies can help you minimize discomfort when you give an oral presentation. If fact, they can help you to
enjoy the experience.
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• Practice your speech. Be sure you are comfortable with your material. The more prepared you are, the more confident
you will feel.
• Be aware of how you feel when you are nervous. Try to prepare for the specific way your body expresses nervousness.
If your hands shake when you get nervous, for example, you might want to use a podium.
• Slow down your breathing. Sometimes when we get nervous, we breathe more quickly, which can make us feel even
more nervous. To calm yourself down, pay attention to your breathing and moderate it as necessary.
• Go easy on yourself. Remember that you are harder on yourself than your peers would be. While we often notice every
mistake, our listeners don’t.
• Rethink the experience. Remember that you are excited about your topic and that this is your chance to share it with
others.
In addition to the above advice, remember that you can find material about delivering, specifically, the introduction and the
conclusion of your speech in the answers to these two questions:
2. How do I best deliver a speech introduction?
Follow the four-steps listed under How do I write an introduction to a speech? In addition, though, it is very important to
build ethos throughout the beginning of the speech. First impressions are very important, and audience members generally will decide whether they will pay attention to what you say within the first few minutes of a speech. With that in mind,
make sure to exude confidence, preparedness, and trustworthiness
• When using a visual aid, open on a title screen that’s appropriate and professional. For example, don’t project a slide
that introduces your first main point when you have not even previewed your speech.
• Look the part through your clothing and grooming choices the day of the presentation. Think of your outfit as a uniform
for a job, and keep in mind that dressing up can help calm anxiety about public speaking.
• Keep excellent eye contact throughout the introduction. Be especially sure to have memorized the first and last steps of
the introduction (attention-getter, preview of the main points and organizational pattern).
• Avoid distracting mannerisms. Don’t shuffle your notecards, play with your hair, click a pen, etc. If you need to channel
excess energy in the beginning of the presentation do it through meaningful gestures and strong vocal delivery to show
that you really do care about your topic and want the audience to as well.
3. How do I best deliver a speech conclusion?
Conclusions are your final chance to get the audience to listen, pay attention, and care about what you’ve said. Strong delivery in the conclusion can help you regain any energy that may have been lost during the body of the presentation.
• Include a slide or frame on your visual aid to accompany your conclusion.
• Make as much eye contact as possible. If a speaker looks at her notes during the conclusion, the audience is likely to
conclude that she does not have a thorough mastery of her material.
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• Gesture appropriately. Hold your arms away from your body, and lift you palms face up when that gesture fits with what
you’re saying. If you are comfortable leaving the lectern, a step toward the audience during the conclusion can help
draw in the audience. Nodding your head as you summarize your main points may also help the audience react
positively to what you are saying.
• If your energy as a speaker has flagged during the presentation, increase your volume slightly during the wrap-up.
References
Aristotle. (2007). On rhetoric: A theory of civic discourse. 2nd ed. Trans. George A. Kennedy. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.
Hussein, H. (2014, March 26). Crash of MH370: Full transcript of Hishammuddin’s press briefing on March 26. Straits
Times. Retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/crash-mh370-fulltranscript-hishammuddins-press-briefing-march-26-201403
Kennedy, J. F. (1963, June 11). Civil rights address. American Rhetoric. Retrieved December 18, 2013 from
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkcivilrights.htm
CORE 201
CORE 201 - INTRODUCTION
CORE 201 continues the University Core A emphasis on the writing process; on the relationship between reading, thinking,
writing, and speaking; and on the rhetorical principles required for communicating successfully in both speech and writing.
When you set out to use language to influence readers, listeners or speakers, you want to make use of rhetorical principles,
which involve being aware of what communication methods will be the most effective and thinking about what will work
for a particular message delivered to an actual audience in a specific context.
In CORE 201 you will build on skills that you practiced in previous courses in order to continue your development as a critical thinker. You will identify, analyze, and evaluate both written and spoken arguments. The Handbook sections on fallacies
and formal and informal reasoning will serve as a resource throughout the process.
You also will build on the foundation in information literacy laid down in CORE 102 as you locate various types of sources,
evaluate those sources, and integrate them into an argument.
In addition to researching a topic, you will develop an understanding of different viewpoints on an issue. You will select the
most logical viewpoint and defend it in a persuasive speech that builds on CORE 102 information about public speaking
while simultaneously demonstrating that you are mastering additional oral communication concepts.
Through the critical thinking aspect of Core 201, you will:
• Analyze the use of ethos, logos and pathos by sources;
• Identify fallacies;
• Discern the logical structure of arguments; and
• Evaluate an argument’s premises and how they are intended to support a conclusion.
You also will work on developing your information literacy skills by doing the following:
• Conduct background research related to their topic;
• Use subject-specific databases appropriately matched to their topics;
• Use a variety of popular and scholarly sources appropriate to their topic;
• Evaluate the comparative credibility of these sources;
• Construct a discussion that positions a variety of sources according to the sources’ viewpoints on a particular topic; and
• Cite images correctly.
In the oral communication portion of the course, you will:
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• Use language that enhances the message of the presentation;
• Use nonverbal communication in a way that enhances the message of a speech;
• Create presentational aids to enhance the message of a speech; and
• Present the reasons and evidence supporting the argument.
In order to accomplish the goals of the course, you will complete three major projects:
• an analysis of someone’s argument;
• an annotated bibliography in which you demonstrate your ability to locate, document, summarize, and evaluate
sources; and
• a persuasive speech in which you demonstrate your ability to construct and orally deliver a well-supported argument.
Prior to completing these projects, it will be helpful to know more about critical thinking in general. Information on argumentation, logical fallacies, and ethos, logos, and pathos will be presented as well as information regarding the Argument
Analysis, Annotated Bibliography, and Persuasive Speech assignments.
CORE 201 - THE LOGICAL
STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENTS
The Logical Structure of Arguments
This section of the Handbook will use the term argument in a very specific way. An argument in the sense used here isn’t a
“quarrel”, but rather a group of statements, some of which, the premises, are offered in support for another, the conclusion.
Often “argument” is used interchangeably with “persuasion”, but here we will treat persuasion as covering a wide range of
tactics intended to move people to accept a belief or a course of action. Argument, on the other hand, will be considered a
category within persuasion. It is a form of persuasion that emphasizes rational thinking and is based in principles of logic
and evidence.
Within the category of argument are two subtypes of argument: inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Inductive
reasoning results in conclusions that are likely or probable but that can never be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Deductive reasoning can lead to unquestionable results—but only if certain rules of reasoning are followed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
What is inductive reasoning?
What are the limitations of inductive reasoning?
What is required for appropriate cause and effect reasoning?
What is required for an appropriate generalization?
What is deductive reasoning?
What is a premise?
Why should I evaluate the truth of a premise?
How do I evaluate the truth of a premise?
Why should I evaluate unstated or suppressed premises as well as stated ones?
How does argument diagramming or outlining help to illuminate the structure of an argument?
What is the purpose of diagramming or outlining an argument?
What are the steps to diagramming or outlining an argument?
How can the argument’s paragraphing help me evaluate how the author uses premises?
How is a conclusion like a thesis statement?
1. What is inductive reasoning?
You have been employing inductive reasoning for a very long time. Inductive reasoning is based on your ability to recognize
meaningful patterns and connections. By taking into account both examples and your understanding of how the world
works, induction allows you to conclude that something is likely to be true. By using induction, you move from specific data
to a generalization that tries to capture what the data ‘mean’.
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Imagine that you ate a dish of strawberries and soon afterward your lips swelled. Now imagine that a few weeks later you
ate strawberries and soon afterwards your lips again became swollen. The following month, you ate yet another dish of
strawberries, and you had the same reaction as formerly. You are aware that swollen lips can be a sign of an allergy to strawberries. Using induction, you conclude that, more likely than not, you are allergic to strawberries.
Data: After I ate strawberries, my lips swelled (1st time).
Data: After I ate strawberries, my lips swelled (2nd time).
Data: After I ate strawberries, my lips swelled (3rd time).
Warrant*: Swollen lips after eating strawberries may be a sign of an allergy.
Claim**: Likely I am allergic to strawberries.
*A warrant is a concept that, when applied to the data, leads to the claim. It is the “understanding of how the world works”
mentioned in the paragraph above.
**Alternately, the claim may be referred to as the conclusion. You may also find that some discussions of induction use the
word premises to refer to data.
2. What are the limitations of inductive reasoning?
Inductive reasoning can never lead to absolute certainty. Instead, induction allows you to say that, given the data and the
warrant, the claim more likely than not is true. Because of the limitations of inductive reasoning, a claim will be more credible if multiple lines of reasoning are presented in its support.
When applying inductive reasoning, always keep in mind that the better and more complete the data and the more relevant
the warrant, the likelier it is that the claim will be credible. For example, medical researchers report their results with
greater confidence if they can say the following about participants in a study: that the participants were a representative
sample and that the sample size was a large one. The larger and more representative a sample, the less likely it is that the
results arose out of random variation.
Also keep in mind that the results of inductive thinking can be skewed if relevant data or warrants are overlooked. In the
previous example, inductive reasoning was used to conclude that I am likely allergic to strawberries after suffering multiple instances of my lips swelling. Would I be as confident in my claim if I was eating strawberry shortcake on each of those
occasions? It is reasonable to assume that the allergic reaction might be due to another ingredient besides strawberries?
This example illustrates that inductive reasoning must be used with care. When evaluating an inductive argument, consider:
• the amount of the data,
• the quality of the data,
• the existence of additional data,
• the relevance of the warrant, and
• the existence of additional warrants.
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3. What is required for appropriate cause and effect reasoning?
One type of inductive argument involves reasoning about causes and effects. To argue credibly that one event is the cause
of another, a speaker or writer must be careful not to confuse correlation with causation.
Humans seek meaning and therefore tend to ‘see’ patterns where none exist. This meaning-seeking phenomenon includes
‘finding’ causal patterns in what is actually nothing more than correlation—the coincidental occurrence of two or more
events.
If events regularly occur within the same time frame, an observer may conclude that one event causes another. For example, April has a reputation for rain; during this rainy month, income taxes come due. Still, the rain does not cause taxes to
come due; nor is tax season the cause of spring showers.
Confusing correlation with causation may cause great harm, as when parents stop vaccinating children because of a weak
correlation between vaccine administration and the age at which children are typically diagnosed with autism. A perceived
pattern has been mistaken for causation.
Since humans are prone to see patterns, claims about causation need to meet a scientific standard that goes well beyond
reliance upon intuition.
4. What is required for an appropriate generalization?
Generalization may be the approach that people have in mind when they think of inductive reasoning. To generalize, a person begins with particular observations and then pools those individual observations in order to draw a conclusion that
accounts for all the individual cases. For example, a person observing swans on a number of occasions may notice that each
swan is white. Pooling these observations may lead him to the generalization that “All swans are white.”
Generalizations rarely lead to absolute certainty. They are subject to revision because they are based on a sample (reported
swan sightings) rather than on direct observation of all possible evidence (a tally of every swan in the world). Because the
generalization is based on a sample, it could be falsified any time additional evidence turns up that is not consistent with
the claim. (As a matter of fact, there are black swans in Australia.)
However, if the sample is large enough and representative of the target population, inductive generalization can be a very
powerful—even essential—tool.
For more information read:
• When is a generalization inappropriate?
• How do I evaluate a generalization in my source?
5. What is deductive reasoning?
Deductive reasoning is built on two statements whose logical relationship should lead to a third statement that is an
unquestionably correct conclusion*, as in the following example.
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All raccoons are omnivores.
This animal is a raccoon.
This animal is an omnivore.
If the first statement is true (All raccoons are omnivores) and the second statement is true (This animal is a raccoon), then
the conclusion (This animal is an omnivore) is unavoidable.If a group must have a certain quality, and an individual is a member of that group, then the individual must have that quality.
Unlike inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning allows for certainty as long as certain rules are followed.
*In some contexts, the word conclusion is used to refer to the final paragraph of an essay. Here conclusion means the claim
that is the outcome of deductive reasoning.
6. What is a premise?
In a deductive argument, the premises are the statements whose logical relationship allows for the conclusion. The first
premise is checked against the second premise in order to infer a conclusion.
Premise: All raccoons are omnivores.
Premise: This animal is a raccoon.
Conclusion: This animal is an omnivore.
7. Why should I evaluate the truth of a premise?
A formal argument may be set up so that, on its face, it looks logical. However, no matter how well-constructed the argument is, the premises must be true or any inferences based on the premises will be unsound.
Inductive reasoning often stands behind the premises in a deductive argument. That is, a generalization reached through
inductive reasoning is the claim in an inductive argument, but a speaker or writer can turn around and use that generalization as a premise in a deductive argument.
Premise (induced): Most Labrador retrievers are friendly.
Premise (deduced): Kimber is a Labrador retriever.
Conclusion: Therefore, Kimber is friendly.
In this case we cannot know for certain that Kimber is a friendly Labrador retriever. The structure of the argument may
look logical, but it is based on observations and generalizations rather than indisputable facts.
8. How do I evaluate the truth of a premise?
One way to test the accuracy of a premise is to determine whether the premise is based upon a sample that is both representative and sufficiently large, and ask yourself whether all relevant factors have been taken into account in the analysis
of data that leads to a generalization. Another way to evaluate a premise is to determine whether its source is credible. Are
the authors identified? What is their background? Was the premise something you found on an undocumented website?
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Did you find it in a popular publication or a scholarly one? How complete, how recent, and how relevant were the studies or
statistics discussed in the source?
Here it would help to review the following questions from the section of the Handbook that covers the CORE 102 Research
Narrative assignment:
• How do I know if a source is credible?
• Who is an expert?
• How do I decide if someone is an expert?
• How do I decide if someone’s expertise is relevant?
• How do you know if you should trust the expert?
The following argument is based upon research published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. The author has an extensive
background in public health including a medical degree and doctorate in medicine. He is employed by the Public Health
Agency in Barcelona, Spain.
Citation:
Plans-Rubío, P. (2012). The vaccination coverage required to establish herd immunity against influenza viruses. Preventive
Medicine 55, 72-77.
Judging from what we know about credible sources, we can feel confident using the following the following argument in
our own research even though it is based upon inductive premises.
Premise (induced): Against most influenza viruses, an 80-90 % vaccination rate for adults is required for herd immunity (Plans-Rubío, 2012, p. 76).
Premise (induced): In 2009-2010, the influenza vaccination rate for adults was 42 % (p. 76).
Claim: In 2009-2010, the influenza vaccination rate among adults was not sufficient for herd immunity.
The source is highly credible in part because it is written by an expert for experts. That fact may make a source a challenging
read for ordinary readers. It is a medical study based on sufficient, representative, and relevant data that has been carefully
analyzed by someone highly qualified in the field. Depending on the nature of an assignment and whether a course is for
majors or non-majors, you may be allowed to use some sources that report on studies rather than the original studies themselves. However, you should consult the primary sources whenever possible.
For more information on the types of sources, review What is a primary source?, What is a secondary source?, and What is
a tertiary source? under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment in CORE 101.
9. Why should I evaluate unstated or suppressed premises as well as stated ones?
An unstated or suppressed premise is assumed rather than voiced outright but is nevertheless needed for an argument to
work. Consider this highly unscientific poll conducted by a TV news station. “Which do you believe Senator Hillary Clinton is most out of touch with: illegal immigration, border security, or the American people?” The pollster is operating as if it
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is unquestionable that Clinton is out of touch with something. In other words, the question presupposes that she is “out of
touch.” However, this unstated premise is debatable once it is brought out into the open. Is she in fact out of touch at all?
This is actually a type of logical fallacy, begging the question, which will be covered in a later section.
A listener or reader who is not alert to such unstated or suppressed premises is, without realizing it, agreeing to debate on
the communicator’s terms—when those terms may be unfair. In fact, on more complex or serious issues it is often things
people take for granted that may actually deserve the most critical scrutiny. For example, in the argument “This medication
is labelled as totally natural, so it is safe for me to take it,” the suppressed premise—that “natural” guarantees “safe”—is not
trivial and can certainly be challenged.
10. How does argument diagramming or outlining help to illuminate the structure of an argument?
Besides recognizing the use of induction and deduction, you can use diagramming or outlining to develop an understanding of an argument’s overall structure. Remember that an argument as defined here isn’t a “quarrel”, but rather a group of
statements, some of which, the premises, are offered in support for another, the conclusion. So the first order of business
in analyzing an argument is to recognize what the main claim is—the conclusion—and what other claims are being used to
support it—the premises, which is much easier to do when the arguer is explicit about the steps in the argument. The arguer
can make the steps clear by using premise and conclusion indicator terms as signposts. Below is a list of such terms.
Words that introduce or signal an argument conclusion include therefore, so, we may conclude/infer, thus, and consequently.
Words that introduce or signal argument premises include it follows that, implies that, as a result, because (non-causal meaning), since, for the reason that, for, and.*
*and often signals the introduction of a further premise, as in “You should believe Z because reason 1 and reason 2″.
When you are diagramming or outlining an argument, if the “flow” of an argument from premises to conclusion isn’t readily
apparent, then remember to use the above indicator terms to help you decide which claim is the conclusion and which
claims are the premises. Using the indicator terms is particularly helpful because a conclusion may be stated first, last, or
anywhere in between. People do all three when they write or talk in real life, so we cannot tell whether a statement is a
conclusion simply by where it is positioned in the argument.
11. What is the purpose of diagramming or outlining an argument?
Diagramming or mapping someone else’s argument serves a double purpose. First, the process helps you clearly see just
what the other person is saying. It helps you identify the logical structure of the argument, which is necessary if you are to
assess the strengths and weaknesses of the argument in order to know whether or not to accept it. Second, you develop
skills of analysis that you will need in order to organize and present arguments in support of a position that you may want
to take on some question or issue.
12. What are the steps to diagramming or outlining an argument?
Here are the basic moves that are required in order to create a clear diagram or outline of an argument.
Identify all the claims made by the author. Since a sentence can contain multiple claims, rewrite statements so that you
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have one claim per sentence. Adopt some sort of numbering or labeling system for the claims—your instructor may have
one that she wishes you to follow.
Eliminate “fluff.” Ignore repetitions, assurances (assertions not backed by evidence or reasons), and information that is
unrelated to the argument.
Identify which statements are premises and which statement is the main conclusion.
Recognize that there may be sub-conclusions in addition to a final or main conclusion. You may think of a sub-conclusion as
the end point of a sub-argument nested inside the larger argument. Although the sub-conclusion is itself the conclusion of
a nested argument, supported by premises, it also functions as a premise supporting the final or main conclusion.
Recognize that some premises are independent and others linked. If you were drawing or mapping the argument, you
would be able to draw an arrow from an independent premise directly to the conclusion it supports. Linked premises, however, are multiple statements that must be combined to provide support for a conclusion. If you were drawing or mapping
the argument, you would have to find some way to show that the linked premises as a group support the conclusion. You
might use color coding, or underlining, or circling, or + signs—some way to connect the linked premises before drawing
one arrow from the clustered premises to the conclusion they support.
13. How can the argument’s paragraphing help me evaluate how the author uses premises?
An author must organize her material to guide the audience through her argument. One tool available to an author is
the paragraph. The sentences clustered together in a paragraph should be tightly connected in terms of content. In the
commonest form of paragraph, the clustered sentences collectively develop an idea explicitly stated in a topic sentence
and don’t contain any extra material related to other ideas. The paragraphs themselves should be placed in an order that
reflects some overall plan so that the paragraphs reveal the steps or stages of the argument.
The premises may be said to be key steps or stages in the argument. A well-constructed argument therefore may use each
premise as a topic sentence for a paragraph. Additionally, a premise may serve as the guiding idea for a group of paragraphs, each developing a subtopic. For example, the premise, reached by induction, that “College students overestimate
the amount of binge drinking that is taking place” might introduce a cluster of three paragraphs, each showing that the
overestimation varies by subgroup—with member of sororities, member of fraternities, and non-Greek populations arriving at different estimates.
Look to see whether the author has used paragraphing-by-premise to organize her argument and outline its structure for
the audience. You should also ask yourself whether any paragraphs are missing. That is, as you consider what premises
serve as the foundations of the argument, be alert for the suppressed ones, the premises that the author assumes to be
automatically true. These unacknowledged premises may be ones that the author hopes the audience will not notice or
question. In your analysis call her on it by determining where a paragraph on that premise should have appeared in the
argument.
14. How is a conclusion like a thesis statement?
When we talk about a paper, we usually talk about the paper’s main claim as being its thesis statement. But of course a
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paper that just makes a claim or states an opinion but offers no supporting reasons or arguments isn’t much of a paper. We
would be bothered by reading an editorial in which someone stated a strong opinion on some public issue yet did nothing
to justify that opinion.
When an author supports a thesis with reasons, then the thesis statement can be described as the conclusion of an argument, with the supporting reasons being that argument’s premises. The argument now has a structure that can be outlined
or diagrammed.
CORE 201 - FORMAL AND
INFORMAL FALLACIES
Formal and Informal Fallacies
This section of the Handbook introduces the concept of formal and informal fallacies while reviewing ethos, logos, and
pathos. Specifically, we will address the following questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What are fallacies?
What is a formal fallacy?
Why is it important to recognize formal fallacies?
What is an informal fallacy?
How can ethos, logos, and pathos be used to test an argument for fallacies?
How do fallacies weaken arguments?
Where can I find more information about generalizations, fallacies, analogies, and syllogisms?
1. What are fallacies?
Fallacies are errors or tricks of reasoning. We call a fallacy an error of reasoning if it occurs accidentally; we call it a trick
of reasoning if a speaker or writer uses it in order to deceive or manipulate his audience. Fallacies can be either formal or informal.
Whether a fallacy is an error or a trick, whether it is formal or informal, its use undercuts the validity and soundness of any
argument. At the same time, fallacious reasoning can damage the credibility of the speaker/writer and improperly manipulate the emotions of the audience/reader.
2. What is a formal fallacy?
Most formal fallacies are errors of logic: the conclusion doesn’t really “follow from” (is not supported by) the premises.
Either the premises are untrue or the argument is invalid. Below is an example of an invalid deductive argument.
Premise: All black bears are omnivores.
Premise: All raccoons are omnivores.
Conclusion: All raccoons are black bears.
Bears are a subset of omnivores. Raccoons also are a subset of omnivores. But these two subsets do not overlap, and that
fact makes the conclusion illogical. The argument is invalid—that is, the relationship between the premises doesn’t support
the conclusion.
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3. Why is it important to recognize formal fallacies?
“Raccoons are black bears” is instantaneously recognizable as fallacious and may seem too silly to be worth bothering
about. However, that and other forms of poor logic play out on a daily basis, and they have real world consequences. Below
is an example of a fallacious argument:
Premise: All Arabs are Muslims.
Premise: All Iranians are Muslims.
Conclusion: All Iranians are Arabs.
This argument fails on two levels. First, the premises are untrue because although many Arabs and Iranians are Muslim, not
all are. Second, the two ethnic groups are sets that do not overlap; nevertheless, the two groups are confounded because
they (largely) share one quality in common. One only has to look at comments on the web to realize that the confusion is
widespread and that it influences attitudes and opinions about U.S. foreign policy.
4. What is an informal fallacy?
Informal fallacies take many forms and are widespread in everyday discourse. Very often they involve bringing irrelevant
information into an argument or they are based on assumptions that, when examined, prove to be incorrect. Formal fallacies are created when the relationship between premises and conclusion does not hold up or when premises are unsound;
informal fallacies are more dependent on the misuse of language and of evidence.
It is easy to find fairly well-accepted lists of informal fallacies, but that does not mean that it is always easy to spot them.
Some moves are always fallacious; others represent ways of thinking that are sometimes valid and reasonable but which
can also be misused is ways that make them fallacies.
5. How can ethos, logos, and pathos be used to test an argument for fallacies?
One way to go about evaluating an argument for fallacies is to return to the concept of the three fundamental appeals:
ethos, logos, and pathos.
The concepts of ethos, logos, and pathos were first introduced in CORE 101 under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment. It
may help you if you take some time to review the answers to the following questions before you move on:
• What is logos?
• What should an author consider when using logos in an argument?
• What is ethos?
• What should an author consider when using ethos in an argument?
• What is pathos?
• What should an author consider when using pathos in an argument?
• How can logos, ethos, and pathos work together?
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• What is the rhetorical triangle?
• How are logos, ethos, and pathos related to the rhetorical triangle?
Once you have refreshed your memory of the basics, you may begin to understand how ethos, logos, and pathos can be
used appropriately to strengthen your argument or inappropriately to manipulate an audience through the use of fallacies.
Classifying fallacies as fallacies of ethos, logos, or pathos will help you both to understand their nature and to recognize
them when you encounter them. Please keep in mind, however, that the list of fallacies presented in the next section is by
no means exhaustive and that some fallacies may fit into multiple categories.
Fallacies of ethos relate to credibility. These fallacies may unfairly build up the credibility of the author (or his allies) or
unfairly attack the credibility of the author’s opponent (or her allies). Some fallacies give an unfair advantage to the claims
of the speaker or writer or an unfair disadvantage to the opponent’s claims. These are fallacies of logos. Fallacies of pathos
rely excessively upon emotional appeals, attaching positive associations to the author’s argument and negative ones to the
opponent’s position.
6. How do fallacies weaken arguments?
Both formal and informal fallacies are errors of reasoning, and if a speaker or writer relies on such fallacies, even unintentionally, she undercuts her argument. For example, if someone defines a key term in her argument in an ambiguous, vague,
or circular way, her argument will appear very weak to an astute audience.
In addition, when listeners or readers spot questionable reasoning or unfair attempts at audience manipulation, more than
their evaluation of the author’s argument (logos) may be compromised. Their evaluation of the credibility of the speaker
(ethos), and perhaps their ability to connect with that speaker on the level of shared values (pathos), also may be compromised. At the very least, the presence of fallacies will suggest to an audience that the speaker or writer lacks argumentative
skill.
7. Where can I find more information about generalizations, fallacies, analogies, and syllogisms?
If your assignment requires you to go into greater depth, you will find additional information in the CORE 201 Appendix
under these questions:
• How do I recognize fallacies?
• What is a common cause fallacy?
• What is a reverse causation fallacy?
• What is inductive reasoning by analogy?
• What is required for an appropriate analogy?
• What is a syllogism?
• What is a categorical syllogism?
• When is a categorical syllogism a fallacy?
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• What is an if/then syllogism?
• When is an if/then syllogism a fallacy?
• When is a generalization inappropriate?
• How do I evaluate a generalization in my source?
• What are either/or arguments?
• When is an either/or argument a fallacy?
CORE 201 - APPEALS TO ETHOS,
LOGOS, AND PATHOS
Appeals to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
As a reader and a listener, it is fundamental that you be able to recognize how writers and speakers depend
upon ethos, logos, and pathos in their efforts to communicate. As a communicator yourself, you will benefit from being able
to see how others rely upon ethos, logos, and pathos so that you can apply what you learn from your observations to your
own speaking and writing. We will explore appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos by answering the following questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
How do I evaluate an appeal to ethos?
How do I recognize when an appeal to ethos is manipulative?
What fallacies misuse appeals to ethos?
How do I evaluate an appeal to logos?
How do I recognize when an appeal to logos is manipulative?
What fallacies misuse appeals to logos?
How do I evaluate an appeal to pathos?
How do I recognize when an appeal to pathos is manipulative?
What fallacies misuse appeals to pathos?
Under what contexts are fallacies committed?
Where can I find more information about fallacies of ethos, logos, and pathos?
1. How do I evaluate an appeal to ethos?
When you evaluate an appeal to ethos, you examine how successfully a speaker or writer establishes authority or credibility with her intended audience. You are asking yourself what elements of the essay or speech would cause an audience to
feel that the author is (or is not) trustworthy and credible.
A good speaker or writer leads the audience to feel comfortable with her knowledge of a topic. The audience sees her as
someone worth listening to—a clear or insightful thinker, or at least someone who is well-informed and genuinely interested in the topic.
Some of the questions you can ask yourself as you evaluate an author’s ethos may include the following:
• Has the writer or speaker cited her sources or in some way made it possible for the audience to access further
information on the issue?
• Does she demonstrate familiarity with different opinions and perspectives?
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• Does she provide complete and accurate information about the issue?
• Does she use the evidence fairly? Does she avoid selective use of evidence or other types of manipulation of data?
• Does she speak respectfully about people who may have opinions and perspectives different from her own?
• Does she use unbiased language?
• Does she avoid excessive reliance on emotional appeals?
• Does she accurately convey the positions of people with whom she disagrees?
• Does she acknowledge that an issue may be complex or multifaceted?
• Does her education or experience give her credibility as someone who should be listened to on this issue?
Some of the above questions may strike you as relevant to an evaluation of logos as well as ethos—questions about the
completeness and accuracy of information and whether it is used fairly. In fact, illogical thinking and the misuse of evidence
may lead an audience to draw conclusions not only about the person making the argument but also about the logic of an
argument.
2. How do I recognize when an appeal to ethos is manipulative?
In a perfect world, everyone would tell the truth and we could depend upon the credibility of speakers and authors. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. You would expect that news reporters would be objective and tell new stories based
upon the facts. Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams all lost their jobs for plagiarizing or fabricated
part of their news stories. Janet Cooke’s Pulitzer Prize was revoked after it was discovered that she made up “Jimmy,” an
eight-year old heroin addict (Prince, 2010). Brian Williams was fired as anchor of the NBC Nightly News for exaggerating
his role in the Iraq War.
Others have become infamous for claiming academic degrees that they didn’t earn as in the case of Marilee Jones. At
the time of discovery, she was Dean of Admissions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After 28 years of
employment, it was determined that she never graduated from college (Lewin, 2007). However, on her website
(http://www.marileejones.com) she is still promoting herself as “a sought after speaker, consultant and author” (para. 1) and
“one of the nation’s most experienced College Admissions Deans” (para. 2).
Beyond lying about their own credentials, authors may employ a number of tricks or fallacies to lure you to their point of
view. Some of the more common techniques are described below. See the CORE 201 Appendix for an answer to “What are
additional examples of fallacies of ethos?“. When you recognize these fallacies being committed you should question the
credibility of the speaker and the legitimacy of the argument. If you use these when making your own arguments, be aware
that they may undermine or destroy your credibility.
3. What fallacies misuse appeals to ethos?
Ad hominem: attacking the person making an argument rather than the argument itself.
Example: “Of course that doctor advocates vaccination—he probably owns stock in a pharmaceutical company.”
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False authority: relying on claims of expertise when the claimed expert (a) lacks adequate background/credentials in the
relevant field, (b) departs in major ways from the consensus in the field, or (c) is biased, e.g., has a financial stake in the outcome.
Example: “Dr. X is an engineer, and he doesn’t believe in global warming.”
Guilt by association: linking the person making an argument to an unpopular person or group.
Example: “My opponent is a card-carrying member of the ACLU.”
Poisoning the well: undermining an opponent’s credibility before he or she gets a chance to speak.
Example: “The prosecution is going to bring up a series or so-called experts who are getting a lot of money to testify here
today.”
Transfer fallacy: associating the argument with someone or something popular or respected; hoping that the positive associations will “rub off” onto the argument.
Examples: In politics, decorating a stage with red, white, and blue flags and bunting; in advertising, using pleasant or wholesome settings as the backdrop for print or video ads.
Name-calling: labeling an opponent with words that have negative connotations in an effort to undermine the opponent’s
credibility.
Example: “These rabble-rousers are nothing but feminazis.”
Plain folk: presenting yourself as (or associating your position with) ordinary people with whom you hope your audience
will identify; arguers imply that they or their supporters are trustworthy because they are ‘common people’ rather than
members of the elite.
Example: “Who would you vote for—someone raised in a working-class neighborhood who has the support of Joe the
Plumber or some elitist whose daddy sent him to a fancy school?”
Testimonial fallacy: inserting an endorsement of the argument by someone who is popular or respected but who lacks
expertise or authority in the area under discussion.
Example: “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV”—a famous example of a celebrity endorsement for a cough syrup (Deis,
2011, n.p.).
4. How do I evaluate an appeal to logos?
When you evaluate an appeal to logos, you consider how logical the argument is and how well-supported it is in terms of
evidence. You are asking yourself what elements of the essay or speech would cause an audience to believe that the argument is (or is not) logical and supported by appropriate evidence.
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To evaluate whether the evidence is appropriate, apply the STAR criteria: how Sufficient, Typical, Accurate, and Relevant
is the evidence? You will find the STAR criteria discussed under the Academic Argument assignment in the CORE 101
section of the Handbook. Read the answers to the following two questions: How can you use STAR to assess appeals to
logos? and What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
5. How do I recognize when an appeal to logos is manipulative?
Diagramming the argument can help you determine if an appeal to logos is manipulative. Are the premises true? Does the
conclusion follow logically from the premises? Is there sufficient, typical, accurate, and relevant evidence to support inductive reasoning? Is the speaker or author attempting to divert your attention from the real issues? These are some of the
elements you might consider while evaluating an argument for the use of logos.
Pay particular attention to numbers, statistics, findings, and quotes used to support an argument. Be critical of the source
and do your own investigation of the “facts”. Maybe you’ve heard or read that half of all marriages in America will end in
divorce. It is so often discussed that we assume it must be true. Careful research will show that the original marriage study
was flawed, and divorce rates in America have steadily declined since 1985 (Peck, 1993). If there is no scientific evidence,
why do we continue to believe it? Part of the reason might be that it supports our idea of the dissolution of the American
family.
Fallacies that misuse appeals to logos or attempt to manipulate the logic of an argument are discussed below. You can find
additional examples in the appendix: What are additional examples of fallacies of logos?
6. What fallacies misuse appeals to logos?
Hasty generalization: jumping to conclusions based upon an unrepresentative sample or insufficient evidence.
Example: “10 of the last 14 National Spelling Bee Champions have been Indian American. Indian Americans must all be
great spellers!”
Appeal to ignorance—true believer’s form: arguing along the lines that if an opponent can’t prove something isn’t the case,
then it is reasonable to believe that it is the case; transfers the burden of proof away from the person making the claim (the
proponent).
Example: “You can’t prove that extraterrestrials haven’t visited earth, so it is reasonable to believe that they have visited
earth.”
Appeal to ignorance—skeptic’s form: confusing absence of evidence with evidence of absence; assumes that if you cannot
now prove something exists, then it is shown that it doesn’t exist.
Example: “There’s no proof that starting classes later in the day will improve the performance of our high school students;
therefore, this change in schedule will not work.”
Begging the question: circular argument because the premise is the same as the claim that you are trying to prove.
Example: “This legislation is sinful because it is the wrong thing to do.”
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False dilemma: misuse of the either/or argument; presenting only two options when other choices exist
Example: “Either we pass this ordinance or there will be rioting in the streets.”
Post hoc ergo propter hoc: Latin phrase meaning “after this, therefore because of this”; confuses correlation with causation
by concluding that an event preceding a second event must be the cause of that second event.
Example: “My child was diagnosed with autism after receiving vaccinations. That is proof that vaccines are to blame.”
Non-sequitur: Latin for “does not follow”; the conclusion cannot be inferred from the premises because there is a break in
the logical connection between a claim and the premises that are meant to support it, either because a premise is untrue
(or missing) or because the relationship between premises does not support the deduction stated in the claim.
Example (untrue premise):“If she is a Radford student, she is a member of a sorority. She is a Radford student. Therefore
she is a member of a sorority.”
Smoke screen: avoiding the real issue or a tough question by introducing an unrelated topic as a distraction; sometimes
called a red herring.
Example: “My opponent says I am weak on crime, but I have been one of the most reliable participants in city council meetings.”
Straw man: pretending to criticize an opponent’s position but actually misrepresenting his or her view as simpler and/or
more extreme than it is and therefore easier to refute than the original or actual position; unfairly undermines credibility
of claim if not source of claim.
Example: “Senator Smith says we should cut back the Defense budget. His position is that we should let down our defenses
and just trust our enemies not to attack us!”
7. How do I evaluate an appeal to pathos?
People may be uninterested in an issue unless they can find a personal connection to it, so a communicator may try to connect to her audience by evoking emotions or by suggesting that author and audience share attitudes, beliefs, and values—in
other words, by making an appeal to pathos. Even in formal writing, such as academic books or journals, an author often
will try to present an issue in such a way as to connect to the feelings or attitudes of his audience.
When you evaluate pathos, you are asking whether a speech or essay arouses the audience’s interest and sympathy. You
are looking for the elements of the essay or speech that might cause the audience to feel (or not feel) an emotional connection to the content.
An author may use an audience’s attitudes, beliefs, or values as a kind of foundation for his argument—a layer that the
writer knows is already in place at the outset of the argument. So one of the questions you can ask yourself as you evaluate
an author’s use of pathos is whether there are points at which the writer or speaker makes statements assuming that the
audience shares his feelings or attitudes. For example, in an argument about the First Amendment, does the author write
as if he takes it for granted that his audience is religious?
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8. How do I recognize when an appeal to pathos is manipulative?
Up to a certain point, an appeal to pathos can be a legitimate part of an argument. For example, a writer or speaker may
begin with an anecdote showing the effect of a law on an individual. This anecdote will be a means of gaining an audience’s
attention for an argument in which she uses evidence and reason to present her full case as to why the law should/should
not be repealed or amended. In such a context, engaging the emotions, values, or beliefs of the audience is a legitimate tool
whose effective use should lead you to give the author high marks.
An appropriate appeal to pathos is different than trying to unfairly play upon the audience’s feelings and emotions through
fallacious, misleading, or excessively emotional appeals. Such a manipulative use of pathos may alienate the audience or
cause them to “tune out”. An example would be the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
commercials featuring the song “In the Arms on an Angel” and footage of abused animals. Even Sarah McLachlan, the singer
and spokesperson featured in the commercials admits that she changes the channel because they are too depressing
(Brekke, 2014).
Even if an appeal to pathos is not manipulative, such an appeal should complement rather than replace reason and
evidence-based argument. In addition to making use of pathos, the author must establish her credibility (ethos) and must
supply reasons and evidence (logos) in support of her position. An author who essentially replaces logos and ethos with
pathos alone should be given low marks.
See below for the most common fallacies that misuse appeals to pathos. Additional examples are in the appendix under
What are additional examples of fallacies of pathos?
9. What fallacies misuse appeals to pathos?
Appeal to fear: using scare tactics; emphasizing threats or exaggerating possible dangers.
Example: “Without this additional insurance, you could find yourself broke and homeless.”
Appeal to guilt and appeal to pity: trying to evoke an emotional reaction that will cause the audience to behave sympathetically even if it means disregarding the issue at hand.
Example: “I know I missed assignments, but if you fail me, I will lose my financial aid and have to drop out.”
Appeal to popularity (bandwagon): urging audience to follow a course of action because “everyone does it.”
Example: “Nine out of ten shoppers have switched to Blindingly-Bright-Smile Toothpaste.”
Slippery Slope: making an unsupported or inadequately supported claim that “One thing inevitably leads to another.” This
may be considered a fallacy of logos as well as pathos but is placed in this section because it often is used to evoke the emotion of fear.
Example: “We can’t legalize marijuana; if we do, then the next thing you know people will be strung out on heroin.”
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Appeal to the people: also called stirring symbols fallacy; the communicator distracts the readers or listeners with symbols
that are very meaningful to them, with strong associations or connotations.
Example: This fallacy is referred to in the sentence “That politician always wraps himself in the flag.”
Appeal to tradition: people have done it a certain way for a long time; assumes that what has been customary in past is
correct and proper.
Example: “A boy always serves as student-body president; a girl always serves as secretary.”
Loaded-Language and other emotionally charged uses of language: using slanted or biased language, including God terms,
devil terms, euphemisms, and dysphemisms.
10. Under what contexts are fallacies committed?
Fallacies can crop up whenever definitions, inferences, and facts are at issue. Once we become familiar with fallacies we
may start to see them everywhere. That can be good and bad. Since persuasion is ever-present, it is good to be on guard
against various hidden persuaders. But whether a persuasive strategy is considered fallacious may be dependent on context. Editorials and advertisements—both political and commercial—frequently use such strategies as transfer and appeals
to popularity. We need to be critically aware of the techniques of persuasion being used on us, but since we expect advertisements, political speeches, and editorials on public policy or ethical issues to try to sway us emotionally, perhaps only
extreme examples deserve to be judged harshly for being fallacious.
In addition, something that looks as if it is a fallacy may turn out not to be on closer examination. For example, not everything that smacks of slippery slope is fallacious. There are indeed some genuine slippery slopes, where an initial decision or
action may have both great and inevitable repercussions. So whether that fallacy has been committed depends upon what
the author has done (or failed to do) to support his claim. Similarly, while personal attacks (ad hominem) in most cases are
unfair and considered fallacious, there are special situations in which a person’s character may be directly relevant to his or
her qualifications. For example, when somebody is running for political office or for a judgeship, casting doubt on his or her
character may be appropriate—if one has facts to back it up—since it relates to job expectations. But wholesale character
assassination remains a rhetorical ploy of the propagandist or demagogue.
11. Where can I find more information about fallacies of ethos, logos, and pathos?
If your assignment requires you to go into greater depth, you will find additional information in the Core 201 Appendix
under these questions:
• How can the premises of an argument affect an author’s ethos?
• What is a red herring?
• What are additional examples of fallacies of ethos?
• What are additional examples of fallacies of logos?
• What are additional examples of fallacies of pathos?
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REFERENCES
Brekke, K. (2014, May 5). “Sarah McLachlan: ‘I change the channel’ when my ASPCA commercials come on. The Huffington
Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/05/sarah-mclachlan-aspca_n_5267840.html
Lewin, T. (2007, April 27). “Dean of M.I.T. resigns, ending a 28-year lie.” The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27mit.html
Peck, D. L. (1993). The fifty percent divorce rate: Deconstructing a myth. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 20(3),
135-144.
Prince, R. (2010, October 1). Janet Cooke’s hoax still resonates after 30 years. The Root. Retrieved from
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/journalisms/2010/10/janet_cookes_hoax_still_resonates_after_30_years.html
CORE 201 - FRAMING, WORD
CHOICE, AND BIASES
Framing, Word Choice, and Biases
A good argument provides sufficient justification for us to change the way we think, believe, or act. That is the art of persuasion. We expect to be treated as critical thinkers who can make reasonable decisions based upon the facts, our emotional
responses, and connection to the speaker. However, there are times when a speaker may use hidden means of persuasion
to try to convince us. Two common strategies are framing and word choice. Think of framing as a way to change meaning
by manipulating the perspective, just as the frame around a picture influences the way we see it. For example, an optimist is
said to see a glass as half full while the pessimist sees it as half empty. This view of the world is simply a matter of perspective as the glass is the same. It depends upon the context.
The context will also determine whether the purpose of a paper or speech is to persuade or inform. The speaker or writer
must choose language that is specific to the topic, purpose, and audience. For example, lawyers, politicians, opinion journalists, and advertisers are expected to advocate particular points of view, so the audience will expect a considerable amount
of framing in the way they present an issue. An audience will tend to give these communicators substantially more leeway
in this regard than it might give to others who are expected to report rather than advocate. As such, an audience will hold
news sources to a higher standard of neutrality than writers of opinion pieces such as op-eds; and an audience may reject
outright “push polls” or any survey or study that appears biased or whose methodology does not meet a scientific standard.
It is not always readily apparent at which points someone is simply intending to inform versus the points at which he is
attempting to persuade. But understanding the context and being aware of the implications of language choice should help
you to recognize hidden persuasion and to evaluate whether the author of the argument you are analyzing has chosen language appropriate to the topic, purpose, and audience. We will expand on the concepts of framing, word choice, and bias by
exploring the answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
How do effective communicators choose language for their arguments?
What uses of language are inappropriate?
What is propaganda?
How can I tell if language is being used as a tool for audience manipulation?
What is framing bias?
What is confirmation bias?
What can I learn about fallacies from advertising?
When can I trust a poll or survey?
How does scientific sampling lead to credible premises?
How can reliance on scientific reasoning reduce bias?
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1. How do effective communicators choose language for their arguments?
Clear and appropriate word choice is a desirable quality in both written and oral communication, so your assessment of the
strength of someone’s argument often will depend in part on how effective the author is at choosing his language. The same
applies for constructing and communicating your own arguments.
Ask yourself whether the author correctly uses technical terms relevant to the topic. In addition, if the audience is not made
up of specialists in the subject, does the author provide definitions of these terms, as well as examples to illustrate them?
An author strengthens his ethos when he uses technical terms and other vocabulary correctly and shows that he understands when it is appropriate to provide definitions and examples. But language choice also is relevant to an evaluation of
an argument’s logos and pathos.
2. What uses of language are inappropriate?
In addition to noting whether an author relies upon correct and appropriate terminology—an appropriate use of language—observe whether the author avoids manipulative uses of language that either fail to support the argument’s logos
or make unfair appeals to pathos.
Weasel words: words or phrases that are ambiguous or vague; clear and critical evidence for a position may be missing and
weasel words offered in their place.
In the sentence “This compromise will give you most of what you wanted,” the word “most” is a weasel word. Exactly what is
being promised? Similarly, in the statement “Students are almost always offered jobs at the end of their internships,” what
is the precise meaning of “almost always”? In your Argument Analysis, consider whether the author relies on such ambiguous or vague language.
God terms: words or phrases with positive connotations that are meant to give a position a “stamp of approval”; god terms
are used to imply that supporting a position would be patriotic or virtuous but are not themselves evidence for the position.
In the sentence “Cutting access to food stamps would encourage personal responsibility,” the god term is “personal responsibility.” It might seem as if it would be hard to argue against “personal responsibility” or related god terms such as “independence” and “self-reliance.” However, it would require a definition of “personal responsibility,” combined with evidence
from studies of people’s behavior in the face of food stamp or other benefit reductions, to argue that cutting access to food
stamps would lead to the intended results.
Devil terms: words or phrases with negative connotations; devil terms are used to imply that supporting a position would
be unpatriotic or hurtful but are not themselves evidence against the position.
For some audiences, “dependency” might have negative connotations and would be inconsistent with God terms such as
“independence,” and “self-reliance.” For such an audience, “dependency” would be a devil term in this sentence: “Congress
needs to cut welfare payments to discourage dependency.” However, it would require a definition of “dependency,” combined with evidence from studies of people’s behavior in the face of benefit reductions, to argue that cutting welfare payments would lead to the intended results.
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Name-calling: labeling an opponent with a term that the audience would find negative; name-calling is used to imply that
an argument may be dismissed because its advocate should not be trusted.
If the word term “radical” has negative connotations for an audience, then labeling someone with that term would be namecalling. Similarly, the term “fascist”, with its negative connotations, would be an instance of name-calling. However, the
name flung at an opponent does not prove anything about the strength of his argument. In your Argument Analysis, consider whether name-calling is used and the extent to which it detracts from the argument and weakens the name-caller’s
ethos.
Generalities: broad statements so nonspecific that they do not make a meaningful contribution to a debate over an issue.
The statement “We must do what is best for our children” would be an example of a generality in a debate over high-stakes
testing in high schools. This statement is so general that it could be trotted out by either proponents or opponents of highstakes testing—which means that it is not an argument in favor of anything at all.
Euphemisms: words used to avoid unpleasant or offensive terms; euphemisms may be used to ‘sugar coat’ elements of an
argument
When the word “retarded’ became stigmatized, people began to replace “mentally retarded” with the phrase “developmentally disabled” in order to avoid the use of a word that had become offensive.
When a euphemism has the effect of distracting an audience from important facts, its use may be considered manipulative.
A famous example is the phrase “collateral damage,” a term that refers to civilian deaths and injuries without using a word
that might make the audience think about the human beings who were affected by a military action.
Dysphemisms: words with unpleasant connotations; the negative feelings evoked by dysphemisms are directed against the
opponent or class of people being attacked by the speaker or writer.
One of the most recent examples of the use of a dysphemism took place in Rwanda prior to and during an ethnic massacre.
The targeted people were referred to as “cockroaches.” The term not only had unpleasant connotations; it also served to
dehumanize the targeted individuals (Bromley, 2011, pp. 39, 43, 45, 51).
Loaded language: words or phrases that carry emotional “baggage”; the writer or speaker will use loaded language as part
of an appeal to pathos—steering the audience toward or away from a position by means of the strong negative or positive
feelings that become associated with certain language.
A prominent contemporary example of loaded language is the use of “pro-life” and “pro-choice” as labels for two sides in the
debate over abortion. Each side is attempting to benefit from associating itself with something positive. As with the other
instances of manipulative language, the terms themselves are not evidence for a position.
Skilled and discerning thinkers notice how advertisers, politicians, and other communicators may attempt to use manipulative language—often combined with images—to persuade them; and such thinkers do not allow themselves to be swayed
by emotionally-charged, overly-broad, or misleading language.
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For more information, read about “How can poor word choice lead to fallacies?”
3. What is propaganda?
Propaganda is a term for deliberate, systematic attempts to manipulate beliefs and emotions through methods that are
considered deceitful. Studying propaganda techniques can help hone our critical thinking skills. Critical thinkers are always
on the lookout for manipulation of belief and emotion, and they recognize that political pundits on television and radio,
especially when promoting partisan positions or agendas, often try to manipulate opinion through inflammatory language
and dichotomies (pairs of polar opposites) such as us versus them, friend versus enemy, patriot versus traitor, and good versus evil. Such contrasts can be powerful persuaders yet may have little basis in reality. While most political rhetoric does
not amount to propaganda, history does provide numerous examples of it, and after studying techniques of propaganda
you will better discern certain elements of it even in everyday advertising, media, and political discourse. These elements
include fallacies and misleading language.
4. How can I tell if language is being used as a tool for audience manipulation?
When authors use language that is overly vague or inflammatory, they attempt to put a bias on an argument—that is, they
attempt to slant it in favor of one position over another.
Political rhetoric is one context in which such slanted language may appear. For example, an argument may make use of
emotionally-charged or loaded language by calling abortion murder. Similarly, a speaker may call an opponent’s position
anti-child or pro-big government. Such language takes advantage of the fact that “child” for many audiences will have positive
connotations whereas “big-government” may provoke a negative reaction.
Advertising is another context in which slanted language often is found. Weasel words are common. No actual standards
are attached to terms such as new, improved, or long-lasting. Without an agreed-upon meaning, these words make no actual
falsifiable claims. In short, their truth cannot be tested by the audience.
Since slanted or emotionally-laden words are meant to persuade by engaging our values or emotions, they fall under the
heading of appeals of pathos, and the misuse of these words indicates the presence of one or more of the pathos-related fallacies. Emotionally-charged and slanted language may be powerfully persuasive. From a critical thinking perspective, keep
in mind that this persuasion may be taking place without the audience’s awareness. As you evaluate an argument, be alert
to these “hidden persuaders” and consider how they may influence an audience.
5. What is framing bias?
Psychological studies of human reasoning show that people’s judgments are often surprisingly influenced by the way that
a task or question is framed. We are easily influenced by a wide range of what psychologists call framing effects, and of
course the more so to the extent that we are not aware of this hidden persuader.
Imagine an experiment in which subjects are asked what they would decide if they had to undergo a particular medical
procedure. In a disclosure form, they will be given information that will be identical factually, but the information will be
worded differently. The wording in the form will be one of the following:
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Ninety percent of patients who undergo this procedure are alive at the five-year mark.
Ten percent of patients who undergo this procedure are deceased at the five-year mark.
The information in the two sentences is the same: the procedure has a survival rate of 90%, measured over a five year
period, and a failure rate of 10%, measured over the same period.
If many more people accept the surgery option when the outcome is worded positively, then people’s choices have been
determined by an emotional reaction to the wording of the choices rather than by an objective assessment of fact. That is
but one of many examples of the hidden persuader that psychologists call a framing effect.
6. What is confirmation bias?
Another very common cognitive bias is confirmation bias (also called my-side bias). People tend to be strongly invested in
their beliefs. They will favor information that confirms their preconceptions or justifies their actions while discounting or
ignoring evidence that conflicts with those actions and beliefs. They will look for, gather, and evaluate evidence selectively,
ignoring perspectives that might challenge their preconceptions or lead them to evaluate whether their existing beliefs are
really true. People also tend to recall information from memory selectively when asked to justify their beliefs or explain or
defend their actions.
Confirmation bias comes into play with respect to trivial or everyday beliefs, but it is more pronounced when issues are
emotionally significant or beliefs are deeply seated. The avoidance of perspectives and evidence that have the potential to
contradict deeply-held beliefs is driven by psychological need, and the more invested an individual is in a particular belief,
the less willing he will be to allow his beliefs to be challenged or examined too closely.
For those who believe that the moon landing was a hoax, there is little opportunity to change their mind. Give them facts,
and they can find ways to refute them. Present testimony from those involved, and they will discount them as liars. Find
experts in the field, and they will produce a host of other people who believe as they do. Conspiracy theorists are the
antithesis of critical thinkers. They only look for evidence that supports their preconceived notions and discard the rest.
That is confirmation bias at work.
7. What can I learn about fallacies from advertising?
Advertisements are a good place to look for examples of fallacies. Advertising is a very compressed format, without a lot of
space and time for logos-based persuasion. That fact may result in heavy reliance on a sort of shorthand that relies heavily
on fallacious reasoning.
Emotionally manipulative appeals are the foundation of many advertising campaigns. Often advertisements are built upon
the pathos-related message that you need or want the product being pitched.
The “Four Tricks of Advertising” (Teays, 2010, p. 481) captures the steps of a common type of emotionally manipulative
appeal:
1. Establish a feeling of shame in the audience. You’ve got a problem (even if you were unaware of it until now).
2. Establish a feeling of optimism. It’s okay—your problem can be solved.
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3. Offer a solution. Your problem will be solved if you will simply buy this product.
4. Offer a rationale for accepting the solution. You have a right to solve your problem (whatever the cost or
impracticality of the solution).
8. When can I trust a poll or survey?
Polls or surveys may be the basis of the inductive claims that are used as premises in deductive arguments. Assertions
based on such tools may look impressive but should not be accepted uncritically. Many professional frame shapers like
advertisers, politicians, and special interest groups or lobbies use statistics to present a skewed picture even if some of the
individual numbers can be said to be true. A big problem with polls and surveys, then, is that they may be driven by opinionated or ideological goals. Such biases are not always apparent because they can be hidden by selectively collecting or citing
statistics.
One way frame shapers collect biased poll or survey data is by asking leading questions designed to funnel respondents
toward certain answers. Push polls are those in which the way a question is framed may strongly influence responses.
Social psychologists have shown that people are fairly susceptible to this practice, and partisan talk show hosts often use
push polls to their rhetorical advantage. An example is the call-in poll on a Lou Dobbs Tonight show that asked, “Which do
you believe Senator Hillary Clinton is most out of touch with?” The poll allowed the following choices: “Illegal Immigration,”
“Border Security,” “The American People,” “All Of The Above,” and “None Of The Above.” It was not surprising, given the way
the question was framed that the big winner was “All Of The Above” (Media Matters, 2006, n.p.). In addition, opinionated
people are likely to call in to answer a viewer-poll like this one, so the respondents were self-selected. Their answers may
tell us more about the show’s audience than about how a more randomly-chosen or representative sample of US citizens
would view Hillary Clinton.
With a leading question and self-selected respondents rather than a random sample of voting Americans, this kind of poll
exemplifies techniques of persuasion commonplace in infotainment. Such polling and surveying should not be confused
with scientific sampling.
9. How does scientific sampling lead to credible premises?
Surveys and polls are more than just questionnaires. The information from a survey will be generalized to a larger population. As a consequence, the sample of the population to which the survey is given needs to be genuinely representative of
the target population as a whole. In addition, it needs to be large enough so that results will have a significance that exceeds
the margin of error—the amount of variation that will arise from chance alone.
Social scientists know that with a small sample it is easy to overgeneralize—to make claims about the target population
for which there are too few examples to allow for confident conclusions. Even for very formal surveys, the margin of error
when the sample size is small is likely to be high unless the target population is a highly homogeneous one. Often, however,
social scientists study heterogeneous populations rather than homogeneous ones. With heterogeneous populations, it is
not like blood, where a single drop is representative of blood throughout the body. For example, the margin of error for a
national election poll goes down to a fairly cautious +/-3 percentage points (with 95% confidence in the results) only as the
number of people surveyed goes up to 500. By contrast, a very small sample of 50 respondents, even if randomly-selected,
can have a margin of error of +/-14 percentage points.
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Besides small sample sizes, the other common problem to watch out for is the biased sample. For example, regional differences may matter, so Virginians or Californians should not be over-represented for their proportion of the population in a
study that claims to generalize about adult citizens of the U.S. as a whole. Similarly, a survey in which people of one gender
are over-represented would be biased in its results if the intention was to generalize about both men and women, and a
poll in which people with four-year college degrees are overepresented would be biased if the intention was to generalize
about adults of all educational levels.
10. How can reliance on scientific reasoning reduce bias?
Science may not be applicable to all aspects of life, but it is useful to notice how scientific reasoning works to overcome
common biases. First, scientific research requires testing a hypothesis by purposely exposing it to potential failure. Such an
approach is the polar opposite of confirmation bias because the researcher must be willing to consider the possibility that
the hypothesis is wrong.
Second, scientific research makes use of blind experiments to guard against bias. Studies will be set up as either single- or
double-blind experiments. If they are single-blind, participants will not know what group they are in; if they are doubleblind, neither researchers nor participants will know what group participants have been assigned to. Since participants in
single- or double-blind studies do not know what group they are in, their reports are more likely to reflect what they actually experience versus what they expect to experience. Similarly, in double-blind studies, researchers’ interpretations of
data are more likely to reflect the actual data versus what the researchers’ may have expected the data to be.
A writer or a speaker probably will not set up a literal single- or double-blind study as part of the process of developing
her argument. However, if she adopts the type of reasoning behind such studies, she may be able to avoid bias. First, she
must be open to altering or even abandoning her initial position—the equivalent of being willing to see her hypothesis as
not true. Second, she must see the evidence as it actually is, without imposing a pattern on it by ignoring some data while
emphasizing other data—an openness that is the equivalent of a blind study.
CORE 201 - USING RESEARCH TO
SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENTS
Using Research to Support Your Arguments
Creating a well-supported argument requires more than expressing your personal opinion; it also requires research. This
process includes conducting background research, discovering what experts have to say about the issue, and evaluating
opposing viewpoints. The research phase is when you will use logos to strengthen your argument.
You have access to a wealth of information through the internet as well as McConnell Library resources. To be an effective
researcher you need to determine which databases are most likely to guide you to sources that will be useful for the particular project you are working on. Simple internet searches may be useful for general overviews, like you would find on
Wikipedia, or for finding popular sources on your topic.
Popular sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, blogs) are most often written by journalists and other non-specialists. They
are geared toward general audiences who have limited knowledge of the topic. Scholarly sources, on the other hand, are
written by specialists for specialists. Scholarly sources are considered the “gold standard” for providing supporting evidence for your arguments as they reflect current research and expert opinion. Scholarly sources are best found through
subscription library databases like SuperSearch.
This section reviews the differences between scholarly and popular sources, how best to find sources, and the importance
of using research to support your arguments. There will be answers to the following questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
How is research like a conversation?
Why do I need to use different types of sources?
What makes a source scholarly?
What is peer review?
How are scholarly sources different from popular sources?
Is everything published in a journal a scholarly article?
How can I identify a scholarly source?
Why should I use scholarly sources?
How can I best read scholarly sources?
When should I use popular sources?
Where can I find scholarly sources?
Why are there different databases?
Why should I use a subject-specific database?
What information do I need to collect in order to cite scholarly sources?
How do I avoid plagiarism while incorporating sources into my own work?
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16.
17.
18.
19.
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Why should I address different viewpoints?
How do I integrate different viewpoints into my arguments?
Why do I need to represent the other side fairly?
How can I evaluate the credibility of these sources?
1. How is research like a conversation?
The most useful articles and books on a topic are in a conversation with each other. They should acknowledge the contributions of others and either provide a perspective upon those contributions or add new data or arguments. Popular sources
may not provide new data or arguments, but they take ideas that may be technical in origin and make them accessible to
non-specialists. Scholarly sources very explicitly acknowledge the contributions of others through citations and references
and provide new data or arguments.
Your task as a researcher is to recognize the contribution to the conversation being made by each type of source. If a popular article provides an overview in terms that a layperson can understand, it may be a good starting point, providing you
with an overall perspective. If you need a more in-depth treatment of a source, a scholarly source may be best.
Whether you are using a popular or scholarly source, take advantage of the fact that any good source is part of a conversation. Popular sources may not include citations or a list of references, but they will refer to experts and sources that you can
look up. In fact, if the popular source is from an online publication, it is likely to include links to those experts and sources.
Similarly, take advantage of the citations and lists of references that you will find in scholarly sources. The citations and
references in the scholarly sources and the less formal documentation in the popular sources both allow you to hear the
voices of other participants in the conversation.
2. Why do I need to use different types of sources?
Making use of different types of sources is a good idea because some provide information and analysis based on data while
others provide opinions to which you may respond. Typically, scholarly sources will provide the most in-depth, direct version of information and data analysis. Popular sources, on the other hand, usually provide information and analysis as it has
been interpreted—and sometimes oversimplified or even distorted—by reporters and editors. Popular sources also may
provide opinions or editorialize about that information. Using a variety of sources demonstrates that you have researched
the topic enough to become part of the conversation. You understand different viewpoints and can evaluate the credibility
of their claims, which increases your ethos.
3. What makes a source scholarly?
Scholarly sources:
• are written by experts in a field, generally people with an advanced degree (such as a Ph.D.) in the relevant discipline
and frequently with lengthy professional experience;
• are well-documented, with citations and a list of references demonstrating familiarity with relevant prior research;
• go through a formal peer review process: facts and analysis are examined by other experts in the relevant field; and
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• are published in academic journals or by well-established presses known for releasing reputable work.
Care must be taken in determining whether or not a journal or press is reputable. Because of changes in publication practices, a class of periodicals known as “predatory journals” has come into being. These journals have titles that sound scholarly but publish poor quality articles in exchange for payment by authors who are trying to pad their resumes. Do some
checking to determine whether a reputable publisher, university, or scholarly organization stands behind a journal. Keep in
mind that even the fact that a journal is indexed in a database as “scholarly” is no guarantee of its quality. These two websites can help you determine the quality of a journal:
• Beall’s List of Potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access journals: http://scholarlyoa.com/
publishers/
• Criteria for Determining Predatory Open-Access Publishers: http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/11/30/criteria-fordetermining-predatory-open-access-publishers-2nd-edition/.
4. What is peer review?
In the peer review process, a submitted article is circulated to experts in the relevant field. In a “blind” review, these experts
will not know the author’s identity, increasing the likelihood that their assessment of the submission will be unbiased.The
experts read the piece and decide whether it is well-researched and well-written and whether it makes a meaningful contribution to the conversation that is different enough from other articles to make it worth publishing. Reviewers may recommend that an article be rejected; that it be accepted; or that it be accepted, but only on condition that changes are made
to correct or strengthen some aspect of the article.
If the process is followed properly, a reader may be fairly confident about the quality of the resulting publications. Moreover, articles remain under scrutiny as they are consulted by experts in the fields, and articles that are problematic can be
weeded out after publication through a process called “retraction.” Both the pre- and post-publication scrutiny work to justify fairly strong reliance on scholarly sources.
This process of scientific review occurred in 2010 when The Lancet retracted a scholarly article written by Dr. Andrew
Wakefield and 12 co-authors. This research study was one of the first to claim a causal link between the measles, mumps,
and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. However, the results could not be replicated and a subsequent investigation
showed that Wakefield was guilty of gross scientific and ethical violations that led to him losing his medical license (Deer,
2011).
5. How are scholarly sources different from popular sources?
Popular sources may be edited, but they do not go through peer review. In addition, popular sources are not expected to
break new ground in the way scholarly sources are expected to. A scholarly article has to provide something that hasn’t
already been said: new evidence, a new viewpoint, a new theory. For example, most newspaper and magazine articles about
a presidential election will report the same basic facts: X won, Y lost. A scholarly article on a presidential election, however,
is likely to be an in-depth analysis that draws upon numerous sources to place the election within the context of a discipline
such as history or political science.
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The process of publishing a scholarly article can be a lengthy one. The author must spend time gathering evidence, analyzing it thoroughly, and consulting other sources. The peer review process can be time consuming as well. Scholars usually
take two or more years to publish an academic article. A popular article reporting on an election, however, may literally be
published the day after the polls close. The popular source provides rapid access to information; a scholarly source provides analysis of that information within the context of a discipline, and that takes time.
6. Is everything published in a journal a scholarly article?
In addition to scholarly articles, journals publish letters to the editor, editorials, book reviews, and news briefs. Frequently,
these will lack citations and lists of references and so will be easy to differentiate from scholarly articles. In addition, you
will notice that various disciplines have adopted standard formats for scholarly articles. In one discipline, it may be customary to begin an article with an abstract, followed by a statement of the problem, then a review of what other sources have
to say about the problem, and so on. As you become familiar with the scholarly literature in your major, you will notice such
conventions. Your instructors in fact may expect you to follow these conventions in your own papers.
7. How can I identify a scholarly source?
From the information in the sections above, you can create a plan for identifying scholarly sources.
• Is the article published by a university press or by a journal sponsored by a university or a scholarly organization? Also
pay attention to whether articles published by this press or journal are regularly cited by experts in the relevant field.
• Is the article written by an author who has a Ph.D. or who is a researcher in the relevant field? Scholarly articles usually
will list the credentials of an author on either the first or last page. Also pay attention to whether articles written by this
author are regularly cited by experts in the relevant field.
• Is the article a substantial one, developing the topic at great length?
• Is the article written in specialized language for fellow scholars?
• Does the article show familiarity with the conventions of the discipline?
• Is the article well-documented, with numerous citations and a lengthy list of references to sources appropriate for the
discipline?
8. Why should I use scholarly sources?
A scholarly source is a substantial, discipline-specific treatment of a topic. Scholarly sources:
• treat topics in depth,
• expand your knowledge greatly,
• challenge you to read deeply, and
• provide references that point you to additional relevant sources
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9. How can I best read scholarly sources?
Because scholarly sources are written for experts by experts, undergraduates may initially find them difficult to read. Yet
scholarly sources can be mastered and will prove to be useful sources for students who follow the advice below.
Be certain to do background research* so you know the basics of the topic. The author of a scholarly source will assume
that the reader has mastered these basics and will not provide elementary information about the field. In particular, focus
on the terms that show up in your background research. Understand what they mean.
Use the abstract to orient yourself, but never treat it as if reading it can substitute for reading the article itself. The abstract
sketches the framework of the article but leaves out crucial details. Also keep in mind that in some journals, abstracts are
not even written by the authors but are supplied by the editors. (Note: For that reason, never quote from an abstract.)
The beginning of the article may contain a literature review that summarizes previous articles and books on the topic. In
this summary, the author explains what she knows about the existing research and stakes her claim to bringing something
new to the conversation. Don’t get too bogged down in this review, but recognize that you may find other useful sources
there.
Read through the article once, just to get a sense of the author’s argument. Then, with a pen or pencil, go back and read it
again more closely. Take notes. Engage with the text. What seems important? Confusing? Interesting?
You may also wish to highlight passages, but combine highlighting with note-taking. Highlighting can identify significant
passages, but note-taking involves a higher level of engagement.
The reference list is like a gift from the author to the reader. If this article is on your topic, then its sources likely will be of
use to you in your own project. Run the titles through SuperSearch or through one or more subject-specific databases. If
your search does not immediately pan out, talk to your instructor or an instructional librarian about how to find the full text
of these sources.
*For a review of background research, see the question What is background research? under the Research Narrative
Assignment in CORE 102.
10. When should I use popular sources?
Popular sources may be helpful for background research. They are meant for a general audience, so they don’t assume you
know much about the topic. That fact makes them valuable when you are just starting out.
Popular sources are written more quickly than scholarly sources, so you can use them to find out the latest information on
a topic—keeping in mind, of course, that the information may not be presented as in-depth or within the context that would
be provided by a scholarly source.
Popular sources often are story-driven. Their authors may be mindful of the need to supply a “hook” to gain the attention
of a general readership. That fact may make them a good place to find anecdotes to give pathos to your research project.
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11. Where can I find scholarly sources?
Library databases often have checkboxes for limiting searches to scholarly or peer-reviewed sources. Remember that you
still must review articles to determine whether the databases got it right.
The library has books on most topics, either in print or as etexts. Printed books and etexts can be located via the library
catalog or via SuperSearch.
Look at the reference lists of other scholarly books and articles. Many times these lists will include items of interest to you.
Search for the sources using the library catalog, through SuperSearch, or through one or more subject-specific databases.
Sometimes reference lists will include sources that are not accessible through the McConnell Library. However, through
Inter Library Loan, the McConnell Library will request that source for you from another library. Make your request as soon
as you can so the library staff has enough time to obtain the source.
12. Why are there different databases?
Different databases serve the needs of different readers.
Some databases are general interest. A general-interest database:
• covers a wide range of topics,
• indexes sources that may not go into great depth, and
• indexes nontechnical sources intended for general readers rather than specialists.
Alternately, a subject-specific database
• covers fewer topics,
• indexes sources that go into great depth, and
• indexes technical sources intended for specialists interested in looking at a topic through the frame of their particular
discipline.
Non-specialists who are curious about a subject but who are not necessarily interested in the level of detail in a technical
report likely would use a general-interest database to locate sources. Scholars, on the other hand, usually are most interested in how other specialists in their field address a topic, so they want to see the literature from their discipline. For example, if you are a nurse who needs to know the latest research on patient care, you probably want to read articles from fellow
health practitioners. Subject-specific databases allow such precision.
13. Why should I use a subject-specific database?
Let’s say you were interested in whether people are fundamentally honest. Psychologists who study this issue will look at
the mind and how people think; sociologists will focus on the impact of culture and society on honesty; economists will per-
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form a cost-benefit analysis of actions that are honest and dishonest. All are talking about the same topic but looking at it
in very different ways that are specific to their disciplines
To pursue one of these approaches, you would use a database that indexes literature in one of the disciplines. Your choice
would be determined by:
• the area in which you are most interested or
• the area corresponding to the subject matter of the course.
Classes in your major almost always will require you to used subject-specific databases (e.g., ERIC for education, PsycINFO
for psychology, and CINAHL for nursing). Reliance on such subject-specific database will make it more likely that the results
will be relevant and less likely that they will be cluttered with material that has nothing to do with your interests but that
happens to use the same terminology.
14. What information do I need to collect in order to cite scholarly sources?
For articles:
• author name(s),
• publication date,
• article title,
• journal title,
• volume,
• issue number, as available,
• page numbers, and
• Digital Object Identifier (DOI) if available.
For books:
• author name(s),
• year of publication,
• book title,
• place of publication, and
• publisher.
For books, also record information about editors and translators, as well as whether the book has gone through a new edition. See the McConnell Library APA LibGuide for information about citing different kinds of sources.
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15. How do I avoid plagiarism while incorporating sources into my own work?
In the CORE 101 Opposing Viewpoints assignment, you learned how to cite sources correctly as to avoid plagiarism. The
McConnell Library Plagiarism LibGuide includes additional information about the differences between quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing sources. In CORE 201, you are expected to be part of the research conversation such that you can
explain how your sources agree and disagree on the major issues. Being able to synthesize all of your sources into a cohesive narrative is a difficult and time consuming task compared to interspersing random quotes throughout your paper. This
is why we advocate starting the research process early so you have time to read and fully process what your sources contribute to your argument. Cite your sources to give credit to others’ work, but you also do it to enhance your credibility. If
you can show you’ve done the hard work of researching the issue, you will be able to make a much more persuasive argument to the audience.
16. Why should I address different viewpoints?
An argument that takes an opposing position is called a counter-argument. Responding to strong counter-arguments is an
important part of critical thinking.
Many people avoid bringing up opposing positions because they worry about making their own arguments look weak. However, if people who have published on your topic have come up with strong counter-arguments, some of your audience
members probably are aware of them. If you don’t acknowledge and respond to the counter-arguments, your audience
likely will not be persuaded because they will see “holes” in your argument. Instead, address those counter-arguments and
show why your position is stronger. You will be more persuasive and will enhance your credibility by showing that you are
a good critical thinker who can examine opposing positions and explain whether or not they are logical and supported by
sufficient evidence.
17. How do I integrate different viewpoints into my argument?
Sometimes you might find a counter-argument that is so strong it will convince you to alter your original viewpoint. Being
a good critical thinker means being open to the possibility of changing your mind if the evidence is strong enough. However, a lot of times you’ll find counter-arguments that are strong enough to address but aren’t strong enough to undermine
your claims. In those cases, you need to address the merits of the counter-argument and show why your argument is better. You need to figure out what kind of argument the source is making and why the evidence isn’t sufficient. By presenting
the counter-argument clearly and adequately refuting it, you’ll strengthen your own argument and win over some of your
skeptical audience members.
18. Why do I need to represent the other side fairly?
You commit a straw man fallacy when you mischaracterize someone’s position to make it easier to argue against. It is very
important to avoid this fallacy when you are responding to counter-arguments. Your audience may see the opposing position as raising legitimate questions. If you argue against a distorted or oversimplified version of your opponent’s position,
the audience will feel that you have not really answered their concerns. For that reason, represent the counter-arguments
fairly and accurately and do your audience the courtesy of providing honest, thoughtful, and thorough answers.
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For example, if you are giving a speech on climate change, your research may lead you to argue that humanity’s overreliance on fossil fuels is causing the Earth’s climate to warm. Still, you may find a few sources that argue that humans are
not affecting the climate. Make certain that you represent these sources fairly. If you are arguing that humans influence
climate, then obviously you think the evidence for that position is stronger. However, if you say things such as “People who
oppose global warming just don’t care about the environment,” then you are committing the straw man fallacy, and you have
offended anyone who disagrees with you (who are probably the people you most want to convince).
19. How can I evaluate the credibility of these sources?
To successfully research a topic, you must become familiar with its background; you must select and make effective use of
appropriate databases in order to locate sources; and you must choose between popular and scholarly sources, as appropriate. You must also evaluate the credibility of the sources that you have located.
Under the Academic Argument assignment in CORE 101, you were introduced to these two questions, each relevant to the
evaluation of sources:
• How can I use STAR to assess appeals to logos?
• What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
Evaluating sources was stressed even more heavily under the Research Narrative assignment in CORE 102, where these
questions were introduced:
• How do I know if a source is credible?
• How do I know if a source is appropriate for my project?
• Who is an expert?
• How do I decide if someone is an expert?
• How do I decide if someone’s expertise is relevant?
• How do you know if you should trust the expert?
• What is bias?
You will be expected to incorporate all of the skills and knowledge you have learned about arguments into the three major
assignments for this course: Argument Analysis, Annotated Bibliography, and Persuasive Speech. Information relevant to
each assignment is included in the following sections.
REFERENCES
Deer, B. (2011, January 6). How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed. BMJ [British Medical Journal] 342, c5347. doi:
10.1136/bmj.c5347
CORE 201 - ARGUMENT ANALYSIS
ASSIGNMENT
Argument Analysis Assignment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is an argument analysis?
What tasks do I perform that will help me begin an argument analysis?
What is the place of evaluation in an argument analysis?
What type of writing is used for argument analysis?
What should I include in a critique of an argument?
1. What is an argument analysis?
An argument analysis looks at what makes an argument ‘work’. What makes an argument valid and sound and acceptable
to its audience? The answer to this question is that a number of aspects contribute to making an argument work.
One aspect—suggested by the phrase “acceptable to its audience”—is to consider the ways in which the argument is tailored
for particular listeners or readers, for a particular purpose, and within a particular context. Another aspect—suggested by
the phrase “valid and sound”—is to consider the extent to which the argument follows the laws of logic and avoids fallacies
in its reasoning.
Your instructor may refer to the first aspect—with its focus on audience, purpose, and context—as rhetorical and the second
aspect—with its focus on reasoning—as logical. However, logos has long been considered an element of rhetoric, so do not
be surprised if the logical and the rhetorical overlap.
2. What tasks do I perform that will help me begin an argument analysis?
At the outset of an argument analysis, it is important to recognize that the speaker or writer is trying to persuade an audience of something. One task, then, is to identify the conclusion—the overall position that the speaker or writer is supporting. The word conclusion here is not being used to refer to the ending or final paragraph of the essay or speech. Instead, it
is being used to refer to the outcome of a chain of reasoning.
Another task is to pinpoint the argument’s premises—the statements that the speaker or writer brings forward to create
the chain of reasoning that supports the conclusion. By performing these tasks, you bring into focus the logical structure of
the argument.
One specific technique for describing an argument’s logical structure is to create a ‘map’ or diagram. Another useful move
is to determine whether the argument is deductive or inductive (or a mix of both).
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3. What is the place of evaluation in an argument analysis?
A complete analysis of an argument requires more than charting its logical structure and determining the role of deduction
and induction within that structure. The point of identifying the main parts of an argument—its premises and its conclusion—is to enable you to evaluate it.
In evaluating arguments ask questions such as these:
• Should I accept the argument?
• If not, what prevents the argument from being compelling?
• Are the supporting claims true or reasonable?
• Is any of the reasoning fallacious, illogical, or otherwise questionable?
4. What type of writing is used for argument analysis?
We often look for ways to respond to what we have read or heard, and one way to do so is to write a critique. In a critique,
we systematically examine and evaluate a piece of writing or a speech. We may want to analyze a writer’s or speaker’s logic.
We may want to identify and assess his persuasive or rhetorical strategies. A critique can allow us to do either or both. One
way to approach the Argument Analysis, then, is to think of it as a critique. Your Argument Analysis essay will systematically examine and evaluate the rhetoric and logic of a speech or a piece of writing.
5. What should I include in a critique of an argument?
In a critique, you want to carefully consider whether an author has achieved her goal and what part language and other
choices play in the success or failure of the argument. Ask yourself questions like the following:
• Has the text been organized effectively?
• Are the examples or arguments relevant or familiar to the audience? Are they suitable for the context?
• Is the vocabulary relevant or familiar to the audience? Is it suitable for the context?
• Are the dialect, tone, usage, and style appropriate for audience and context?
• If the argument is delivered as a speech, is the delivery effective? Has the delivery been tailored to its audience?
• Has the writer or speaker made choices that would encourage trust in her ethos?
• Has she made choices that create effective appeals to pathos?
• Has she made choices that create effective appeals to logos?
In the critique, be certain to keep the focus on the text being examined and evaluated rather than on your own personal
response to the argument. To avoid inserting your personal response into the critique, avoid phrases such as “I think,” “I
feel” or “I believe,” as well as related phrases such as “It seems to me” or “It appears to me.”
Also be careful not to be sidetracked into summarizing the argument instead of analyzing it. You may need to include some
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brief summary in a critique, but only in order to bring up points that you then evaluate for their success in advancing the
author’s position.
CORE 201 - ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annotated Bibliography
One set of skills that is important in both academic and professional settings is the ability to locate sources and to evaluative both their credibility and their relevance. To help you develop these skills, this section of the Handbook will provide
information students need in order to complete the Annotated Bibliography assignment. You will be expected to:
• conduct background research related to your topic;
• use subject-specific databases appropriately matched to your topic,
• use a variety of popular and scholarly sources appropriate to your topic, and
• evaluate the comparative credibility of these sources.
This section defines the annotated bibliography and describes what one typically includes. It provides answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What is an annotated bibliography?
Why do I need to write one?
What is the difference between an annotated bibliography and a list of references?
What is an abstract?
What should I include in an annotation?
What should I not include in an annotation?
In what order should I list my sources in my annotated bibliography?
Can I use an online tool to create my references?
How can preparing an annotated bibliography help me refine research questions and answers?
1. What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is a reference list in which each source is, at a minimum,
• identified using a recognized format (such as APA style),
• summarized,
• explained in terms of how and where it was found,
• and evaluated for credibility and bias.
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2. Why do I need to write one?
Gathering sources is an important step in the research process, but many students fail to get the most out of their sources.
Writing annotations for your sources will give you an opportunity to dive in and really consider what each brings to the
table.
Annotations also shed light on how you found your sources. This information can be helpful to your reader, who might be
interested in retrieving these sources, and to your professor, who can advise you on ways of improving your search skills.
Annotations also will help you as you construct the argument for your speech or paper. They help you
• to remember what each source said,
• to find common themes among your sources, and
• to begin developing a “pattern” that will inform your final argument.
3. What is the difference between my Annotated Bibliography and a list of References?
A References page includes only those sources that you actually use in the finished speech or paper. In a paper, these
sources are identified in parenthetical or in-text citations because you have quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material
from them. In a speech, these are the sources that you have verbally cited because you have quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material from them.
Your Annotated Bibliography likely will contain some sources that won’t appear in your References because you didn’t end
up using those sources in the finished speech or paper. On the other hand, after completing your annotations, you may go
on to find additional sources that you do end up using. These additional sources will show up on the References page but
not in the Annotated Bibliography.
The Annotated Bibliography, then, captures a stage of the project. It includes sources that, as the project evolved, you set
aside as no longer useful, and it probably lacks sources that you did end up using in the finished paper or speech. Keep in
mind, then, that the Annotated Bibliography and References have different functions. The Annotated Bibliography represents the research process, and the References document the sources that were used in the finished project.
4. What is an abstract?
When you search a database for sources, the resulting list may provide you not only with authors and titles but also with
paragraphs summarizing the source. In some journals, you also will find such paragraphs at the beginning of articles. These
paragraphs are called abstracts. An abstract forecasts the thesis and key parts of an article and is therefore very useful to
a reader who is deciding whether to go further into an article. However, reading the abstract is not a substitute for reading
the article.
Make use of this tool as a way of deciding whether reading the article would be a wise investment of time. In addition, never
copy the abstract into your Annotated Bibliography. The abstract is the authors’ understanding of their arguments, which
isn’t the same as your understanding. In doing an annotation of a source, the summary needs to provide your best under-
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standing of what the source is saying. If the source is very complex and difficult for you to understand, it probably isn’t the
best source for you to use.
Just as abstracts will show up in your search, so will book reviews. In some cases reviews may include extended discussions
and can be treated as sources. However, in many instances, book reviews may be brief notices that a book has been published and should not be annotated. Instead, if the book looks promising, use the book as your source. Check with your
instructor as to whether a given book review is a legitimate source before you write your annotation.
5. What should I include in an annotation?
What you will include in any particular course will depend on your instructor, so be sure to talk with her about the assignment guidelines.
For Core 201, each annotation should include at the least the following:
• reference to the source (in APA style unless you are instructed otherwise),
• a description of your search strategy, including the database you used,
• keywords used to locate source,
• summary of thesis and key ideas,
• assessment of source’s credibility, and
• assessment of source’s relevance to your argument.
6. What should I not include in an annotation?
An annotation is meant to reflect your engagement with a source, so do not quote. Instead, demonstrate your understanding of the source by paraphrasing, summarizing, and describing the source.
Do not copy and paste the abstract from the source or its database record. Copying the abstract will not demonstrate your
grasp of the source’s thesis and key ideas. In addition, if done without acknowledgment, copying the abstract is plagiarism.
Instructors in other courses may have additional or alternative criteria for annotations, but these rules apply to your
Core 201 Annotated Bibliography.
7. In what order should I list my sources in my annotated bibliography?
Do not separate the sources by type of source. All sources will be organized alphabetically in one unified list.
When possible, list sources in alphabetical order by author’s last name.
If an item does not have an author, begin the reference with the title. Use the first word in the title (other than “A,” “An,” or
“The”) to determine where to place it in the alphabetical list.
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Do not place the year first when the source has no author. The date of publication is always in the second position in the
reference. If there is no author, move the title into the first position to keep the date in the second position.
8. Can I use an online tool to create my references?
Many websites, databases, and word processing programs have reference generators for APA and other documentation
styles. These generators can be helpful in that they will create a basic reference, but they usually get some of the details
wrong for one or more reasons.
• Sometimes the generator is given “bad” information. For example, the volume number may be in the date field, or an
abbreviated month is entered into the form. The generator cannot fix bad information.
• The generator cannot know “cultural” information. In APA, only the following are capitalized in an article title: the first
word of the title, the first word of any subtitle, any proper nouns, and any acronyms. The generator would not “know”
that Apple Computers is a proper noun when used as the name of a company and thus would not “know” to capitalize it
if it appeared in the title of an article.
• Many generators don’t handle spacing well. APA requires hanging indents and double-spacing for references. Because
of coding constraints, automatically generated references rarely reflect these requirements.
• These tools are not built to handle unusual sources. Generators may be useful as starting points for creating book and
article References, but if you are trying to document websites, images, or other non-printed sources, they are not very
helpful.
If you use an online generator, treat the results as suggestions rather than as guidelines. Check over the references created
by the generator and correct mistakes according to resources such as the APA 6th for Radford University Undergraduates, one of the many LibGuides provided by McConnell Library.
In addition to avoiding uncritical reliance on reference generators, be certain not to copy/paste the information from databases. Each database has its own system for listing sources, and none of them correspond closely to APA style—or to any
other style for that matter. For example, one database may completely capitalize all words in an article title. The all-caps
may make the title very visible on the screen, but the format certainly is far from APA style.
9. How can preparing an annotated bibliography help me refine research questions* and answers?
One advantage of preparing an annotated bibliography is that you begin to sort out information on your topic well before
you start drafting your paper or speech. As you do so, your research question may change. You may find yourself abandoning or modifying the “answers” to the research question that you were tempted to give at the outset of the project. The
research question, as well as the answers, will evolve because you are processing an ever-increasing stockpile of evidence,
and as you do so you are noticing when sources do and do not agree, and on what topics.
You may report areas of agreement as representing a consensus in a field, but when your sources conflict, begin by trying to
determine whether one source is more current than another. If currency does not provide the explanation, reexamine the
sources and try to pinpoint the reason for the disagreement. As you do so, you will become aware of areas of contention in
the field, and with your newfound awareness you can return to the databases or the library catalog to resume your search
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for sources, this time looking for books and articles that will specifically shed light on the issue that you have now identified
through making thoughtful use of the annotation process.
*For a review of research questions, see the questions What is a research question?, How do I create a research question?,
and What are some examples of effective and ineffective research questions? under the Research Narrative assignment
in CORE 102.
CORE 201 - PERSUASIVE SPEECH
ASSIGNMENT
Persuasive Speech Assignment
In CORE 102, you were asked both to perform a Speech Analysis of another’s speech and to prepare and deliver an Informative Speech. Now in CORE 201 you will continue developing your oral communication skills by preparing and delivering
a Persuasive Speech. In the course of this latest project, you will:
• construct a discussion that positions a variety of sources according to the sources’ viewpoints on a particular topic;
• use language that enhances the message of the presentation;
• use nonverbal communication in a way that enhances a message in a speech; and
• respond substantially to objections.
Before you begin working on this latest assignment, take the time to review the basic elements of a good speech by reading
the material under the Speech Analysis and the Informative Speech assignments in the CORE 102 section of the Handbook.
This section of the Handbook will provide answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
What is a persuasive speech?
How do I use an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors to shape the purpose of my speech?
How is a persuasive speech different from an informative speech?
How is persuasion different from manipulation?
How do I word a claim?
How do I use others’ arguments in the context of a claim?
How do I use language to enhance a presentation?
How do I structure my persuasive speech?
How do I cite my sources to enhance my credibility and help the audience understand my presentation?
How can I use nonverbal communication to enhance my message?
How do I create an effective visual aid?
How do I integrate my visual aids into my presentation without being distracting?
How do I cite images correctly on the visual aid?
1. What is a persuasive speech?
A persuasive speech is designed to influence an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.
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• Belief: a statement of something that is held to be true about the world.
Examples: “Movies are more violent than they used to be” and “A lot of trash that could be recycled gets thrown away
instead.”
While many beliefs, such as “The Earth revolves around the sun,” are noncontroversial, others are open to debate and need
to be supported by evidence.
• Attitude: an evaluation of what is good or bad
Examples: “Movies should be less violent” and “People need to recycle more.”
• Behavior: what people actually do
Examples: refusing to watch violent movies and recycling instead of throwing everything away.
2. How do I use an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors to shape the purpose of my speech?
The Speech Analysis assignment asked you to consider the question “How do I identify the purpose of a speech?” At that
point you were interested in identifying the purpose of someone else’s speech. Now you need to think about the purpose
of your own speech. An important part of that process is figuring out whether you want to influence audience members’
beliefs or attitudes or behaviors.
• If you are giving a speech on recycling and your audience doesn’t know that relatively little material is being recycled,
you might need to focus on changing their beliefs.
• If your audience recognizes that relatively little material is being recycled but does not consider the low recycling rate
to be a problem, you might need to focus on changing their attitudes.
• If your audience knows that little recycling is taking place and thinks that the low rate is a problem, but they themselves
do not recycle, then the goal of your speech becomes to convince your audience to act on their beliefs and attitudes by
recycling.
3. How is a persuasive speech different from an informative speech?
When you give an informative speech, your goal is to teach your audience more about your topic. For your persuasive
speech, you still will be presenting information to your audience, but instead of informing being the primary goal, you’ll
be using that information to support an argument that will result in a change to audience members’ beliefs, attitudes, or
behaviors. No matter how interesting and well-delivered your speech is, if you have only provided your audience with information and have not convinced them to accept an argument and to change their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, then you
have not fulfilled the purpose of your speech.
See also the answer to the question What is the difference between an informative speech and a persuasive speech? under
the Informative Speech assignment in Core 102.
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4. How is persuasion different from manipulation?
Manipulation involves the use of inaccurate or irrelevant evidence or fallacious reasoning in order to win over an audience.
Persuasion, on the other hand, is based on critical thinking. In order to persuade an audience, the speaker or writer uses
evidence that is accurate and relevant to her argument and reasoning that is free of logical fallacies. The resulting argument
will be consistent with the lessons of the Argument Analysis assignment, which encouraged logical thinking and discouraged propaganda, bias, and reliance upon fallacies.
It is true that sometimes manipulation can convince audience members and gain a speaker an advantage. In fact, it is
worth studying common logical fallacies because members of your audience may have fallen for them and you may need
to counter them as part of your own argument. However, do not study fallacies in order to use them yourself. Even though
people may be swayed by fallacies, rely upon honest persuasion instead of manipulation for two very good reasons: first,
manipulating an audience is unethical; second, manipulation may backfire in the long run. You might win over some audience members with manipulation. Eventually, however, audience members may see through the trick, and if they realize
that you are trying to manipulate them, they will no longer be receptive to your message. You will have damaged your ethos
and forfeited your audience’s trust.
5. How do I word a claim?
A claim is what you want your audience to believe or agree with. A claim should be stated in a full, declarative sentence, and
should not be stated in the form of a question.
Examples of incorrectly worded claims:
• Recycling Benefits.
• Should you recycle?
Example of a correctly worded claim:
• Everyone should recycle.
Additional examples of correctly worded claims:
• Media networks are biased.
• Fast food does not contribute to obesity.
• Global warming is not the cause of our erratic weather patterns.
More information on claims is available under the Academic Argument assignment in CORE 101 under these questions:
• What is a claim?
• When is a claim debatable?
• How do I use my thesis statement to state a main claim and key supporting ideas at the same time?
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6. How do I use others’ arguments in the context of a claim?
Once you have settled upon a claim and worded it appropriately, you must back it up with evidence and with the wellsupported opinions of others. Such evidence and opinions should come from the research and work of speakers and writers
who can lay claim to high ethos.
Be certain to locate and consider sources that both agree and disagree with your claim. Looking at a range of opinions is
important for two reasons.
First, you must keep an open mind and be willing to modify or even abandon a claim if evidence and reason cast it into
doubt. If you lack such willingness, you may be caught up in one of the biases or fallacies covered under the Researched
Argument assignment. See especially the answer to the question What is confirmation bias?
Second, your ethos is at stake. You need to thoroughly familiarize yourself with the range of arguments in order to demonstrate that you are well-informed, open-minded, and fair. Failing to acknowledge opposing arguments would damage your
credibility and make you appear biased. For that reason, include counterarguments in your speech or paper. Counterarguments show that you are familiar with the opposition but that you are able to explain why you reject reasoning and evidence that may, on the surface, seem to challenge your claim.
7. How do I use language to enhance a presentation?
As a speaker, you must carefully choose not only your content, but also your words in order to make full use of ethos,
pathos, and logos.
• Choose words that the listeners can understand. Do not use jargon if the audience is made up of non-specialists, but
find ways to simplify and organize complex information using vocabulary they would find familiar.
• Choose or create examples that the audience would find relatable.
• Find the word that most closely matches your intended sentiment or idea. English has an immense vocabulary for you to
choose from.
• Keep in mind that the words you choose have implied meanings beyond the dictionary definitions. Select words that
carry desired ‘baggage’ and avoid words with undesirable associations.
• Avoid inflammatory language.
• Verbally cite all ideas and information from sources that you paraphrase, summarize, or quote.
See also the answer to this question under the Argument Analysis assignment: How do effective communicators choose
language for their arguments? See the Core 201 Appendix for more information regarding the following questions.
• What is inflammatory language?
• What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
• Why should I pay careful attention to denotation?
• Why should I pay careful attention to connotation?
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• Why is inflammatory language an inappropriate means of persuasion?
8. How do I structure my persuasive speech?
One of the most commonly used ways to organize a persuasive speech is Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: attention, need,
satisfaction, visualization, and action. It is based upon the idea that when confronted with a problem or desire, people will
change their values or behavior to achieve balance (Monroe & Ehninger, 1969, p. 42). You have most likely seen Monroe’s
Motivated Sequence in action before. In fact, almost every infomercial follows this basic format trying to persuade you to
buy their product.
First, grab the audience’s attention. Some of the ways you might do this are by arousing their curiosity, citing a startling
statistic, telling a dramatic story, or sharing a powerful quotation.
Now that you have their attention, you must convince them that there is a significant problem or need that must be
addressed. Provide supporting evidence to increase your credibility. It is also important to make a connection with the audience and convince them they should care about your topic. One of the best ways to do this is by showing how they have or
could be personally impacted.
The satisfaction step is when you propose a clear solution to the problem. You need to persuade your audience that your
solution is the best alternative. Do you have examples where a similar solution has worked in the past? Are there experts
or research that support your proposed solution? Know what the likely counterarguments will be and include rebuttals as
part of your speech.
The visualization step helps the audience imagine what will happen next. Adopting your proposed solution will have positive impacts, while failure to take action will lead to negative consequences.
Finally, make a call to action. What do you want your audience to do, think, or believe as a result of your argument? Ensure
that your action plan is feasible for the audience. For example, asking the average college student to buy an electric car to
reduce America’s dependency on foreign oil is not realistic. However, riding Radford Transit to buy groceries is.
For a review of organizational patterns and the necessary parts of a speech, see the answers to these questions under the
Informative Speech assignment in CORE 102:
• What are the different ways to organize the body of a speech?
• What should I base my outline on?
• What are the guidelines for a properly formatted outline?
• Once the body is complete, what else should I include with the outline?
9. How do I cite my sources to enhance my credibility and help the audience understand my presentation?
As in a paper, in a speech it is important to tell the audience where your information and ideas come from. Citing sources,
both in speech and in writing, improves your credibility and helps you avoid plagiarism. Any time you use any information
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that isn’t commonly known, you need to credit sources. You need to do so whether you paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting.
In papers, sources are credited using APA or another citation style that makes it easy to provide source information without
disrupting the flow of writing. In speeches, sources likewise can be credited without doing damage to the flow of the argument. If you verbally cited all of the information that you would include in an in-text citation (or in a list of references),
you would never get around to actually making your argument. However, you only need to provide enough information to
demonstrate that you are using credible sources in support of your argument. Below are two examples that would communicate to an audience that your argument is supported by scholarly research.
• Source with one author:
Samuel Jones, a biologist from the University of Texas, did a study showing that frogs are negatively affected by water
pollution.
• Source with multiple authors:
A team of biologists from several major universities did a study showing that frogs are negatively affected by water
pollution.
These verbal citations are the spoken equivalents of attributions, which are phrases used in writing to signal that you are
using a source. For more information, see the answer to this question under the Opposing Viewpoints assignment in the
CORE 101 section of the Handbook: How does an author signal that she is using a source?
10. How can I use nonverbal communication to enhance my message?
Being conscious of the verbal messages you are trying to communicate is only one part of being an effective speaker. You
practice saying the words in your speech; you must likewise pay attention to the nonverbal cues you furnish an audience
via your delivery.
Aim for an appropriate rate or speed of delivery so that your audience can understand your message but you do not appear
rushed or drawn out. Add pauses or breaks in your speech to provide emphasis or allow your audience to process a message. Be aware of your posture, hand gestures, and body movements. You want to appear energetic and engaged but not so
much that you become a distraction. Maintain eye contact with your audience. Make it a point to scan each section of the
room during your speech. Finally, match your facial expressions to your message. You don’t want to be smiling when you
are talking about something tragic. Remember that these nonverbal cues are sending a message to the audience.
For more information about nonverbal communication, see these sections under the CORE 102 Speech Analysis assignment:
• What is the difference between verbal and nonverbal communication?
• What are effective techniques of vocal delivery?
• What are effective techniques of physical delivery?
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You will also find answers to the these questions in the CORE 201 Appendix:
• How can I use my intonation, pause, rate, and pitch to engage my audience?
• How can I use my posture, hand gestures, and body movement to engage my audience?
• How can I use eye contact and facial expressions to engage my audience?
11. How do I create an effective visual aid?
When giving a presentation, your visual aids should be used to visually supplement or enhance your message rather than
summarize information (like you might see for lecture notes). Think of them as billboards on the side of the interstate. They
need to grab the audience’s attention and very quickly convey a message. If you include too much information, most of the
message will be lost as people speed by. If the billboard is too distracting, it will create a traffic hazard taking drivers’ attention from the road. Here are a few helpful hints to create better visual aids. These relate mostly to PowerPoint but can be
used for any type of presentation aid.
Start with a blank canvas. If you’ve seen a lot of slide show presentations, you immediately recognize most of the common
themes or layouts. Even unique designs become boring after a few slides. The reaction from your audience is “ho-hum” or
“here we go again.” You should decide what visuals and format will support your presentation rather than let the software
decide for you. Start with a blank presentation layout without color, backgrounds, titles, or content. This will provide the
greatest flexibility.
Outline your presentation first. One of the most common PowerPoint mistakes is to use titles and bullets to outline what
you want to say. The result is a text-heavy and boring presentation where the presenter and audience read from the screen.
Before creating a single slide, start with an outline or storyboard of your presentation. This can be done in a word processing program or using the notes area inside PowerPoint. Create your slides afterwards to support your message.
Use quality photography. Photography is one of the single best ways to make your presentation look professional. However, pictures used incorrectly can actually detract from your presentation, confuse your audience, and make your creation
look amateurish. Use a picture only if it actually contributes to your message and is of high quality. The current resolution
in PowerPoint is 1280 by 720 pixels. If you use lower resolution images and resize larger, they will appear blurry and
distorted in your final presentation. Some good sources for free photographs in the public domain are Flickr Creative
Commons (https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons), Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org), Pixabay
(https://pixabay.com), and FreeImages (http://www.freeimages.com).
Evoke feelings with color. Color is emotional. The right color can help persuade and motivate. You do not need to be an
expert in color theory, but it’s good for presenters to have some knowledge on the subject. Colors can be divided into
two general categories: cool (blue, green, and violet) and warm (red, orange, and yellow). Cool colors work best for backgrounds as they appear to recede away from us. Warm colors generally work best for objects in the foreground (such as
text) because they appear to be advancing toward us. Never use a cool text color against a cool background or warm text
color against a warm background; it will be illegible. Aim for the greatest amount of contrast and remember that what you
see on your computer screen may not look the same presented in a room.
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Avoid the bullet point plague! Choose the text in your presentation wisely. Remember that your audience will be reading
instead of listening to you so keep text to a bare minimum. Avoid the standard slide layout with a title at the top and bullet
points below. Instead insert text boxes where they fit best for short quotes, important facts, and keywords. Some of the
best slides have no text at all. Use handouts, never your presentational aids, for sharing large amounts of information that
the audience will need later.
Choose an appropriate font. Once you have decided on text, use fonts to communicate subtle messages like mood, formality, or time period. Know the difference between a serif font (e.g., Times New Roman or Cambria) and a sans-serif font
(e.g., Calibri or Arial). Serif fonts have small accents or flourishes at the end of each stroke and were designed to be used
in documents filled with lots of text. Sans-serif fonts are generally best for presentational aids as they are easier to read
when projected. Use script or decorative fonts (e.g., Papyrus or Chiller) sparingly. Please note that if you use a font that is
not installed on the presentation computer, you must embed the font it in your PowerPoint file. Otherwise the computer
will default to an installed font, negating all your design work. Regardless of what fonts, colors, or images you choose, make
sure all text can be easily read from the back of the room.
Create an engaging title slide. Until the title or “cover” slide is shown, the audience has no idea what to expect from your
presentation. Creating an attractive title slide and leaving it up while you introduce yourself and your topic can create a
positive beginning and give the audience a psychological heads up to pay attention because they’re about to experience a
well-designed, thoughtful presentation. A title slide also provides a visual theme that you can carry on throughout the rest
of the presentation. This helps the presentation seem cohesive and professionally done rather than the random and scattered feel of seeing a completely different design on every slide.
Limit transitions and animations. There are only so many things that a person can pay attention to at one time. When you
use a transition or animation effect, it requires some of the precious attention of your audience. Stick to the subtlest and
professional effects (similar to what you might see on the nightly news) and use them consistently. Only change the effects
if you want to drastically change the tone of your presentation. Each slide should only have one main point; use a clicker or
time your slides so they transition to the next point as you do.
For further information about good and bad presentation design, see “You Suck at PowerPoint” by Jesse Desjardins at
http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee/you-suck-at-powerpoint.
12. How do I integrate my visual aids into my presentation without being distracting?
Master the technology and do the planning necessary for getting your visual aid onto the screen with a minimum amount
of wait time for the audience. When a presenter has to search through folders or log into multiple accounts to get to a file,
it diminishes his ethos and makes him appear unprepared even before he has spoken a word.
Be aware of the layout of the space where you are giving your speech and plan ahead so the audience can see both you
and the presentation aids clearly. Maintain eye contact with your audience instead of focusing on the screen. Practice your
speech enough that you know what is on the screen so you only need to occasionally look at it. It is completely acceptable
to interact with your visual aids. Point to relevant items. This strategy will be helpful for people who want to incorporate
more movement and gestures into their speeches. It also is a way to channel nervous energy.
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13. How do I cite images correctly on the visual aid?
It is important to cite sources for information; it is equally important to cite sources for images used in your visual aids
(except for images that you create yourself). It is important to give credit because the citation allows audience members to
trace the image back to its original source. “Google Images” is not a sufficient attribution.
Fair use guidelines generally allow for educators and students to use copyrighted images within a classroom setting or for
academic work. However, if you are doing a project or presentation for an outside organization then you should use images
from the public domain (available for use without paying licensing fees). Always ask your instructor how to cite your images
properly. A URL is sufficient in many cases, but you may be required to provide a full APA reference list as the last slide of
your presentation and an in-text citation next to the image itself.
REFERENCES
Monroe, A. H., & Ehninger, D. (1969). Principles and types of speech communication (6th ed.). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
CORE 202
CORE 202 - INTRODUCTION
CORE 202 is the capstone course of the University Core A sequence. It represents the culmination of the previous courses
because it stands upon a foundation of skills that you began to practice in CORE 101 and that you added to and strengthened in CORE 102 and CORE 201. CORE 202 will help you build upon that foundation by incorporating ethical reasoning
and small group communication and teamwork skills into the University Core A sequence.
To accomplish that goal, your instructor has chosen a theme that will enable you to explore how ethical decisions are made.
Your instructor may have chosen a theme directly related to ethical issues in particular fields, such as healthcare, environmental studies, or education; or she may have chosen a theme that will allow you to explore ethical issues as presented in
popular culture, such as The Hunger Games or the adventures of superheroes who may grapple, for example, with the notion
that “with great power comes great responsibility.”
In order to accomplish the goals of the course, you will complete three major projects:
• an ethical analysis,
• a group project and presentation, and
• a group communication evaluation.
This portion of the Handbook is divided into Ethical Reasoning and Small Group Communication and Teamwork in order to
address the following course objectives:
• Ethical Reasoning
◦ Apply critical reasoning to an ethical issue.
◦ Utilize reasons and arguments appropriate to debate over an ethical issue.
◦ Recognize an ethical issue.
◦ Apply major ethical perspectives to the issue.
◦ Examine the consequences for others of one’s decision or position on an ethical issue.
◦ Find facts related to an ethical issue.
◦ Identify criteria to consider in relation to options.
◦ Research stakeholder positions.
• Group Communication and Teamwork
◦ Contribute to team meetings.
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◦ Facilitate the contribution of team members.
◦ Foster a constructive team climate.
◦ Respond effectively to conflict.
• Written Communication
◦ Use tone, mechanics, and style appropriate to an academic audience.
CORE 202- ETHICAL REASONING
AND ANALYSIS
In CORE 101, you completed the Opposing Viewpoints assignments, which asked you to analyze two arguments in order
to compare the authors’ approaches. In CORE 102 you completed a Speech Analysis, and in CORE 201, you completed an
Argument Analysis. Now, in CORE 202, you will apply the analytical skills that you have been practicing and strengthening
to an analysis of an argument that addresses an issue that involves ethical reasoning.
The Ethical Analysis assignment is designed to help you meet two objectives that are important for analyzing an ethical
issue. It will help you to
• apply critical reasoning to an ethical issue and
• utilize reasons and arguments appropriate to debate over an ethical issue.
In addition, this project provides an opportunity to revisit an objective that was introduced earlier in the University Core A
sequence:
• use tone, mechanics, and style appropriate to an academic audience.
This chapter deals with the following questions about ethical reasoning:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
What is meant by “ethics”?
What is not “ethics”?
What does it mean to be ethical?
Do “ethical” and “moral” mean the same thing?
What are values?
What are some examples of ethical issues?
How can I effectively apply critical reasoning to an ethical issue?
When I debate ethical issues, what is my responsibility to people who are part of the dialogue?
What are ethical judgments?
How can I distinguish ethical judgments from other kinds of value judgments?
What are ethical arguments?
What is an ethical dilemma?
What is the role of values in ethical dilemmas?
What ethical dilemmas are more common in real life?
What is an ethical violation?
How does self-interest affect people’s ethical choices?
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17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
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51.
52.
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What is the difference between good ethical reasoning and mere rationalization?
What kinds of rationalizations do people make for their actions?*
What fallacies are most prevalent in debates over ethical issues?
How can I tell what is the “right” thing to do?
What is moral relativism?
What is the main weakness of moral relativism?
What is universalism?
What is consequentialism?
What is utilitarianism?
How does utilitarian reasoning operate?
How has utilitarian reasoning been applied?
What is the main weakness of utilitarianism?
How do I apply utilitarianism in real life?
What is deontology?
What is duty-based ethics?
What is rights-based ethics?
What is the appeal of deontology?
What is the main weakness of duty and rights-based ethics?
How can I apply deontology in real life?
What is virtue ethics?
What is care ethics?
How does virtue ethics operate?
What kinds of questions are asked by virtue ethics?
How has virtue ethics been applied in the real world?
What is the main weakness of virtue ethics?
How can I apply virtue ethics in real life?
How do these theories fit into my ethics toolbox?
How do I use ethical reasoning to make decisions?
How do I recognize an ethical situation?
How do I identify stakeholders?
How do I identify the different perspectives and positions held by stakeholders?
How can I research stakeholder positions?
How do I identify the ethical actor?
How can I use critical thinking in this process?
What are criteria?
How do I identify possible actions?
How do I evaluate the possible options?
How can mapping or diagramming help me to examine the consequences of decisions or positions with ethical
consequences?
55. What else should I consider before acting?
56. Am I done after acting?
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57. Do people really do all this when making ethical decisions?
1. What is meant by “ethics”?
Ethics is the study of the standards of right and wrong that inform us as to how we ought to behave. These standards relate
to unwritten rules that are necessary for humans to live amongst each other, such as “don’t hurt others.” We function better
as a society when we treat each other well.
Ethics can also refer to the standards themselves. They often pertain to rights, obligations, fairness, responsibilities, and
specific virtues like honesty and loyalty.
They are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons; as such, they have universal appeal. It’s never good to have a
society that supports hurting others as a general rule; honesty and loyalty are positive attributes.
Can we think of instances when hurting others is condoned (such as in war) and where honesty or loyalty may be misplaced? Of course! That’s one of the reasons why ethics are so complicated, and what makes Core 202 such an interesting
class.
2. What is not “ethics”?
We need to distinguish ethics from what it is not. It’s easier if you can remember that ethics doesn’t change:
• Ethics is not what’s legal. The law often puts into writing our ethical standards (don’t hurt others=don’t commit
homicide) but it also usually reflects our cultural beliefs at the time. For example, hunting is legal in Virginia, but it would
be difficult to say that everyone agrees that it is ethical to hunt. Some people will argue that hunting is ethical because it
manages the wildlife population, while others will argue that it is never ethical because it creates pain and suffering.
• Ethics is not what you feel. In fact, most times our feelings are very egocentric: what’s best for me and my nearest and
dearest? But making judgments based on these sentiments could be detrimental to society as a whole,
• Ethics is not religion. Religions may teach ethical standards, and you may personally use religion to guide your beliefs,
but people can have ethics without necessarily belonging to a religion. Therefore, ethics and religion are not
interchangeable.
• Ethics is not a political ideology. A political party may share your values and offer ethical arguments to supports its
policies, but your decisions aren’t automatically ethical, just because you belong to one political party or another. In fact,
many, if not most, political debates are built from arguments that claim one aspect of an ethical dilemma is more
significant than another.
3. What does it mean to be ethical?
When we explore what it means to be ethical, we are looking at what is rationally “right” and “wrong.” We need to have such
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conversations so that we can live with other people in society. Philosophers would also argue that the best way to achieve
our fullest potential is by being ethical.
In this course, we are not teaching you what to believe. We are building on the skills you learned in Core 201 to identify,
evaluate, create and analyze ethical arguments.
4. Do “ethical” and “moral” mean the same thing?
For the purposes of this Handbook, the answer is ‘yes’. The terms ethical and moral are often used as synonyms, and we
will adopt this convention and use these terms interchangeably. For most purposes this works fine, but some authors and
teachers do see a distinction between these ideas. Usually when the terms are distinguished it is because “morals” can connote very culture-specific norms or expectations. Hence “the mores of the Azande” describes the moral norms of that particular tribe or culture, but without expectation that these norms are universally valid. When “ethics” is contrasted with
“morals,” the writer is usually discussing certain normative ethical theories that maintain that certain principles, rules, or
virtues have universal ethical validity. A slightly more comprehensive answer would describe the difference; say from an
ethical relativist positions definition, as hinging on ethical standards being subjected to the scrutiny of reason or rationality
as its fundamental method.
5. What are values?
Frequently when used in discussions of ethics the term values is used to refer to the fundamental ideals that an individual
relies on to describe praise-worthy behavior. A person’s values are the bedrock concepts used to determine their ethical
decisions. Most generally speaking values represent aspirational goals common within your culture or society. Values such
as honesty, benevolence, wisdom, duty, or compassion are universally recognized laudable and desirable features of a welldeveloped character. But which values are most important may differ from individual to individual, or across cultures. We
could refer to the values of the feudal Japanese samurai culture placing the highest emphasis on the concept of personal
honor. We could compare and contrast that with the European knightly virtues as a similar yet distinctively different set of
cultural values. We could draw on political beliefs to describe the concepts of equality and freedom at the heart of democratic ideals, contrasting them with a constitutional monarchy that perhaps places the highest importance on duty and tradition as its central political ideals
6. What are some examples of ethical issues?
Ethical issues abound in contemporary society. Ethical issues involve questions of the ethical rightness or wrongness of
public policy or personal behavior. Actions or policies that affect other people always have an ethical dimension, but while
some people restrict ethical issues to actions that can help or harm others (social ethics) others include personal and selfregarding conduct (personal ethics).
Many of today’s most pressing issues of social ethics are complex and multifaceted and require clear and careful thought.
Some of these issues include:
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• Should states allow physician-assisted suicide?
• Is the death penalty an ethically acceptable type of punishment?
• Should animals have rights?
• Is society ever justified in regulating so-called victimless crimes like drug use, not wearing a helmet or a seatbelt, etc.?
• What are our responsibilities to future generations?
• Are affluent individuals and countries obligated to try to prevent starvation, malnutrition, and poverty wherever we
find them in the world?
• Is there such a thing as a just war?
• How does business ethics relate to corporate responsibility?
To reach careful conclusions, these public policy issues require people to engage in complicated ethical reasoning, but the
ethical reasoning involving personal issues can be just as complex and multifaceted:
• What principles do I apply to the way I treat other people?
• What guides my own choices and my own goals in life?
• Should I have the same expectations of others in terms of their behavior and choices as I have of myself?
• Is living ethically compatible or incompatible with what I call living well or happily?
7. How can I effectively apply critical reasoning to an ethical issue?
People care quite a bit about ethical issues and often voice varied and even sharply opposed perspectives. So when looking
at how we debate ethical issues publicly, it is not surprising to find debate ranging from formal to informal argumentation,
and from very carefully constructed arguments with well-qualified conclusions, to very biased positions and quite fallacious forms of persuasion. It’s easy to be dismayed by the discord we find over volatile issues like gun control, immigration
policy, and equality in marriage or in the workplace, gender and race equality, abortion and birth control, jobs versus environment, freedom versus security, free speech and censorship, and so on. But it is also easy to go the other direction and be
drawn into the often fallacious reasoning we hear all around us.
Critical thinkers want to conduct civil, respectful discourse, and to build bridges in ways that allow progress to be made on
difficult issues of common concern. Progress and mutual understanding is not possible when name-calling, inflammatory
language, and fallacies are the norm. Some mutual respect, together with the skill of being able to offer a clearly-structured
argument for one’s position, undercuts the need to resort to such tactics. So critical thinkers resist trading fallacy for fallacy,
and try to introduce common ground that can help resolve disputes by remaining respectful of differences, even about
issues personally quite important to them. When we support a thesis (such as a position on one of the above ethical issues)
with a clear and well-structured argument, we allow and invite others to engage with us in more constructive fashion. We
say essentially, “Here is my thesis and here are my reasons for holding it. If you don’t agree with my claim, then show me
what is wrong with my argument, and I will reconsider my view, as any rational person should.”
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8. When I debate ethical issues, what is my responsibility to people who are part of the dialogue?
When we evaluate (analyze) somebody else’s position on an ethical issue, we are not free to simply reject out-of-hand a
conclusion we don’t initially agree with. To be reasonable, we must accept the burden of showing where the other person
errs in his facts or reasoning. If we cannot show that there are errors in the person’s facts or reasoning, to be reasonable
we must reconsider whether we should reject the other person’s conclusion.
By applying the common standards of critical thinking to our reasoning about ethical issues, our arguments will become
less emotionally driven and more rational. Our reasoning will become less dependent upon unquestioned beliefs or
assumptions that the other people in the conversation may not accept. We become better able to contribute to progressive
public debate and conflict resolution through a well-developed ability to articulate a well-reasoned position on an ethical
issue.
9. What are ethical judgments?
Ethical judgments are a subclass of value judgments. A value judgment involves an argument as to what is correct, superior, or preferable. In the case of ethics, the value judgment involves making a judgment, claim, or statement about whether
an action is morally right or wrong or whether a person’s motives are morally good or bad. Ethical judgments often prescribe as well as evaluate actions, so that to state that someone (or perhaps everyone) ethically “should” or “ought to” do
something is also to make an ethical judgment.
10. How can I distinguish ethical judgments from other kinds of value judgments?
If ethical judgments are a subclass of value judgments, how do we distinguish them? Ethical judgments typically state that
some action is good or bad, or right or wrong, in a specifically ethical sense. It is usually not difficult to distinguish non-ethical
judgments of goodness and badness from ethical ones. When someone says “That was a good action, because it was caring,”
or “That was bad action, because it was cruel” they are clearly intending goodness or badness in a distinctly ethical sense.
By contrast, non-moral value judgments typically say that something is good (or bad) simply for the kind of thing it is; or
that some action is right or wrong, given the practical goal or purpose that one has in mind. “That’s a good car” or “That’s
a bad bike” would not be considered to moral judgments about those objects. Goodness and badness here are still value
judgments, but value judgments that likely track features like comfort, styling, reliability, safety and mileage ratings, etc.
The use of “should” or “ought to” for non-moral value judgments is also easy to recognize. “You ought to enroll early” or
“You made the right decision to go to Radford” are value-judgments, but no one would say they are ethical judgments. They
reflect a concern with wholly practical aims rather than ethical ones and with the best way to attain those practical aims.
11. What are ethical arguments?
Ethical arguments are arguments whose conclusion makes an ethical judgment. Ethical arguments are most typically argu-
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ments that try to show a certain policy or behavior to be either ethical or unethical. Suppose you want to argue that “The
death penalty is unjust (or just) punishment” for a certain range of violent crimes. Here we have an ethical judgment, and
one that with a bit more detail could serve as the thesis of a position paper on the death penalty debate.
An ethical judgment rises above mere opinion and becomes the conclusion of an ethical argument when you support it with
ethical reasoning. You must say why you hold the death penalty to be ethically right or wrong, just or unjust. For instance,
you might argue that it is unjust because of one or more of the reasons below:
• It is cruel, and cruel actions are wrong.
• Two wrongs don’t make a right.
• It disrespects human life.
• In some states the penalty falls unevenly on members of a racial group.
• The penalty sometimes results in the execution of innocent people.
Of course you could also give reasons to support the view that the death penalty is a just punishment for certain crimes.
The point is that whichever side of the debate you take, your ethical argument should develop ethical reasons and principles rather than economic or other practical but non-moral concerns. To argue merely that the death penalty be abolished
because that would save us all money is a possible policy-position, but it is essentially an economic argument rather than
an ethical argument.
12. What is an ethical dilemma?
An ethical dilemma is a term for a situation in which a person faces an ethically problematic situation and is not sure of
what she ought to do. Those who experience ethical dilemmas feel themselves being pulled by competing ethical demands
or values and perhaps feel that they will be blameworthy or experience guilt no matter what course of action they take. The
philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre gives the example of a young Frenchman of military age during the wartime Nazi occupation
who finds himself faced, through no fault of his own, with the choice of staying home and caring for his ailing mother or
going off to join the resistance to fight for his country’s future:
He fully realized that this woman lived only for him and that his disappearance – or perhaps his death – would plunge her
into despair…. Consequently, he found himself confronted by two very different modes of action; the one concrete, immediate, but directed towards only one individual; and the other an action addressed to an end infinitely greater, a national
collectivity, but for that very reason ambiguous – and it might be frustrated on the way. (Sartre, 1977)
13. What is the role of values in ethical dilemmas?
Frequently, ethical dilemmas are fundamentally a clash of values. We may experience a sense of frustration trying to figure
out what the ‘right’ thing to do is because any available course of action violates some value that we are dedicated to. For
example, let’s say you are taking a class with a good friend and sitting next to him one day during a quiz you discover him
copying answers from a third student. Now you are forced into an ethical decision embodied by two important values com-
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mon to your society. Those values are honesty and loyalty. Do you act dishonestly and preserve your friend’s secret or do
you act disloyal and turn them in for academic fraud?
Awareness of the underlying values at play in an ethical conflict can act as a powerful method to clarify the issues involved.
We should also be aware of the use of value as a verb in the ethical sense. Certainly what we choose to value more or less
will play a very significant role in the process of differentiating between outcomes and actions thereby determining what
exactly we should do.
Literature and film are full of ethical dilemmas, as they allow us to reflect on the human struggle as well as presenting tests
of individual character. For example in World War Z, Gerry Lane (played by Brad Pitt in the movie version) has to make a
similar choice as Sartre’s Frenchman: between serving the world-community of humans in their just war against Zombies,
and serving his own immediate family. It adds depth and substance to the character to see him struggling with this choice
over the right thing to do.
14. What ethical dilemmas are more common in real life?
Rarely are we called on to fight zombies or Nazis, but that doesn’t mean we live in an ethically easy world. If you’ve ever
felt yourself pulled between two moral choices, you’ve faced an ethical dilemma. Often we make our choice based on which
value we prize more highly. Some examples:
• You are offered a scholarship to attend a far-away college, but that would mean leaving your family, to whom you are
very close. Values: success/future achievements/excitement vs. family/love/safety
• You are friends with Jane, who is dating Bill. Jane confides in you that she’d been seeing Joe on the side but begs you not
to tell Bill. Bill then asks you if Jane has ever cheated on him. Values: Friendship/loyalty vs. Truth
• You are the official supervisor for Tywin. You find out that Tywin has been leaving work early and asking his co-workers
to clock him out on time. You intend to fire Tywin, but then you find out that he’s been leaving early because he needs to
pick up his child from daycare. Values: Justice vs. Mercy
You could probably make a compelling argument for either side for each of the above. That’s what makes ethical dilemmas
so difficult (or interesting, if you’re not directly involved!)
15. What is an ethical violation?
Sometimes we are confronted with situations in which we are torn between a right and a wrong; we know what the right
thing to do would be, but the wrong is personally beneficial, tempting, or much easier to do. In 2010, Ohio State University
football coach Jim Tressel discovered that some of his players were violating NCAA rules. He did not report it to anyone, as
it would lead to suspensions, hurting the football team’s chances of winning. He was not torn between two moral choices;
he knew what he should do, but didn’t want to jeopardize his career. In 2011, Tressel’s unethical behavior became public,
OSU had to void its wins for the year, and he resigned as coach.
Ethics experts tend to think that ethical considerations should always trump personal or self-interested ones and that to
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resist following one’s personal desires is a matter of having the right motivation and the strength of will to repel temptation. One way to strengthen your “ethics muscles” is to become familiar with the ways we try to excuse or dismiss unethical
actions.
16. How does self-interest affect people’s ethical choices?
In a perfect world, morality and happiness would always align: living ethically and living well wouldn’t collide because living
virtuously—being honest, trustworthy, caring, etc.—would provide the deepest human happiness and would best allow
humans to flourish. Some would say, however, that we do not live in a perfect world, and that our society entices us to
think of happiness in terms of status and material possessions at the cost of principles. Some even claim that all persons act
exclusively out of self-interest—that is, out of psychological egoism—and that genuine concern for the well-being of others—altruism—is impossible. As you explore an ethical issue, consider whether people making choices within the context
of the issue are acting altruistically or out of self-interest.
17. What is the difference between good ethical reasoning and mere rationalization?
When pressed to justify their choices, people may try to evade responsibility and to justify decisions that may be unethical
but that serve their self-interest. People are amazingly good at passing the buck in this fashion, yet pretty poor at recognizing and admitting that they are doing so. When a person is said to be rationalizing his actions and choices, this doesn’t mean
he is applying critical thinking, or what we have described as ethical analysis. Quite the opposite: it means that he is trying
to convince others—or often just himself—using reasons that he should be able to recognize as faulty or poor reasons. Perhaps the most common rationalization of unethical action has come to be called the Nuremberg Defense: ‘I was just doing
what I was told to do—following orders or the example of my superior. So blame them and exonerate me.’ This defense was
used by Nazi officials during the Nuremberg trials after World War II in order to rationalize behavior such as participation
in the administration of concentration camps. This rationalization didn’t work then, and it doesn’t work now.
18. What kinds of rationalizations do people make for their actions?*
Rationalization is a common human coping strategy. An intriguing finding in research on corruption is that people who
behave unethically usually do not see themselves as unethical. Instead, they recast their actions using rationalization techniques to justify what they’ve done. Common rationalization strategies:
Denial of responsibility
• The people engaged in bad behavior “had no choice” but to participate in such activities OR people turn a blind eye to
ethical misbehavior.
• Examples:
◦ “What can I do? My boss ordered me not to tell the police.”
◦ “My neighbors’ children always seem to have bruises, but it’s none of my business.”
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Denial of injury
• No one is harmed by the action, or that the harm could have been worse.
• Examples:
◦ “All’s well that ends well.”
◦ “Nobody died.”
Blaming the victim
• Counter any blame for the actions by arguing that the violated party deserved what happened.
◦ Examples:
▪ “She chose to go that fraternity party; what did she think was going to happen?”
▪ “If the professors don’t want students to say mean things in student evaluations, they should be more entertaining.”
Social weighting
• Compared to what other people have done, this is nothing, OR everybody does it, so it’s okay.
◦ Examples:
▪ “I sometimes come into work late, but compared to everybody who leaves early every Friday, it’s nothing to get
worked up over.”
▪ “Everyone around me was texting; it’s not fair that I should be the one in trouble.”
Appeal to higher values
• It was done for a good, higher cause.
◦ Examples:
▪ “You should let me copy your homework; if I fail this class, I’ll lose my scholarship.”
▪ “I couldn’t tell anyone because I’m loyal to my boss.”
Saint’s excuse
• If someone has done good things in the past, they should get a “pass” for misbehavior.
◦ Examples:
▪ “He’s done so many good things for the community, it would be a shame to punish him.”
▪ “She’s so talented, why focus on the bad things she’s done?”
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19. What fallacies are most prevalent in debates over ethical issues?
In addition to self-deception and rationalizations, we often find overtly fallacious reasoning that undermines open, constructive debate of ethical issues. Of the common fallacies described in CORE 201, those most common in ethics debate
include ad hominem (personal) attacks, appeals to false authority, appeals to fear, the slippery slope fallacy, false dilemmas, the
two-wrongs-make-a-right fallacy, and the strawman fallacy. Fallacious reasoning, especially the attempt to sway sentiment
through language manipulation, is ever-present in popular sources of information and opinion pieces, like blogs and specialinterest-group sites. It may take practice to spot fallacious reasoning, but being able to give names to these strategies of
trickery and manipulation provides the aspiring critical thinker with a solid start.
* Modified from Anand, V., Ashforth, B. E., & Joshi, M. (2004). Business as usual: The acceptance and perpetuation of corruptions in organizations. Academy of Management Executive, 18(2). Retrieved from http://actoolkit.unprme.org/wp-content/
resourcepdf/anand_et_al._ame_2004.pdf
20. How can I tell what is the “right” thing to do?
That’s the million dollar question in Core 202. Ethical theories describe the rules or principles that guide people when the
rightness or wrongness of an action becomes an issue. In this section, you will read about some of the most common and
important ways of approaching ethics. They all ask the question, “how can I tell what the right thing to do is?” but differ as
to where to start and what to consider:
1. Situation. Relativists say that rightness changes depending on the individuals and culture involved.
2. Results. Consequentialists believe that you should judge rightness based on the predicted outcome. Utilitarianism is a
type of consequentialist perspective.
3. Actions. Deontologists judge the rightness purely on the action itself. Duty-based and rights-based perspectives fall
into this category.
4. Actors. In actor-oriented perspectives, the person or entity making the decision- the ethical actor- must decide what
a virtuous person or entity would do, and follow that path. The ethical actor may also be called the agent.
Next, we’ll learn more about each perspective and its challenges and benefits.
21. What is moral relativism?
Moral relativism rejects the view that there are universal and never-changing ethical standards that can always be used to
judge whether actions are right and wrong. Instead, a moral relativist might argue that ethical judgments are made within
the context of a culture and time period. People in one culture or time period may judge an action to be ethical; people in
another culture or time period may judge the same action to be unethical.
Some moral relativists even reject the notion that cultures determine what is right and wrong. Instead, these moral rela-
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tivists argue that each individual must develop his or her own standards for determining what is ethical. These standards
might be based on reason or on intuition, something like a ‘gut feeling’ that an action is ethical.
People may be drawn to moral relativism because it appears to be a tolerant view. They may feel that adopting moral relativism will eliminate the conflicts that may arise between people and cultures that reach different conclusions about what
is right or wrong.
22. What is the main weakness of moral relativism?
Moral relativism may be embraced by people who value tolerance. However, you could argue that a moral relativist who
treats tolerance as something that is unquestionably good has actually abandoned moral relativism. Critics of moral relativism sometimes ask this question: Is it logically possible to be a moral relativist and to simultaneously behave as if tolerance is a universal value?
Another apparent contradiction may arise when an individual’s (or culture’s) right to decide what is ethical runs up against
another individual’s (or culture’s) right to do the same. This paradox can be illustrated by looking at The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. This document was approved by the United Nations after World War II. Near its beginning, it states that
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” With this statement as a starting point, a number of principles follow: a universal right to be safe from enslavement, for example, or a universal right to education regardless of gender.
Taken as a whole, the Declaration argues that people have autonomy: the freedom to act in their own interests.
However, if what is right is whatever a culture determines to be right, then slavery is ethical in a slave-owning society or
household. If what is right is whatever an individual determines to be right, then denying a girl access to education is ethical
in a household whose head believes it is inappropriate for girls to be educated.
On the one hand, then, moral relativism does not impose value systems on people. On the other hand, it seems to grant
humans autonomy—the freedom to act in one’s own interest—to people who would deny that autonomy to other people.
23. What is universalism?
Imagine that there is one never-changing and universal set of standard for deciding whether an action is ethical. That
approach to judging behavior is called universalism. A person who follows this approach believes that guidelines for judging behavior are not affected by time and culture. What is right is always right, and what is wrong is always wrong—without
exception and everywhere in the world. Consequentialism and deontology are universalist ethical theories.
24. What is consequentialism?
Consequentialists believe that an action is right or wrong depending on the results of the action. The act itself matters less
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than whether the effects are positive or negative. So for a consequentialist, no type of act is inherently wrong. The ethically
right choice is the one that has the best overall consequences.
In addition, the more good consequences that occur from an act, the better or more ethical that act should be judged.
25. What is utilitarianism?
Utilitarianism is a specific type of consequentialism that focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number. After you
identify your options for action, you ask who will benefit and who will be harmed by each. The ethical action would be the
one that caused the greatest good for the most people, or the least harm to the least number.
26. How does utilitarian reasoning operate?
Early utilitarian thinkers sought to ‘scientize’ ethical decision-making. They developed a ‘calculus’ comparable to a modern
cost/benefit analysis. This calculus weighed the consequences of an action in terms of its impact on all the sentient beings
that might be affected. Sentient beings feel pain or pleasure, so the calculus could consider the effect an action might have
on animals as well as humans.
The calculus took into account several factors, such as
■ The number of humans and animals that would benefit
■ The number of humans and animals that would be harmed
■ How intense any resulting pleasure would be
■ How long any resulting pleasure might last
■ How intense any resulting pain would be
■ How long any resulting pain might last
While such a calculus for resolving ethical problems may seem idealized, utilitarian thinking coincided with a genuine desire
to eliminate unnecessary suffering through seeking to answer the question, “Which option will serve the greater good?”
Utilitarianism stressed equality and fights against self-interest on the part of the ethical actor. As an illustration, let’s say
you’ve volunteered to buy the paint for the fence that you and your three bordering neighbors share. The fence has to be
painted one color: brown or white. You prefer white but your neighbors want brown. If you used a utilitarian approach, you
would buy brown paint because three outnumbers one. Just because you are buying the paint does not give you any more
weight in the decision.
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27. How has utilitarian reasoning been applied?
Utilitarian thinking led to many reforms. It helped bring an end to the mistreatment of animals, orphans and child laborers,
as well as to the harsh treatment of adult laborers, prisoners, the poor, and the mentally ill. It provided arguments for abolishing slavery and for eliminating inequalities between the sexes. For John Stuart Mill, one of the founders of the theory,
both logic and morality dictated that one person’s happiness should count as much as another person’s happiness. This principle was applied to people whether they were wealthy or poor, powerful or weak.
Today few people think an ethical calculus can tell us exactly how competing interests should be weighed. But the more
general utilitarian approach to ethical reasoning is still immensely influential. The principle that each person’s happiness
should be as important as any other person’s happiness requires a society to make decisions in which the interests of all its
members are considered in a balanced, rational fashion.
We can see utilitarianism in action in many public health efforts. For example, children in public schools are required to
receive certain vaccinations. This is mandatory because of the results: keeping people healthy and the greater good: individuals may object to the vaccinations, but the law focuses on the greater good for the greatest number.
28. What is the main weakness of utilitarianism?
The utilitarian principle says that people should act to promote overall happiness, but this principle appears to justify using
people in ways that do not respect the idea that individual rights may not be violated. That is, the utilitarian approach seems
to imply that it would be ethical to inflict pain on one person if that action results in a net increase in happiness.
Here is a classic question that is posed to expose this potential weakness in the utilitarian approach to ethical reasoning:
Why not kill and harvest the organs of one healthy person in order to save five patients who will go on to live happy lives?
The philosopher William James argued that it would be a “hideous…thing” if “millions [were] kept permanently happy on
the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture,” but that
situation would seem consistent with utilitarianism (James, 1891, n.p.).
James’s scenario inspired a short story by Ursula Le Guin, “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas,” in which the happiness of
a society depends upon the suffering of one child. Some members of this society are unable to live with this fact and “walk
away from Omelas.”
Utilitarian’s emphasis on consequences can also be a weakness. That emphasis can lead to “all’s well that ends well” thinking, allowing people to justify immoral acts if the outcome is beneficial. One must also ask, can we ever be sure of the consequences of our actions? If we take an action that we expected would have good consequences, but it ends up harming
people, have we behaved unethically regardless of our intentions?
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29. How do I apply utilitarianism in real life?
When faced with an ethical dilemma, ask yourself:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Which option would have better results?
Which option would further the greater good?
How can I maximize benefits for all involved?
How can I minimize suffering for all involved?
30. What is deontology?
Deontology is a universal ethical theory that considers whether an action itself is right or wrong. Deontologists argue that
you can never know what the results will be so it doesn’t make sense to decide whether something is ethical based on outcomes. You can consider it the opposite of consequentialism and utilitarianism in many ways.
Deontologists live in world of moral rules: It is wrong to steal. It is right to keep promises.
Deontology is also concerned with intentions. If you intended good through your action, then the action is good, no matter
what actually happened as a result.
Deontology encompasses two kinds of approaches: duty-based and rights-based.
31. What is duty-based ethics?
Duty-based ethics says that there are universal moral norms or rules, and it is essential that everyone follows them. If
you’ve ever said, “I did it because it was the right thing to do,” then you’ve employed duty-based ethics.
Duty-based ethics maintains that you should follow an ethical code without considering the consequences of your actions.
If an act is by its nature right, you should perform that act even if someone is harmed as a result. If an act is by its nature
wrong, you should not perform that act even if someone might be helped. For example, if by definition stealing is wrong, you
do not steal. If by definition lying is wrong, you do not lie.
When you think about duties, think about obligations that individuals must accept in order for society to work and be well.
Your duties and obligations come from both your personal and professional lives. If you are a parent, you are obligated to
take care of your children. If you see someone in distress, you have a duty as a human to try and help.
The duties themselves may be tied to professional roles, too. Teachers have a duty to grade students fairly; police officers
have a duty to enforce the law; psychologists have a duty to respect the confidentiality of their patients. When you
encounter codes of professional conduct—either written or unwritten—likely you are dealing with duty-based ethics.
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32. What is rights-based ethics?
An outgrowth of duty-based ethics, rights-based ethics insists that you need to respect individual’s human rights and never
treat people as a means to an end.
A right is something you are entitled to. In terms of ethics, it is the treatment you should be able to expect from other people. For example, under most ethical codes, as a human you are entitled—have a right—to exist in safety.
Another way of stating this idea is that you have a right not be harmed by anyone. When the idea is put that way, it is apparent that duties and rights are closely related concepts. You have a right to exist in safety, which means that other people
have a duty not to harm you.
Since duties and rights are so closely related, a version of a duty-based ethics can be created by identifying the rights that
someone has a duty to respect.
Rights-based ethics are built upon four claims. Rights are
• “natural insofar as they are not invented or created by governments,”
• “universal insofar as they do not change from country to country,”
• “equal in the sense that rights are the same for all people, irrespective of gender, race, or handicap,” and
• “inalienable which means that I cannot hand over my rights to another person, such as by selling myself into slavery.”
(Fieser, n.d.)
A noteworthy example of an argument grounded in rights-based ethics is found in the Declaration of Independence, where
Thomas Jefferson states that humans are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” By drawing attention to these rights, Jefferson provides the context for a lengthy
list of the ways in which George III had not fulfilled his duty to uphold these rights.
Remember that deontology is a universal system, so that means any rights that you claim you also have to grant to all others. If you believe your family has a right to drinking water, then this means everyone in the world has that same right. If
you believe that you have a right to marry the person you choose, then so does everyone else.
33. What is the appeal of deontology?
As we discussed in utilitarianism, a flaw with consequentialist thinking is that we can never really know what the results of
an action will be. History is full of examples of “unintended consequences.” For example, in an attempt to raise standards
and accountability in public schools, high stakes testing became common. To ensure that the tests were taken seriously,
school districts held teachers responsible for their students’ scores; teachers whose students did well would get raises,
while those who did poorly could be fired. The proponents of this policy predicted that children’s learning would improve.
It seemed to be working: in Atlanta; students were showing extraordinary gains in the yearly competency tests. Then an
investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that teachers and principals were correcting the answers pro-
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vided by students. This scandal rocked the Atlanta school system and as of 2015, eleven teachers were convicted on racketeering charges. This certainly is not what the high-stakes testing supporters had thought would happen!
Because of such examples, deontologists disdain the uncertainty of consequentialist ethics. The future is unpredictable; we
should only make judgments on things we are certain about. We know whether an action is inherently right or wrong as
we’re doing it.
Another good point about deontology is its emphasis on the value of every human. While utilitarians consider everyone
equal, it’s more of a numbers game. But a deontologist insists that you treat everyone with respect and give everyone the
rights you expect to have yourself. It works against our tendency to be self-centered.
Finally, deontology gives credit for intentions and motivations. You may do something for the very best reasons and it could
turn out negatively. Does that condemn your action as unethical? A deontologist would say no. Accidents happen, results
are uncertain, and you can’t be held responsible for the future.
34. What is the main weakness of duty and rights-based ethics?
Both duty and rights-based ethics are forms of universalism because they rely on principles that must be applied at all times
to all people. Some people object that the universalism of duty and rights-based ethics make these theories too inflexible.
Both also rely on absolute principles regarding duties and rights. But there’s no definitive list recorded anywhere. One person might say parents have a right to spank their children, but others will disagree. In the case of duty-based ethics, people
may object to the principle that people deciding on a course of action should ignore the circumstances in which they and
other individuals find themselves. Duty ethics allows little room for context. In Les Misérables, was Jean Valjean wrong to
steal bread to feed his starving sister’s children? Would it have been wrong to lie to a Gestapo officer asking where Jews
were hidden or to slave-catchers in pursuit of runaways in the pre-war South? Some would say that the answers depend
upon the circumstances and options available to us, rather than on it being the case that certain types of actions are always
and necessarily wrong.
Duty-based ethics accepts as a principle that one should never use another person merely as a means to someone else’s
ends. So it would never be justified to cause the death of one to save several. But is that action always wrong, as a duty ethicist would argue? Societies regularly sacrifice individuals. For example, people are drafted into armies and regularly sent
into battle, even though it is certain that some of them will die. Is it ethical for a government to draft people and send them
into harm’s way? Is this a case of treating a person as a means to an end?
We have seen that duty and rights-based ethics are ‘flip sides’ of the same coin. One theory emphasizes how people should
behave toward each another; the other emphasizes that an individual should be confident that her human rights will be
acknowledged and respected. So the above example could be rewritten from the perspective of the rights-based approach.
A person has a right to be respected on her own account rather than treated as a means to an end, yet we see that societies
regularly sacrifice their members. The universalism of rights-based ethics does not appear to allow for this societal choice.
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35. How can I apply deontology in real life?
When confronted with an ethical dilemma, consider:
• Which option is simply the right thing to do?
• What duties or obligations do you need to consider?
• Which option best respects the rights of all stakeholders?
• Which option treats people fairly and equally?
• Which option has the best motivation or intention?
• If applicable: Which option is supported by a professional code of conduct?
36. What is virtue ethics?
Thinkers who embrace virtue ethics emphasize that the sort of person we choose to be constitutes the heart of our ethical
being. If you want to behave virtuously, become a virtuous person.
Certain traits—for instance, honesty, compassion, generosity, courage—seem to be universally admired. These strengths
of character are virtues. To acquire these virtues, follow the example of persons who possess them. Once acquired, these
virtues may be trusted to guide our decisions about how to act, even in difficult situations. A person might think of a religious figure, virtuous relative, or even a favorite comic book superhero, and use that person as a role model for how to
behave.
37. What is care ethics?
Care ethics, or “ethics of care” places significance on relationships and humans’ interdependency on each other. It could be
seen as related to virtue ethics because ‘caring’ is a type of virtue, and is universal because the impulse to care is present in
all human societies.
In care ethics, the ethical actor considers what option would be, not just fair, but compassionate. Ethical decisions may be
made because of emotional connections or attachments to others. Given a dilemma, you may choose one option because
your loved one is involved, while another option may be more reasonable to you when the people involved are strangers.
Care ethicists argue that all of us have been or will be in a position of needing care, of being vulnerable, at various points
in our lives. As such, society works best when we take care of each other. Virtuous people should want to help those who
need help- not just to protect human rights, but because we care.
In The Hunger Games, the main character Katniss uses care ethics. When her younger sister, Prim, is selected for the Games
and faces certain death, Katniss volunteers to take Prim’s place: not because she thinks the Games are wrong (deontology),
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nor because she thinks she’ll win (utilitarianism) but because she loves Prim and will do anything to protect her. During the
games, her feelings of care for Prim lead her to also act to protect Rue, a fellow contestant who reminds her of Prim.
38. How does virtue ethics operate?
Virtue ethicists think that the main question in ethical reasoning should be not “How should I now act?” but “What kind
of person do I want to be?” Developing virtues that we admire in others and avoiding actions that we recognize as vicious
develops our moral sensitivity: our awareness of how our actions affect others. Virtuous persons are able to empathize, to
imagine themselves in another person’s shoes, and to look at an issue from other people’s perspectives.
Virtuous individuals are also thought to be able to draw upon willpower not possessed by those who compromise their
moral principles in favor of fame, money, sex, or power.
39. What kinds of questions are asked by virtue ethics?
Virtue ethics focuses more on a person’s approach to living than on particular choices and actions and so has less to say
about specific courses of action or public policies. Instead, this ethical approach posed broader questions such as these:
• How should I live?
• What is the good life?
• Are ethical virtue and genuine happiness compatible?
• What are proper family, civic, and cosmopolitan virtues?
Because of the broad nature of the questions posed by virtue ethics, ethicists sometimes disagree as to whether this theory
actually offers an alternative to the utilitarian and deontological approaches to ethical reasoning. How does someone who
follows virtue ethics determine what the virtues are without applying some yardstick such as those provided by utilitarian
and deontological ethics?
Utilitarianism and deontology are hard-universalist theories, each claiming that one ethical principle is binding on all people regardless of time or place. Virtue ethics does not make this claim. Those who favor this theory may hold that certain
virtues like compassion, honesty, and integrity transcend time and culture. But they do not aim to identify universal principles that can be applied in all moral situations. Instead they accept that many things described as virtues and vices are cultural and that some of our primary ethical obligations are based on our emotional relationships and what we owe to people
we care about. In the end, though, virtue ethicists will always ask themselves, “What would a good person do?”
40. How has virtue ethics been applied in the real world?
Someone employing virtue ethics will consider what action will most help her become a better person. Virtue ethics arguments will discuss ideals as the motivation for acting. In December 2014, Senator John McCain delivered a floor statement
to the US Senate, condemning CIA interrogation methods. He deplored the use of torture by our country:
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Torture’s failure to serve its intended purpose isn’t the main reason to oppose its use. I have often said, and will always maintain, that this
question isn’t about our enemies; it’s about us. It’s about who we were, who we are and who we aspire to be. It’s about how we represent
ourselves to the world (McCain, 2014).
41. What is the main weakness of virtue ethics?
Virtue ethics may seem to avoid some of the apparent flaws of duty-based ethics and of utilitarianism. A person guided by
virtue ethics would not be bound by strict rules or the duty to abide by a state’s legal code. Presumably, then, an individual
who has cultivated a compassionate personality consistent with virtue ethics would not easily surrender a friend’s hiding
place in order to avoid having to tell a lie, as would seem to be required by duty ethics. Nor would a person guided by virtue
ethics be bound by the ‘tyranny of the (happy) majority’ that appears to be an aspect of utilitarianism.
On the other hand, some thinkers argue that virtue ethics provides vague and ambiguous advice. Because of its emphasis
on the imprecise and highly contextual nature of ethics, virtue ethics is often criticized as insufficient as a guide to taking
specific action.
42. How can I apply virtue ethics in real life?
When confronted with an ethical dilemma, consider:
• Which option would a good person choose?
• Would I feel comfortable if everyone knew I’d made that choice?
• Which option shows care for those that are vulnerable?
• What virtues and vices apply in this context?
• What is the proper application/ measure of virtues appropriate to this choice?
43. How do these theories fit into my ethics toolbox?
The ethical theories described in this section are powerful tools that should be included in a critical thinker’s ‘ethics toolbox’. Perspectives rooted in ethical theories often play very direct roles in ethical analysis. In addition, such perspectives
can help you develop you own ethics-based arguments. Equip your ethics toolbox with all of these tools: your ethical intuitions and sense your conscience; your awareness of cultural traditions; and the insights you can gain from psychological
studies and philosophical theories. These tools allow people with even opposing perspectives on today’s ethical issues to
debate each other courteously and skillfully.
44. How do I use ethical reasoning to make decisions?
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Making good ethical decisions takes practice. Our instinct or “gut” can draw us to selfish choices, so we need to step back
and think critically about ethical dilemmas rather than just jumping to our first solution.
We need to consider all the elements involved:
• Who is affected?
• Who is making the decision?
• What are the known facts and circumstances?
• How ethical are the possible actions?
The framework below can help guide you through this process. It is not a checklist of steps; rather, decision making is an
iterative process in which learning a new fact may cause you to revise earlier thoughts on the situation.
45. How do I recognize an ethical situation?
Identifying an ethical situation will require you to research the facts of a situation and to ask whether stakeholders must
consider questions about the moral rightness or wrongness of public policy or personal behavior. To help you identify and
describe the nature of the ethical issue, ask the following:
• Does the situation require individuals to engage in ethical judgments? Do you find yourself thinking about whether an
action is morally right or wrong or whether a person’s motives are morally good or bad? Could you debate what, morally,
someone ‘should’ or ‘ought to’ do in the situation?
• Does the situation seem to pose an ethical conflict for one or more stakeholder? That is, does there seem be a clash
between what a stakeholder ‘ought to do’ and what she ‘wants to do’?
• Does the situation pose an ethical dilemma for one or more stakeholders? That is, does it seem as if someone is pulled
between competing ethical demands, each calling for behavior that would be ethical but with one action making it
impossible to perform the other, equally justifiable action? Are there values that are in conflict?
You also should consider whether any professional codes are relevant to the situation. Often professional codes spell out
the ethical or moral obligations of members of a profession. Compare any relevant professional code with the behavior of
participants in that situation who may be bound by that code. Was their behavior consistent with that code? Were there
any competing norms or codes of behavior that put participants in the midst of an ethical dilemma?
In an ethical situation, a difficult decision- perhaps multiple difficult decisions, will need to be made.
46. How do I identify stakeholders?
Usually, any complex topic features multiple stakeholders: people who have an interest in or are affected by the outcome
of decisions revolving around the situation. These different parties are not all affected in the same way, and therefore,
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their perspectives on the topic will differ. Review how to identify stakeholders at: http://lcubbison.pressbooks.com/chapter/core-101-academic-argument-essay/#101_AA_obj_3_3
47. How do I identify the different perspectives and positions held by stakeholders?
A stakeholder’s perspective or position is based upon the stakeholder’s relationship to the situation. That relationship can
be captured by asking questions about power, support, influence, and need in the context of the situation that the stakeholder has an interest in.
• Power—How much decision-making authority does the stakeholder have over the situation?
• Support—How strongly is the stakeholder for or against the idea?
• Influence—How much ability does the stakeholder have to affect the decisions made by other people?
• Need—For the stakeholder to benefit, what does she need to have happen (or not happen) in the situation?
Be sure to look for interests and perspectives that may be shared by different stakeholders, and be certain that you do not
automatically side with the stakeholders who have the most power and influence. If you gravitate toward the parties with
the most power and influence, you may end up ignoring the individuals or groups with the most need, the ones who may be
badly hurt by an unethical decision.
48. How can I research stakeholder positions?
When you research an issue, look beyond yes/no, pro/con arguments in order to see the people involved in the situation.
Remember that often there are more than the oversimplified ‘two sides’, so be open to identifying more than two stakeholders.
Make a list of the individuals and groups who affect or are affected by the issue. Add to the list as your research uncovers
additional aspects of the situation that bring in additional stakeholders.
Analyze the positions held by each stakeholder, looking in-depth at their involvement. Go to the Appendix for a list of possible questions to research.
49. How do I identify the ethical actor?
Within that set of stakeholders, identify which is the one (or ones) in a position to take action. It could be an individual, a
group, or an institution. Those are the ethical actors, who will exercise the decision related to the ethical situation.
The ethical actor may be you, but it’s also probable in this class that you will research case studies of ethical situations in
the wider world. In such assignments, focus your attention on the people and entities that can and need to take action in
order for this situation to be resolved. Avoid ‘victim blaming’- looking at stakeholders and condemning them for getting
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themselves into the current situation, or trying to rewrite history so that the situation wouldn’t exist. Concentrate on the
facts of the case as they relate to the decision making process.
50. How can I use critical thinking in this process?
How can a person decide whether a certain act is ethical without being influenced by his biases? The thoughtful development of criteria is one method to keep biases from having an excessive influence on the group’s decision-making process.
Criteria are carefully considered, objective principles that can be applied to a situation in order to reach measured conclusions.
51. What are criteria?
Criteria are the standards you apply to develop and evaluation whether a solution to a problem is ‘good’ or ‘right’. People
apply criteria to solve both ethical and non-ethical problems.
Criteria need to be specific and measurable in some fashion to allow them to be used to judge whether a solution is likely to
successfully address a problem. See the Appendix for more information on criteria.
52. How do I identify possible actions?
When you have identified who can act and what criteria is essential, you can now brainstorm options for actions. You can
use the major ethical perspectives to help you:
What action would result in the best results?
What action would respect stakeholders’ rights?
What action would respect the ethical actor’s obligations?
What action would lead the ethical actor to being a virtuous person or organization?
What action gives extra consideration to those who are vulnerable?
If this is a professional situation, you should also check to see if there are any codes of conduct to consult.
If you think of other actions, apply the different ethical perspectives to them to see if they are ethical.
53. How do I evaluate the possible options?
Sometimes all the theories point to the same action, but usually there are differences. At this point, you need to consider
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the specific situation and the context of the ethical actor. Which perspective is most appropriate given these circumstances?
For example, there is a limited amount of medication available for a very infectious disease. How do you decide who
receives the medication?
If the ethical actor is a government official deciding on a policy, one would probably turn to utilitarianism: what would be
the best result for the most number of people?
If the ethical actor is a physician, she may turn to deontology: what are her professional obligations?
If the ethical actor is the mother of a sick child, she may give up her dose to save the baby.
54. How can mapping or diagramming help me to examine the consequences of decisions or positions with ethical
consequences?
Like many ethical issues, the one you are examining may be very complex, with factors that include
• multiple stakeholders
• multiple ethical actors
• multiple ethical perspectives, and
• multiple actions
Because of the number of stakeholders, actors, perspectives, and agents, you may be considering a large number of options.
You will have to
• formulate a full list of possible actions, taking into account both all the stake holders and all the ethical perspectives,
• examine each option to determine the benefits to various stakeholders,
• examine each option to determine the burdens and risks to various stakeholders, and
• evaluate the practicality, legality, and appropriateness of each action.
With so many factors and options to consider, you may benefit from mapping or diagramming the various options to keep
track of the relationships between stakeholders, agents, and perspectives, and each action and its impact.
55. What else should I consider before acting?
You should do a critical thinking check to make sure you are not falling into any fallacious thinking or rationalizations to
justify an option that is selfish or otherwise unethical. Would you be okay with your decision being widely known and associated with you?
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56. Am I done after acting?
No. It’s essential to examine how the decision turned out and consider what lessons you may have learned from it.
57. Do people really do all this when making ethical decisions?
In an ideal world, yes! You may recall from Core 201 that critical thinking is a learned skill. Ethical decision making builds
on that platform. At first, it probably seems clunky and artificial, but with practice you begin to internalize the analysis.
Over time, you move away from instinctual, gut-level thinking to a using a more critical lens. We can, unfortunately, find
plenty examples of ethical decision making gone bad (aka ethical violations). In 2001, GM discovered there was a defect
in its Saturn Ion’s ignition switch, but released the new car model without fixing it. Over the next 12 years, GM engineers
alerted the company that many of the models had the same defect, but GM executives decided it would be too expensive
to fix the problem. It wasn’t until 2014 that GM admitted that the faulty switch was the cause of 31 crashes and at least
13 deaths, and recalled over 1 million vehicles. An investigation revealed that GM “made a business decision not to fix this
problem”(Basu, 2014).
For a positive example of ethical decision making, listen or read the transcript of this interview with a newspaper editor
who published the names of high schoolers who were using Twitter to bully classmates. See if you can identify the different
aspects of ethical decision making from the editor: http://www.onthemedia.org/story/277595-identity-minors/
References
Basu, T. (2014, March 31). Timeline: A history of GM’s ignition switch defect. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/
2014/03/31/297158876/timeline-a-history-of-gms-ignition-switch-defect
McCain, J. (2014, December). Floor statement by Senator John McCain on Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA
Interrogation Methods. John McCain Website. Retrieved from http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2014/12/
floor-statement-by-sen-mccain-on-senate-intelligence-committee-report-on-cia-interrogation-methods
CORE 202 - DEVELOPING AS AN
ACADEMIC WRITER
In the time since you took Core 101 (or the equivalent), the material you are being assigned to read has become more complex. You are being assigned to read material written with more sophisticated sentence structure and broader vocabulary
choices. Your professors are also expecting your sentence structure and vocabulary to be more advanced than it was when
it was when you were younger. At this point in your academic career, you should be developing a good academic style,
speech and writing that are not just correct, but are able to express complex ideas in a smooth way.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How can being too informal hurt my writing and speaking style?
How can being too formal hurt my writing and speaking style?
Why is it important to consider connotation when making word choices for an academic essay?
What is the most appropriate level of formality for an academic essay?
How do I incorporate the terminology of the course into an academic essay?
1. How can being too informal hurt my writing and speaking style?
Many students struggle with how formal they should be in an academic essay. Some err on the side of being too informal,
writing the way they would speak to their friends:
There are a lot of ways Katniss has to deal with ethics in The Hunger Games. One way is when she takes Prim’s place.
Another is when she lies to Peeta that she “likes” him because she wants to him to make it through the games.
Not only is the language conversational, but it is also vague and oversimplified. More precise word choices would more fully
explain Katniss’s ethical dilemmas. The sentences are also very simple.
2. How can being too formal hurt my writing and speaking style?
Other students err on the side of being too formal, using sentence structure and vocabulary that seem very academic to
them, but which strike the reader as stuffy and clumsy:
A multitude of ethical quandaries face Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of The Hunger Games. In the second chapter
of the novel, Katniss volunteers to partake in the competition in place of her sister so that her sister won’t expire in
the arena. Later in the tome, Katniss misleads Peeta into believing that she is more enamored by him than she truly is,
having to do this in order to retail an epic romance to the audience so that they can be granted largesse from sponsoring spectators.
In this example, not only is the writer being wordy, but she has also fallen in love with the thesaurus feature of her word
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processing program, replacing ordinary words with more sophisticated seeming synonyms. However, some of these synonyms may strike the reader as inappropriate for the point the writer is making about the novel, and some might even be
considered silly.
3. Why is it important to consider connotation when making word choices for an academic essay?
An effective academic style uses precise language. You should only choose words with which you’re comfortable that
you’re using them correctly. That means understanding the connotations of your word choices. Some words are more neutral, some more negative in connotation, and some more positive. The following joke is an example of how the connotations
can shift the meaning of a sentence:
He is pigheaded. You’re stubborn. I’m stalwart.
4. What is the most appropriate level of formality for an academic essay?
An academic essay should be relatively straightforward in its language choices, using fairly neutral words and sentence
structure that is neither too simple nor too complex. A more effective version of the above paragraph about The Hunger
Games would read:
Katniss Everdeen makes many ethical choices in The Hunger Games that reflect her values. The most important choice
she makes is to sacrifice her own safety in order to protect her sister from being killed. Even though later in the story
she lies to Peeta about her feelings for him, she does it in order to save his life, demonstrating that one of her ethical
values is to protect people who matter to her.
5. How do I incorporate the terminology of the course into my essay?
When you are writing an academic essay or preparing a speech for a course, your professor wants to see that you can apply
the concepts you are learning in the course. Your professor wants to see you using the course’s terminology accurately and
correctly.
For instance, if you are assigned to analyze the ethical dilemmas faced by characters in The Hunger Games, your professor
will want to see you discuss such issues as whether in-group bias affects Katniss’s actions or how obedience to authority
influences Effie Trinkett’s behavior.
CORE 202 - GROUP
COMMUNICATION
In this project, you will evaluate your effectiveness and your team members’ effectiveness at communicating in groups in
order to prepare yourself for the group environments you will encounter both in other classes and professionally.
Good groups do not just happen. Good groups require the participation of group members who
• are ethical and open-minded,
• are aware of group dynamics,
• understand their strengths and weaknesses as group members,
• are able to express their own ideas and beliefs while remaining respectful to those who disagree, and
• are able to acknowledge and address conflict without sparking the resentment of their colleagues.
To help you become such a group member, this assignment will help you to acquire the knowledge and skills required to
meet the objectives below:
• Contribute to team meetings.
• Facilitate the contribution of team members.
• Foster a constructive team climate.
• Respond effectively to conflict.
Contribute to team meetings.
In today’s organizational environment, group work is an expectation. However, employers may not teach people how to
work in groups; instead, employers may expect incoming employees to possess this skill. Having experience working in
groups in college therefore can provide you with real world experience that will give you a leg up professionally.
The answers to the following questions will help you make positive contributions to the groups you work with in both academic and career settings.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is a team?
What are the different types of teams?
Why do I need to know how to work in a group?
What makes a team effective?
What are the different roles that may need to be performed by group members?
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9.
10.
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12.
13.
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What are the different behaviors that may be exhibited by group members?
What is deviant behavior?
What are examples of deviant behavior?
How can deviant behaviors be avoided or addressed by the group?
How do I avoid engaging in deviant behaviors?
How do I know what roles to take on?
What is leadership?
What leadership behaviors should everyone in the group exhibit?
1. What is a team?
A team or a group involves at least three members and up to 15 or 20. Any more then 20 is considered public communication and no longer falls into the team or group category. The ideal group/team is about 5 members.
2. What are the different types of teams?
Teams can come together using a variety of mediums such as face-to-face interaction, virtual interactions, or in some cases,
a blend of both. No matter how groups come together to hold their meeting, the reason for a group is still the same: groups
form because together they can accomplish more than individuals working alone.
3. Why do I need to know how to work in a group?
The truth is that in today’s organizational environment, group work is an expectation. It’s unlikely your employer will teach
you how to work in a group; this is a skill they expect incoming employees to have. Therefore, having experience working in
groups in college provides you with a leg up and offers real world experience.
We wish we could say that you will never experience conflict in groups in college or professionally and that everyone in a
group will pull his or her own weight. The fact is, however, that people in groups sometimes work at cross-purposes and
group members may contribute unequally to the group effort. Spending some time learning about how groups work and
about how you yourself can best work within a group may have a big payoff in terms of the success of the group—and by
extension your success.
4. What makes a team effective?
Google did a huge research study in an effort to pinpoint what would make the “perfect” team. Surprisingly, the
researchers found that who was in the team made virtually no difference. It didn’t matter how smart the members were, or
whether they were friends outside the group, or if they had any common interests. Instead, what mattered most: 1) Shared
conversational contributions. Members spoke in roughly equal amounts during team meetings; no one was silent, and no
one dominated the discussion. 2) Ability to read their teammates (also known as “social sensitivity.”) Members could pick
up nonverbal cues, such as body language, and made adjustments as necessary, heading off future conflict.
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5. How can I contribute to my team?
Be present. When you are in a group meeting, give your attention to the other team members. Put your phone away, don’t
engage in side conversations, and focus on the task at hand.
Be prepared. Your team meetings will usually call upon you to use class content, materials, and notes. Make sure you have
completed any course readings, taken careful notes, and bring everything you might need to the meeting.
Be engaged. Take part in conversations, encourage others to speak, and push each other to think outside the box. Practice
social sensitivity whenever possible.
Your instructor may also have your team create a group contract with official norms and sanctions; go to the Appendix to
read more.
If you are meeting with your team online, read about effective virtual meeting practices in the Appendix.
6. What are the different roles that may need to be performed by group members?
Members of a group must be willing and able to play certain roles in order for the group to successfully reach its goal. In
fact, group members may have to take on multiple roles, sometimes simultaneously.
Below are roles that group members typically play:
• An initiator-contributor proposes ideas and makes suggestions.
• An information seeker asks for facts and information.
• An opinion seeker tries to get all members of the group to express their opinions.
• An information giver is the keeper of information necessary for the functioning of the group, such as due dates and
sources.
• An elaborator offers examples or further descriptions and helps make certain that there is a shared understanding of
ideas.
• A coordinator tries to manage the activities of group members, perhaps by planning meetings or dividing up
responsibilities.
• An orienter summarizes major decisions and asks questions about the direction the group is headed.
• A critic/evaluator assesses ideas and serves as the group’s critical thinker.
• An energizer motivates the group and helps members develop a sense of urgency about completing tasks.
7. What are the different behaviors that may be exhibited by group members?
The above group roles may be chosen (either consciously or unconsciously) by group members; or they may be assigned
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by the group. In addition to playing those distinct roles, members may exhibit certain behaviors, perhaps because of their
personalities. Some of the most typical are listed below.
• Supporting—being empathetic, quickly agreeing with and offering support to group members.
• Harmonizing— emphasizing cooperation, working to ensure that everyone is getting along and mediating conflict.
• Compromising— focusing on helping the group to reach consensus or solutions that are agreeable to everyone.
• Tension releasing— trying to relax the group, often using humor to relieve stress.
• Gatekeeping—monitoring communication and encouraging quieter members to speak up.
• Observing— monitoring the nonverbal cues of others and expressing the feelings of the group based on such
observations.
• Following—being an attentive member who is agreeable to following the decisions and the opinions of other group
members.
8. What is deviant behavior?
Not all roles and behaviors are helpful to the group. A group member may behave in a way that is self-centered. A person
who does so is said to have taken on a deviant role. For example, an individual may dominate conversation and not allow
others to add their input. Or someone may repeatedly declare his lack of skill and seek help from other members, rather
than learning what he needs to do in order to pull his own weight.
9. What are examples of deviant behavior?
Deviant roles or behaviors are actions that do not assist the group in reaching its goals and should therefore be avoided.
Below are typical deviant roles:
• An aggressor puts down other people or their ideas. Someone displaying this behavior also may be likely to take credit
for the work of another.
• A blocker stands in the way by being uncompromising and delaying the group’s progress.
• A dominator does not allow others to talk or offer their opinions and also may try to manipulate others.
• A recognition-seeker always tries to focus attention on himself and what he has done or can bring to the table.
• A clown uses inappropriate humor at inappropriate times and appears more interested in goofing off than focusing on
the task that the group must accomplish.
• A deserter withdraws from the group and may create the impression that he is too good to spend time with his fellow
members.
• A self-confessor may use the group as a place to vent personal issues, continually seeking emotional support for
personal problems and as a result distracting the group from its task.
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• A help-seeker repeatedly feigns confusion about how to do something, perhaps hoping that by asking enough
questions, she may get out of having to do something.
• A special-Interest pleader advocates for the choices that suit her personal interest rather then what is best for the
group.
10. How can deviant behaviors be avoided or addressed by the group?
Deviant behavior can be a drag on a group’s success. For that reason, do not ignore deviant behavior. Keep in mind that it is
unlikely to improve or disappear on its own. Your group needs to decide how it will address the deviant behavior. It needs
to create a mechanism for discussing such behavior and determining how to respond. To some extent, the group can head
off deviant behavior by carefully establishing norms, as described above.
If necessary, the group may revisit its list of norms to address behavior that was not anticipated when the list was first
drawn up.
The sanctions (as described above) that the group has agreed upon also may play a role in keeping deviant behavior in
check. Above all, do not ignore deviant behavior. Remember: it is unlikely to improve or disappear on its own.
11. How do I avoid engaging in deviant behaviors?
Sometimes deviant behavior is the flip side of actions that may be very helpful to a group when performed carefully but
that in extreme cases may result in group dysfunction. Monitor your behavior in the group and modify it if you realize that
your actions, even if well-intended, are beginning to hold back the group in some way. At the same time, encourage your
fellow group members to monitor their behavior as well.
Examples:
• A ‘devil’s advocate’ can be a valuable voice: a critical thinker who repeatedly challenges his fellows. However, be careful
not to push devil’s advocacy to the point at which you may become a blocker, a person who is always discounting what
other group members say. Questioning ideas is a way that groups avoid groupthink and is necessary for healthy group
decision-making. However, an atmosphere of resentment may be created if one person is constantly discounting
everyone else’s ideas. So be sure that the role of devil’s advocate is rotated and does not become your fixed role. If you
realize that you’re always the one to critique people’s ideas, remind others that they should be speaking up, too.
• A person who has an intuitive sense for when a well-timed joke may be helpful can break up tension in a group. By
playing this role, she can help the group avoid conflict and make its members willing to consider new perspectives. On
the other hand, if someone spends too much time joking, it may start to interfere with the group’s ability to focus when
necessary. At that point, the person has become a clown, which is a deviant role. Be aware of the energy in the group
and be serious when necessary.
• Surprisingly, volunteering to take on extra tasks, which may seem like a great way to help your group out, can backfire.
The rest of the group may think that you don’t trust them to accomplish tasks or value their input. Or perhaps you are
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being perceived as a dominator or a recognition-seeker. Avoid resentment by trying to transform some of your
eagerness to help into being supportive and encouraging of the efforts of other group members.
12. How do I know what roles to take on?
In a group, people often are responsible for taking on more than one role or engaging in more than one type of behavior.
Some roles can be assigned, such as a leadership role. Others may depend upon a person’s personality.
Most of the time you will know what is expected from you by the way the rest of the group treats you. For example, even if
you don’t feel as if you would be adequate as the group’s leader, if everyone turns and makes eye contact with you when a
final decision needs to be made, you are clearly the task leader in their minds. Behaviors may be learned, so even though a
role may make you uncomfortable or may feel confusing at first, you can learn to adapt and be what your group needs you
to be.
13. What is leadership?
Leadership is a set of behaviors that influences the group to accomplish its task. Leadership is not power or control over a
group but is based on interpersonal relationships and relies upon persuasion and the ability to shape a group’s interactions.
14. What leadership behaviors should everyone in the group exhibit?
Since leadership is a set of behaviors, exercising leadership is not necessarily restricted to one individual. All members of a
group can exert leadership by engaging in the following actions:
• Be a competent communicator. Be assertive but kind. Speak with confidence, but be flexible and tolerate uncertainty.
Welcome others’ opinions, even when you disagree.
• Set goals for the group. Take part in planning the group’s tasks.
• Build a supportive communication climate, a group environment where people can be open and honest with one
another.
• Use humor carefully. Never pick on someone in the group for laughs, even if he says he doesn’t mind. You may use selfdeprecating humor to lighten the mood, but be careful not to create the impression that you aren’t up to the task.
• Stay on top of how the group makes decisions. Consider not just what decision was made but how it was reached. What
went right? What went wrong? Bring up your observations with your group in order to help it become better at
decision making.
• Hold yourself and other members accountable for meeting high expectations. Enforcing norms and encouraging
individuals to do their best work is the responsibility of everyone in the group.
• Encourage creativity. Whether you think of yourself as a creative person or not, you can help your group to approach its
task from a new perspective.
• Celebrate successes. Often times when one task is complete a group will move on to the next task without stopping to
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acknowledge the great feeling of having accomplished something together. Everyone in the group should have a hand in
making certain that the group enjoys its moment of success before diving into the next task.
If you would like to read more about Leadership, go to the Appendix.
Working with your team mates.
Sometimes group members may fail to work together effectively because not everyone makes as significant a contribution
as they could. Sometimes the group has not come up with a structure that encourages equitable contributions. Sometimes
members do not contribute because they believe it’s easier to let others do the work or because the group’s success simply
isn’t important to them. Other times members would like to contribute but don’t feel that their contributions are valued by
the rest of the group.
In order for everyone to benefit from working in a group, each group member needs to contribute, and everyone in the
group has a responsibility to help other members feel comfortable enough to contribute.
The answers to the following questions will help you become aware of ways that you can help your fellow group members
successfully contribute to the group project.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Why should all members be encouraged to contribute to a group?
What are different communication styles?
How does my group deal with different communication styles?
What are the benefits and challenges represented by each communication trait?
What are some ways for my group to keep a dominant communicator from taking over the conversation and to
ensure that quieter members contribute?
1. Why should all members be encouraged to contribute to a group?
The biggest advantage to working in groups instead of working alone is that a group can draw on the expertise and experiences of each member. Obviously, if some members do not contribute, that advantage is lost. A member may have an idea
that no one else in the group has thought of, but if the group member does not voice that idea, the group will never have an
opportunity to determine whether that idea could have been a useful element in its work.
As your group continues to work together, be as interested in encouraging other group members to state their ideas as you
are in stating your own ideas.
2. What are different communication styles?
Any time you work in a group it is likely that different members of the group will have different approaches toward communication. Some members of the group may strike other members as passive within communication contexts. Others may
seem assertive. Yet others may come across as aggressive. We might say that these are communication styles that are
expressed through a mix of verbal and nonverbal behaviors.
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More specifically, each person’s communication style may reflect traits such as being friendly (kind and caring and expecting others to be the same), relaxed (at ease when interacting with others), contentious (ready to argue and debate),
attentive (effective at listening and understanding of others), open (straightforward and honest about one’s feelings and
thoughts), and dominant (liable to take charge by talking louder, faster, longer, and more frequently than others). Other
traits may be whether or not a speaker is impression-leaving (able to state ideas in a memorable way), animated (able to
use eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, body movement, and posture to reinforce messages), dramatic (able to stylistic devices, rhythm, stories, and exaggeration to emphasize ideas), or precise (trying to achieve accuracy through specific
proofs and well-defined examples and requiring others to do likewise). (Norton, 1978, pp. 99-101).
3. How does my group deal with different communication styles?
Each communication trait offers different advantages and disadvantages, so it’s usually beneficial for a group to have members representing a variety of communication styles. At the same time, the diversity of communication styles may present challenges, especially if some people don’t recognize that their fellow group members have different communication
traits. For example, a friendly communicator and a contentious communicator may feel differently over how much conflict is acceptable in a group. The friendly communicator may be a bit too successful in shutting down conflict, preventing
the group from adequately talking through all of the alternatives that should be considered. On the other hand, the contentious communicator may be too aggressive in pursuing conflict and may drive other group members toward deferring
to her ideas rather than adequately weighing the pros and cons of each alternative.
Regardless of which specific communication traits show up in your group, it is important to recognize both the challenges
and the opportunities they may present and to help group members use their traits to the group’s advantage. For example,
encourage the friendly communicator to use his sociable impulses to help the group quickly build social cohesion. At the
same time recognize that he may be uncomfortable with conflict. Respect that fact while at the same time helping him recognize that conflict can be productive.
Similarly, welcome the fact that the contentious communicator can motivate the group to keep thinking about an idea or
solution until it’s a good one. At the same time, help him to understand that he may come across as belligerent and that this
perception can affect how other group members respond to him. Encourage the contentious communicator to find ways
to signal that he is not creating conflict out of disrespect toward his fellow group members but out of a desire to help the
group weigh all of the alternatives.
4. What are the benefits and challenges represented by each communication trait?
When you recognize a communication trait in yourself or in a fellow group member, ask yourself how you can help the
group both address the challenges and capitalize on the advantages of that style.
Encourage the animated communicator to contribute her vitality when others may be tired, and take advantage of her
lively delivery during presentations. On the other hand, when the occasion is appropriate, encourage her to modulate her
energy so that she does not come across as pushy.
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• Take advantage of the fact that an attentive communicator listens for what others really mean, not just what they say,
and often is good at paraphrasing group members’ contributions. But also remind him to contribute his own ideas and to
accept the notion that a certain level of conflict may be productive.
• Welcome the fact that a contentious communicator can motivate the group to keep thinking about an idea or solution
until it’s a good one, but encourage her to adopt a manner that does not come across as belligerent to other group
members.
• Make use of the fact that, when deadlines loom, a dominant communicator can take charge and make certain the task is
accomplished. But signal that interrupting others is not acceptable and remind her to let others have their say.
• Capitalize on the dramatic communicator’s talent during presentations, as well as on the fact that her stories may
bolster group cohesion. At the same time, remember that when precision is important, such as during research, the
dramatic communicator may be encouraged to express herself in a more straightforward manner.
• Welcome the fact that the friendly communicator can help the group quickly build social cohesion, but help him see that
he can be comfortable with productive conflict.
• Take advantage of the fact that the impression-leaving communicator is good at delivering ideas and information both
during group meetings and during presentations. At the same time, encourage her to communicate without dominating
the group’s communication and appearing to ‘always get her way’.
• Welcome the fact that an open communicator will generally be trusted because he will be viewed as not having a hidden
agenda. Simultaneously, alert him if group members may be offended by open communicator is too straightforward or
blunt.
• Capitalize on the fact that a precise communicator will try to motivate group to base its project on sound research and
good information, but help her be mindful that a group’s creativity may be diminished if members are not allowed to
float preliminary—and therefore incomplete—ideas that could open up productive lines of discussion
• Make use of the fact that the relaxed communicator can help the group remain calm when stress is building. At the same
time, alert him if he is coming across as not caring about the group when others are worried about things like deadlines
5. What are some ways for my group to keep a dominant communicator from taking over the conversation and to
ensure that quieter members contribute?
One of the most challenging communication traits to deal with is a group member who tends to dominate conversations.
That person can make it difficult for quieter members to contribute. You have several ways to help ensure that a dominant
communicator doesn’t keep other group members from contributing:
• During group meetings, set aside times when every group member has to present an idea. You likely will find that some
group members have really good ideas that they haven’t yet shared.
• Rotate roles at each meeting, making sure that a different person is leading the conversation each time. The dominant
communicator will still have plenty of opportunities to speak up, but the designated leader can ensure that other group
members have their opportunities as well.
• Use idea writing techniques to ensure that all group members have the chance to share their ideas.
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For more information about running meetings, including creating agendas and minutes, see the Appendix.
Foster a constructive team climate.
A group’s climate will fall somewhere on a continuum between the constructive and the defensive. A defensive climate is
one marked by a lack of trust and the fear of saying the wrong thing. The climate of a newly formed group frequently will
be defensive by default, and one of a group’s goals should be to overcome that defensive climate and replace it with a constructive one in which group members are willing to trust one another and pool ideas and efforts to accomplish a common
goal. To help you and your classmates develop the constructive climate necessary for an effective team, the Handbook provides the answer to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
What is a supportive group climate?
What is a defensive group climate?
How do you change a defensive climate to a supportive one?
What is cohesion?
How do groups build social cohesion?
How do groups build task cohesion?
How is cohesion related to group climate?
How do I communicate in a way that builds and maintains relationships?
What are discounting messages?
How do I avoid discounting messages without enabling groupthink?
What are disconfirming messages?
How do I avoid disconfirming messages?
What is feedback?
Why is it important to give feedback?
How do I give constructive feedback?
How do I respond constructively to feedback?
What are additive tasks?
What are conjunctive tasks?
How do I know whether a task should be additive or conjunctive?
1. What is a supportive group climate?
In a supportive group climate, members should
• encourage everyone to be open and honest about their opinions and feelings,
• listen to each other carefully for both what others say and what they mean,
• make certain everyone knows what they need to do to accomplish the task,
• be creative, and
• deal with conflict in a mature and constructive manner.
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When groups have developed a supportive climate, the group treats everyone as equals. All members feel that they can
contribute and be valued. The group can be flexible and take feedback from each other and people outside the group and
integrate it into their work. Groups with supportive climates are marked by treating people with kindness while maintaining assertive discussions and strong relationships between members.
2. What is a defensive group climate?
In a defensive group climate, members
• doubt the group’s ability to complete the task or to do it well,
• resent others in the group,
• distrust others in the group,
• feel devalued or unimportant,
• censor themselves and others to avoid conflict or open discussion,
• favor simply adding together individual contributions instead of reshaping individual contributions into a genuine group
product,
• discourage frequent meetings and avoid working together as much as possible,
• avoid communicating with the group, and
• manage conflict within the group for personal gain.
Defensive climates are marked by weak or nonexistent group loyalty, hidden agendas, the unequal distribution of power,
feelings of superiority on the part of some members, and apathy on the part of others. Members of groups in this situation
often report wishing they were not part of the group and report low satisfaction with the group’s final product.
Newly formed groups may start with a somewhat defensive climate because members may not know each other well
enough to trust one another. As cohesion is built, a group should move towards a less defensive climate. However, groups
that find cohesion difficult to build or include members who are not motivated to contribute to the group’s project may find
themselves in a defensive climate for the duration of the group’s life.
3. How do you change a defensive climate to a supportive one?
You can do several things to turn a defensive climate into a more supportive one.
• Build social and task cohesion.
• Be aware of the role communication plays in building and maintain relationships.
• Reduce discounting messages.
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• Avoid disconfirming messages.
• Engage in quality feedback.
4. What is cohesion?
One feature of a constructive climate is cohesion. A group has achieved cohesion when everyone in the group wants to
stay in the group. Members feel comfortable with and supported by their team members.
Ideally, the satisfaction members feel in belonging to a group is created by a combination of two types of cohesion: social
cohesion and task cohesion.
Social cohesion is created by the relationships between members. People often focus on this type of cohesion because
it reflects their feelings. The greater the social cohesion in a group, the more people will want to participate and work
together on the task.
Task cohesion results when group members feel comfortable working together towards a common goal.
It is important to foster both forms of cohesion in a group, but one may come more easily for a group than the other.
5. How do groups build social cohesion?
Groups with diverse demographics or with members who have differing perspectives often find that social cohesion develops slowly. However, even groups with less diversity and greater consensus shouldn’t forget the importance of building and
maintaining social cohesion.
The following can help groups build social cohesion.
• Call members by name. Sometimes in a group people get focused on the task and forget the human element. Learn your
teammates’ names and use them.
• Allow some time for socializing during meetings. It is true that a group constantly off topic may not accomplish what
they should and its members may leave a meeting feeling that they have wasted their time. However, it is important to
spend some time building relationships over something other than the group’s task. Some groups allot 10 or 15 minutes
at the beginning of every meeting for socializing. Other groups have some meetings over food, where people are more
comfortable being off topic and chatting.
• Spend time together outside of meetings. Doing things together outside of meetings can help create bonds between
group members and cement relationships. Make certain to choose something that everyone wants to do.
6. How do groups build task cohesion?
Even groups that find social cohesion easy may find it difficult to build task cohesion. In addition, task cohesion is often
slower to develop in groups that are more diverse.
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The following are some ways that groups can build task cohesion.
• Know when to be serious. It is important for social cohesion for members to feel free to joke and get off topic, but
everyone must consider when it is time to buckle down and work on the task. The more you get done on a task, the more
cohesion your group will build.
• Set internal deadlines and avoid leaving tasks until the last minute. Groups build task cohesion when all members
believe that the group can and will accomplish the task well.
• Create norms and hold everyone accountable. Trust and respect are built by agreeing upon standards for how tasks will
be accomplished and for what level of work will be required from individual members of the group.
7. How is cohesion related to group climate?
Group cohesion is an important factor in developing a supportive team climate. If members think they can trust each other
and if they feel valued by the others in the group, they will be more likely to participate fully. When people in the group want
to participate fully and allow everyone else in the group the same privilege, the group has a constructive team climate.
When groups do not have a sense of cohesion, members may feel that they can’t participate fully or that they have to censor
themselves. The absence of trust and respect creates and maintains a defensive group climate.
8. How do I communicate in a way that builds and maintains relationships?
To encourage the full participation of your fellow team members, you want to project respect for the contributions of all
members of the group. You could probably brainstorm of list of gestures to embrace and actions to avoid. You do want to
listen without interrupting. You do want to respond to what a group member says instead of moving on to something new
without acknowledging that the group member may have said something of worth. Meanwhile, you do not want to engage
in a side conversation while someone else is talking, and you certainly do not want to be texting or checking your email!
In order to communicate respectfully with your fellow team members, familiarize yourself with the concepts of discounting
and disconfirming messages and learn how to avoid sending messages that devalue your fellow group members and their
ideas.
9. What are discounting messages?
A discounting message is one that dismisses or minimizes an idea. It is important that a group have open and honest discussions in order to be as creative as possible. It is also important to have open and honest discussions so that the group does
not go along with bad ideas in order to avoid disagreements. However, if a person thinks that most of his ideas are being
ignored or dismissed, he may start to feel that the group does not value his contributions. He may begin to censor himself
so that instead of bringing up ideas only to see them shot down, he may not bring them up in the first place.
Even if there are good reasons why an idea may not work for the group, how you deal with that idea will work to create
a supportive or defensive climate. It is important for everyone in the group to feel that their ideas are taken seriously and
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that their contributions help the group in some way.
10. How do I avoid discounting messages without enabling groupthink?
Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when members of a group go along with a bad idea because they mistakenly
believe that the other group members think it’s a good idea.
Let’s say your group is trying to pick a topic for its presentation and someone suggests an idea that you don’t think will work.
Maybe you think there won’t be enough relevant sources or that the topic is too broad to cover in the time allotted for the
presentation. Whatever your specific concerns, it’s likely that at least one other group member shares them, but until one
of you speaks up, group members will continue to assume that everyone thinks the idea is a great one and will go along with
it.
This unwillingness to speak up is perfectly normal and has been shown to occur fairly frequently in business and government. However, such groupthink may have devastating consequences as members of the group may follow each other over
the edge of a communication cliff.
The secret to avoiding groupthink is to be willing to express dissenting opinions. At the same time, though, the dissent must
be worded so it does not take the form of a discounting message that makes a group member feel that you don’t value her
ideas.
Wording is the key to balancing the need to challenge groupthink with the need to show respect to fellow group members.
Be certain to voice dissent in ways that still value the original idea. For example, instead of saying, “I don’t like that idea;
let’s do this instead,” it is more effective to say, “That idea could work, but have you thought about what would happen if we
tried this instead?”
11. What are disconfirming messages?
A disconfirming message is one that devalues the individual, whether intentionally or not. Disconfirming messages may
make individuals feel unheard, unimportant, and unwanted. Disconfirming messages should be avoided because they lead
to a defensive climate and hamper the group’s ability to complete its task successfully.
Individuals may send disconfirming messages in several ways.
• Letting too much time lapse before responding—especially true for between-meeting communications like texts and
emails,
• Not responding to a message at all—not replying to an email or text or not giving feedback on an idea raised during a
meeting,
• Giving contradictory verbal and nonverbal messages—people will believe the nonverbal message over the verbal, so
looking at your phone while answering someone at a meeting sends the message that you don’t care about what she has
said.
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• Interrupting—an especial problem for dominant communicators, who sometimes interrupt because they are excited by
an idea. Regardless of the reason for interrupting, it sends a message to the speaker that they are not important enough
to be allowed to finish.
12. How do I avoid disconfirming messages?
It is important to avoid sending disconfirming messages because they may result in a defensive group climate and low
cohesion.
You can minimize disconfirming messages in your group in several ways.
• Respond immediately to communication. Whether an idea arrives via text, email, or face-to-face speech during a
meeting, make sure that you respond to your team member’s thoughts and opinions.
• Give your teammates your full attention.
• Avoid sarcasm. Make certain that your verbal and nonverbal messages match.
• Affirm ideas. Show your support for good and useful ideas even if only through a nod of the head or a phrase such as
“That’s a great idea!” You may assume that silence is sufficient to indicate that you support an idea. Instead, silence may
be interpreted as a disconfirming message.
13. What is feedback?
In the context of group work, feedback refers to evaluations you make of how your fellow group members have performed.
Your instructor may ask you to provide formal feedback about your fellow group members at some point, but you also will
be providing informal feedback throughout the time that your group is working together. Informal feedback includes positive statements such as “Thanks for getting those sources to me so quickly. You really did a great job with the research!”
Other times you may have to provide critical feedback, such as “I’ve noticed that you’ve been late to the last three meetings.
The deadline for our project is coming up, so the group really needs everybody to show up on time so that we can use all the
time available to us to put the finishing touches on this project.”
Notice from the example that critical feedback doesn’t simply mean pointing out a problem; it also provides an opportunity
for directing your classmate toward a solution and explaining why the solution is important. Positive and negative feedback
share something in common: both are meant to be constructive in the sense that both are meant to lead to a successful
outcome to the group’s project.
14. Why is it important to give feedback?
Without feedback, your teammates wouldn’t know what they are doing well and what they need to improve. Positive feedback lets teammates know what you value about their contributions and helps build group cohesion. Critical feedback may
present a challenge to group cohesion but often is essential for making certain that group members are aware of behaviors
that are keeping the group from working as effectively as it could.
Additionally, more formal types of feedback help hold group members accountable. The finished product the group puts
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together should reflect individual members’ contributions. Unfortunately, though, if some members are highly motivated
to work hard, other members may decide to slack off because they assume they will reap the benefits of their teammates’
efforts. By providing accurate feedback, you let your instructor know what each member has contributed and alert your
instructor to any problems that a teammate might have caused.
15. How do I give constructive feedback?
Providing feedback is not always easy. Many of us have been told from the time we were young that “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” but sometimes the feedback you need to provide, because it must be critical, may not
be “nice.” However, even if you cannot be “nice,” you can be constructive.
Below are several rules of thumb to maximize how useful your feedback will be to your teammates:
• Be accurate and honest—probably the most important rule. It is not helpful to be overly critical, but it also doesn’t help
if you are overly nice. If feedback is going to have a legitimate function in holding group member’s accountable, it needs
to be clear from the project’s beginning that everyone is going to provide accurate and fair feedback, while still being
tactful.
• Stay focused on feedback that is relevant to the task at hand and offer suggestions for improvement. Critical feedback
is most likely to be taken badly when it comes across as a personal attack. Make certain that the person you are
evaluating knows that your feedback is rooted in a desire to help the group work effectively rather than any feelings
you have about him or her personally.
• Include positive feedback along with critical feedback. Whenever possible, use the sandwich method, in which you start
with positive feedback and move on to critical feedback before closing with a final positive statement (so any negatives
are “sandwiched” between positives). This approach makes it clear to the person you’re evaluating that they have made
positive contribution that have not gone unnoticed, making it easier for them to accept the negative criticism.
16. How do I respond constructively to feedback?
Just as it is important to give feedback effectively, it is important to accept feedback constructively. It is sometimes difficult not to take critical feedback as an attack, but your teammates probably are simply concerned with making the group
work as effectively as possible. Take so-called negative feedback, then, as an opportunity to work with your group to figure
out how to adjust your performance to best contribute to the group. Perhaps, for example, your understanding of what was
expected differed from your teammates’ understanding. In that case, the feedback from the group provides an opportunity
to have a conversation that will clarify what is expected of each individual and of the group as a whole.
Even if you believe that the feedback you received is inaccurate, do not become defensive but instead discuss your feelings
with your teammates in a professional manner, modulating your tone and volume so that you do not sound argumentative.
If it turns out that the negative feedback is the result of something deeper than a simple misunderstanding, you may wish to
explore some of the conflict-resolution strategies that are discussed under Objective IV. Respond effectively to conflict.
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17. What are additive tasks?
Additive tasks are ones that group members complete individually. Later, the additive tasks are put together to create the
whole project. For example, if the group decides that each member will be responsible for preparing an outline for one key
idea in a presentation, preparing an individual section of the outline will be an additive task.
Although each group member will be responsible for one task, members likely will need to communicate with each other to
make certain that each section is not redundant and will not contradict other sections. For the most part, however, group
members work independently on additive tasks and after completing their individual tasks, the group combines the parts
into the finished product.
18. What are conjunctive tasks?
Unlike additive tasks, conjunctive tasks require group members to work together on a project or part of a project. Each
group member working separately on a key idea for a speech would be an additive task, but before each member could start
working on his or her section, the group as a whole would need to decide what the key ideas of the presentation will be,
how they will fit together, and which group member will be responsible for each one. The process of making those decisions
as a group is a conjunctive task. Some group projects may require a substantial conjunctive component.
Sometimes a task will be conjunctive for logistical reasons. For example, if your project involves going door-to-door in a
neighborhood to survey people’s attitudes on an issue, you will probably want at least two group members to stick together
to ensure each other’s safety. Since at least two group members will need to work together on this part of the project, the
task is conjunctive rather than additive.
19. How do I know whether a task should be additive or conjunctive?
You and your team members may be tempted to avoid conjunctive tasks as much as possible. This impulse is understandable because group members have busy schedules that may make it difficult to find times when everyone can get together
to work as a team. Focusing on additive tasks that each member can work on independently may seem like a reasonable
solution to scheduling obstacles.
On the other hand, one of the major advantages of working in groups is the opportunity to benefit from each person’s
unique skills and perspective. For that reason, when you need to brainstorm ideas and make decisions, it is better for the
group to work together and treat those tasks as conjunctive whenever possible.
Virtual groups are usually more effective at performing additive tasks rather than conjunctive ones. If your group is largely
functioning as a virtual group with only occasional face-to-face meetings, try to save conjunctive tasks for those in-person
meetings. If you are working with a strictly virtual group, you will to rely heavily on additive tasks and be aware of the limitations the group is likely to encounter when it does need to perform conjunctive tasks. Explore the use of social media
technology to hold meetings via discussion boards and programs that allow people to see and hear and team members at a
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distance.
Respond effectively to conflict.
Whenever people come together, conflict will exist simply because people have different beliefs and values and styles of
communicating. However, conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. The information in this section will help you reduce unnecessary conflict while at the same time suggesting ways to make conflict work for your group as a means of generating ideas
that never would have occurred to people if they had not had to resolve a conflict. Specifically, this section will answer these
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What is conflict?
Why is some conflict normal and necessary for a group?
What are the types of conflict?
How do individuals respond to conflict?
What are some ways to manage conflict?
What can you do when a conflict has arisen?
What are the roles of consensus and compromise in resolving conflicts?
Why does it matter what you do about conflict?
1. What is conflict?
People may disagree, but not all disagreements are conflicts. For conflict to exist, all of the following must be true.
• The parties to a conflict are in an interdependent relationship—that is, the parties rely upon one another to accomplish
a goal.
• The disagreement must be expressed—that is, all parties recognize and are able to state that there is a disagreement.
• The parties feel the need to resolve the disagreement.
It is important to remember that conflict is natural because humans do not all think alike. In addition, conflict is neutral.
Conflict by itself is neither a positive nor a negative. It is how you deal with conflict that determines how things turn out.
Contrary to popular belief, conflict may lead to positive outcomes. When all parties enter into a conflict with the goal of
finding a win-win solution, the conflict can enhance trust and encourage people to be open about how they think or feel.
Conflict can, in fact, strengthen relationships.
2. Why is some conflict normal and necessary for a group?
Conflict indicates that not everyone thinks and feels the exact same way. For a group, conflict is a positive because it provides the group with a greater diversity of ideas to consider and choose from. Ultimately, conflict is necessary for a group
to function well because it allows members to express their differences in a healthy way and then allows the group to take
advantage of those differences.
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Conflict is different from verbal abuse or denigration. Instead, conflict allows you to learn from other group members and
helps you see issues from someone else’s point of view. You do not have to agree with each group member’s opinions, but
when you can see things from another’s perspective, you will be in a better position to understand his or her reasoning.
Although conflict should be a positive, groups must allow time for constructive conflict management to address resentments that could a group back. Remember: the only reason for a group is that the group can produce something far greater
than an individual ever could, and anything that impedes this process should be discussed.
3. What are the types of conflict?
Not all conflict is the same. It is true that conflict is necessary for a group to fulfill its potential, which includes the ability to
create something out of contributions from diverse individuals. At the same time, some types of conflict may make a group
dysfunctional.
Below are the four major types of conflict. Keep in mind that a group may experience more than one type of conflict at a
time:
• Substantive conflict: the result of group members critically evaluating each other’s ideas.
Substantive conflict is an important, healthy type of conflict. Without it, a group will suffer from groupthink.
• Affective conflict: the result of group members not getting along because of personality conflicts or differences in
communication styles.
This type of conflict can be harmful to the group because usually the group is focusing on the behavior of members rather
than on task at hand. It is most common in groups where a single person makes the final decisions or people feel that they
aren’t valuable to the group’s success.
• Procedural conflict: the result of a group disagreeing about the methods they should adopt to critically evaluate ideas
or to confront a member’s behavior.
Substantive or affective conflict often is the underlying cause for procedural conflict.
• Conflict of inequity: the result of a group member believing that she is doing more work than another group member.
Initially, only the person or people doing extra work see a problem. The person who is doing less work than expected usually
is unaware of the feelings of the others, will report that everything in the group is going well, and may be taken aback when
the situation reaches the conflict stage.
4. How do individuals respond to conflict?
Group members respond differently to conflict. Some types of conflict are healthier than others; similarly, individual
responses to conflict may be more or less helpful.
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• Exit Response: Member mentally “checks out” or may physically remove herself from the conflict and never again
brings up the issue. This response is destructive to the group.
• Neglect Response: Member ignores the conflict. This passivity is destructive to the group.
• Loyalty Response: Member refuses to engage in the conflict because of his affiliation with a person, company, etc. This
form of passivity is destructive to the group.
• Voice Response: Member is willing to address the conflict and voice ideas and concerns in a non-confrontational way.
This response is the most constructive one.
5. What are some ways to manage conflict?
• Be aware of the group’s communication dynamics. Conflict may arise from the presence of different communication
styles within the group.
You may wish to review the following sections under Facilitate the contribution of team members:
• What are different communication styles?
• How does my group deal with different communication styles?
• What are the benefits and challenges represented by each communication trait?
• Budget time for addressing conflicts. Discuss conflict when everyone can be present. Also be certain that people are
able to focus on the discussion. If people are pre-occupied, the group may be unable to resolve the issue at that time.
• Show grace. When it is appropriate, forgive people instead of allowing ill will to fester. Try to set aside your own needs
for the needs of the group.
• Show respect. Treat both yourself and your fellow group members with dignity. Behave like someone whom you would
admire; be patient and considerate to your classmates.
6. What can you do when a conflict has arisen?
Above all, do not pretend that conflict is not present. When faced with a conflict, address it head on, but in a constructive
way. The following are some tips:
• Validate what the other person is saying. Summarize the message, a step that indicates to the other party that you have
really heard him or her and allows the individual to clear up any misunderstandings.
• Focus on behaviors. Do not focus on a person or his or her personality. Instead, discuss actions that should or should not
be taken.
• Do not interrupt each other. Interrupting is a sign of poor listening.
• Watch your nonverbal cues. Be certain to avoid defensive gestures, such as crossing your arms.
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• Aim for win-win solutions. Look for a way to resolve the issue that allows everyone to walk away with something that
they want. Keep in mind, though, that for this to work, each party has to actively listen to the other.
• Always keep in mind that your focus should be on what is best for the group. You are not trying to ‘win’ an argument but
to contribute to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
7. What are the roles of consensus and compromise in resolving conflicts?
The goal when dealing with conflict should be to reach a consensus, a solution that satisfies everyone in the group. Keep in
mind that reaching a consensus takes a lot of time, so you need to start dealing with conflicts as soon as they arise and be
patient with your teammates as you try to reach a solution that will satisfy everyone. Reaching a consensus also requires
creative critical thinking. In order to move past the conflict and find a solution that will make everyone happy, you’ll usually
need to find one that none of you had considered at the beginning of the process.
Sometimes you won’t be able to reach a consensus, either because there just isn’t a solution that will satisfy everyone or
because you have a deadline that prevents you from taking the time you need to finish the process. In those cases, the next
best outcome is to reach a compromise. In a compromise, everyone gets some of what they want but no one gets all of what
they want. For example, if both you and a teammate want to research and present one aspect of an issue, you might end up
deciding to break that aspect into two sub-points so that each of you can present part of it. Neither of you get everything
you want, but you also don’t get left out completely.
You always should strive for consensus but settle for compromise if necessary. However, there may be times when even
reaching a compromise isn’t possible. In such a situation, you need to find an impartial way to reach a decision. Perhaps, for
example, group members could vote secretly. Perhaps each member could rate each alternative and the ratings could be
averaged to determine a ‘winner’.
The above solutions will inevitably result in someone not getting what they want, so they should only be used as a last
resort. Even so, solutions like these are better than letting one group member make a decision without giving others the
chance to even have their ideas considered.
8. Why does it matter what you do about conflict?
There are two main reasons that it is important to resolve conflict in a way that results in either consensus or compromise.
The first reason is that working through conflicts can push the group to do better work by incorporating ideas that no member would have come up with individually. On the most practical level, working through conflicts results in better projects,
which leads to better grades.
The second reason is that you have an ethical responsibility to work through conflict in a way that values your teammates’
worth as human beings. By taking the time to work through a conflict and reach a consensus or compromise, all of the members of the group demonstrate that they value the other members’ contributions and ideas. Demonstrating how much you
value your teammates’ contributions will help build cohesiveness, which, again, will ultimately lead the group to produce
better work.
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Reference
Norton, R. W. (1978). Foundation of a communicator style construct. Human Communication Research, 4(2), 99-112.
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APPENDIX A - CORE 101
1. Personal Essay (example)
2. Opposing Viewpoints Essay (example)
3. Academic Argument Essay (examples)
The following essays have been reformatted for publication. Please follow the manuscript formatting guidelines provided by your instructor.
CORE 101 – PERSONAL ESSAY EXAMPLE
Lucas Wade Connolly
Radford University
Packing Your Life Away
I have a tendency to be a little high maintenance. I am especially difficult when it comes to my clothes. I rarely have an easy time putting together
a bag to go on a trip, or even an overnighter. As a result, packing to leave for my freshman year in the Residence Halls at Radford University was
anything but an easy task.
When thinking about packing, I knew I had to plan. Every detail, every item, needed to be placed on a list and organized, categorized, and somehow acquired. So, as the lists grew and grew, the idea of shopping became daunting. Yet, it had to be done. So, the shopping began. My mother
and I set out, and over a course of time, and about one shopping outing a week for the majority of the summer, spending long, hot, days more and
more items became crossed off my list. As more shopping bags came home, and as more of my hard earned paychecks disappeared, the guest
room became flooded with supplies for my first year away from home. Each day of stocking inventory went by, and the true day of daunting came
near.
The clock had struck two weeks from when I leave, and it became time to begin to pack up my room, and even more terrifying, my clothes. I
really enjoy clothes. Fashion, in my personal opinion, is not just what you wear, but iconography to personally express yourself. As a result, my
clothes are pieces of art, pieces of myself, and I take them very seriously. As you can imagine, deciding which pieces would fit, and which pieces
I needed to take was exceptionally challenging. I began pulling clothes, shoes, accessories, and sorting them into piles of ‘leave,’ ‘take,’ and ‘give
away.’ Slowly, very slowly, the clothes still hanging in my closet dwindled, and the piles on the floor grew, and grew. I began to realize that my
obsession with packing was not only about the clothes and my love for expression, but also the thought that If I was organized and properly prepared with things, I would feel prepared mentally for school.
As packing began to come to a close, the days left for me to avoid the thought of finally finishing packing my room were gone. My clothes had
been just about done, and as I finished, it was time to put everything in containers, and sort everything as spatially consciously as possible. Space
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bags were out, and being vacuumed to nothingness. Tupperware were being stacked higher and higher. Next thing I knew, it was the day before
the day of departure.
Packing the car was by far the most daunting and horrid task of the whole ordeal of leaving for college. My father manages a car dealership, so
we were fortunate enough to get a 2013 explorer and a 2010 Saturn SUV solely for all of my things. Not just the whole amount of stuff I needed
to bring was overwhelming, but also the sheer size of the vehicles in which I had to squeeze everything, because these two massive vehicles were
still not enough. Yet, after a lot of pushing, pulling, squeezing, stuffing, swearing, tugging, and shoving, the cars were pretty much packed. After
our lengthy six-hour journey, we arrived, and shockingly, with the help of my wonderful friends, currently upperclassmen at Radford University,
move in was a breeze. Not to mention that by only the grace of God did my closet also get finished in a timely fashion.
In closing, I have personally found that what was the true issue with packing for college, was not the actual packing, but the fear of disorganization, and unpreparedness. Packing for school was indeed daunting, but was also very rewarding. With proper planning and organization, packing
for college can be quite rewarding, and help you be exceptionally prepared for your new life.
CORE 101 – OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS ESSAY
Matthew Roth
Radford University
Effectiveness of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
The controversy about whether or not student athletes should be paid is a big debate in the modern world. In Garcia’s paper she tries to persuade
her readers as to why student athletes should be paid. On the other side, Dorfman’s paper takes the stand as to why student athletes should not
be paid. Both Garcia and Dorfman use ethos, logos, and pathos to convince the reader that their side of the argument is correct. They both use
all three strategies effectively but each author is stronger on different ones. Garcia does a better job using pathos, while Dorfman does a better
job-using ethos.
Garcia uses ethos in her paper to convince the reader that she knows exactly what she is talking about. She does a good job of convincing her
readers that she is credible and trust worthy. For example, she competed in an NCAA sport for all four years in college. In fact, she played on one
of the most elite college softball teams in the nation known as the Texas Longhorns. In addition, she shows people that she has gone through the
struggles and how hard it is to be a student athlete, so this would convince readers that she has good reasons why they should be paid. Accordingly, she uses a lot different sources in her work to prove that she is credible. She also uses quotes from well know people inside of college sports
that support her side of the argument. As well she uses statistics from other sources that show the reader the difficulty of earning a scholarship.
She has a very good educational background that could increase her credibility. One thing that would make her less credible is that her paper is
very opinionated and did not have a lot of facts to back her up.
Dorfman argues his side of the controversy by using ethos, which is in fact his strongest point. He has a great educational background as well
as an impressive professional background, both of which add to his credibility. He is a professor at the University of Georgia for economics. This
adds to his credibility because the topic is an economical issue and he has a good background on the issue. He is also a consultant on many economical issues that occur in his local community. He has a great grasp on economics and how money should be spent and saved. Additionally, He
doesn’t come across as very pushy and aggressive which adds to his credibility because he gives his readers the opportunity to form their own
opinion. He uses very educated vocabulary and the paper is well written. He also uses good examples as to why paying the athletes is not a good
idea that backs up his opinion.
Garcia uses the second strategy, logos to back up her opinion in a variety of different ways. She comes across as very pushy and aggressive in her
paper. She does this because she is very opinionated on the topic because she was in fact a college athlete herself. She does a very good job of
giving examples as to why student athletes do not have opportunities to make money. Garcia stated,
The NCAA said I had to forego the money I earned through my academics and scholarship—two principles the NCAA purports hold in high
esteem. This money could have been spent on food, entertainment, and other personal expenses that all college students face. Instead, I
was forced to return it solely because I was an NCAA athlete.
(Garcia, 2014, para. 10).
She includes this in her paper because it really proves her point by showing how messed up the situation was. It gives her readers a good example
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as to what she is trying to say. She does a good job of using her references and giving support to back them up. She uses inductive reasoning to
support her side, because she gives examples and then she makes her claim. She also always backs up her claims with different examples and
scenarios.
Dorfman also uses logos very effectively in a variety of ways to back up his side of the argument. He uses a lot of statistics to support his claim,
which can be very persuasive and affective to a reader. He also does a very good job of using his references. He uses multiple sites that give
statistics and percentages of the way that colleges use money and the colleges that are making or losing money. He later mentions, “Colleges
are already compensating their student athletes with tuition, room, board, coaching, nutritional support, and physical trainers that can exceed
$100,000 per year in value” (Dorfman, 2013, para. 16). This statistic he uses is very good because it gives the reader a good idea as to how much
money student athletes are receiving from scholarships. He uses deductive reasoning when writing his paper, because he makes his claims and
then uses examples and details to support those claims. He gives very specific details as to why it would be not only be costly to pay athletes but
the difficulty it would take to make a plan to do so. He states that it would be hard to create an equal plan to pay each player, which is a good
example as to why student athletes should not be paid.
Finally, Garcia appeals to pathos by bringing out emotion in her writing to the reader. She does this very well by making the reader feel the stress
and grief she went through her self by being a student athlete. She gives examples such as not being able to pay miscellaneous bills that accumulated over time. Another example she uses is her having to pay for the remaining 5 percent of her scholarship. She makes the reader almost
feel bad for her in a way. Additionally, she is trying to connect with an older audience because they are the people who are more economically
involved and could help with the issue. She also appeals to the student athletes of this generation because they will automatically have a connection with her and agree with her opinion, because they are going through the same struggles that she went through. In addition, she uses a
technique of using famous people that testify on the topic that would attract a big crowd. From a personal stand point I agree with her and she
connected with me because I am in fact a student athlete so I was able to make an easy connection with her.
Dorfman makes an effort to try and incorporate pathos in his writing. He is typically trying to appeal to a more economical and business savvy
audience with his paper. The people who would typically read his paper could be considered more educated and economically involved. These
are the people that would most likely have a say in the topic. He appeals to the emotions as almost the opposite of Garcia. While Garcia wanted
her audience to see how tough and hard it is for student athletes, Dorfman is showing it to his audience that student athletes are privileged and
lucky to have all the money given to them already. For me personally I could not connect with this writing, because I simply have a biased opinion
being a student athlete. Not that Dorfman does not make valid points its just that I do not agree with them.
At the end of the day both authors demonstrated a very good understanding of ethos, logos, and pathos when debating the controversy as to
whether or not student athletes should be paid. Garcia’s attempt to persuade her readers that student athletes should be paid was very good.
She did a good job appealing to her audience’s emotions or pathos by telling personal stories. Though Dorfman did a good job with logos and
pathos, he was strongest with his ethos. He had a very credible background and was easy to trust because of his experience on the topic.
References
Dorfman, J. (2013, August 29). Pay college athletes? They’re already paid up to $125,000 per year. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2013/08/29/pay-college-athletes-theyre-already-paid-up-to-125000year/
Garcia, A. (2014, April 16). It’s time for the NCAA to pay student-athletes. Reason. Retrieved from http://reason.com/archives/2014/04/16/itstime-for-ncaa-to-pay-student-athlete
CORE 101 – ACADEMIC ARGUMENT ESSAY EXAMPLE 1
Matthew Roth
Radford University
Athletes Should Be Paid
The controversy as to whether or not student athletes should be paid for their sport is a hot topic in the sports and economic world. The issue can
be argued in a variety of ways. Evidence and data are present to support each side, which makes this argument a difficult one to argue. Although
the reasoning as to why student athletes should not be paid is rather convincing, these athletes are employees of the university they attend. Student athletes should start to be compensated for the sport that they play because they are essentially employees of the university, entertainers
on a national basis, and major contributors to their university’s income.
People on the other side of the controversy, such as Jeffrey Dorfman, argue that student athletes are already getting compensated and should
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not be paid for the sport that they play. He states that student athletes get state of the art coaching and facilities for free that would normally
cost between 2,000 to 3,000 dollars (Dorfman, 2013, para. 4). He believes that the students are already getting paid enough by getting benefits
rather than cash to spend on whatever they choose. Some of this is true; however, not all athletic programs have the same resources as others do.
Dorfman further states, that most people are conscious that students get their complete tuition, meal plan, and rooming paid for from an athletic
scholarship (Dorfman, 2013, para. 3). Most people will argue for this point, but any college athlete can tell you that this is not true. They may pay
for tuition and some meal plans, but they can never cover the miscellaneous expenses that the typical college student has to pay. Without a job it
is nearly impossible for athletes to provide for these expenses.
Along with the athletes already being compensated with tuition, living expenses, and coaching, there are many more arguments against the idea
of athletes getting paid. Many believe that in order to pay college athletes it would be nearly impossible to come up with the funds to do so.
People such as Chait from New York magazine state, “Trying to work out a plan for paying student athletes to play in college wouldn’t work. As
you go through the plan, the plan just slowly crumbles and shows that it would not work” (Chait, 2011, para 5). People like Chait himself do not
believe that it will work because of the money it would take to pay for something like this, although the top notch Universities bring in millions of
dollars annually from these sport teams. He also includes in his paper that one cannot pay the sport teams that do not generate any money and
therefore, it would not be fair to pay the colleges that do bring in the money (Chait, 2011, para. 7). This does have some truth, but it would have to
work the same way as the free meal plan deal the NCAA passes last year. The NCAA would not pay mid major schools such as Radford University
or Liberty University as it does with the meal plans. This idea would only be possible for the major power conferences.
The first and main reason that student athletes should be paid for their hard work and talents is that they are, in fact, employees of the university.
Although it is not an official label given to these athletes, it is completely true. These students put more time into their sport than into their actual
school work. Gasper states, “Some student athletes are pushed away from certain classes because it will conflict with practice” (Gasper, 2014,
para 23). He makes it clear from this that students are not there for school but mainly for sports. He also states that the athletes at the highest
level are athletes and then students (Gasper, 2014, para. 4). His argument is proven to be true when you look at a typical athlete’s schedule. The
athlete will generally have a practice in the morning then straight to class and then practice for the rest of the night. The athlete does not have
time for school work or extra studying that is available for typical college students. If they don’t want to pay these students, then they need to
allow for more time to focus on the school aspect. Marc Elderman from Forbes Magazine added, “The typical Division I college football player
devotes 43.3 hours per week to his sport — 3.3 more hours than the typical American work week” (Elderman, 2014, para. 3). This just shows how
much student athletes are actually employees rather than students.
The next point is that these athletes are entertainers on a national level. Everyone in America will tune in to ESPN when the NCAA basketball
tournament comes around to watch the top basketball players this country has to offer. Gasper also claims that athletes at the next level are
entertainers before they are students as well as employees (Gasper, 2014, para. 4). He talks about how these student athletes are essentially
famous and if they want to make money off of their memorabilia then they should be allowed to do so (Dorfman, 2014, para. 8). This statement
is very true because these students have a huge fan base and should be able to profit from them. It is just like the athletes that play for the pro
leagues, they are doing the exact same things as the college athletes. They put the same amount of work if not more than these pro athletes so it
is wrong to say that they cannot benefit from their success.
The last and most certainly not least point is that these sports are bringing in the majority of their institution’s money. College basketball and
college football bring in the majority of money that is obtained through college sports and none of the players are able to benefit from this. More
and more people are becoming aware of this statistic such as Taylor Branch from The Atlantic. He states, “Student-athletes help their university
bring in money all the time, however the students don’t get any of that revenue for themselves” (Branch, 2011, para 1). This goes along with the
entire argument because it shows that more people are becoming aware of the situation. In his paper he also adds that corporations are donating
money to these universities to see the athletic departments prosper but the universities are taking all the money for themselves (Branch, 2011,
para. 6). This money could in fact go to the wages of the student athletes. There are college coaches who make a million dollars or more which
could also go to fund of student athletes (Strachan, 2015, para. 14). Instead of paying these coaches so much money that makes them some of the
highest paid people in their state, this money could go to the athletes.
In conclusion, for many different reasons student athletes should be compensated for their hard work and success. These athletes put a tremendous amount of time, work, and effort into their sport. College athletes are not only students, but employees of the university and make money
to help support the university. Athletes invest an amount of time to which could be considered a full time job. They are also entertainers on a
worldwide basis. People from all over the world turn their TV’s on to watch these kids play sports. Also, they are the ones that generate a majority of the money that these schools are bringing in on a yearly basis. It is not fair to keep these athletes in the dark with the money when they are
the ones that are bringing it all in. These are just a few of the reasons as to why student athletes should be able to benefit from their sport and
acquire money from it.
References
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Branch, T. (2011, October) The shame of college sports. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/
the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/
Chait, J. (2011, November) Why paying student-athletes wouldn’t work. New York. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2011/11/
chait-why-paying-student-athletes-wont-work.html
Dorfman, J. (2013, August 29). Pay college athletes? They’re already paid up to $125,000 per year. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2013/08/29/pay-college-athletes-theyre-already-paid-up-to-125000year/
Dorman J. (2014, March 20). Student Athletes Are Well Paid and Are Not Particularly Restrained. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2014/03/20/student-athletes-are-well-paid-and-are-not-particularly-restrained/
Elderman M. (2014, January 30). 21 Reasons Why Student-Athletes Are Employees and Should Be Allowed To Unionize. Forbes. Retrieved from.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2014/01/30/21-reasons-why-student-athletes-are-employees-and-should-be-allowed-tounionize/
Gasper, C. (2014, April 2). Time for NCAA to pay up and let athletes benefit. Boston Globe. Retrieved from http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/
2014/04/01/payment-due-for-collegiate-athletes/aFDXYwUUuwKGgDak1qyc8N/story.html#
Strachan M. (2015, March 27). NCAA schools can absolutely afford to pay college athletes, economist say. Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/ncaa-pay-student-athletes_n_6940836.html
CORE 101 – ACADEMIC ARGUMENT ESSAY EXAMPLE 2
Tareq Hajj
Radford University
The Grading Dispute at Radford University
The students and faculty at Radford University are currently involved in a dispute over which grading scale should be used throughout the
university, and even if there should be a universal scale at all. Currently, professors can use whichever scale they decide upon, regardless of which
scale other professors use. Many students have taken issue with this because they view it as unfair. While many faculty are satisfied with the
current system, the majority of students would prefer if a plus-minus grading scale was not used at the university. The issue has recently sparked
debate amongst the members of the faculty senate, and students and professors alike believe the issue needs to be discussed further. A plusminus grading scale causes a hindrance to students’ academic success and damages the learning environment; therefore it should not be used at
Radford University.
Mathematically speaking, a plus-minus grading system would cause a hindrance to students’ academic success by lowering their GPAs, because
there is no A+ but there is an A-. The majority of students and faculty both support the use of an A+ in a plus-minus grading scale, and yet its institution is not being seriously considered in the Faculty Senate. The lack of an A+ in the plus-minus system makes it contain more minus grades
than plus grades and would mathematically put students at a disadvantage. Longtime Radford University professor Bill Hrezo claims that this is
one of the main reasons he does not use a plus-minus grading system in his classes. Even Radford University professor Sanaz Fesheraki, who uses
a plus-minus grading system in her classes, supports the adoption of the A+ in a plus-minus grading scale and said she would award an A+ if the
university allowed her to. The lack of an A+ and the mathematical disadvantage it provides to students clearly demonstrates why a plus-minus
grading scale should not be used at Radford University.
Without the A+, students with high grades in the class would be less motivated to work even harder in order to increase their grades. Although,
students should not be motivated by only their grades, many of them see grades as their highest motivation in school. Fesheraki claims “(students) have less incentive to try” (Fesheraki, 2013) without the use of the plus-minus grading system. Since students with the highest grades are
usually the most motivated students, not providing them with additional motivation of a higher grade, or not awarding them with a higher grade
is inequitable. Fesheraki claims “If you are an outstanding student, I like it to be shown in your grades”, (Fesheraki, 2013) so although she uses a
plus-minus system with no A+, she believes that it is unfair to students who perform at an outstanding level. As agreed upon by professors with
different perspectives, the plus-minus system needs to provide all students with additional motivation, including those with A’s.
Although the plus-minus grading system presents a disadvantage to students with A’s, an A+ is generally accepted as not being a part of a plusminus system. Although both Hrezo and Fesheraki are in favor of having an A+, it is not allowed to be given at Radford University. A document
written by the RU Faculty Senate, which is in favor of plus-minus grading states that “Faculty in favor of implementing a plus/minus grading
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system at Radford University would like a way to more finely distinguish between students.” (RU Faculty Senate, 2013, p.1) Since faculty want
to differentiate between students, an A+ would allow them to differentiate between the best students in the class. Virginia Tech student Nick
Sarokhanian also claims that the lack of an A+ hinders students going on to graduate school because students “are hurt when the institutions
they apply to standardize all of the GPA scales of their applicants and give extra weighting to an A+” (Sarokhanian, 2006, p.1). If only some schools
award an A+, and the A+ is weighted differently when applying to graduate school, then students from schools without the A+ are hurt in the
application process because their GPAs would appear lower because of the lack of an A+. The lack of an A+ presents one of the most serious
problems with the plus-minus grading system.
Another serious problem is that there are different grading scales used for the same courses. If the class material is similar or the same, then
the same grading scale should be used so students are measured equally. Virginia Tech student Nick Sarokhanian states, “If you are going to
have a GPA system that allows for plusses and minuses (except for A+), then you should have clear benchmarks at the university scale for what
earns what grade.” (Sarokhanian, 2006, p.1). This would create equality for student and professors alike because it would eliminate any possibility of students choosing which professor to take based upon their grading scales. Fesheraki decided to use plus-minus grading in her classes after
reviewing syllabi from other professors in her department, and discovering that they used plus-minus. She believes that the grading scale should
be the same throughout the department so students can know what they need to score to get a certain grade. Without a uniform grading scale,
there will not be equality amongst students, and the current grading inefficiency will continue.
The plus-minus grading system would contribute to this grading inefficiency because the closer intervals between grades would cause students
to be more motivated by grades and less motivated by learning. Both Hrezo and Fesheraki believe that the primary goal of students should be
to learn, and to be successful students must understand this. The RU Faculty Senate Document claims “Another argument in favor of plus/minus
grading is that it will encourage student motivation” (RU Faculty Senate, 2013, p.1), but this would cause motivation for the wrong reasons. Providing students with the additional grade motivation plus-minus grading causes would deter them from being motivated to learn. When students
are primarily motivated by grades, they tend to forget the information they learned after the semester ends, because they found it only important when they were earning grades for it. This would cause students to have more difficulty working after graduation, and would cause the value
of a degree from Radford to decrease. If students care more about learning than grades, it benefits them in the long run, and a plus-minus grading
scale would discourage this. The disadvantage the plus-minus scale provides to the learning experience of students at Radford University should
definitely be taken into consideration while debating which grading scale should be used.
As the debate over plus-minus grading rages on in the Radford University Faculty Senate, students continue to raise an issue with the current
grading methods at Radford University. The Faculty Senate is in search of a system that will satisfy the majority of students and faculty. A plusminus grading scale would not be beneficial for students and would harm the learning environment. Based upon my research, it is clear that the
majority of students and faculty agree with this statement and would prefer a plus-minus grading scale not be used at Radford University. Further discussion about this issue in the Radford University Faculty Senate is definitely a necessity.
References
Fesheraki, S. (2013, November 1). Interview by TM Hajj. Interview with Dr. Fesheraki.
Hrezo, W. (2013, October 24). Interview by TM Hajj. Interview with Dr. Hrezo.
RU Faculty Senate. (2013). Change in Grading System. Retrieved from http://www.radford.edu/content/dam/departments/administrative/
faculty-senate/Motions/12-13-Grading-System.docx
Sarokhanian, Nick. (2006, November 30). Uniform grading policies should be adopted. Retrieved from http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/
8101/uniform-grading-policies-should-be-adopted
APPENDIX B - CORE 102
1. Research Narrative (example)
2. Researched Argument Essay (example)
3. Speech Analysis Essay (example)
The following essays have been reformatted for publication. Please follow the manuscript formatting guidelines provided by your instructor.
CORE 102 – RESEARCH NARRATIVE
Note: The Research Narrative may take the form of an unbroken essay, or it may be divided into sections. The example below
illustrates some of the topics that may be discussed as part of the assignment, but be certain to follow the specific format guidelines for your section.
Research Narrative
Carrington Atkins
Radford University
Part 1: My Research Experience Prior to CORE 102
Anytime that I have done research it has been when I had to do it for an assignment for school. When I was in the tenth
grade, I had the opportunity to choose my own topic for my research paper. To me, being able to choose what I wanted to
write about was more challenging than having my teacher decide my topic. When deciding what topic I wanted to write
about for my paper, there were many factors that added to that decision. I asked myself, “What interests me the most?” I
thought about things that I could cover a lot of material on. Then, I thought of the topic I wanted to write about. I decided
I wanted to do my research on Anabolic Steroids. The problem with my research topic was that it was way too broad and
there was no possible way that I could only write four to five pages on that subject. Therefore, I had to break it down. I
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went back and asked myself once again, “What interests me the most?” So, I decided to not write about Anabolic Steroids
in general. Since I had played sports my whole life, I chose to do my research on the effect of Anabolic Steroids on athletes.
Writing about a topic that could have applied to myself, since I was an athlete, made the topic a lot more interesting.
Although I was able to choose my topic for my research assignment in the tenth grade, I have not always had the opportunity to decide what I wanted to write about. This past year in CORE 101, I was given a topic that made me discuss whether
Bigfoot was real or not. This topic was very difficult for me because I was not intrigued about the existence of Bigfoot. There
was nothing I could do about the topic so I started my research. I watched documentaries, TV shows, read articles, and even
asked other individuals what their thoughts were on the existence of the Yeti. As I dug deeper and deeper into the topic, I
became more absorbed.
As far as time management goes, I normally had about three weeks to write my research papers. I would usually take a week
to write the paper and use the additional weeks to add information that I would find later on. I always preferred dividing my
research into sections to make sure I did not give myself an overload of information. For example, for my Bigfoot research,
I would watch documentaries and TV shows one day and gather all the information I needed from there. The next day I
would read tons of articles and pull information from those. Finally, I talked to different people about what they believed
about Bigfoot and wrote down their opinions and quotes. After I had all of the information I needed I would compile all of
my research and pick out what was most important in order to create an outline. When the outline was finished I would
sit down and write my entire paper. The next day, when my mind was fresh, was when I would proofread. So, my entire
research process took about one whole week. Therefore, I would use the additional weeks to add additional information.
Due to the obstacles I have faced when doing research assignments, I have had the opportunity to learn many research
techniques. These techniques have not only helped me on my past research assignments, but they will also help me on my
future research projects.
Part 2: Choosing My Topic and Creating My Research Question
Choosing a topic, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult parts when it comes to a research paper. The first thing that
I do in the process of choosing a topic is, I think about things that I personally think are interesting or things that I really
care about. I started out by listing five topics that I thought I could write a decent paper on. Then I did some background
research online and looked up the amount of information that was available for each topic. One topic that I chose was the
effects of hypoglycemia on children, but there was too much information to put into one paper. Another topic that I chose
was the effects of rap music on young individuals, but that topic has been conversed so much that there is too much information to write a good paper on. After I did some background research I went back to my list and crossed a few topics off.
Then I asked myself, “What will I enjoy writing about most?” I decided to pick the topic that related to me personally. One of
my topics was about the effects of divorce on children. In my case, my parents divorced when I was one year old. Therefore,
I decided to choose a topic because it applies to me. I believe this research topic will be effective because it does not ask,
“What is the effect of divorce on people?” It asks, “What are the effects of divorce on children?” The question specifically
asks about kids rather than anyone who has ever had divorced parents. At first, my research question was, “What are the
effects of a divorce on individuals?” The topic was too broad so as one can see I changed it so it would focus on the effects of
children. Another way I had the question worded was, “How do individuals act after experiencing a divorce between their
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parents?” This topic was also too broad because it does not focus on one group of individuals. Also, everyone has a different
way of coping when it comes to something like a divorce so that would be very difficult to fit into one research paper.
Although choosing a research topic is a very difficult task, I believe that the techniques the handbook suggests are very
useful. It made the task a lot easier and was less stressful than past experiences I have had with choosing a research topic.
Research Narrative Part 3: Creating my search strategy
My research question is, “What are the effects of divorce on children?” Therefore, I chose the keywords divorce, effects,
and children. I chose these words by looking at my research question and picking out the most important parts. When I
typed them into SuperSearch, I found over one thousand results, but that was too many. Some of the articles that were
found did not even relate to my research question, so I needed to be more specific. Therefore, I decided to choose three
more words. This time I chose separation, parents, and kids. These keywords managed to find many more specific articles
and decreased the results to about one hundred and eighty different documents. One thing that really helped to bring
down the number of results are the boxes that you can check on the left-hand side of the SuperSearch page. I decided
to limit my results to academic journals. I also changed the range of publication dates from 1945 through 2014 to 1995
through 2015. This resulted in a lot more modern articles that related to my situation. So, I thought it would make my
research more interesting for myself. Something else that helped to find more specific articles was when I typed in SuperSearch, “effects of divorce on children.” The quotations helped to bring the results from the thousands to about four or five
results. Also, all of the results that were found actually related to my topic rather than having a couple that had absolutely
nothing to do with my topic. The process of choosing key words and figuring a search strategy can be difficult, but SuperSearch makes it quite easy. Writing down many different keywords and brainstorming phrases that I could type in the
search bar helped me out the most. Also, decreasing the amount of results was not that difficult due to SuperSearch having
a way to set a limit on what I wanted to search for.
Research Narrative Part IV: Annotation
Type of Source
Article in Academic Journal
Reference Page Entry
Arkes, J. (2013). The temporal effects of parental divorce on youth substance use. Substance Use and Misuse, 48(3), 290-297.
Search Strategy
To locate my article, I went to SuperSearch and typed in the keywords: effects, divorce and children. Also, in order to
decrease the amount of results that SuperSearch found, I clicked on the scholarly journal article check box on the left of the
screen. I checked in both locations to specify the database or collection that the article was located in, but I was unable to
find it.
Summary
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In the article, Arkes begins by stating certain statistics about married couples and children who experience divorce. Also,
he points out three key results of a child or teen going through divorce. The first one says that when a child has both of his
or her parents, his or her attitude and conduct is better than a child who only has one parent around. The second argument
is, that when parents divorce the child becomes distant. This causes the child and its parent to not have a decent relationship with one another. The third argument is that if a child experiences a divorce between his or her parents, he or she may
try to cope, but it may be in a bad way. He or she could start using drugs or doing things that are not very smart.
Later on in the articles, Arkes goes into detail about the fact that there are differences that have not been discovered
between families that have issues and commotion and families that stay together. He believes that it is still not entirely
certain that the reason for children doing drugs is because of commotion in their families or because of the differences
between disruptive families and families that have stayed together.
Evaluation
One way I knew that my source was trustworthy is that the source is published in a scholarly journal. I realized that this
article was good for my research because it takes the topic that I want to write about and looks at it from a different perspective. The author of the article seemed to be very trustworthy and reliable. Not only did he give a lot of information on
children that have gone through a divorce, but he also provided many samples and methods that helped him study the correspondence between a parental divorce and a child’s use of drugs.
Research Narrative Part V: Annotation
Type of Source
Scholarly Journal Article
Reference Page Entry
Nicolae, I. (2014). The personal effects of divorce in regard to minors. Jus et Civitas, 65(2), 23-30
Search Strategy
In order to find this article, I once again used SuperSearch. In the search bar I typed the keywords: effects, problems, parents and children. I clicked the check box for scholarly journal articles again. I checked for the collection that the article may
have come from, but once again it was not available.
Summary
Ioana Nicolae’s article is mostly about the effects on a child after experiencing his or her parents separating through the
perspective of the law. She starts her article by talking about the authority rights that each parent has over the child when
a divorce takes place. She talks about how one parent, the one that the child lives with, has all rights to any kind of authority over the child. The other parent is only allowed to have certain “connections” with the child. The article dwells on how
much a child’s life is altered once he or she has experienced having separated parents. The article goes into detail about
the entire process of choosing which parent the child will live with based on the court’s decision rather than his or her own
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decision. In conclusion, the article really focuses on the fact that parents should solve their differences after going through
a divorce in order to make it easier for the child to cope with the entire event.
Evaluation
This source is credible due to the fact that it came from a scholarly journal. It really focuses on the point of how a divorce
cannot only affect a child mentally, but also physically. It points out that the parents need to focus on what is best for their
child. I could tell that Nicolae was an expert due to the amount of solid information that she put in her article. The article did
not just have little facts here and there. The article has laws and written principles about parents who go through divorce
and what they must do about their child during the process. This article contributed a lot of technical information that I
was not aware of. I believe this article was definitely appropriate for my topic because it talks about the technical part of a
divorce rather than just emotions and problems that a child experiences during the separation of his or her parents.
Research Narrative Part 6: Annotating a Source
Type of Source
Magazine Article
Reference Page Entry
Coontz, S. (1997, November 17). Divorcing reality. Nation 21-24.
Search Strategy
This time when I searched for the article I used different keywords. I used the keywords: kids, divorce and problems. Most
of the other articles that I have found are scholarly journal articles. Therefore I decided to look for something different. On
the left side of the SuperSearch page, I limited my search to only look for magazine articles about children and divorce. The
database that the article was located at was the Political Science Complete.
Summary
In this magazine article, Stephanie Coontz begins by talking about a new law in Louisiana about divorce. It states that when
two people get married, the law enforces an agreement that the couple will not divorce their spouse unless there are problems with adultery, physical or sexual abuse, alcoholism or a year’s abandonment. She then goes into detail about a certain
study that Judith Wallerstein performed. Wallerstein studied the effects on children after their parents had divorced and
came to the conclusion that fifty percent of the kids had long-term issues that caused them problems as they got older. The
main point of this magazine article is to show that the kids that go through a divorce between their parents have a rough
time getting adjusted and most of the time have long-term issues. Coontz uses Wallerstein’s results from her study in order
to prove the point that couples should try to stay together or create an “alliance” so that their children do not have to experience the results of a divorce.
Evaluation
I know that this source is credible due to the fact that there is lot of research information in this article. I also know that
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this source is appropriate because it goes into detail about how parents should tolerate each other for the kids so that in
the long run they will not have issues from going through a divorce between their mom and dad. I can tell that author of
this article is an expert based on the amount of information that she provides about children and divorced parents. Also,
the author attended Evergreen State College, which is a good sign that she knows what she is writing about. I feel like I can
trust the expert, Stephanie Coontz, because she provides a lot of facts about certain studies with children and the divorce
of their parents. Also, she graduated from a great university, which is always a good sign.
Research Narrative Part 7: Annotating a Source
Type of Source
News Article
Reference Page Entry
Changes coming in Manitoba to child support laws and issues around custody. (2015, June 3). The Canadian Press.
Search Strategy
This time I went to SuperSearch and clicked the News checkbox on the left-hand side of the page. Then I typed in the search
bar the four keywords: parents, divorce, child and issues. This brought up many articles so I slid the date slider to 1995 and
up in order to decrease the results a little bit. The news article is from the database called Newspaper Source Plus.
Summary
The article discusses the laws that Manitoba has proposed about children with divorced parents. The article talks about the
enforcement of child and parental support and the process of custody. The article focuses on the fact that what happens
to the child is the most important part of a divorce. The main reason for the new laws in Manitoba is to keep the child safe
during a divorce that may feature disruptive or abusive parents. It provides ways for a child to be kept out of danger from
one or both angry parents that are going through a rough divorce with one another.
Evaluation
I believe that this source is very credible due to the amount of information that it gives about certain laws and regulations
that are being considered in Manitoba. This article is appropriate for my research topic because it shows the actions that
are being taken in order to protect children who could be affected from a divorce between their parents. The author of this
article could be an expert, but more than likely he or she just gathered all of this information from somewhere and put it in
an article. Although, if the author is an expert, than his or her information is very relevant because it discusses the consequences that some children face and how to protect them from those consequences when a divorce takes place. I believe
that I can trust the experts that may have contributed to this article because the information that they gave are hard facts
that were not just made up out of nowhere.
Research Narrative Part 8: Self-Assessment as Researcher in CORE 102
To me, the topic that I chose for this research project was very interesting. I enjoy how my topic relates to something that
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has happened in my life. I also like to compare how other children reacted to their parents’ divorce with the way that I acted
about my own parents’ divorce.
As a researcher, I believe that I have developed many strengths while working on this project. I have learned quicker and
easier ways to look up articles that are actually relevant to my topic as well as scholarly. One tool that I became newly
acquainted with was SuperSearch. It was very helpful when I could not find sources on the Internet or in books. Also, I have
always known how to take information from a source and put it into my own words rather than having to worry about plagiarism.
Although I have developed many strengths, I also have a few weaknesses when it comes to research. Something that I need
to work on is improving my vocabulary. Also, when it comes to paragraph structure, I tend to have some trouble with that.
Another thing that I have had lot of trouble with is citing sources. Throughout high school I learned many different ways to
cite different sources, but this research project has helped me a lot with learning the correct way to cite things.
Some of the strategies and tools that I was already acquainted with were entering keywords into Wikipedia. Throughout
high school, searching for keywords on Wikipedia has helped me locate scholarly sources in an easier and simple way.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project. It helped me develop better research skills and also helped me improve the way I write
research papers. I also had the opportunity to learn about a topic that relates to me personally, which was very interesting.
This project has helped me to improve as a researcher and I hope to learn more about research from the future projects.
CORE 102 – RESEARCHED ARGUMENT ESSAY
Researched Argument
Jordan Kelley
Radford University
People are debating whether musicians are being fairly compensated for the use and distribution of their songs on music
streaming services. The internet has created new problems for the music industry and the growing argument among the
industry is whether artists are receiving equitable and compensatory wages. How much do streaming services pay artists
and is it fair? It is a question that has been asked a lot lately of services such as Spotify, Mog, Rdio, Rhapsody and even
iTunes. Many believe the payment that streaming services offer for the use or download of a song does not justly compensate the artist. More successful musicians are able to continue with less money paid from the streaming services and websites, however, emerging new artists are not able to survive on the small compensation they receive from the streaming
services. In order for every artist, highly successful or just starting out to be compensated fairly, music streaming services
and downloading sites need to pay equitable wages for the use and download of an artist’s song.
One of the early issues within the music industry was the use of peer-to-peer file sharing, also known as P2P, which allows
people to share and download music they have not paid for. P2P file sharing was brought to the mainstream by Napster, one
of the first services that allowed music downloading without equitable compensation, before being forced to shut down
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due to legal difficulties over copyright infringement (Goel, Miesing, & Chandra, 2010). Even with stiff legal consequences,
people continue to download music for free and illegally. Both the volume of music acquired illegally and the resulting drop
in revenues are staggering. Digital sales, while on the rise, are not making up the difference. While downloading one song
may not feel that serious of a crime, the accumulative impact of millions of songs downloaded illegally, and without any
compensation to all the people who helped to create that song and bring it to fans, is devastating. After Napster was shut
down along with a few other P2P services, streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, and numerous others began to pop up
on the internet offering free music streaming with very little compensation being paid to the artist. The debate is still raging
today. Is the amount of royalties being paid to artists or songwriter’s equitable compensation, especially when you consider
how these streaming services continue to flourish while the emerging new artist continue to struggle.
One of the key issues in today’s debate over streaming services is how does free downloading of music affect record sales.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), music sales have dropped 53% since P2P and Napster
first began in 1999 and only 37% of all music in the U.S. is actually being purchased through retail sales (Tyler, 2015). The
RIAA also began by filing charges against as many as 35,000 people during a five year span which caused courts to start
applying the Copyright Act to cases involving digital copyright infringement (Moseley, 2010, pg. 5). In addition to the RIAA
report, the Pennsylvania Law Review stated, “In 1999, overall music sales reached a peak of $14.6 billion in total revenue.
By 2009, that number had fallen to only $6.3 billion. CD sales in the United States exceeded 785 million albums in 2000 but
by 2008; total album sales had decreased by almost a third” (Tyler, 2015, p. 2). This clearly shows a reduction in the earnings
of musicians who rely on these sales to make a living and continue to make music. Although some people report that they
then go out and purchase the songs after downloading them, most do not and simply continue to illegally download songs
regardless of whether they enjoyed a song or not and choose not to support the artist.
The use of streaming services and illegal downloading sites leave many artists struggling to be successful. Most of the more
successful musicians are able to continue despite the meager amount of money paid for their music on the streaming services, but the emerging, less successful artists cannot. Emerging artists are left with very little monetary support and are
not successful enough to compensate their income by touring on a large scale with live shows. For example, Zoe Keating,
a recording artist, reported that she had 403,035 plays of her songs on Spotify and but only earned $1,764. The artist,
Galaxie 500, whose song “Tugboat” was played 5,960 times on Spotify yet the 3 songwriters report that they earned only
$1.05, leaving each with only 35 cents profit for their hard work (Gonsalves, 2015, p.21). These statistics attempt to shed
light on the issue of streaming music payouts to artists, as part of the wider debate on whether streaming services can
generate a sustainable income for musicians. Streaming services claim that they have paid out substantial amounts to the
labels and publishers. Spotify has reported paying out as much as $2 billion to labels and publishers since there debut but
there is a large disparity between this and the amount that artists are claiming to have received. (Gonsalves, 2015, p.21)
Some argue that the downloading of free music can lead to the discovery of new artists and thus lead to additional sales.
However, this does not help the current artist whose songs are being downloaded for free, and even if this leads the consumer to download a new artist’s music, they will continue to do so for free and now neither artist is benefiting financially
from their music being downloaded. Streaming services may lead a consumer to new artists, but these only increases the
number of people affected by the illegal downloads. If they have not paid for the music of one artist, what incentive is there
to pay for the music of the next artist they find? A person who illegally downloads a song to simply “try it out” does not
have any reason to then go out and buy the entire CD or even just the song as they now already have it. Nobody is going to
buy what they can stream for free. By charging a fee or increasing the royalties paid for the download of a song or album,
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the company is assuring that they are able to compensate the artist and themselves rather than allowing the consumer
to determine whether or not they want to buy it simply on merits. Between 2004 and 2009, around 30 billion songs have
been illegally downloaded, and have not resulted in a rise of sales based on whether or not the person downloading the
songs likes them or not. The RIAA has reported that the music industry has lost around $12.5 billion in revenue, which has
resulted in many people working behind the scenes to be laid off with the RIAA reporting 71,000 jobs being lost because of
illegally downloading music (Butler, 2007).
Compounding this issue is the idea that free downloading could lead to a potential rise in concert ticket sales. This has also
been proven untrue. The steady decrease in record sales has forced the artist to turn to performing live to support themselves and increase the ticket prices for their concerts drastically, which has made it impossible for many consumers to
afford concert ticket prices. Now the majority of an artist’s income is coming from touring and doing live shows, in contrast to the past, when most musicians were making a majority of their money from record sales before the introduction of
P2P in the music industry. If streaming services were regulated and made to pay equitable royalties to the artist, the cost
of concert tickets would decrease. The artist would then rely less and less on the live shows for income, and would allow
more consumers to afford the cost of concert tickets. If change doesn’t happen soon, ticket prices will continue to rise and
the appeal of a career in the music industry could begin to fall, with many emerging new artist never getting to a level that
allows their music to be heard on a broad scale and leading to less and less new and varied music.
Recently, Taylor Swift joined the ranks of many artists that are trying to change the way streaming services operate. She
wrote in an open letter to Apple, who planned to stream all music without compensating the artist for 3 months. In her letter, Swift says,
This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about
the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt.
This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are
pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs (Mansbridge, 2015).
Her words resonate with many artists, and Apple quickly reconsidered their stand and is now compensating the artist. This
has become a chance for artists to finally reclaim their art and is a rare victory for musicians who have seen their earnings
from recorded music steadily decline in the digital age (Mansbridge, 2015).
Regulation of music streaming services will ensure that emerging new artists are treated fairly and receive equitable
wages, making a career in the music industry even more appealing and ensure that new artists are given a fair chance at success. This will lead to an even larger variety of music and will ensure that the consumer and the artist are satisfied. Streaming isn’t going anywhere. How it will become a viable revenue source for artists may determine the future of the industry. So
the debate rages on, and the issue of music streaming services and illegal downloading sites not paying an equitable wage
for the use and or download of an artist’s song isn’t going away any time soon. Taylor Swift said it best in her letter to Apple,
“We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation” (Mansbridge,
2015).
Reference Page
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Butler, S. (2007, Septemeber 8). Piracy Losses. Billboard, 18-18.
Goel, S., Miesing, P., Chandra, U. (2010). The Impact of Illegal Peer-to-Peer File Sharing, 52(3), 6-33.
Gonsalves, A. K. (2015, March). Music Licensing. Licensing Journal, 20-22.
Mansbridge, P. (2015, June, 22). Taylor Swift’s biting Apple letter is followed by artist royalties’ change. National (CBS Television)
Moseley, W. (2010). A new (old) solution for online copyright enforcement after Thomas and Tenenbaum. Berkeley Technology Law Review, 25(1), 311-346.
Tyler, N. S. (2013). Music Piracy and The Diminishing Revenues: How Compulsory Licensing for Interactive Webcasters Can
Lead The Recording Industry Back To Prominence. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 161(7), 2101-2150
For additional examples, see the Winesett Research Award winners.
CORE 102 – SPEECH ANALYSIS ESSAY
Kelsey Cross
Speech Analysis
Radford University
Speeches can be considered a vital part of relaying various kinds of information to an audience. A verbal delivery of information can even sometimes be more effective in either persuading or informing and getting new ideas across that have not
yet been thought of. Providing a well thought out main claim along with numerous supporting claims that can provide evidence can really make for a great speech. Other factors such as organization tactics and practice can help reinforce what is
being said. In this case, I watched a speech entitled “Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I am a model” given by Cameron
Russell, a well-known supermodel and runway model for the past 10 years. Russell delivered this speech on a show of sorts
called TED Talks.
When it comes to TED Talks, I am actually quite familiar with this type of presentation because my father coaches speakers
for this program and this first hand background knowledge helped me gain a better insight on how exactly these are run
and the possible demographics of the audience. A TED Talk is set up so the speeches are no longer than 15 minutes each
and people from all over the country can come in and listen to numerous speakers address all different kinds of topics.
Whether it is neuroscience to fashion, all of these vast subjects can be presented in the same day. This being said, I came
to the conclusion that the audience does not know much about the fashion industry and how it truly works. The audience
knows only what the media portrays like most of the general public. Russell showed a clear understanding of this in the way
she approached her speech. She used the stereotype that the general public puts on models to her benefit to help prove her
point even from the very start of the speech.
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Russell really tried to stress that the idea of the fashion industry is so misconstrued. The general public doesn’t understand
what exactly this industry is truly about. One of the most interesting things she did at the very beginning of her speech was
an outfit change. Russell had on a tight fitting dress and very tall high heels which she changed into a very conservative
skirt and sweater. After doing so Russell explained that she could change your overall opinion of her in under 6 seconds just
by switching her clothes while others are incapable of doing so. This was a very interesting and captivating way to begin a
speech and to give some insight into what her speech will be about. It grabbed my attention and I wanted to see what else
was to come. I thought it was a very effective way to demonstrate the main claim. She later then talked about how insecure
she is because she received things and services she has not earned only because of how she looks while others have to pay
the cost. All her life she has gotten out of traffic tickets, given free food, and free clothes. Along with all the free incentives,
she talks about how being a model is not a career path. When people ask her how she became a model she brings up an
interesting point, she won a genetic lottery being a white, skinny woman.
It took some thinking when it came to identifying what type of speech this was. With careful consideration I decided that it
was more of an informative speech. The reason I decided this was because Russell was not trying to persuade others opinions on the fashion industry or make them believe something new but more so she was trying to inform them of the honest
truth about the industry. In most informative speeches there are many facts thrown at you along with corresponding statistics to help reinforce what is being said to you. I could make the assumption that in this informative speech there would be
a little of this along with (given her professional outlook) some first-hand accounts. Russell did not have very many statistics and facts that went along with them. Yet the ones she did have had to do with a person’s personal image. Russell pulled
up some facts about traffic stops in New York City and how your race and gender play a huge role in them. However, she
used more imagery and first-hand knowledge to get her points across. With that being said, I believe that Russell can be
considered a viable source because she has been in the industry for 10 years though it may be more effective if she had
more models views on the industry as well as her own.
There were many great points Russell gave throughout her speech. However, her delivery in my opinion was subpar. Russell
should be used to “performing” or being in front of an audience but at some moments it was painfully obvious she was
uncomfortable. She had many awkward pauses and nervous laughs. She had a great message and a great idea but she had a
lot against her to begin with. Our society doesn’t view models as intelligent woman which is a common stereotype. With the
assumption that this is an audience with no fashion background, I would assume they think the same. When it came to her
organization I felt it was a tad hard to follow. Russell seemed to bounce from each supporting claim without much detail.
She relied very heavily on her images, which were effective, but did not have much statistical background on anything she
said. Though as I had previously stated she is a reliable source because of her experience with the industry, it would have
been much more effective if there were a few different types of sources or other models perspectives. Her nerves got the
best of her in many situations, yet it was obvious that she did put effort into her speech and practiced. However, by not
exuding confidence it does make the audience question her reliability and does not hold their attention well.
Russell’s vocal delivery was in my opinion decent but could have been better. As I had previously stated, it was obvious she
was very nervous. Her rate of speech was very quick almost as if she was trying to rush through. She did a very good job with
pronouncing and articulating everything in her speech. This helped to maintain a sense of credibility and it showed that she
practiced the speech. One of the things I thought she did very well was explaining terminology the general public wouldn’t
understand. Symbols were present throughout the speech in various forms. She used pictures and her outfit change to her
advantage to help reaffirm her point. Russell pulled up some of her magazine covers and alongside those she had pictures
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of herself on the same day, a normal “dorky” kid on the right and the only version the media shows of her on the left. Russell
showed that these covers are not her, they are an engineered version of her. With the help of hair and makeup artists they
take her, a blank canvas, and create her into the image they want and the image that will fit the brand.
Russell had a great idea and it was an idea that hasn’t been explored but her nervous behaviors and lack of sources made
this informative speech less effective. I do think it could have been presented better. In the future using more sources
would be greatly useful and I would conduct maybe a few interviews of fellow models to examine their view points on the
industry. The main claim was present and the supporting claims with the use of symbols, especially the side by side pictures,
was a very effective way in showing that models are engineered into what is needed by the campaign ad or the brand. This
was an interesting speech and with a few more sources, better organization, and better physical presentation skills (calming nerves, body language, etc.) Russell would have been much more successful in presenting this informative speech.
REFERENCES
Russell, C. (2012, October). Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model [Video]. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. Retrieved
from http://www.ted.com/talk/cameron_russell_looks_aren_t_everything_believe_me_i_m_a_model
APPENDIX C - CORE 201
1.
2.
3.
4.
Fallacies and Other Types of Manipulative Arguments (supplement)
Persuasive Speech (supplement)
Argument Analysis Essay (example)
Annotated Bibliography (example)
The following essays have been reformatted for publication. Please follow the manuscript formatting guidelines provided by your instructor.
Fallacies and Other Types of Manipulative Arguments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
How do I recognize fallacies?
What is a common cause fallacy?
What is a reverse causation fallacy?
What is inductive reasoning by analogy?
What is required for an appropriate analogy?
What is a syllogism?
What is a categorical syllogism?
When is a categorical syllogism a fallacy?
What is an if/then syllogism?
When is an if/then syllogism a fallacy?
When is a generalization inappropriate?
How do I evaluate a generalization in my source?
What are either/or arguments?
When is an either/or argument a fallacy?
How can the premises of an argument affect an author’s ethos?
What is a red herring?
What are additional examples of fallacies of ethos?
What are additional examples of fallacies of logos?
What are additional examples of fallacies of pathos?
How can poor word choice lead to fallacies?
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21. How does the rhetorical triangle apply to an analysis of King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail”?
1. HOW DO I RECOGNIZE FALLACIES?
How can you determine whether a writer or speaker makes sound use of reasoning and evidence and demonstrates fairness toward
opponents—specifically, how can you determine whether that author avoids fallacies such as unsupported claims or inappropriate
appeals to emotion or authority?
You can begin by using the STAR* criteria (Sufficiency, Typicality, Accuracy, and Relevancy) to assess the logos—the reasoning and evidence—of an argument. At the outset, an argument may at least appear to be rational and well-supported.
If so, you may be inclined to evaluate the argument favorably in terms of logos, as well as being impressed by the writer or
speaker’s ethos, based as it is on her ability to project authority.
But familiarizing yourself with common fallacies will allow you take a closer look before you decide that an argument is
indeed persuasive. For example, the “facts” offered by the author might seem credible, but what if they are framed using
dysphemisms that demonize people who sincerely disagree with the position taken by the writer or speaker? Or what if the
argument is phrased in god terms that don’t seem to leave room for an honest debate of a complex issue? What if the language evokes excessive emotion or tries to stampede the audience into accepting a position because “everyone else does”?
Strategies such as these mark manipulative language and likely signal the presence of fallacies.
*To review the STAR criteria, see the answer to the following questions in the CORE 101 section of the Handbook under
the Academic Argument assignment: How can you use STAR to assess appeals to logos? and What makes evidence relevant, not just related?
2. WHAT IS A COMMON CAUSE FALLACY?
Two events occur close together so that an observer concludes that one event causes the other. However, both events in
fact may be caused by a third event. For example, a child may be squinting and complaining of headaches. An adult suggests that if the child stopped squinting the headaches would go away. However, the adult is mistaken in concluding that
the squinting causes the headaches because both squinting and headaches are caused by a third factor: the child is nearsighted. Once the correct cause is identified, glasses are prescribed, and two problems are solved simultaneously.
Fallacious cause-and-effect reasoning
Sound cause-and-effect reasoning
Squinting
Nearsightedness
|
|
Headache
Squinting
|
Headache
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3. WHAT IS A REVERSE CAUSATION FALLACY?
Two events occur close together so that an observer concludes that one event causes the other. However, the observer may
have mistaken cause for effect, and vice versa. For example, the observer concludes that alcohol abuse has caused an individual to develop a mental illness. However, a mentally ill individual may use alcohol to ‘self-medicate’. The alcohol abuse
may be the result of mental illness rather than the cause of it.
Fallacious cause-and-effect reasoning
Alcohol Abuse
|
Schizophrenia
Sound cause-and-effect reasoning
Schizophrenia
|
Alcohol Abuse
4. WHAT IS INDUCTIVE REASONING BY ANALOGY?
Inductive reasoning by analogy depends upon two objects, events, or situations having a quality in common. The next move
is to argue that because they have the one quality in common, they are likely to have a second quality in common.
Imagine that a shopper knows that an orange and a tangelo are both citrus fruits. The shopper also knows that oranges are
high in vitamin C. She has been advised by her doctor that she needs to increase her vitamin C uptake. Arriving at a grocery
store near closing, she notices that the oranges are sold out. However, knowing that oranges and tangelos have in common
the quality of being citrus fruits, by analogy she concludes that tangelos likely also share with oranges the quality of being
good sources of vitamin C. With several tangelos in her basket, the shopper proceeds to the checkout.
5. WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR AN APPROPRIATE ANALOGY?
Analogy is a common and often useful form of argumentation. However, speakers and writers must be on the watch for
faulty analogies, which arise from the fallacy of assuming that because two things are alike in one or more respects, they
are necessarily alike in other ways. For example, two people may have similar tastes in dress, music, movies, and reading
preferences. It does not follow, however, that the two individuals will share religious or political beliefs.
So if a speaker or writer argues by analogy, ask yourself whether a shared quality is relevant to, and therefore predictive
of, the presence of a second shared quality. Also be alert to the existence of dissimilarities between the two items that may
undermine the argument.
6. WHAT IS A SYLLOGISM?
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The term syllogism is applied to the distinctive form of argument that is the application of deductive reasoning. A syllogism
includes two premises that are compared against each other in order to infer a conclusion.
The following is an example of a syllogism:
• Major Premise:
No insect is warm-blooded.
• Minor Premise:
The wasp is an insect.
• Conclusion:
No wasp is warm-blooded.
In this syllogism members of a category do not possess a certain characteristic (major premise). An individual is in that category (minor premise). Therefore, that individual cannot possess the characteristic (conclusion).
7. WHAT IS A CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISM?
The example syllogism in the previous section is a categorical syllogism. In a categorical syllogism, the major premise will
state something that will be taken as an absolute (categorical) starting point, and the minor premise will be examined
against this absolute starting point in order to infer the conclusion.
Examples of categorical statements:
• All raccoons are omnivores.
• No insect is warm-blooded.
• Some mammals are omnivores.
• Some mammals are not omnivores.
8. WHEN IS A CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISM A FALLACY?
A categorical syllogism can be fallacious either because a premise is untrue or because the relationship between the major
and minor premise does not support the conclusion.
• Untrue premise leading to a fallacious conclusion:
Major premise:
All swimming vertebrates are fish.
Minor premise:
The whale is a swimming vertebrate.
Conclusion:
The whale is a fish.
In fact, not all swimming vertebrates are fish so the conclusion that the whale is a fish is unsound.
• Relationship between major and minor premise does not support conclusion:
Major premise:
Some instructors lack a sense of humor.
Minor premise:
Kim is an instructor.
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Kim lacks a sense of humor.
Certainly somewhere in the world an instructor must lack a sense of humor, so let us agree that the major premise is true.
Let us also agree that the Kim in the minor premise is an instructor. Still, the conclusion is unsound because it is impossible
to determine whether Kim belongs to the group that lacks a sense of humor. A major premise that states that only some
members of a group have a characteristic can never set the stage for concluding that any particular member of the group
has that characteristic.
9. WHAT IS AN IF/THEN SYLLOGISM?
An alternative name for the if/then syllogism is the hypothetical syllogism, but you may find it handy to use the if/then label
because the characteristic sign of such a syllogism is the ‘if/then’ in the major premise. Here are the two common forms:
• Major premise: If A then B.
• Minor premise: A is true.
• Conclusion:
Therefore, B is true
• Major premise: If the price of steel goes up then car production goes down.
• Minor premise: The price of steel goes up.
• Conclusion:
Therefore, car production goes down.
• Major premise: If A then B.
• Minor premise: B is not true.
• Conclusion:
Therefore, A is not true
• Major premise: If student scores rise then the state pays a bonus to the school district.
• Minor premise: The state did not pay a bonus to the school district.
• Conclusion:
Therefore, student scores did not rise.
10. When is an if/then syllogism a fallacy?
Remember that a syllogism may be fallacious if a premise is false. In the case of the either/or fallacy, the major premise must
accurately capture a logical relationship—that is, the ‘if’ must actually be a condition for the ‘then’. An if/then syllogism also
may be fallacious if the major premise oversimplifies matters by identifying only one condition when in fact several are necessary.
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Example of a fallacious if/then syllogism:
•
Major premise:
If her overall GPA is 2.0 then she will graduate.
•
Minor premise:
Her overall GPA is 2.0.
•
Conclusion:
Therefore, she will graduate.
What if the student’s major has a GPA requirement as well? For example, a department may require a 2.5 GPA for all
courses taken for the major.
11. When is a generalization inappropriate?
Two types of sampling fallacies will make generalizing inappropriate:
Hasty generalization: The sample is simply too small to be a reliable basis for claims about the target population. The
smaller the sample, the more likely that results will be skewed by atypical results.
Think, for example, about what a student’s class average would look after an initial quiz if he happened to fail it. If you were
that student, you would not want your instructor to draw any conclusions based on that one quiz! By the end of the semester, however, an instructor will have more ‘data points’ so that it will be apparent whether or not a particular quiz was an
outlier. The sample size will be large enough to swallow up an atypical result so that the instructor can arrive at a realistic
assessment of the student’s performance.
Biased sample: The sample is not sufficiently representative of the target population. Perhaps the sample was not randomly selected as it should be in scientific sampling; or if the sample was of a diverse population, perhaps the sample was
too small to capture representatives of all subpopulations.
Sometimes a sample is biased because of a poorly designed study or because of procedures that cause one group to be
underrepresented (or not represented at all). Until 1993 women of childbearing years were excluded from pharmaceutical testing so medications that were prescribed for both men and women were in fact only tested on men, and even today
women are underrepresented in such studies (Moyer, 2010, n.p.).
In other cases, the bias may have been introduced by a researcher who was invested in arriving at a certain result. For example, claims in a report based on case studies of twelve autistic children ultimately were rejected by other researchers in the
field when evidence was uncovered that the researcher might have had a financial interest in reaching one conclusion as
opposed to a different one.
12. How do I evaluate a generalization in my source?
First, look for information in the source about the sample upon which the generalization is based. It is a bad sign if you
cannot find that information. Second, if the information is present, determine whether the sample is sufficiently large and
representative. Has the source avoided the hasty generalization and biased sample fallacies? Third, if possible try to test
out the generalization by applying it. Generalizations are reached by looking at a sample and drawing a conclusion that is
applicable to all the individuals in that sample. But once a generalization has been reached, it can be applied to individuals
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who were not in the original sample in order to make predictions about those individuals. Applying generalizations to make
predictions in this fashion is a vital tool some fields, such as in the social and behavioral sciences.
Imagine that your source is a large nationwide study that reports that 85% of all college students receive financial aid at
some point during their college years. You would infer from that claim that roughly 85% of your classmates have received
financial aid. You could test that prediction by surveying your classmates.
Of course, as you test your source’s generalization, you yourself will now be in the business of formulating a generalization.
Is your sample size large enough? Is your sample representative of the same types of students who were reported on by the
source? Always remember that the strength of generalizations and of the predictions based upon them is not a matter of
certainty. Instead, you can only assess degrees of reliability, basing your assessment on the size and quality of the sample.
13. What are either/or arguments?
One common type of deductive argument involves examining two alternatives. If one alternative is ruled out, then the second one must be chosen. This is an either/or argument.
Premise:
Either the city council votes for stop signs or the city council votes for a traffic circle.
Premise:
The city council does not vote for a traffic circle.
Conclusion: Therefore, the city council votes for stop signs.
14. When is an either/or argument a fallacy?
Remember that a deductive argument may be fallacious if a premise is false. In the case of the either/or fallacy, a premise
may set up a false dilemma—that is, a premise may offer a choice between only two alternatives when more exist. Here, for
example, is a fallacious premise: Either we allocate the requested amount for the program or we do not fund the program
at all.
The premise ignores the fact that the program or some aspects could be partially funded or that funding could be phased in
over a period of time. In the context of a budget debate, an argument based on such a premise could be manipulative—an
attempt to pressure a vote in favor of funding by suggesting that the only alternative would be a complete shutdown of the
program.
15. How can the premises of an argument affect an author’s ethos?
The previous questions have focused on evaluating logos-based appeals by examining their premises, but as you analyze
an argument, also consider what the premises allow an audience to gather about an author’s credibility—that is, about the
ethos-based appeal implicit in every argument. Does the author construct his argument on a foundation of poorly sourced
(or unsourced) premises? Does the author appeal for support to premises that are based upon insufficient or biased samples? Does the author rely on unstated or suppressed premises that should be brought out into the open and debated?
These would be flaws in the logos of an argument, but they also reflect poorly upon the ethos of the author who relies upon
such premises. Can you trust an author who ‘plays fast and loose’ with the premises of his argument?
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16. What is a red herring?
A red herring fallacy diverts the attention of the audience from the real issue. It often is considered a logos-related fallacy
because it involves the introduction of an irrelevant topic into an argument, but some ethos and pathos-related fallacies
may also be classified as red herrings, too, because they operate by introducing elements that distract the audience from
the actual issues.
The red herring fallacy is mentioned separately here because it may be treated as a category, with other fallacies listed
under it. Fallacies that bring up irrelevant topics or issues and so may be considered red-herring fallacies include the smoke
screen fallacy, but may also include the guilt by association and straw man fallacies, and the appeal to popularity (bandwagon)
fallacy and other fallacies that appeal to emotion.
17. What are additional examples of fallacies of ethos?
Name-calling: labeling an opponent with words that have negative connotations in an effort to undermine the opponent’s
credibility.
Example: “These rabble-rousers are nothing but feminazis.”
Plain folk: presenting yourself as (or associating your position with) ordinary people with whom you hope your audience
will identify; arguers imply that they or their supporters are trustworthy because they are ‘common people’ rather than
members of the elite.
Example: “Who would you vote for—someone raised in a working-class neighborhood who has the support of Joe the
Plumber or some elitist whose daddy sent him to a fancy school?”
Testimonial fallacy: inserting an endorsement of the argument by someone who is popular or respected but who lacks
expertise or authority in the area under discussion.
Example: “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV”—a famous example of a celebrity endorsement for a cough syrup (Deis,
2011, n.p.).
18. What are additional examples of fallacies of logos?
Non-sequitur: Latin for “does not follow”; the conclusion cannot be inferred from the premises because there is a break in
the logical connection between a claim and the premises that are meant to support it, either because a premise is untrue
(or missing) or because the relationship between premises does not support the deduction stated in the claim.
Example (untrue premise):“If she is a Radford student, she is a member of a sorority. She is a Radford student. Therefore
she is a member of a sorority.”
Smoke screen: avoiding the real issue or a tough question by introducing an unrelated topic as a distraction; sometimes
called a red herring. See What is a red herring?
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Example: “My opponent says I am weak on crime, but I have been one of the most reliable participants in city council meetings.”
Straw man: pretending to criticize an opponent’s position but actually misrepresenting his or her view as simpler and/or
more extreme than it is and therefore easier to refute than the original or actual position; unfairly undermines credibility
of claim if not source of claim.
Example: “Senator Smith says we should cut back the Defense budget. His position is that we should let down our defenses
and just trust our enemies not to attack us!”
19. What are additional examples of fallacies of pathos?
Appeal to the people:also called stirring symbols fallacy; the communicator distracts the readers or listeners with symbols
that are very meaningful to them, with strong associations or connotations.
Example: This fallacy is referred to in the sentence “That politician always wraps himself in the flag.”
Appeal to tradition: people have been done it a certain way for a long time; assumes that what has been customary in past
is correct and proper.
Example: “A boy always serves as student-body president; a girl always serves as secretary.”
Loaded-Language and other emotionally charged uses of language: using slanted or biased language, including God terms,
devil terms, euphemisms, and dysphemisms.
Examples: For illustrations of loaded-language and other types of emotionally charged language, review the material
under How do effective communicators choose language for their arguments?
20. How can poor word choice lead to fallacies?
The use of ambiguous or imprecise language can lead a writer to commit a linguistic fallacy. Two such fallacies are equivocation and amphiboly.
Equivocation: ambiguity resulting from a shift between two different meanings of a term.
The word “theory” has an everyday sense—captured in the dismissive phrase “it’s just a theory”—but it also has a technical
or scientific meaning—captured in the phrase “Theory of Relativity,” in which the term refers to an explanatory description
of a certain phenomenon. (Sometimes this explanatory description is ‘written’ in mathematical symbols).
An argument that started out using the word in one sense but then switched to the other meaning would be an equivocal
argument. An argument that, without notice, switched back and forth between the two meanings of “theory” would be an
equivocal argument.
Amphiboly: ambiguity resulting from syntax or sentence structure; a phrase or sentence can be read as making two different claims.
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Does the sentence “She saw a man with binoculars” mean that she saw a man through her binoculars or that she saw a man
who had binoculars of his own? Does the sentence “He shot a tourist with a camera” mean that he used his camera to take
a photo of a tourist or that he used a gun to shoot a tourist who was holding a camera?
21. How does the rhetorical triangle apply to an analysis of King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail”?
Read Letter from Birmingham City Jail (excerpts) written by Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 16, 1963.
Pathos: Persuasion through Passion
1) As the weeks and months unfolded, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. The signs remained. As
in so many experiences of the past, we were confronted with blasted hopes, and the dark shadow of a deep disappointment
settled upon us.
In example #1 note the use of emotionally charged language that portrays one side in the ethical debate in a particular light.
Terms like ‘victims’ and ‘broken promises’ cast a sympathetic light on King and his followers especially when compounded
with violent or frightening words like ‘blasted’, or ‘dark shadows’, and ‘deep disappointment’.
2) I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “wait.” But when you have seen
vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen
hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the
vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent
society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-yearold daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears
welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of
inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing
pathos, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you
are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger”
and your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and when your wife and
mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you
are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer
resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” — then you will understand why we find
it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged
into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our
legitimate and unavoidable impatience.
Example #2 reveals the use of pathos in creating the vicarious depiction of the plight of the victims of racial oppression.
By layering example after example of experiences and scenes of racial injustice the audience is carried along in a mounting
wave of moral indignation and outrage concerning the existence of such conditions. This automatically creates sympathy
and identification with the victimized (King’s) side in the argument.
3) The other force is one of bitterness and hatred and comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the
various black nationalist groups that are springing up over the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad’s
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Muslim movement. This movement is nourished by the contemporary frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination. It is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who
have concluded that the white man in an incurable “devil.”
Example #3 uses the implied threat of violence to play on the popular fears of the black-nationalist movements of the time.
Characterizing King’s own faction as the safe and rational alternative to a bloody racial conflagration. While this may have
been perfectly accurate in terms of predicting the likely outcomes of the social conditions at the time it is still a strong
example of the kind of emotional appeal, in this case to fear, that pathos represents.
Ethos: Persuasion through Authority
4) But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer
your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable term.
Example #4 is an example of ethos building by exhibition of character traits an audience will find appealing. The speaker is
generous without being deferential and appears to be committed to open-minded and rational appraisal of the merits of
the argument. This is in direct opposition to the ad hominem fallacy and its effects on any critically aware audience. This
depicts the speaker as intellectually responsible.
5) I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating
in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliate organizations all across
the South, one being the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.
Example #5 is a classic example of ethos building by reference to the speaker’s professional accomplishments and accolades. In this approach the speaker builds authority by directly describing their fitness to be considered an expert on the
topic and therefore the relevance of their judgements.
Logos: Persuasion through Reason
6) Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is
known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality. There have been
more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in this nation. These are the
hard, brutal, and unbelievable facts. On the basis of them, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the
political leaders consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.
Example #6 uses the rational strategy of accumulating examples to act as proof. This is akin to the listing of premises that
stand in the proper relations of support to a conclusion and thereby act as warrant for its adoption. The terrible history
of Birmingham’s violence toward African Americans in a large number of instances make King’s decision to protest there
rationally supported.
7) We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” We have
waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights. The nations of Asia and
Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace
toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.
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Example #7 uses the rational strategy of comparison to support its conclusion. When King compares the plight of the
African American to the social and legal progress being made by much less developed nations toward political and social
equality he creates a strong piece of evidence to support his argument.
Persuasive Speech
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What is inflammatory language?
What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
Why should I pay careful attention to denotation?
Why should I pay careful attention to connotation?
Why is inflammatory language an inappropriate means of persuasion?
How can I use my intonation, pause, rate, and pitch to engage my audience?
How can I use my posture, hand gestures, and body movement to engage my audience?
How can I use eye contact and facial expressions to engage my audience?
1. What is inflammatory language?
Inflammatory language is wording that stirs up emotions (often negative) in an audience or that attacks or demeans others,
whether intentionally or unintentionally. One example would be name-calling. This and other forms of inflammatory language should be avoided in speech and in writing.
To avoid inflammatory language, know your audience. Understanding your audience will help you choose language that will
create shared meaning without provoking unpleasant emotions or putting people down.
Keep in mind that it does not matter what you meant to say, only how your audience perceives what you said. So choose
your words carefully with the goal of transmitting an understandable message without making audience members angry or
defensive. Once they experience those emotions, they are unlikely to hear what you are trying to say.
See also the answers to these questions under the Argument Analysis assignment: How do I recognize when an appeal to
pathos is manipulative? and What uses of language are inappropriate?
2. What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
The meaning of a word as it is defined in a dictionary is its denotation.
Connotation is an implicit meaning or an association that becomes attached to a word. The meanings or associations may
be based on context, or they may be attached to a word because of a reader or listener’s personal attitudes, beliefs, and
experiences.
The denotation of “dog” is a four-legged animal (a quadruped) in the genus canis. On the level of denotation, a speaker who
states “I have a dog” is conveying no more than these facts.
On the level of connotation, the word “dog” carries with it associations, whether or not the speaker intends it to. One
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listener may fill out the picture suggested by the word “dog” by visualizing a Great Dane; to another a dog may mean a
Chihuahua. Other listeners, either consciously or unconsciously, may bring with them pleasant or unpleasant memories
involving dogs.
3. Why should I pay careful attention to denotation?
Choosing words with denotations that match what you are trying to say is an important element in any appeal to logos.
Careful attention to denotation will strengthen the clarity and precision of your argument and will help you avoid generalizations and ambiguity that equate to misinformation. This accuracy and attention to denotation will help you build and
support your claims.
By reinforcing the logic of your argument, words carefully chosen for their denotation also enhance your credibility. You
project thoroughness and thoughtfulness. On the other hand, sloppy choice of vocabulary—using “infer” for “imply,” for
example—hurts your ethos.
4. Why should I pay careful attention to connotation?
A word’s denotation may be unbiased, but its connotation implies an additional layer of meaning that may be strongly
value-laden. This layer exists regardless of the intention of the speaker or writer because the audience brings its attitudes,
beliefs, and experiences with them and attaches them to the words that the speaker or writer uses. For example, an audience may attach certain values to words like “natural” or “immigrant” or “juvenile” or “gun control.”
Careful use of connotation may create pathos and help a speaker or writer build rapport with her audience. However, connotation should not be used to provoke strong emotional responses as a way of making up for weak logos. Reliance on
strongly connotative language in the absence of evidence and reason is a type of inflammatory language and should be
avoided.
See also the answers to these questions under the Argument Analysis assignment: How do I recognize when an appeal to
pathos is manipulative? and What uses of language are inappropriate?
5. Why is inflammatory language an inappropriate means of persuasion?
Inflammatory writing may backfire for three reasons:
• Inflammatory language may offend members of your audience and put them on the defensive. Research shows that
once people become defensive, they are no longer interested in listening to a message. Offended listeners and readers
reject or tune out arguments.
• Inflammatory language can only temporarily paper over the absence of evidence and reason. Inexperienced speakers
sometimes use inflammatory language when they think the audience agrees with the message but needs to be
persuaded to believe it more strongly or to act upon it. However, whether or not your audience agrees with your
argument, the emotional high created by inflammatory language does not last long. If you cannot back your position
through appeals to ethos and logos, audience members will have little reason to continue to be influenced by your
argument once their emotions have subsided.
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• Inflammatory language weakens your ethos. Inflammatory language is by its nature biased and manipulative. Use of
biased and manipulative language in the end will have a negative impact on the audience and its perception of you and
therefore of your message.
See also the answers to these questions under the Argument Analysis assignment: How do I recognize when an appeal to
pathos is manipulative? and What uses of language are inappropriate?
6. How can I use my intonation, pause, rate, and pitch to engage my audience?
Elements of vocal delivery include the following:
• Rate: how quickly or slowly someone speaks. Different cultures may favor different rates of speech, so your rate can
send a message about where you might be from. In terms of how your audience receives your message, if you speak too
quickly the audience may infer you are nervous or trying to rush through the message, but if you speak too slowly
listeners may wonder why you are dragging something out.
• Pauses: breaks in a message. Pauses should be purposeful. For example, a pause may emphasize a point, or it may allow
the audience time to take in and process a message. You might pause in your speech to allow your audience to grasp a
startling statistic, or you might pause after summarizing one point and before moving on to the next.
• Pitch: rate at which the vocal chords vibrate: The faster the rate of vibrations, the higher the pitch. Pitch is something a
speaker can regulate (unlike voice quality, which cannot be adjusted—think Gilbert Godfrey or Fran Drescher) and can
be adjusted as a way of emphasizing points. High-pitched voices often are perceived negatively.
• Intonation: changes in pitch. Intonation can change the meaning of a word. For example, saying “right” briskly may send
a message of agreement. Yet saying the word in a drawn-out fashion, as “rriiiiigggghhhhhtttt ,” can connote sarcasm, in
which the meaning actually is opposite of the verbal message. Be aware of your intonation and use it purposefully.
7. How can I use my posture, hand gestures, and body movement to engage my audience?
Elements of physical delivery include the following:
• Posture: how you hold your body while standing or sitting. Standing too straight may make you seem closed off and
stiff; on the other hand, leaning over things may make you appear too nonchalant—even bored or lazy. Your goal is to
appear open and natural.
• Hand Gestures: movement of the hands. Gestures should be used with meaning. Palm-open gestures often are seen as
open and inviting, while palm-down gestures may be seen as dominating. Nervous actions, such as touching your hair
repeatedly, may interfere with your ability to use hand gestures successfully. Holding items also may interfere with your
successful use of hand gestures, so ask yourself whether you really need to hold a pen and be willing to set down your
notes.
• Body Movement: conscious or unconscious shifting of all or part of your body. Some movement is important, but too
much movement can be distracting. Like hand gestures, body movement should have meaning. For example, you may
step to a screen and point out an image or a chart relevant at that point in your presentation. Examples of distracting
movements include pacing or fidgeting. Practice how you will move at the same time you practice your verbal delivery.
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8. How can I use eye contact and facial expressions to engage my audience?
Also important to nonverbal delivery are the following:
• Eye contact: In the US, it is considered essential for a speaker to look directly into the faces of her listeners. If a speaker
does not look an audience in the eye, the listeners may not believe what she is saying. Make it a point to scan the room
during a speech and make eye contact with members of your audience.
• Facial Expressions: In the US, the face is considered the most telltale part of the body. To avoid confusing your
audience, monitor your expressions to ensure that they support your verbal message. For example, do not talk about
something sad with a smile on your face.
CORE 201
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS ESSAY EXAMPLE
This essay has been reformatted for publication. The formatting does not represent the proper APA manuscript format.
Argument Analysis on Steven Colbert
Sable Ponn
Radford University
Steven Colbert’s testimony before Congress begins with him discussing American farms relying strictly on immigrants for
their labor. The premise of the argument is if the government allows work-willing immigrant workers to obtain more visas;
that this legal status and the right to demand compensation will hopefully establish better working conditions and pay.
In conclusion, Colbert hopes that after working conditions improve, more Americans will take up these agricultural jobs.
Although that is his hope, Colbert does not believe this will happen. His sarcastic comments concerning migrant labor
demonstrate to the audience that Colbert actually approves of migrant workers in America; rather than against their occupation. Colbert’s testimony was comical, yet his argument proved ineffective because it included very little logos, ethos and
pathos and it consisted of little information regarding solutions to the migrant problem. His argument also demonstrated
inefficiency because of the presence of fallacies such as: false authority, red herring, and stirring symbols.
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At no point throughout his testimony does Colbert give Congress or the audience at home any reason why they should
listen, nor believe in any of the information he is presenting. He introduces himself and then proceeds to make fun of his
own credibility by saying, “Congresswoman Lofgren asked me to share my vast experience of spending one day as a migrant
farmworker” (C-SPAN, 2010). His lack of ethos is almost embarrassing considering his only credibility is one day of experiencing immigrant work. Throughout his presentation he also lacks good vocabulary, definitions, examples and technical
terms to back up his ethos. With his lack of ethos also comes lack of logos, which causes his argument to be even more
unsuccessful. When presenting statistics concerning farming, he gives no reference to where these facts are coming from
or how they came about. He states, “The invisible hand of the market has already moved 84,000 acres of production and
over 22,000 farm jobs to Mexico and shut down over a million acres of US farm land due to lack of available labor” (C-SPAN,
2010). Although this statistic is very relevant to the topic, the audience has to question where he got this reference from
and the credibility behind it.
In addition to the lack of ethos and logos, Colbert’s argument also included fallacies, which causes weakness in his pathos.
While these fallacies add humor to his argument, they also discredit it considerably in the eyes of Congress. At the beginning of his argument he makes an appeal to false authority by stating, “I am happy to use my celebrity to draw attention to
this important and complicated issue. I certainly hope my star power can bump this hearing all the way up to C span one” (CSPAN, 2010). Colbert may make his television audience laugh, but he also shows that he lacks the adequate credentials to
appropriately convince both audiences of his claims. Another fallacy present is red herring or smoke screen, which means
completely different topics are introduced, in the hopes of diverting the attention from the present issue. Throughout his
argument, Colbert frequently brings up topics that are not connected to migrant farm work. He appeals to pathos by using
these fallacies to make his viewers laugh and distract them from the subject at hand. The use of red herring proves his argument weak because he lacks the logos and ethos to properly convince Congress, so he instead appeals to the television
audience by using comical fallacies. Colbert also uses stirring symbols to try to convince the audience of his claims, such as
the idea that since we are in America, tomatoes should be picked by an American, rather than a Mexican (C-SPAN, 2010).
The symbols he uses are meant to have strong associations or connotations that stir emotions for both Congress and the
viewer’s at home. Colbert also uses many patriotic based symbols to aid his argument. He states, “My great grandfather did
not travel 4,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to see this country overrun by immigrants” (C-SPAN, 2010). The United
States of America is a very patriotic country and we are passionate about our traditions and culture. When he suggests that
foreign people are overrunning America, he is distracting his audiences’ by using connotations that stir patriotic related
emotions.
Although Colbert does not have the ethos or logos to completely back up his credibility, he strengthened his ethos after
telling his audiences’ that he gained real experience working as an immigrant laborer. He was one of only 16 Americans to
participate in the “Take Our Jobs” campaign, headed by the United Farm Workers. He worked one day on a New York vegetable farm in August, which enabled him to get first hand experience on immigrant work, which included picking fruits and
vegetables. “This brief experience gave me some small understanding of why so few Americans are clamoring to begin an
exciting career as a seasonal migrant field worker” (C-SPAN, 2010). His humor is evident in this statement but it also shows
how dreadful the working conditions are. This is an appeal to pathos because it shows the audiences that he understands
why Americans view farm labor as an unfit job and why the government needs to make a change in working conditions
and pay. His participation in the “Take Our Jobs” campaign gave his testimony a small measure of ethos and logos because
of the knowledge that he gained. Colbert also uses some statistics and facts throughout his testimony that strengthen his
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logos, such as numbers on how many jobs have been moved to Mexico rather than staying in the United States (C-SPAN,
2010). Although Colbert’s credibility may be low in immigration affairs, he is well known for being a comedian. He has his
own Comedy Central show called “The Colbert Report” and is known by many for his sarcastic and humorous jokes on politics. Although he may not back up his ethos in terms of immigration, he does have valid credibility as a comedian, which
strengthens his pathos. He uses humor as a way to grab the television viewer’s attention so that they are made aware of
the problems America’s agricultural system faces; yet he is unable to attract the attention of Congress, because his claims
lack any seriousness and his jokes are aimed specifically for the television viewers’ enjoyment.
There are two audiences Colbert appeals to in his testimony. He directly speaks to Congress and indirectly speaks to the
television audience. Congress consists of men and women who are highly educated adults with vast political experience
and government related backgrounds. Together they make up the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security. Their lives are fully committed to fixing immigrant problems that arise in the United States.
This committee would usually present itself as a captive audience in search of a solution to improve working conditions on
farms; yet, when you take a closer look, you can tell that Colbert’s opinions are not highly thought of in their eyes. While
watching the video of him giving his testimony, Congress looks visibly uninterested and distracted. Colbert’s humorous
comments did not appear to appeal to Congress, but only to his audience at home. His celebrity status may have brought
this issue to his viewers’ attention, but because of the lack of credible information, neither Congress nor the audience at
home gain any real knowledge concerning a solution to immigration labor.
In conclusion, Colbert’s lack of logos, ethos, pathos and the inclusion of fallacies makes his overall argument weak. His
claims should be focused on informing both audiences, but instead they aim only to make his television viewers laugh.
Throughout his argument he pokes fun at every topic that presents itself. When he would include a serious statement
regarding immigrant labor, it was then overlooked because it was immediately followed by a jest against it. This flow of
presenting information and then making a joke made his argument weak, especially in Congress’s eyes, because it did not
show any seriousness towards the subject. The small amount of information he presented regarding the topic gives Colbert little authority on making any claims on solving the immigration problem. Colbert’s argument is weak because he does
not convince Congress of his claims, and does not give television viewers enough credible information for them to make an
educated conclusion on what should be done about immigrant labor in the United States. Colbert’s argument would have
been stronger for both audiences if he had not included fallacies and if he had incorporated more facts and statistics to
strengthen his logos.
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References
C-SPAN. (2010, September 24). C-SPAN: Colbert Report opening statement [Video]. Retrieved September 22, 2014 from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1T75jBYeCs
CORE 201
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Note: The specific format for the Annotated Bibliography may differ by section. The example below illustrates one format, but be
certain to follow the specific guidelines for your section.
Annotated Bibliography
Renee Dauerer
Bartlett, A. V., Englender, S. J., Jarvis, B. A., Ludwig, L., Carlson, J. F., & Topping, J. P. (1991). Controlled trial of giardia lamblia:
Control strategies in day care centers. American Journal of Public Health, 81(6), 1001-1006.
This source is a scholarly journal article. I found this source by typing “diseases and daycare” into SuperSearch. The authors
are medical doctors and researchers. The conclusion the authors make is that cases of giardia lamblia can be controlled
with precautions in the daycare setting. They come to this conclusion by conducting an experiment in which daycares that
had cases of giardia lamblia were engaged in different stages of intervention and after the interventions, significant reductions in the presence of giardia lamblia occurred. This source is relevant to my research question, because the cases of gia-
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rdia lamblia occurred more in daycares amongst the children still in diapers, which supports my claim that children should
remain at home until they are out of diapers.
Bowlby, R. (2007). Babies and toddlers in non-parental daycare can avoid stress anxiety if they develop a lasting secondary
attachment bond with one carer who is consistently accessible to them. Attachment and Human Development, 9(4), 307-319.
doi:10.1080/14616730701711516
This source is a scholarly journal article. I found this source by using SuperSearch and typed in the words “infants and daycare”. The author is the president of the Center for Child Mental Health in the UK. The conclusion that the author makes
is that serious psychological problems, that could influence a child’s future, occur when placed in a daycare setting that
does not provide a sufficient secondary attachment bond. The author reached this conclusion by analyzing the findings,
research, and data of other scholarly sources. This source helps to answer my research question because it explains why
daycares are not able to provide proper care because the teachers are not able to form sufficient secondary attachment
bonds with the children, which supports my claim that children still in diaper age should be in at-home care.
Farran, D. C. & Ramey, C. T. (1977). Infant day care and attachment behaviors toward mothers and teachers. Child Development, 48, 1112-1116.
This source is a scholarly journal article. I found this source by using SuperSearch and typed in the words “daycare and
infants”. Both the authors are professors at universities and are researchers. The conclusion that the authors make is that
the necessary attachment bond between mother and child is severed when the child is placed in daycare because the child
starts to develop a bond with the teacher. They reached this conclusion by conducting an experiment to test the child’s
attachment behavior towards the mother and schoolteacher when the child is put in a mildly difficult situation, showing
that the child seeks to be near the mother in times of stress. However, when children are at daycare and in stressful situations while seeking their mothers, they are comforted by teachers, therefore the mother-child attachment bond is affected.
This source will help me answer my research question because it provides evidence as to why children need to be cared for
by their mothers at a young age.
Hedin, K., Andre, M., Hakansson, A., Molstad, S., Rodhe, N., & Petersson, C. (2007). Physician consultation and antibiotic
prescription in Swedish infants: Population-based comparison of group daycare and home care. Acta Paediatrica, 96,
1059-1063. doi: 10.111/j.1651-2227.2007.00323.x
This source is a scholarly journal article. I found this source by using SuperSearch and typed in the key words “infections,
infants, and daycare”. The authors’ occupations are scientists. The conclusion that the authors make is that daycare infants
have more infectious episodes than home care infants and attend physicians more frequently. The authors reached this
conclusion by conducting a study of 848 infants where 561 were in daycare and 278 were cared for at home. Out of this
study, the children that were in daycare were brought to a doctors’ office more frequently than the children at home. This
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source helps me to answer my research question because it provides factual evidence that daycare children attend doctors
more than home care children due to illness, which supports my claim that children should not enter into daycare until they
are out of diapers because infants are more susceptible to contracting illnesses.
Hildebrand, J. (2007, February 16). Children or your job: Daycare costs to force parents out of work. The Daily Telegraph, 9.
This source is a newspaper article. I found this source by using SuperSearch by typing in the words “daycare, parents, and
jobs”. The author is a writer for the newspaper, The Daily Telegraph. The conclusion that the author makes is that childcare
in daycare settings is now much more costly and parents are not able to afford to put their children in daycare. The author
reached this conclusion by using a study done by Australia-first and used the childcare affordability index, which was created by the economist Saul Eslake, which shows that daycare costs have increased 4 times the rate of the parents’ income.
This source is a credible source because it was published in a trusted newspaper and provides research conducted by credible sources. This source helps to answer my research question because the counterargument to my speech is that parents
cannot afford to stop going to work and therefore must put their children in daycare. However, this source shows that the
cost of sending a child to daycare is actually more expensive then it used to be, and therefore it would be less expensive for
the parent to stay at home with the child.
Kaneshiro, N. K. (2012, November 12). Daycare health risks. Retrieved November 4, 2013 from Medline Plus:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001974.htm
This source is a website. I found this source using the search engine Google and typed in the keywords “daycares and
infants”. The author is a MD, MHA, and a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics. The conclusion that the source makes
is that children in daycare settings are more likely to catch infections than children who are cared for at home. This conclusion was reached by using the research and conclusions of the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission. This
source is credible because the website is funded and supported by a government foundation, the research was conducted
by a credible commission, and the author himself is credible because his occupation is in the medical field. This source helps
to answer my research question because it provides many infections and illnesses that are commonly contracted at daycare centers, further supporting my claim that young children in the diaper age should be kept at home.
Sun, Y., & Sundell, J. (2011). Early daycare attendance increases the risk for respiratory infections and asthma of children.
Journal of Asthma, 48, 790-796. doi:10.3109/02770903.2011.604884
This source is a scholarly journal article. I found this source by using SuperSearch by typing in “infants, infections, and daycare”. Author Yuexia Sun is a PH.D and author Jan Sundell is a medical doctor. The conclusion the authors make is that
children ages 2 and younger that attend daycare show an increase presence of respiratory illnesses. The authors reached
this conclusion by conducting a research study asking parents a series of questions including how often their child is ill,
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and what type of care they receive. The study was analyzed using a chi-squared test which showed attending daycare was
more strongly associated with health problems than family care was. This source helps to answer my research question
because it has factual evidence that children attending daycare before age 2 were considerably associated with respiratory
illnesses, which supports my claim that children still in the diaper age should be cared for at home.
Wilkey, R. (2013, November 5). Child care for one infant costs more than food for a family of four: Report. The Huffingtion
Post, Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/05/child-care-costs_n_4215659.html
This source is a newspaper article. I came across this article after Professor Small emailed me the link to help me with my
persuasive speech. The author is a writer for the Huffingtion Post. The conclusion that the author makes is that the average cost of daycare is now increasing and it costs more to send your child to daycare than it does to feed a family. This
conclusion was reached by presenting a report called “ parents and the high cost of child care” by the child care aware of
America. The study concluded that that the average cost of daycare had increased and the average income had not. This
source is credible because it is published by a trusted newspaper and contains data provided by a credible foundation. This
source helps answer my research question because the counterargument to my question is that parents cannot afford to
stay home with their children and stay out of work. However, this article shows that in fact daycare is more expensive than
staying home with the child and not working. The source helps to support my claim because it responds the counterargument that the audience will have and gives evidence to why it is not a valid argument.
APPENDIX D - CORE 202
1. Ethical Reasoning (supplement)
1. Evaluating Criteria
2. Stakeholder analysis
2. Ethical Analysis Essay (example)
3. Group Communication (supplement)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Norming group behavior
Leadership
Virtual teams for online classes
Developing ideas and plans as a group
Managing group meetings
Evaluating Criteria
How can a person decide whether a certain act is ethical without being influenced by his biases? Similarly, how can the members of your team
avoid being influenced by their biases when the group is evaluating whether certain actions may be ethical? The thoughtful development of criteria is one method to keep biases from having an excessive influence on the group’s decision-making process. Criteria are carefully considered,
objective principles that can be applied to a situation in order to reach measured conclusions. So that you and your group can use criteria effectively, read the answers to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What are criteria?
How does the group determine how to weight each criterion?
What are examples of ethical criteria?
How can criteria be worded to be measurable and specific?
1. What are criteria?
Criteria are the standards you apply to determine whether a solution to a problem is ‘good’ or ‘right’. People apply criteria to solve both ethical
and non-ethical problems.
Criteria need to be specific and measurable in some fashion to allow them to be used to judge whether a solution is likely to successfully address
a problem.
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Example of criteria for evaluating a solution to a non-ethical problem:
A university has a parking problem, and a committee is trying to decide what to do to help make parking more convenient for students. Cost,
proximity of parking to classroom buildings, and the length of time to implement a solution are among the concerns, although there are others.
Before evaluating any proposals, the committee comes up with criteria to address all the issues that it expects may arise. The committee decides
that any proposed solution should
• be budget neutral, either not costing anything to implement or immediately recovering any costs;
• be implementable within two years;
• not require anyone to walk farther than 10 minutes to get to a classroom building;
• meet handicap accessibility guidelines;
• provide parking for the entire day, without requiring students to move cars between classes;
• not take away existing faculty parking;
• conform to local zoning laws; and
• keep cars out of flood zones
On the other hand, the following requirement would not be acceptable as one of the criteria: “The solution must include building a parking deck.”
This criterion (singular of ‘criteria’) would not be acceptable because criteria are supposed to help people remain open minded, whereas this supposed criterion would show that the committee has already made up its mind about the best solution. Criteria are supposed to be used to evaluate solutions; they are not supposed to be the solutions!
2. How does the group determine how to weight each criterion?
Depending on the problem, it is sometimes useful to rank your criteria, deciding which ones it would be nice to meet and which ones must
absolutely be met. In evaluating parking proposals, for example, the committee might decide that legal requirements, such as handicap accessibility, must be met and that the project must stay within budget. On the other hand, the committee might decide the criteria that the project
be completed within two years and that students not be required to walk for more than ten minutes, while desirable, may be waived in order to
meet other, more necessary criteria. These more necessary criteria might include mandatory ones, such as compliance with handicap accessibility guidelines and local zoning laws, as well as criteria that a group has determined are most vital, such as providing parking for the entire day,
without requiring students to move cars between classes.
3. What are examples of ethical criteria?
In the parking example, the committee did not include any ethical criteria in its list. Instead, the members of the committee were looking at issues
such as cost and the convenience. Any ethical criteria on the list, however, would have required committee members to evaluate the morality of
each proposal. Imagine that the university was large and influential, a major employer in the area and able to rely upon the favor of local politicians. Without including ethical criteria on the list, it would be easy to imagine the committee settling upon a solution to the parking problem
that would have been unfair to vulnerable members of the surrounding community, for example, lower-income residents without much political
clout. Ethical criteria in such a case might be drawn up to require that any solution
• not cause permanent damage to the quality of life of the university’s neighbors,
• cause temporary harm for the shortest time possible,
• harm the fewest number of people,
• avoid harming the most vulnerable members of the population, and
• help the greatest number of people.
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4. How can criteria be worded to be measurable and specific?
The more specific criteria are, the more helpful they will be as tools for measuring the success of a solution. How will your group know how well
a criterion has been met unless you and your team members used precise wording when formulating that criterion?
Examples of vague criteria:
Upgrade of a facility
• cannot harm the community,
• cannot result in net loss of playing fields, and
• cannot result in net loss of tree cover .
Examples of specific criteria:
Upgrade of a facility
• cannot result in the permanent removal of the bus stop now located outside the building,
• may begin only after a temporary bus stop has been constructed that is no further than two blocks from its current
location,
• must be accompanied by the purchase of the adjacent half-acre lot to replace the playing fields that will be covered
by the outdoor theater, and
• must be followed by the planting of ten Arbor vitae trees to replace the ones that will be removed from the front
of the building
Stakeholder analysis
One way to make certain that your team thoroughly explores its assigned or chosen ethical issue is to identify all the individuals and groups that
have an interest in the outcome or solution to the issue. This step is part of a stakeholder analysis. The answers to the questions below provide
information about how to perform a stakeholder analysis.
1. What is a stakeholder analysis?
2. What are the different positions or roles of stakeholders?
3. What questions can my group and I ask in order to identify the different perspectives and positions held by
stakeholders?
4. How can my group and I research stakeholder positions?
1. What is stakeholder analysis?
A stakeholder analysis is a utilitarian approach to ethical decision making. In a stakeholder analysis, you and your team evaluate ethical decisions
by considering the individuals and groups who contribute to or are affected by a particular situation. The analysis identifies the people who are
likely to benefit from or be hurt by various decisions in order to figure out which course of action will result in the greatest benefit and the least
harm.
People may assume that there are ‘two sides to every issue,’ but in fact there may be many more than two sides. Make certain that your group
identifies all the individuals and groups involved in a situation. The group should consider the perspectives of everyone involved and should
understand what each party has ‘invested’ in the situation.
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To review how stakeholders are identified, read the answer to this question under the Academic Argument assignment in CORE 101: How do I
identify the different people involved in an issue?
2. What are the different perspectives or positions of stakeholders?
Stakeholders are those people or groups who have an interest in or will be affected by the outcome of a situation. The perspectives or positions
of stakeholders may vary significantly. Stakeholders may be decision makers, or they may be people about whom decisions are made or for whose
benefit decisions are made.
One purpose of stakeholder analysis is to get organizations and their employees to take into consideration the effects of their actions on people
both within and without their organization. The organization and its employees are stakeholders who are decision makers on some level; the
people outside the company often are those about whom or for whom decisions are being made.
Examples of stakeholders with different perspectives
A company is deciding whether to expand an existing plant or close it and move to another, cheaper location. The CEO and the company’s
board must approve this decision and clearly have decision making power. The company’s shareholders and employees will be affected by
the decision and may be able to bring some pressure to bear that could affect the decision. Others outside the organization will be affected
as well but may have fewer options for influencing the decision. The company buys its supplies and materials from vendors, who may lose
a valued customer. The company sells its product to customers, who may pay less for products made at the new location. The company and
its employees pay taxes and other fees to the local government, which uses that money to fund schools and provide other services. That
local government may even have given the company a tax break to build at its current location. A wide range of small businesses in the
community rely on income they make by serving the needs of the employees. Each of the above groups will be affected by the decision, but
their power to affect the decision varies.
3. What questions can my group and I ask in order to identify the different perspectives and positions held by stakeholders?
A stakeholder’s perspective or position is based upon the stakeholder’s relationship to the situation. That relationship can be captured by asking
questions about power, support, influence, and need in the context of the situation that the stakeholder has an interest in.
• Power—How much decision-making authority does the stakeholder have over the situation?
• Support—How strongly is the stakeholder for or against the idea?
• Influence—How much ability does the stakeholder have to affect the decisions made by other people?
• Need—For the stakeholder to benefit, what does she need to have happen (or not happen) in the situation?
Be certain that your group looks for interests and perspectives that may be shared by different stakeholders, and be certain that your group does
not automatically side with the stakeholders who have the most power and influence. If your team gravitates toward the parties with the most
power and influence, you and your classmates may end up ignoring the individuals or groups with the most need, the ones who may be badly hurt
by an unethical decision.
4. How can my group and I research stakeholder positions?
When you research an issue, look beyond yes/no, pro/con arguments in order to see the people involved in the situation. Remember that often
there are more than the oversimplified ‘two sides’, so be open to identifying more than two stakeholders.
Make a list of the individuals and groups who affect or are affected by the issue. Add to the list as your research uncovers additional aspects of
the situation that bring in additional stakeholders.
Analyze the positions held by each stakeholder, based on what they have said about the issue, using questions that include the following:
• What values are important to this stakeholder?
• What is the stakeholder’s financial investment in the situation?
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• What is the stakeholder’s emotional investment in the situation?
• Are stakeholders invested because they are likely to benefit from the situation? How would they benefit? How greatly
would they benefit?
• Are stakeholders invested because they are likely to be harmed by the situation? How would they be harmed? How
badly would they be harmed?
• What are the stakeholder’s primary motivations for being involved in the situation?
• What is the stakeholder’s current opinion about the situation?
• What kind of information does the stakeholder have about the situation? How good is that information? What is its
source?
• What kind of information about the situation does the stakeholder want or need? What sources would be most helpful
to this stakeholder? How could this stakeholder be encouraged to consult and trust these sources?
• Who influences the opinions of the stakeholder? Is another stakeholder influencing this stakeholder? Who could
influence this stakeholder?
• How does the stakeholder communicate to stakeholders who have perspectives or positions that are different from
their own? Is the stakeholder’s response effective in terms of winning a respectful hearing from other stakeholders?
How could the stakeholder communicate more effectively?
• How firm or flexible is the stakeholder’s position on the situation? What elements of the situation are ‘nonnegotiable’?
What elements are subject to discussion?
• How crucial is the stakeholder’s opinion on the situation? Are the stakeholder ‘s concerns central to the decision, or are
they peripheral?
• How necessary is it that the stakeholder have a voice in any decision about this situation? If the stakeholder were left
out, would a workable and ethical solution or decision be reached, or would leaving out this stakeholder’s perspective
or position be a huge mistake?
The following essays have been reformatted for publication. Please follow the manuscript formatting guidelines provided by your instructor.
CORE 202 – ETHICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
Michelle Valcourt
Radford University
Dobby’s Dilemma: Choosing the Hard Right Over the Easy Wrong
When an individual is faced with a situation that forces them to pick between two opposing values or loyalties, it can pose a difficult internal
struggle. In J. K. Rowling’s novel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dobby, a house-elf, is faced with one such ethical dilemma. Dobby must
choose to place his loyalty to either, his wizarding family, or Harry Potter, a boy he greatly admires. His duty as a house elf dictates that he is
bound to his family and their wishes; he must submit to their authority, even if his own feelings aren’t in agreement. Dobby is also bound in allegiance to the plight of Harry Potter. Before Harry overpowered Voldemort and ended his dark reign of terror, house-elves were subject to maltreatment and oppression. Dobby feels a strong loyalty to the boy whose triumph bettered living conditions for house-elves and other magical
creatures alike. The dilemma splinters Dobby’s conscious and divides him between the value of duty to his family, and the values of loyalty and
gratitude to Harry Potter and the ideals he represents.
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A house-elf’s purpose in life is to live dedicated to his or her wizard family, the value of duty is engrained within each elf. They are “bound to
serve one house and one family forever” (Rowling,1999, p.14). Dobby is burdened with heavy obligation to the Malfoy family and has a habitual
need to physically punish himself in a sort of flagellation whenever he does anything that they would find disloyal. When Dobby absent-mindedly
agrees with Harry that no decent wizard would use dark powers like his family does, he “started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps” (Rowling, 1999, p.17). His self-punishment for warning Harry will be to “shut his ears in the oven door” (Rowling, 1999, p.14). The
self-infliction of pain is his way of compensating for the betrayal of his duty. The Malfoy family remains loyal to Voldemort and is instrumental in
the dark plot to resurrect the Dark Lord’s influence within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This plight will endanger all students,
but will be especially threatening to Harry Potter. When Harry was a baby, Lord Voldemort killed his parents and attempted to do the same to
the infant. However, he was unable to do so because of the protection placed on the boy from his mother’s loving sacrifice. Harry overpowered
Voldemort and ended his dark reign.
Dobby’s motivation to go against his house and family is his adoration for Harry Potter and the good that came from his triumph over the
dark lord. Dobby explained that “when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers[…] house-elfs were treated like vermin”(Rowling, 1999, p.178). After Potter thwarted Voldemort’s power, life for most of the lowly magical creatures greatly improved. Dobby
explained that “it was a new dawn […] and Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the Dark days would never end”
(Rowling, 1999, p.178 ). It is because of Dobby’s adoration and gratitude that he feels an overwhelming urge to protect Harry Potter, despite
his duty to the Malfoys. To Dobby, Harry is too valuable and important for those who fight against the Dark Lord and his followers. This devotion
challenges his duty to the Malfoys. He must choose; either he serves his family as house-elves should do, or he warns Harry Potter of the danger
he faces and thus choosing to protect the savior to his kind.
There are many ethical theories to help determine one’s approach to an ethical dilemma. When assessing Dobby’s options there are four different sets of eyes to look through; they are relativism by way of ethical subjectivism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Relativism
“denies that there are any objective moral values” (Handbook Readings, 2014, p.201). This way of looking at ethical dilemmas suggests that since
there is no way to have a neutral moral perspective, that any situation is subjective. Ethical subjectivism would argue “that moral claims have to
be assessed in relation to an individual” (Handbook Readings, 2014, p.201) and the decision maker needs to examine their own personal convictions. In the case of Dobby and his struggle between obedience to his family and his adoration for Harry Potter, an ethical subjectivist would say
that Dobby should do what he, as an individual, feels is right. Dobby’s conviction for aiding Harry suggests that, for Dobby, helping Harry trumps
obligation to the Malfoys.
Another viewpoint would be the approach from a utilitarian perspective. This theory is rooted in the consequences of an action and would favor
the choice that would yield the best results for the greatest number of lives. It is also important to understand that “Utilitarianism stress[es]
equality and fights against self-interest on the part of the ethical actor” (Handbook Readings, 2014, para.9). Dobby is faced with two options, to
warn Harry Potter about the evil plot, or not to. If Dobby chooses not to warn Harry the only person who would benefit directly would be Dobby
himself. He wouldn’t feel the urge to harm himself for disobeying his family. Utilitarianism disregards self-interest, and therefore would not find
this to be a very helpful action. If Dobby chooses to warn Harry Potter, Harry would not be in harm’s way and would remain safe. Harry is a very
influential and inspirational member of the magical community and his safety would benefit many. Therefore, from a utilitarian approach, the
ethical action would be to warn Harry of the dangers awaiting the students at Hogwarts.
When looking through the eyes of a deontologist one would have to weigh Dobby’s duty as well as the rights of all parties involved. Though deontology would acknowledge that Dobby has a duty to perform for his family, his intentions are not to challenge their authority, rather his motivation is to protect Harry Potter’s right to safety. Deontology claims that, “if you intended good through your action, then the action is good,
no matter what actually happened as a result” (Handbook Readings, 2014, para.4). Dobby’s motivation to not warning Harry would simply be to
obey authority, however his intention in warning Harry would be to respect Harry’s right to safety. Another thought to consider is that the Malfoy Family supports the oppression of house elves, whereas Harry Potter embodies acceptance of them. By choosing to help Harry, Dobby sides
to support the rights of house elves and other magical creatures alike, as well as ensuring Harry’s right to safety.
Lastly we must consider virtue ethics. This theory looks at the virtues we value most and challenge the decision-maker to embody them. One
approach is to “think about what the most virtuous person you know would do in that situation” (Handbook Readings, 2014, para.12). Harry Potter is Dobby’s idol; to the house-elf, the wizard embodies courage, bravery, goodness, and kindness. By protecting Harry, Dobby would be displaying such virtues. Harry protects the under-dog and places others’ safety about his own, if Dobby were to follow Harry’s example, then Dobby
would choose to warn Harry of the dangers at school.
In the end Dobby chooses to warn Harry Potter in an attempt to keep him from the threats at Hogwarts. Though many of the theories supported
his choice to warn Harry, I believe Dobby was acting with a mentality most in-line with value ethics. There are many examples of Dobby’s adoration toward Harry Potter and it is clear that he values the virtues the boy exhibits. His decision to warn him was ethical, not only because his
choice was supported by all four theories, but because it was selfless in nature and was intended to protect and help another.
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Reference Page
Handbook readings. (2014). Radford University Core Handbook. Retrieved from http://learn.radford.edu
Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
Group Communication
Norming group behavior
1. What are norms?
Norms are expectations about how people should act. Norms can be explicit or implicit. Explicit norms are stated verbally or written. Implicit
norms are the rules that people pick up from cues, sometimes nonverbal ones, as a result of being part of the group. It can be very difficult for a
person who joins a new group to learn implicit norms.
• Example of an explicit norm: The group agrees that anyone who is going to miss a meeting needs to text everyone in the
group a day in advance.
• Example of an implicit norm: The group expects the person who had to miss a meeting to volunteer for more outsideof-group work, to show that they will do their fair share. But because this is an implicit norm, it is usually an unspoken
expectation.
2. Why are norms important?
Norms are important because they govern the group’s interactions. They both influence how relationships are built and maintained and provide
rules for how the group accomplishes tasks.
Groups tend to repeat behaviors and use that repetition to create norms. That means that once something has been done, it likely will become
the norm for the group, even if it’s not a positive behavior. For example, at the first meeting someone arrives 10 minutes late and no one in the
group says anything. That person may assume that being late is acceptable. Others may also start coming to meetings late, thinking it’s not an
issue.
Having clear norms that everyone agrees on can get the group off on the right foot. For example, for some groups being late might not violate
a norm as long as each member arrives within a ten minute grace period. For other groups, coming late may be unacceptable behavior. To avoid
conflict, group members need to reach a consensus about this issue and others, and this consensus needs to be communicated to all participants.
3. How does my group decide on norms?
A group will have a better chance of succeeding at a task if everyone has the same expectations. With that in mind, when a group is formed, it is
useful for the members to meet and discuss some issues that may affect the functioning of the group. Finding common ground in your choice of
norms as a group should be the result of open, honest discussion. The decision should not be hurried or decided upon by a single person. Everyone must agree to the norms and be comfortable with the options that the group has chosen.
As the group is establishing its norms, it may be useful to discuss previous group experiences. Can group members point to any practices or
behaviors that contributed greatly to a previous group’s success? On the other hand, can they point to any practices or behaviors that inhibited
a group’s success? Take what group members have learned from previous experiences and apply it, as appropriate, as you establish expectations
for the current group.
4. What are some issues for which norms should be established?
Below are some common issues for which norms may need to be established. Based on your past experience with groups or on the specific group
assignment, you and your classmates may be able to suggest others.
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• How will we stay in contact between meetings?
• When and how often should we meet? How will the schedule be determined?
• What are the expectations for attendance?
• If someone has to miss a meeting, what should that person do?
• How do we want to schedule the stages of our project and by what date do we want it completed?
• How will we hold each other accountable for tasks that people are assigned to complete on their own as individual
contributions to the group project?
• How will we share information and files?
• How will we back up work?
• What limits, if any, do we want to place on the use of cell phones, tablets, or laptops during meetings?
• What kind of climate do we want at our meetings? Relaxed, professional, casual, fun?
• How will we reach decisions as a group?
• Will we have a set leader? If so, how will that leader be selected and what will her responsibilities be?
• Are there other individuals who will have set roles? If so, how will they be selected and what will their responsibilities
be?
• If leadership or other roles rotate, what will be the mechanism for members of the group moving from one role to
another?
• What will we do if someone violates a norm?
5. What are sanctions?
Sanctions are the repercussions for violating norms. When an individual violates a group expectation, the group must respond. If group members
do not show the offender that there are consequences to violating norms, then the unwelcome behavior may become the new norm. The scenario below illustrates how that process can occur.
A group has agreed that members cannot use cell phones for personal texts during meetings. A person in the group uses his phone to
answer a few texts during a meeting. Some group members are annoyed by his divided attention but do not say anything. At the next meeting, he starts texting a little more, thinking no one was bothered. This cycle will continue, possibly with others starting to text as well, until
the group acknowledges that there’s too much texting going on and not enough people giving the meeting their undivided attention. If the
offender had been subject to a sanction at the first offense, the problem might have been avoided.
6. What are reasonable sanctions?
A sanction can be anything that shows the group’s disapproval and deters people from breaking the norms. Finding sanctions that work for your
group is important and if possible should be honestly discussed early on in the group’s formation. Your group may decide on different sanctions
for different offenses. Whatever you decide, sanctions must be enforceable.
Examples of sanctions:
• Lowering an individual’s grade on an assignment, with the size of the deduction depending upon the number of
violations and/or the severity of the offenses.
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• Assigning additional work to the individual. (Consider first, though, whether you can rely on that person to complete the
extra work.)
• Delegating refreshments, an option that may be appropriate if relationships within the group are good and you want to
gently remind one group member to follow the norms more carefully—come late, bring cookies next time.
• Noting offenses in the minutes. Keeping a log may be enough of a deterrent. If not, the group will have a record if it is
necessary to hold a group member accountable for repeated violations of the norms.
• Developing creative sanctions, such as wearing an embarrassing hat or paying ‘fines’.
• Terminating membership in the group. This is the most severe sanction available to any group. However, if someone has
violated important norms and is not pulling her weight, it may be better for the group to work without her.
7. How should sanctions be applied?
Sanctions must be consistently applied by the group and not just by a single person in the group. Likewise, they need to be consistently applied
to all group members and not just to one or some members. Everyone in the group must be treated as an equal.
In addition to being consistently applied, sanctions must be applied openly. Do not make a habit of talking about people behind their backs
instead of confronting an issue and determining, as a group, the appropriate sanctions.
Sanctions can escalate. Your group may determine that minor offenses can add to a serious sanction or that the first, non-serious violation is a
“freebie” and only requires a verbal warning.
Some groups have had success with a strike system. Some violations may merit one strike; other more serious ones may be two or more strikes.
At a certain number of strikes, some groups consider terminating group membership.
Your group may not wish to rely on that system. Whatever approach to sanctions your group adopts, however, you and your classmates need to
keep an open dialog going throughout the life of the group to make sure that everyone is participating to their fullest and the group is functioning
as well as possible.
Virtual Teams for online classes
What are the best practices for virtual teams?
If you are taking Core 202 online, or if your group has chosen to meet virtually, you will need to adjust to the format. A lot of the same rules apply:
You should be prepared, you should contribute equally, you should listen to others. You may find you need to make a little more effort to focus; it
can be tempting to play with your phone, to surf in another browser window, or to do homework for another class because no one can see you.
But your disengagement will come through loud and clear to the rest of the group, as it usually translates to less contributions from you. You
may want to find a quiet place, away from other distractions, during your online meetings.
You will also need to be more proactive in encouraging other team members to speak. Most virtual meetings do not include video of all members,
so you won’t be able to read the body language or see cues that someone is upset, confused, etc. If you are leading the group discussion, check in
with each member verbally before moving from one task to another: “Samantha, do you agree that this is the best solution to the problem?” Do
not assume silence means assent.
Leadership
1. What are different ways leadership roles can be assigned in groups?
All members of a group can exert leadership, and shared leadership (as explained below) results when the group encourages everyone to exhibit
leadership behaviors and to hold all members accountable for the group’s progress.
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On some occasions, though, it may be useful to have someone take on an ‘executive function’.
A group may elect someone to be the leader and to be officially responsible for some of the leadership behaviors listed under the previous question. This person may focus on facilitating group discussion and making sure everyone is contributing equally.
In appointed leadership, a leader is chosen given the circumstances. For example, a manager may be part of a working group or task force. In this
case, the leader may focus on top-down communication. He may tell people what to do rather than facilitate discussion or ask for feedback.
2. What are the two main leadership orientations?
Leaders may be task-oriented or relationship-oriented.
A task-oriented leader takes primary responsibility for moving the group towards its goal. This person may be highly motivated and may possess
a go-getter personality. Such a leader tends to be organized and good at problem solving.
In the past, groups often assumed that men would take on this role, but in American culture this mindset is receding.
Task-oriented leaders often are focused on
• planning—drawing up agendas for individual meetings and helping the group break up a complex task into smaller, more
manageable tasks,
• coordinating—pulling together the individual contributions, and
• facilitating, making certain that the group is working collaboratively so that the final product will be more than the sum
of individual efforts.
Facilitating work and discussion often requires this person to remain neutral and to focus on clarifying, elaborating, and summarizing others’
ideas.
A relationship-oriented leader (or “socio-emotional” leader) focuses on maintaining healthy interaction between members of the group. This
person promotes feelings of equality and worth, makes certain that no one leaves a meeting feeling bad, and is generally well liked by everyone
in the group. In the past, groups often expected women to fill this role, but men are likewise capable of fostering good relationships among group
members.
Task-oriented leaders often are focused on
• monitoring the group’s communication and being the one to speak up if the group is making a decision in a way that
might lead to conflict later—for example, reminding the group of its commitment to reaching agreements that everyone
can be happy with, even those in the minority,
• building and maintaining relationships—for example, helping the group navigate personal issues, and
• supporting and affirming members—for example, helping everyone feel valued by making certain that communication
within the group is inclusive and equitable.
3. What are the main leadership styles?
Top-down communication is a feature of an autocratic style. Autocratic leaders tend to tell people what to do rather than ask for their thoughts,
ideas, or opinions. Autocratic leaders may be poor listeners and may come across as bossy and condescending. They may use coercion or rewards
to get people to do what they want. They also may manipulate group conflict for personal gain.
A leader with a democratic style focuses on fostering communication between equals. Democratic leaders try to make certain that everyone
has input. Decisions made by groups with this type of leadership tend to be made by consensus. As a result, even if everyone is not completely
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satisfied with the outcome, everyone can feel that their ideas have been considered. Democratic leaders tend to be good listeners and provide
frequent, positive feedback to other group members. Their communication style usually is relaxed, animated, friendly, and attentive.
A leader who has minimal interaction with the group is said to have a laissez-faire style. (“Laissez-faire” is French for “let it be.”) A laissez-faire
leader may not communicate much with the group. When he does interact with group members, he may stick to superficial talk and to chat about
topics other than the group’s progress. A laissez-faire leader may avoid conflict and provide infrequent feedback.
4. How do I know which style is appropriate?
At first glance, the democratic style of leadership may seem preferable, but often it is in the best interests of the group for the leader to consider
the context before deciding upon a leadership style. As the group progresses, that context may change, so a leader should be able to switch
between leadership styles in order effectively manage the group.
Most group members report being highly dissatisfied with autocratic leaders, but sometimes this style is appropriate. If the group has reached
an impasse and a decision must be made or a deadline is looming, it may be appropriate for someone to step up and get the group to act.
The democratic style of leadership is the most popular. Everyone wants to be able to contribute in a group. (Otherwise, there is no reason to be
in the group in the first place). In most situations, then, the democratic style of leadership may be the best choice, but making it work does take
coordination, planning, and time so that everyone has a say in the outcome of a project.
Sometimes the laissez-faire style may be appropriate. A person may be the manager of a group, but the group itself is made up of experts on
aspects of the project while the manager himself may not have mastery of every element. In a situation like this, it makes sense for the manager
to defer to group members who understand what must be done and are able to carry on the necessary discussions about how to proceed. As long
as the group is functioning as it should, the manager need only step in at certain points to make certain that the group is still on track.
5. What is shared leadership?
Shared leadership occurs when groups allow multiple people to be responsible for leadership behaviors. The role of leader may be rotated
through members during the life of the group, but shared leadership generally refers to when people take on leadership responsibilities at the
same time.
A shared-leadership scenario:
A student who is excellent at project planning and scheduling takes on the logistics for meetings. She writes the agendas and makes certain that
everyone knows what they need to prepare and bring for the meetings.
A second student is comfortable facilitating group discussion, so the group looks to him to keep the meetings orderly and everyone on track
according to the agenda that the first student has prepared.
A third student makes certain that everyone feels valued as a member of the team and comfortable contributing.
Collectively, the three demonstrate the behaviors of a strong, competent leader.
Such shared leadership can be very beneficial for the group because it allows people to take on the roles and behaviors that they are most comfortable with and to use their strengths to make the group better as a whole. Shared leadership also relieves the pressure an individual leader
may feel to be everything that the group wants in a leader.
When shared leadership arises from the group’s recognition that there are natural fits between individuals and certain tasks or roles, it can be
very beneficial for the group. However, if a person tries to force the group to recognize him as a leader in some way, power struggles may ensue
and the individual may come across as pushy. Shared leadership is best achieved through open and honest communication and by letting people
step up when they are comfortable and can do a good job in a role.
Developing ideas and plans as a group
1. What is idea writing?
Idea writing is a way for groups to share solutions and ideas via a written ‘discussion’.
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Idea writing should be limited to a single, well-defined question and can usually be completed in an hour or less.
• Members are given a question or problem to think about. Without worrying about spelling, grammar, or punctuation,
each person writes down three or four possible answers or solutions, along with why each one has merit.
• Everyone’s answers are placed in the center, and each group member selects a page that isn’t her own, reads the ideas
on it, and responds to them in writing, recording agreements or disagreements or suggestions, along with explanations
of her responses.
• Once again, pages are returned to the center to be drawn by other classmates. The process continues until everyone
has responded to everyone else’s ideas.
• At that point, group members retrieve their original answers, which now have responses from every other group
member. Group members read their classmates’ comments thoroughly and objectively.
• Then, the group, for the first time in the process, discusses the ideas aloud, looking for a consensus as to which ideas are
the best or most useful and keeping a public record of those ideas. While this discussion and recording is taking place,
the group may build on ideas or discover more reasons why they are good ones.
2. When is idea writing useful for a group?
Because idea writing starts as a discussion that takes place on paper, everyone has a voice and less assertive members of the group are not as
likely to be ‘drowned out’ by dominant communicators. As a result, the process may encourage otherwise quiet members of the group to participate fully in group deliberations.
Idea writing also may be an excellent choice if the group is meeting in a loud place where it is difficult for group members to hear one another. It
also may work if a group needs to meet virtually and by text only. Forum threads and shared online documents may substitute for papers being
passed around the group.
In addition, idea writing may be helpful when groups have limited meeting time. The process requires the group to carefully define a specific
problem, and once that is done, the meeting often concludes in less than an hour.
3. Why should my group break a complex task into smaller tasks?
One of the difficulties of group work is logistics: coordination of the efforts of different people working on different parts of a project so that
the group may finish the project on time and create a quality product. Because coordination is difficult, groups may procrastinate and wait until
the last minute to pool resources. You may have been in such a group—one whose members waited until the last minute to pull the project
together—and you may know that the results can be mediocre or even poor. Groups tend to be far more successful when members break up
large, complex tasks into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks that are assigned to individuals, along with appropriate deadlines for the
completion of each task.
There is a second good reason to break a complex task into smaller ones that individual members can accomplish within reasonable time frames.
Groups that fail to break projects into manageable portions that are assigned to individual members risk ending up with one or two people
quickly doing the bulk of the work at the last minute. This situation is unfair. Moreover, it results in an outcome that may not reflect all the insights
and resources that the group as a whole could have brought to bear on the project.
4. How does my group create a project plan that will give everyone adequate time to contribute effectively?
The best way to plan a project as a group is to meet at the beginning of the project to divide the task into parts. Once a large task is broken down
into smaller tasks, consider group members’ needs and schedules when assigning responsibilities and settling upon a timeline that will result in
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completion of a creditable project by the due date. Below are some of the actions that your group can take to accomplish the goal of completing
the project on time and in a manner that the group can be proud of.
• Make a practice of keeping a calendar open that is easily accessible to everyone, and encourage group members to
consult it regularly.
• Working backward from the instructor’s due date, choose a day prior to this official one that will be the point at which
the group will put the finishing touches on its project. Usually it is helpful to shoot for a target at least 48 hours ahead of
the official due date. This margin should give your group time to make last minute changes, to clear up any
misunderstandings, and to rehearse without the stress of simultaneously scrambling to complete the project.
• Break up the assignment into major parts and agree upon firm deadlines for the completion of each part.
• Determine what needs to be done to complete each major part. Assign tasks, plan meetings, and set deadlines to make
certain that each part is completed when it needs to be.
• Be reasonable when setting deadlines. Take into account the other commitments that individual members have, such as
work or social obligations or assignments in other classes.
• Make certain everyone is committed to the deadlines. Keeping deadlines should become a norm, and sanctions should
be imposed on those who do not do their parts. When a group gets behind on an internal deadline, it tends to stay
behind, and group members find themselves rushing to get things accomplished at the last minute. This state of affairs
both creates unnecessary stress and results in a finished project that is unlikely to represent the group’s best efforts.
Managing group meetings
1. What is an agenda?
An agenda is a list of items that will be tackled during a meeting. Items typically listed on agendas include decisions that must be made, topics
that must be discussed, and old business that must be wrapped up. Agendas usually are distributed prior to meetings.
2. Why are agendas useful?
Agendas create expectations about what will be addressed during a meeting. By distributing an agenda before a meeting, an organizer communicates what must be accomplished and allows participants time to plan so that they come prepared.
During meetings, agendas help keep a group on track. A moderator or facilitator can use the agenda as a way to keep participants on topic and
forward-oriented, moving from one task to another as each task is completed.
Agendas also may be used to encourage participation. Provided that the agenda went out sufficiently far enough in advance, it is appropriate to
ask all group members to share their input (either aloud or via writing) based on their having had time to prepare.
If an agenda is distributed, someone does need to use it. If agendas are distributed but then not followed during meetings, group members will
come to ignore them. The agendas no longer will be a means for making certain that group members prepare for meetings and use meeting time
productively.
3. How do I prepare an agenda?
Prepare each agenda carefully. Give yourself the time adequate for doing a careful job. An incomplete or inaccurate agenda may result in confusion during a meeting. The upshot of such confusion may be that important decisions are not made on time.
Start by asking yourself the meeting’s purpose and goals. Every item on your agenda should support your meeting’s purpose and goals.
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Once you have a draft of your agenda, it is a good idea to ask the participants of the planned meeting if they have any items to add to the agenda.
4. What goes into an agenda?
An agenda begins with information about the date, time, and location of the meeting, as well as with information about the members who are
expected to attend. In addition, an agenda may include information about material that members should prepare and bring.
After the above, list items in the order in which they will be raised. Indicate, too, who will facilitate the discussion and the approximate time allotted to each stage of the meeting.
Below is information generally found in agendas, in an order that is typical for this organizational tool.
• Headings: a title for the meeting, its date and location, and attendees
• Call to order: welcome and general announcements.
• Review of old business: status reports and updates and action on items left unfinished from previous meetings
• Purpose: reasons and goals for the meeting
• New business: additional items to be discussed and acted upon in order of importance, with the most important item
listed first
• Other issues: time set aside for participants to raise issues or concerns not on the agenda.
• Closing: summary of the meeting (including recap of decisions, assignment of tasks, and establishment of deadlines) and
confirmation of next meeting
5. When should an agenda be made available to my group?
An agenda should be available at least 24 hours in advance of a scheduled group meeting. That lead of at least 24 hours allows participants time
to reflect on discussion topics and to prepare, including completing any necessary research.
Agendas may be sent via e-mail as attachments. Avoid copying and pasting into an e-mail message because the agenda formatting may be corrupted. Be certain to include a relevant title in the subject line so that your group members do not inadvertently overlook the message.
6. What are minutes?
Minutes are a tool for summarizing what takes place during a meeting. They provide a detailed record of discussions and decisions. Frequently
they are organized in outline form, with Arabic or Roman numerals assigned to each heading.
Generally, one person during each meeting is responsible for keeping minutes or taking careful notes about what was discussed and decided.
7. Why are minutes useful?
Minutes are important because they serve as a summary of what happened for those who were at the meeting as well as for those who may have
been unable to attend.
If someone does not remember what they were assigned to do or the deadline for its completion, they should refer to the minutes for that information.
Similarly, someone who misses a meeting must review the minutes to learn whether she has been assigned to complete a task. For a group member who misses a meeting, reviewing the minutes is a MUST. She should not expect those in attendance to fill her in on what happened at the
meeting—that is what minutes are for.
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8. How do I keep minutes?
Typically, the person taking minutes captures the following information, usually in the order listed below.
• Records the date and time of the meeting at the top of the page
• Lists members present and members absent
• Follows along the agenda by (1) making notes about discussions under each agenda item and (2) by recording
information about decisions or about the need for follow-up
• Labels as action items any tasks that have been assigned to group members, as well as including the completion date
• Includes the date, time, and location of the next meeting
9. When should minutes be sent out?
Distribute minutes within 24 hours after a meeting has taken place. The minutes serve as a detailed record of the meeting and will inform everyone, whether they were present or absent, of what was discussed, how long the discussion took, what was decided, and what was assigned.