Statistics and interview and evidence, oh my (this is a play on the Wizard of Oz when the main characters say "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my" in case you didn't get it). When putting together a legitimate argument with as few flaws as possible, one has to think about a laundry list of things before they even begin to gather information. What's the demographic of the audience, what evidence would appeal to them, which type of evidence would have flaws, what tone should one take, etc! It's enough to make one dizzy. Chapter 16 of Everything's an Argument drives home the fact that there are many different types of evidence that can be used to validate an argument but the type of evidence relies heavily on the kind of argument being made and the audience the argument is being presented to (Lunsford et. al 2009).
No matter what type of evidence is being analyzed in Chapter 16 of Everything's an Argument, the main point is clear: think of your audience and the point you want to make before you decide how to present evidence support your argument. Your personal observations wouldn't be valid if you're trying to make an argument about how an organization you are not a part of supports its members and gives them a stronger sense of self. Conducting interviews with the members of the organization would be a much better way to convince the audience of the argument. You may be able to gather every different type of evidence but many of those types could actually detract from your argument. For instance, I have a project to do in my linguistics class. We got to pick any topic we wanted that related to language. I chose to compare the handshapes of French Sign Language (FSL) to American Sign Language (ASL)because I knew ASL originated from FSL and I wanted to see if the languages had separated themselves in drastic ways. In order to make a case for my argument, I had to conduct interviews with people that used FSL fluently, watch movies, and analyze FSL dictionaries to gather in depth data on the language. I could make a graph showing how many signs use the different handshapes. It slightly relates to my topic but it doesn't connect enough for me to use it as evidence. Using might even turn my readers off of my paper because it's so random to bring up.
This is an fingerspelled F in FSL:
For my academic writing, the part of chapter 16 in Everything's an Argument that is most important to me is the part about secondhand evidence and research. So many of the papers I write, PowerPoint's I create and presentations I have involve gathering information from other sources. Lunsford and company provide many different ways for us to gather our secondhand information. Sometimes you can't conduct interviews with people that know what you need to know and many times being able to freely gather random information is what helps hone in on a single argument for a well thought out paper.
true, second hand evidence may be so important to some writers. I do like second evidence but sometimes i dont feel that I am engaged to second hand evidence but i feel more engaged to first hand evidence. I think both kind of evidence is good on some claims. Such like car accidents, better for first hand evidence because you can get peoples' personl experiences. But if about binge drinking, you can just check out in books or internet, second hand evidence.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I agree that secondhad evidence is important to writers. As a writer myself, I use secondhand evidence to back up my points however now that I am in the GSR102 class, I feel that I am able to use both first-hand and second-hand evidence when it applies to my writing. I have to admit, that I am appalled by the number of people who use second-hand evidence more than first-hand. Back in my high school years, I was surrounded by many students who wrote essays based on their opinion, their idea, and mind you, some of them used their "egos" to write "strong, powerful" pieces and yet, where are the facts? where are the evidence? In your head, in your thoughts? That isn't evidence, unfortunately. So to see that others out there use secondhand evidence more, I feel more at ease knowing that I am not back in Ottawa, Ontario stuck with people who were one-minded about what they believed in, or what they read.
ReplyDeletei like both firsthand and secondhand to gather evidence to make my argument. good blog though!
ReplyDeleteJust so you know, the fingerspelled letter of 'f' is the same in every european country because our 't' usually means something bad in their country. For instance, in Holland, our 't' means that one is looking for immediate sex and in Italy, the 't' literally means 'fuck you.'
ReplyDeleteI think firsthand evidence is just as critical as secondhand.
I liked how you opened this blog up with wizard of oz, that was pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteFirsthand evidence is one of facets of an argument, and like a cube, they all have equal sides and strengths. You are right about your authorization towards the research of LSF and ASL. Yeah French sign language is referred as langue des signes francaise (LSF). Anyways, that's why I believe that we, with no experiences in our areas, will have the hard time of installing evidences on our own without citing somebody. Great Blog really.
ReplyDeleteNice picture. You opened this blog with wizard of oz. That's good way to start. Keep it up.
ReplyDeletePretty good job. The example about FSL and ASL was excellent. You included a lot of personal experiences and the blog was interesting.
ReplyDeleteVery different blog from the rest, great job. This stands out.
ReplyDeleteI liked how your blog was different....esp how you started this blog with wizard of oz. that part was my favorite!!! :D
ReplyDeleteLoved how you present your opinion towards using second-hand evidence!
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