Biol 336- Integrative
Animal Biology - Spring 2006
Instructor: Chris Gillen
310 Higley Hall
PBX 5399
email: GILLENC
last update -
March 20, 2006 12:24 PM
please send corrections, comments to gillenc@kenyon.edu
How to make persuasive arguments in weekly reading assignments
and essays
- Establish a claim. The objective here is to develop something new
(meaning not directly contained in the reading) and interesting to
say about the material. For weekly readings, the first step is to read
carefully and critically. Look for comparisons, contrasts, connections,
principles, key sentences, and controversies. Then, try to develop one interesting
point to make about your topic. In some cases, you may find that you need
to actually start writing about the material to begin to focus on a claim
- this is fine as long as you recognize that such writing is preliminary and
will need to be revised once a claim emerges. For short and long essays, the
same guidelines apply, although some external sources will need to be read
before developing a claim. It is not a good idea to form a claim and then
to try to seek sources to support it; rather your claims should emerge from
your readings.
- Support the claim with evidence. Several types of evidence can be
used to support your claim, including research findings, specific examples,
logic, and reasoning. In the WR assignments, you may only have the space to
cite one piece of evidence. In the short and long essays, you should be shooting
for at least two and probably no more than five separate lines of evidence.
It is important that you explicitly show how the evidence supports your
claim. Don't ask the reader to make the connection independently. Providing
sufficient detail is essential to linking your evidence to the claim.
It enables reader to follow the argument and it establishes your credibility.
Simple appeals to authority are insufficient - it is not enough to
state a conclusion and cite a source. Where possible, counterarguments
should be considered. When there is contradictory evidence or other possible
interpretations of the evidence, these should be discussed.
- Organize your essay. The assignments in this course ask you to make
an argument in a short essay. To be effective, you'll need to carefully organize
your thoughts. Generally, it is best to make the claim early in the essay
and then follow with the evidence. Surprise endings work better in
mystery novels than in scientific writing. In revising your work, ask yourself
whether each sentence or paragraph is focused on making your argument. If
it is peripheral to the argument, it might be omitted. Also, don't use
considerable space summarizing material from the reading - you can assume
your audience has read and understood the course readings.
Sources (some of these may only be available from within
the Kenyon network):
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