English II—September 28, 2015

• Daily Warm-up: What are some issues of injustice that you’ve encountered in your life or have seen others encounter? Explain.

• Homework: – Cultural Narrative due tonight at 11:59.– Study for Lesson 9 Vocabulary Quiz on Friday.– Reading Plus due Sunday at 11:59.

English II—Lesson #9 Vocabulary

• pestilent—adj. destructive to life; deadly• stagnation—n. a failure to progress, develop, or

advance.• disdain—n. the feeling that someone or

something is unworthy of one’s consideration or respect; contempt.

• pervade—v. to spread throughout• impetuous—adj. acting or done quickly without

thought or care

English II—Lesson #9 Vocabulary

• flaunt—v. display (something) ostentatiously, especially in order to provoke envy or admiration or to show defiance

• sedate—adj. calm, dignified, unhurried• curtail—v. reduce in extent or quantity; impose a

restriction on• solace—n. comfort or consolation in a time of distress

or sadness• alluring—adj. powerfully and mysteriously attractive or

fascinating; seductive

Unit 2 Embedded Assessment 2—Creating an Argument

• Your assignment is to develop an argument about an issue that resonates across cultures. You will choose a position, target audience, and effective genre to convey your argument to a wide audience.

• Skills and Knowledge– Research to support a claim.– Create an organization that shows a clear relationship

among claim, counterclaim, reasons, and evidence.– Include transitional words, phrases, and clauses to

clarify and connect ideas.– Establish and maintain a formal style.

Rubric—Exemplary

Scoring Criteria

Exemplary

Ideas The argument skillfully presents a claim and provides background and a clear explanation of the issue; synthesizes evidence from a variety of sources that strongly support the claim; summarizes and refutes counterclaims with relevant reasoning and clear evidence; concludes by clearly summarizing the main points and reinforcing the claim

Structure The argument follows a logical progression of ideas that establish relationships between the essential elements of hook, claim, evidence, counterclaims, and conclusion; links main points with effective transitions that establish coherence

Language Use

The argument uses a formal style and tone appropriate to the audience and purpose; smoothly integrates textual evidence from multiple sources, with correct citations; shows excellent command of standard English capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, and usage.

Building Blocks of an Effective Argument

Introduction and Claim: an opening that grabs the reader’s attention (hook) while informing the reader of the claim, which is a clear straightforward statement of the writer’s belief about the topic of the argument.

Supporting Paragraphs: the reasons offered in support of a claim, supported by different types of evidence.

Concession and/or Refutation: restatements of valid counterclaims made by the opposing side (concessions) or the writer’s arguments against those opposing viewpoints (refutations), explaining why the writer’s position is more valid.Conclusion/Call to Action: closing statements restating the major arguments in defense of a thesis (the claim) with a final challenge to the reader to take action.

3 Major Purposes for an Argument:

❖To change a reader’s or listener’s point of view❖To ask the reader or listener to take action❖To gain acceptance for the writer’s ideas

about a problem or issue

Rhetorical TriangleWhen crafting an ARGUMENT, writers must strike a balance between the three rhetorical appeals. To sway readers, writers must: 1. Present a logical

argument 2. Establish their own

credibility.3. Show readers why

they should care about the issue or concept

The rhetorical appeals help writers accomplish these goals.

Logos• Offers debatable thesis statement• Presents logical organization• Provides detail and development• Establishes evidence and supportPathos • Appeals to shared values of audience• Draws on strong imagery to appeal

to emotions• Avoids manipulative use of

emotional referencesEthos • Establishes credibility through logical

and reasonable support, evidence, and research

• Presents and fairly refutes at least one opposing argument

• Maintains a reasonable tone• Incorporates credible and reliable

scholarly sources• Indicates where source information

begins and ends in the text• Avoids inflammatory language and

logical fallacies

Pathos: Audience—What values, beliefs, and emotions

are appealed to within the text? How does the text evoke

the audience’s feelings?

Ethos: Speaker—What perception of the speaker is

created within the text? How does the text evoke the

audience’s trust?

Logos: Text—What information,

evidence, and logical reasoning are

offered within the text?

Types of Evidence• Facts & Statistics - Numbers from surveys, studies, or

observation, as well as pieces of commonly accepted information

• Analogy – Comparison between two things to support conclusions about one based on similarities to another

• Personal Experience/Anecdote - True story that describes a person’s experience relative to the topic

• Illustrative Example - Description of a specific example to support the validity of a generalization

• Expert/Personal Testimony - Use of a person’s words to support a claim, whether the person is like the audience or an expert

• Hypothetical Case - Use of a possible scenario to challenge the audience to consider the claim

Types of Evidence—Examples Analogy—My neighbor's house and my house are both ranch homes with two

bathrooms. They probably both use copper plumbing.

Facts and Statistics—Over 75% of the murder victims in cases resulting in an execution were white, even though nationally only 50% of murder victims generally are white.

Hypothetical Case—What if a prisoner who was wrongly accused was put on death row?

Illustrative Example—To thwack a child over the head because he does not get his lesson is about as wise as it would be to rap a watch with a hammer because it does not keep good time.

Personal Experience/Anecdote—When I dropped out of college, it wasn’t the popular decision. Many criticized me saying that I, “gave up on what could have changed my life.” Today, I make 150,000 a year and I never have to answer to anyone but myself.

Expert/Personal Testimony—Dr. John Smith believes that Crest toothpaste is better at fighting cavities than Colgate.

Arguing for Justice• An argument usually focuses on a topic of interest to many

people. The topic may be one with many different sides, or it may be one with two sides: for and against. In this last part of the unit, you will explore issues of justice as an example of a topic on which people take definite positions.

• Societies create systems of justice to maintain order by establishing rules and laws that reasonable people understand and abide by. Even in well-organized systems, though, there are differences of opinion about what is just, what is fair, and what is right. Instances of injustice often provoke strong emotional reactions that give rise to conflicts. Examining important social issues relating to justice demands that you examine multiple perspectives and evaluate arguments for all sides of an issue.

Think about the following terms and write associations you have with them.

Term What words come to mind when you see or hear these terms?

What has influenced your opinion of these terms?

justice, justice system

laws, rules, codes, constitutionjudge, jury, lawyers, witnesses

prosecutor, defendant, victimethics, morality

punishment, rehabilitation

Issues of Injustice—Social justice—is it still relevant in the 21st century?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtroop739uU• As you watch take notes on:

– The claim– Support for the claim– Evidence to support the claim and types of evidence– Any counterclaims and whether he refutes them or

concedes to the counterclaim– Call to action

• Who do you think is the target audience for this piece? What evidence suggests it is for this audience?