1. Argument and Forms of Support
The rhetorical gun to the intellectual head… and other terrible metaphors

2. This is David Joliffe See, we told you! What squishy, large brain!
“Nearly everything people write represents an argument, a carefully constructed and well-supported representation of the way writers see an issue, problem, or subject.”
See, we told you! What squishy, large brain!
He is a professor of rhetoric and a bastion of information on argumentative persuasion. Just ask him!

3. When constructing an argument, a writer has a number of strategies he or she might employ to compel the audience.
Give me a $100 and I’ll give you a kiss.
Nyet! You are ugly like a mule and make stink through your lips!
Nyet! America is a country of drunken swine and foppish clowns!
Nyet! Russians are a dull and bearish race who would love a dung beetle if it wore a blond wig.
Give me a $100 because America loves me.
Give me a $100 because Russia loves me.
Give me a $100 because I am famous, fabulous, and will beat you up if you don’t.
Um… okay.
Further, an experienced rhetorician knows to include multiple forms of support to strengthen his or her case.
Strong arguments make appropriate use these strategies, selecting or discarding strategies depending on contention and audience.
Each strategy carries certain implicit strengths and weaknesses.

4. The Rhetorical Triangle
There are dozens of argumentative strategies available to a rhetorician that vary according to strength, appropriateness, and appeal.
Ethos
The
Rhetorical
Triangle
Contrasting Features
Explaining
Expert Testimony
Example
Cause and Effect
Statistics
Hypothetical Illustration
Definition/Classification
Acknowledgment and Response
Anecdote
Analogy
Pathos
Logos
For our purposes, we’ll focus on 11 forms of argumentative support that are especially appropriate for writing.

5. Explanation
Explanation is the most common form of support. The arguer simply "explains" his thinking, his reasons, his support. It may be deductive or inductive in nature. It relies heavily on facts and opinion. It appears in practically every argument.
Examples
Catherine and Heathcliff’s co-dependent behavior can be attributed to a dangerous addiction to one another.
Gatsby’s inability to love comes from his awareness that everything in his life lacks authenticity.
The doctor says my nose would stop bleeding if I could just keep my finger out of there!

6. Explanation Strengths Easiest to use Simple to check for validity
Direct
When done well, very little else is left to be said/argued
Weaknesses
Easy to over-rely on explanation
When one explanation does not work, it’s rather pointless to offer a different one.
Should not be offered as the lone form of support

7. Example
Examples are factual, specific instances that exemplify the argument or position. They do not require conjecturing or abstraction, for they do exemplify the point being made. When one uses an example he offers a model or guide which supports his argument.
Examples
Branding can be overt—like stadium renaming—or subtle, like PBR’s sponsorship of motorcross.
Novels that explore the dark side of capitalism include The Jungle, Hard Times, and American Psycho.
Tommy Boy is perhaps Chris Farley’s most oft-quoted film.

8. Examples Weaknesses Strengths
Enough examples establish an irrefutable position.
Because they are factual, their very nature is credible.
Useful for inductive analysis
Weaknesses
A single example or two proves nothing.
Examples must be unquestionably related to the position.
Examples are invalid if they are inconsistent, unreliable, or biased.

9. Statistics
Statistics refers to an argument making use of numbers or figures that are the result of careful research and analysis identifying trends or positions numerically. They quantify a position, giving a concrete perspective to what may otherwise be an abstraction.
Examples
Alexi Ramirez’s September OBP is
Inland houses have a 45% greater chance of burglary than shoreline residences.
Anyone can invent phony statistics. 14% of all people know that.

10. Statistics Weaknesses Strengths
When presented fairly and honestly, they are the most irrefutable facts.
No one can argue with a number.
Even common sense must bow to numbers.
Weaknesses
Statistics are notoriously open to manipulation, both in presentation and conclusions drawn.
Any research must be duplicatable by an objective third party.
Numbers do not supply analysis or argumentation on their own.

11. Definition/Classification
Often a position is made stronger when the issues at hand are defined or classified or even re-defined or re-classified. Such definition or classification gives the issues a new perspective and allows a fresher view of problems thereby offering new solutions.
Examples
The inner city drug crisis is best viewed as a public health issue.
The semicolon is a fulcrum, a pivot on which the full balance of the sentence is revealed.
Charlie and the Chocolate factory should be considered a 20th century revisionist look at 19th century labor abuse.

12. Definition/Classification
Strengths
Helps free issues from emotional baggage.
Many arguments fail because key terms are not defined.
Allows arguer to restructure a debate in a more positive/favorable manner.
Weaknesses
If the definition or classification is rejected, then the arguments upon which they rest must also be rejected.
All definitions or classifications must be agreed upon by all audiences, even antagonistic ones.

13. Anecdote
An anecdote is a brief story without great development that may be used to draw a conclusion relevant to an argument. It may appear as personal narrative or more as a fable. The point of the anecdote is that it leads everyone to the same conclusions.
Examples
When I was a young man, I met a girl. Dangerous and savage and full of anarchy, she snuck me into my first R-rated movie. The air tastes better when you’re waiting for the world to come crashing down around you.
This one time? At band camp?

14. Anecdote Weaknesses So short that they may oversimplify the argument.
Strengths
Tends to make abstract issues more concrete.
Provide a nice break from mere explanation, examples, and statistics.
Often emotionally engaging.
Weaknesses
So short that they may oversimplify the argument.
If they are too removed from reality, they prove nothing.
They are not “hard” evidence and should not be used alone.

15. Analogy
An analogy draws a one-to-one comparison between like situations. It makes its argument about issue B by showing how situation A works in an exactly similar manner. It relies on the assumption that the two situations, although otherwise different, do share a single point of commonalty.
Examples
Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.
His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

16. Analogy
Strengths
When the comparison is apt, analogies help an audience draw an irrefutable conclusion.
Weaknesses
Some people reject this form of argumentation due to its abstract nature.
False analogies are common and highly detrimental to an argument.

17. Contrasting Features
Contrasting features is almost exactly the opposite of analogies. It is based on showing the difference between two situations and how, therefore, the same logic cannot be applied to both and how, certainly, the same conclusions may not be drawn for both.
Examples
The two conflicts are hardly analogous due to Afghanistan’s varied topography and Iraq’s relative homogeny.
Clinton and Johnson’s impeachments are quite different; Clinton’s was related to an internal inquiry, whereas Johnson’s dealt with issues of competency.
I am not rubber, and you are not glue. Whatever you say hurts my feelings quite a bit.

18. Contrasting Features Weaknesses
Strengths
This is the most effective tool for attacking others’ analogies.
Effective for establishing the characteristics of an issue by showing what the issue is not.
Weaknesses
Primarily negative in nature; thus, it is not useful for advancing one’s own position.
Just because you’ve refuted someone’s position does not mean the remaining position is correct.

19. Expert Testimony
"Expert testimony" refers to the use of the opinions and theories of a recognized authority on a position.
Examples
The Surgeon General recommends taking two to four hours after ingesting before resuming activity.
No less an authority than John Wooden blessed the naming of UCLA’s new athletic director.
Why? Because Mrs. Derrow said so. How’s that?

20. Expert Testimony Weaknesses
Strengths
Experts cannot be ignored and add tremendous weight to an argument by establishing the position firmly.
When used with other strategies, it is almost irrefutable.
Weaknesses
Not every expert is an expert in every field.
Before this strategy can be effective, the credentials of the expert must be established and accepted by both sides.

21. Cause and Effect
A cause and effect argument establishes a causal relationship between two factors. Thus, if “A” then “B.”
Examples
Political satire leads to cynicism and disenfranchisement.
The Daily Show increases political cynicism.
Therefore, The Daily Show negatively impacts people’s views of American democracy.

22. Cause and Effect Weaknesses
Strengths
Cause and effect arguments are extremely strong and difficult to refute.
When evidence supports the relationship, it is among the most desirable strategies.
Weaknesses
False causes are common, which means that a sequential, correlative, or unrelated series of events are mistakenly categorized as causal.

23. Hypothetical Illustration
A Hypothetical Illustration is a fabrication of entirely fictitious story to exemplify a position or develop an issue. The only features added to the illustration are those relevant to the issue or position.
Examples
Imagine a country where voter registration and participation were compulsory. Democracy would improve if all participated.
Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace...

24. Hypothetical Illustration
Strengths
Can be used to achieve a variety of support when others have been relied upon too heavily.
Flexible and allow the writer to determine the rules of the scenario.
Weaknesses
The weakest of the forms of support.
Usually so contrived as to be unable to prove anything about reality.
Rely on all audiences accepting the illustration as plausible.

25. Acknowledgement and Response
Acknowledgment and response identifies potentially opposing arguments and answer them before they are made.
Examples
Come up with your own! I’m tired of giving examples!

26. Acknowledgement and Response
Strengths
An incredibly strong tactic.
Forces opponents to redesign their arguments on the fly.
When all arguments are destroyed, all that are left are your own.
Weaknesses
The writer must be certain that he does not present opposing arguments so well that he makes their case, disproving his own. D’oh!

27. Of course, the world abounds with other strategies, some appealing to emotion (pathos), others to time (kairos), others to praise (kudos).
32% of the women I date are satisfied with my wardrobe.
My mom says I’m handsome!
We should get together. I’m tremendously persuasive.
The skilled rhetorician, of course, will not rely on only one strategy to construct a cogent, persuasive argument.

28. The End!!!!