1. Week 2
Class 2

2. In Class Writing
Why does Thompson start the chapter the way he does? Why talk about a Kenyan blogger—what effect do you think he aims for? Why include the following pieces of information? Are some of these things that you can relate to and if so what else does that suggest?
“outside of essays for class, she’d never written anything for an audience” (45)
“I had zero ideas about what to say” (45)
She “revealed a witty, passionate voice, keyed perfectly to online conversation.” (45)
“After a few years, she’d built a devoted readership” (does this gloss over how hard it is to accomplish what she did?)
“I became very disciplined…knowing I had these people reading me, I was very self-conscious to build my arguments, back up what I wanted to say….I got this sense of obligation.” (46)
Publishers took notice of her work and asked her to write a book. She turned them down. She was terrified. A documentary team insists on covering her, and shows her how much she has written – two telephone books. She is shocked. (46)

3. Charting Group Work
For this exercise, we will be looking at the second of two op-eds by Kristof both address gun control.
Previously, we worked with “Do We Have the Courage to Stop This?”
It was written the day after the Sandyhook tragedy.
This text is a call to action which assumes the time is ripe for changes in gun regulations.
It is angry, outraged, and somewhat dismissive of opposing views.
The text received many comments and a lot of pushback from readers.  
The second text is “Some Inconvenient Gun Facts for Liberals”
This op-ed changes direction. Kristof has perhaps changed his stance and strategy in response to his reader’s arguments/comments, and to the changed context (no political movement after Sandyhook).
One can see a shift in strategy from preaching to the choir, and shaming, to finding middle ground and compromise, and acknowledging weaknesses in “liberal” claims.
He also explores the rhetoric of the debate and how liberals ought to communicate in order to be more persuasive.

4. Charting Group Work First, let’s chart paragraph 1 as class.
FOR those of us who argue in favor of gun safety laws, there are a few inconvenient facts.
We liberals are sometimes glib about equating guns and danger.
In fact, it’s complicated: The number of guns in America has increased by more than 50 percent since 1993, and in that same period the gun homicide rate in the United States has dropped by half.

5. Charting Group Work Next, let’s chart paragraph 2 as class.
Then there are the policies that liberals fought for, starting with the assault weapons ban.
A 113-page study found no clear indication that it reduced shooting deaths for the 10 years it was in effect.
That’s because the ban was poorly drafted, and because even before the ban, assault weapons accounted for only 2 percent of guns used in crimes.

6. Charting Group Work
Now, lets get into groups of 5 and chart the remainder of the article.
Group 1: Paragraph 3-4 (up to the first half of paragraph 4)
Group 2: Paragraph 4-5 (from the second half of paragraph 4)
Group 3: Paragraphs 6-7
Group 4: Paragraph 8-9
Group 5: Paragraph 10-11

7. Identifying Claims
A good rule of thumb is to look for the following cues:
Question/answer patterns. For example, Kristof begins his text by asking “Why can’t we regulate guns as seriously as we do cars?” His “answer” is that we can and should regulate guns as seriously as we do cars, and this is also his main claim.
Problem/solution patterns. Some authors will structure their argument around one or more problems, and their “solutions” to these problems are often also their main claims.
Look for passages in which evidence is discussed and work backward to the claim this is intended to support.
Self-identification (“my point here is that…”)
Emphasis/repetition (“it must be stressed that…”)
Approval (“Olson makes some important and long overdue amendments to work on …”)
Metalanguage that explicitly uses the language of argument (“My argument consists of three main claims. First, that…”)
Review “beginnings and ends” – the beginning and end of the entire text, the end of the text’s introduction section, and the beginning and end of paragraphs.
Look for section heading titles that indicate major claims. Some authors help readers follow the arc of their argument by dividing their text up into sections that

8. Identifying Claims Verbs that may indicate a claim: Assert Advance
Advocate
Argue
Claim
Conclude
Contend
Establish
Maintain
Make the case
Propose
Reason
Support
Suggest
Take the position
Etc.