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PART 1
Reading the Text
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Chapter 1
Confronting the Text
The first step to confronting the text is actually to open the book or click on your e-book file. For some this is a tough measure, but you cannot begin to confront a text that you do not engage with. From that moment onward, you must pay heed. Reading is not all that easy. This chapter will be a primer on how to confront and engage the text. I will give acknowledgment of various learning styles and how they might best be accommodated.
The second step is to read your given selection from beginning to end without stopping (presuming that the argumentative selection assigned is 30 pages or less). The reason shorter passages work better is that reading argumentative texts is very difficult and involves multiple readings. When assigning an entire book to read, I try to break it up into chapters that are more manageable. If a student has a 30-page assignment for class and has to read it four or five times, then it’s really a 120- to 150-page assignment. Since argumentative texts require a high comprehension level, reading them in smaller chunks at a time is more manageable. (This is doubly true for students reading a text that is not their first language.)
The third step is to ascertain what the general point is and where the text might be parsed into sections for analysis. If you read with a pencil, you can make the markings in your text. (Most e-book readers have a way to mark text in an analogous way.) If you are an auditory learner, then you might consider dictating to yourself the principal divisions in the text. At the end of the third step, you should have some general ideas about what the text is arguing and how it is structured. This generally takes at least two readings.
The fourth and final step in the reading phase is to uncover the point of contention (conclusion) and the premises that support it (including adding suppressed premises necessary to make the argument complete). More discussion of the formal reconstruction of the argument will be presented in the next part of the book. Here we are concerned with detecting where the conclusion and supporting arguments are. When confronting texts, beginners often have problems identifying the conclusion and its supporting material. Here are some suggestions based upon learning style:
- For traditional learning styles, try underlining, highlighting, or annotating the text, so that you might better interact with it to ascertain its principal meaning and how the point of contention is supported.
- For students who are more social learners, you might consider forming a study group to go over this fourth step in a social setting (with peer interaction).
What follows are practical suggestions for overcoming difficulties you may be faced with when confronting the text.
Identifying Conclusions and Premises
The most common problem in reconstructing arguments in the form of a logical outline is determining just what a premise is and what a conclusion is. Often the text appears opaque and you have to struggle to find its structure. As mentioned earlier, you must first discover the conclusion. The best way to do this is by becoming sensitive to the thematic context: Ask yourself key questions after reading a passage, such as “why did the author write this? What was the author’s intention? What was the author trying to prove?”
If these questions do not point you to something immediately, then try the following two tricks:
- Pretend you are a reporter writing a story on the author’s ideas. What would make a good headline for your feature?
- Pretend you are an attorney in a trial. The author is the opposing attorney and is making a case before the jury. You must discover the main point of the opposing argument so you can respond.
Those of you in study groups can set yourselves into dramatic situations (such as a courtroom drama within the study group) to try to make this clearer. I have also had students who were very artistically visual and who were able to sketch pictures of the argument’s conclusion and the support of the same. One student drew me a picture of a rose garden with the rosebuds being the conclusion, and the stems, leaves, and soil being various aspects of the argument’s support. The parts of the sketch were then annotated with sentences or sentence fragments that translated back to the original text.
These questions and imaginary situations are merely devices to help the reader become sensitive to the thematic context. This context, including what comes before and after, can place you in the proper interpretive position to ascertain with confidence the point of contention.
From the thematic context the conclusion should readily become clear. It is the point of the passage. Once the point has been determined, you can ask questions such as “how is this point being supported? What is the proof?” The answers to these questions should supply the premises of the argument, providing the reasons for accepting the point of the passage.
All of the above suggestions merely represent ways to get at the main point of an argument and its accompanying support. The reader is encouraged to think of other methods that might work with her/his/their particular learning style. Try these out in the exercises that follow this section of the chapter.
In short, the following method is preferred.
Thematic Context—Plan A
- The point of the passage = conclusion
- Reasons for accepting the point of the passage = premises
Word Clues—Plan B
If you are still baffled by a passage, then you may want to see if any verbal clues exist. Verbal clues are key words that often signify conclusions or premises. These words are signals that can be useful when all else fails. For example, the following box gives examples of words and phrases that are often used to indicate a conclusion.
Word Clues for Conclusion
therefore, hence, thus, consequently, so, it follows that, it must be that, we may infer that, necessarily, now we can see that, it is now evident that, shows that, indicates that, proves that, entails that, implies that, establishes that, allows us to believe that
What follows these words is generally a conclusion. If these words occur near the beginning or end of a paragraph, it is likely that you have reached the conclusion of the argument contained within the entire paragraph. (Of course, some arguments continue for several paragraphs or pages.)
Word Clues for Premises
The following words and phrases generally signify the presence of a premise:
because, so, since, in order to, for the reason that, for, assuming that, is shown by, is indicated by, is proven by, is entailed by, is implied by, is established by, in that, due to the fact that, given that, may be concluded from, inasmuch as
What follows these words is generally a premise or a group of premises.
Word Clues for Both
The word so can tip off either a conclusion or a premise depending on how it is used, as in the following:
“So” as premise indicator: We’ll buy eggs today so we don’t have to go the store tomorrow, which is a holiday.
“So” as a conclusion indicator: It is raining. We hate getting wet, so let’s take an umbrella.
Mixed Mode—Plan C
In many passages the thematic context is not clear but there are no verbal clues from the list. What do you do then? Resort to Plan C.
One final way to determine the argumentative structure when the first two plans fail is to engage in calculated guessing by trying to insert words from the two word clue groups at the appropriate spot in the text (before the suspected conclusion or premise). Does the result make sense? If it does, then it is very likely that you have uncovered the argumentative structure of the text. Your hypothesis is either confirmed or disconfirmed.
For example, consider this passage:
Maggie became skinny. She had suffered an emotional loss over the death of her father, and food no longer tasted good to her.
Guess at the conclusion: Maggie became skinny.
Confirmation with word clues: “Because” after the conclusion should indicate premises.
Thus, Maggie became skinny because she had suffered an emotional loss over the death of her father and, as a result, food no longer tasted good.
The new paragraph makes sense and, therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed.
Resulting outline:
- Maggie suffered an emotional loss over her father’s death—(fact)
- Food no longer tasted good to Maggie—(fact)
- Maggie lost weight—(1, 2)
This last approach is called the mixed mode. It is used when one cannot fully determine premises and conclusions by the thematic context method, and there are no word clues.
A summary of these three methods follows:
Plan A: Thematic Context. The point of the passage is the conclusion. The reasons for accepting the point of the passage are called the premises.
Plan B: Word Clues. These are various words and phrases that often signal the presence of premises and conclusions.
Plan C: Mixed Mode. In difficult passages in which the context does not help to positively identify premises and conclusions, and in which there are no word clues, try substituting some of the word clues in crucial sections of the text. If the sense remains the same, then the inserted words will help you identify premises and conclusions.
The first level of confronting the text is to obtain a general overview of what is in the given selection (first reading). The next level is to search for the general point of the passage and discover the point of contention that is at the heart of argumentative passages (second reading). Once one has discovered the point of contention, it is now requisite to ascertain what body of the text supports the conclusion. These reasons why constitute the premises. Let’s stop for a moment and practice these skills. Exercises
Directions: Identify the conclusion and the premises.
Group A
- China is the largest country in the world. The United States can use all the allies it can get. Thus, the United States should cultivate China’s friendship and support.
- “The road less taken” has made all the difference because I am not a man whose nature it is to follow the crowd, and the other road represents the direction that most people choose. It makes all the difference when you are true to your nature.
- Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, will be one of the top quarterbacks in NFL history, assuming that he remains as productive in the future as he has been in the past, and that the quarterback rating system is a true indicator of a quarterback’s relative talent. Up to now, Brady is near the top of the NFL’s quarterback rating system.
- Terrorists, by definition, are murderers, since they prey upon innocent civilians who are not directly involved with their dispute. People who kill innocents are murderers. Al Qaeda continues to support terrorists, and those who support a group must take some responsibility for that group’s actions. Consequently, al Qaeda’s leaders must share in the responsibility for terrorist incidents.
Group B
- Brad Pitt is a great film star. He has starred with famous talents such as Angelina Jolie and George Clooney. His films have always made money and have drawn critical acclaim. Who would deny the attraction he holds over women of all ages? These are the markings of a true star.
- High-tech expertise is the highest demonstration of human knowledge. Today, civilization has achieved a level of high-tech expertise that is unmatched in history. Truly, we are the most brilliant group of humans in history. (Declaration of a former student.)
- No one wants the world to end. But just as true, no one wants our country to be conquered by military force. Disarmament talks involve a difficult balancing act. The stakes are high but something must be done to represent both poles of opinion.
- Most of the interstate highway system has roadways that were designed to hand...
