Kathryn McDermott Blog #16

     While reading chapter six of the Pearson Text I learned many things about writing a classical argument that I did not previously know. One hotspot I found read "Because controversial issues involve many different points of view, not just two, reducing an issue to pro/con positions disorts the complexity of the disagreement" (Pearson 130). This stuck out to me because I have always connected controversial issues with pro/con arguments. It seems obvious to me that each controversial issue has an argument for it, but also against it, never thinking about how there could be different views that are not so clear-cut. Another hotspot I found in chapter six is "To make your arguments as persuasive as possible, apply to your evidence what rhetorician Richard Fulkerson calls the STAR criteria (Sufficiency, Typicality, Accuracy, and Relevance), as shown in the chart on this page" (Pearson 140). I found this interesting because I have never heard this acronym before when discussing writing. I think it is a good tool to use, but as the book says, it can be hard to make all arguments fulfill all four of the criteria, but it is a good goal to strive towards in our writing.
     The next chapter, chapter seven, is about evaluating sources. I learned many things throughout this chapter about how to perform good research and validate the sources I choose to use. The first hotspot I found is "Summarize each source's argument and record useful information" (Pearson 181). This is about taking notes on research, to get the most out of what you are reading. I think it is a good idea because it will help you keep track of what information is in each article. As I continued reading I found a second hotspot about evaluating web sources. In Table 2 it says that there are five things to consider when evaluating the source: authority, objectivity or clear disclosure of advocacy, coverage, accuracy, and currency (Pearson 187). I never thought about how it is different with web sources rather than book sources but this has cleared up that websites are much harder to determine reliable or not because of all of the possibilities. Books are known to be truthful and informational, whereas with websites could be written by anyone so it is very important to check them out before using them as a source.