english journal

As we approach our argumentative unit (our last unit), I want to you to begin to develop necessary skills to persuade your audience to consider your claim/argument/position. Although you may not realize it, you have been doing exactly this in your papers throughout this course. You have posed judgments and have provided supporting reasons to defend them; you have made claims and used visual texts as evidence to support your claims. Now I expect you to begin to think in terms of a debater, and every effective debater is not only able to consider their own position, but the opposition’s position as well. An effective debater also conducts research to inform themselves about a topic, in order to provide reasonable arguments.   For this journal I want you to be both a “believer” and a “doubter,” which means I want you to briefly argue for and against a topic. Pick one of the following topics and argue first as a “believer”, and then as a “doubter.”  Try to use facts (some research), and avoid fallacies (faulty reasoning)!  

1. Should women be allowed to play on male sports teams?