Types of Argument and Critical Analysis Workshop

  1. Read the short article entitled "Minnesota doctors condemn drivers' use of cell phones" on the bottom of the front page of the newspaper.
  2. Group analysis: In your group, discuss the proposition and the support given for the proposition. Identify how many different kinds of arguments are presented and what they are, e.g. argument from example, argument from statistics, etc.

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  3. What is the range of different opinions expressed in the article about what should be done?

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  4. What range of possible opinions on this issue are not described in the article?

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  5. If you were going to argue in a letter to the editor in favor of the overall benefits to the general public health of having and using cell phones in cars, how would you argue for it? What examples or statistics might you cite?

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  6. Read the Letter to the Editor entitled "Nader's worth it" by Bree Dalager, president, University Green Party on the Editorials page (p.8).
  7. In your group, identify the proposition, the support for the proposition, and identify the different types of arguments and support presented as to why Bree Dalager thinks you should vote for Ralph Nader.

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  8. How good is the support or specific evidence for each of the sentences in the piece? Is each sentence true?

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  9. Do you agree with the writer's proposition? What, if anything, do you find persuasive? What, if anything, do you not find persuasive?

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  10. Read the Opinion column entitled "Microsoft's global language: Beta version 1.0" at the bottom of page 7.
  11. What is the proposition? How would you characterize the evidence and support given for the proposition and what kind of arguments are made by the columnist? What is the author appealing to here?

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  12. Do the statements and arguments about Bill Gates seem fair and logically related to the overall topic? Did Bill Gates ever say "Welcome to the Internet: Now speak English?" Is that an exact quote? Do you think Bill Gates wants to exclude billions of potential customers from the Internet? Do you think Bill Gates wants to cut off most of Asia from "the language of the Internet?"

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  13. What, if any support is given for the proposition that "Gates' word is law" and that "until that voice recognition translator is created (which Gates predicts being more than a decade away from development), half the world will be left out in the cold . . ." (Is a machine translator or a voice translator available now? What do you think the people in China do online today?)

14. If you were to write a Letter to the Editor in response to this article what would you argue?

 

  1. Read the article by the Editorial Writers of the Minnesota Daily entitled "A Frenchman's Deeper Purpose" about the Frenchman who dismantled a McDonald's as a protest against "McDomination" of the world (p. 6).
  2. What explicit values are the editors appealing to with their argument? Why do you think the editors chose this incident for an editorial in a Minnesota student newspaper?

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  3. What specifically triggered the act of vandalism by the French farmer?