This Chapter is extremely important. I personally believe that Evidence can make or break an argument. When evidence is used correctly they can convince an audience of your point of view. Key word is "when used CORRECTLY". Reason being, is so many people use evidence the wrong way in their speech and it can lose the audiences interests as well as make your speech less credible. 2 types of Evidence as mentioned in the book that most people lean towards using is Statistics and Testimony. Statistics is the one that most people mess up on and that I believe is the most important one to mention. On pages 109 and 110 the author explains why this happens so often when using statistics. The reason being is you want to make sure that you include enough statistics so that you can convince the audience that the argument is believable.... But at the same time if you have too much it can be percieved as low quality and can then weaken the argument. You want to be careful how much evidence is used, not too little but also not too much and that's why its tricky. The book says stick to 3 per claim. But, you also need to be how you approach those 3, Because if you use too much in a short span of time it can get confusing for the audience listening. I've had people just list off stats before and when someone does that, the audience isn't comprehending anything the speaker is saying, because its TOO MUCH all at once. Also, when it comes to statistics, you want to make sure what you are talking about it credible, current, and actually useful. Credible in the sense that whoever the stats are coming from that person or organization can be backed up as a credible source for giving those stats. Current, in the sense that if you're giving a stat from years ago, so much can change in even one year, that it makes that stat no longer relevant. Lastly, with useful, make sure that your statistic makes sense in what you're talking about. If you're talking about apples, you don't want to give stats on bananas because why does that matter. In conclusion, Statistics can be extremely helpful but only when used correctly.
Chapter five focuses primarily on identifying and developing propositions for problems that people think are relevant. It goes over 6 steps for choosing a valid proposition based on a perceived “feeling of doubt.” While all six steps may not be necessary, the collectively ensure a well thought out and firm proposition. The six steps include identifying the question, surveying implicated objectives (or understanding what is the goal accomplishment in regard to the question), searching for new information, considering alternative options, considering costs and risks of each potential proposition, and then finally choosing one of the propositions. The authors then go on to talk about analyzing and strengthening the proposition chosen. This includes identification and ranking of the issues that the proposition addresses as well as understanding how the decision makers will react to these issues and propositions. In general, with all these methods of critically analyzing the proposition, ...
Hey Brooke! I completely agree with you on this. Statistics are so important for an argument to be solid and listened to. I also agree with what you say about people just listing facts and statistics off without any other information surrounding those statistics, making it hard for people to follow what your argument is. Statistics are there to solidify your argument but they can't make your whole argument, there needs to be introduction to these statistics and background that makes sense as to why these statistics are being used as evidence. I think this is true for all types of evidence, in an argument even if your evidence is good there needs to be support for that evidence and the evidence should only be there is support, the claims that are made need to be strong in the first place for evidence to support them.
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