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In
module 2 you learned how to identify arguments within paragraphs. In this module
you will learn to identify arguments in essays as a whole.
For essays to practice on, I chose the section in your text on "The Morality of Abortion." I made this choice for several reasons. My first reason is that this section contains more complex and therefore harder arguments than almost anything else you will find in the topic of health care ethics. The arguments are more complex not because the issue is more difficult to understand than many other health care issues, but because there has been so much argument given on the subject. Each author builds on the work of previous writers, which makes for more complex arguments. In any case, since these arguments are complicated, you will find that if you can identify these authors' arguments, you can identify almost anyone's. My second reason is that I want to pick a topic of greatest general interest to students of this course. Almost everyone has thought about and is already familiar with the main pro and con arguments. Moreover, the topic of abortion requires less specialized background information than most topics in health care ethics.
You have a variety of clues to help you identify arguments in essays as a whole.
The title, introductory section, and conclusion will help you decide if there is a thesis defended as opposed to an issue explored, and help you identify the main thesis when it exists.
Section headings will help you identify the main structure of argument in an essay, and subheadings and paragraph topic sentences will help you identify the main structure of argument in each section.
There is a standard form most essays follow. Knowing this form will also help you identify the main lines of argument. (It will also help you write your research paper!) Most such essays consider both sides of an issue, defending one side (the thesis) and arguing against the other (the target).
You are already familiar with the techniques of discounted passages, background
information, and restatement. You will find it easy to see how these techniques
apply to whole essays. But you will also find that there is a lot of ambiguity
in most essays about the general structure of the argument. In the exercises
at the end of this module I give one interpretation (my own) of the essay's
argument structure. There are often many alternative interpretations that will
be as good as mine. The fact that you are able to see the ambiguity means you
have developed a higher level of skill at seeing arguments than many of the
authors you read! This should give you confidence when it is time to construct
your own argument in your research paper.
This module is divided into four topics. To complete this module successfully, please complete the topics in the order shown below:
Go on to Module
4: Argument Evaluation
or
Go back to Health Care Ethics
E-mail George Rudebusch at George.Rudebusch@nau.edu
or call (520) 523-7091
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