The Counter Claim

The Counter Claim: The counter claim is the acknowledgment of another side of the argument, which every well done argument must address. To acknowledge another side of an argument allows you to further your own point-of-view by refuting (proving wrong) the counter claim with your own, rephrased argument. Let's look at "Slip or Trip?" again:

• There are those who will say that not letting go of a glass is not evidence enough to doubt Queenie's claim that Arthur fell to his death; after all, he was intoxicated. It could be that he was simply too drunk to react to falling in the expected manner of a sober person and somehow, in his fall, held onto the glass. While it is true that gross motor reflexes are slower when an individual is drunk, self-preservation is a deeply instinctive behavior that would not be guaranteed to be over-ridden by intoxication. Simply put, Arthur was not rendered unconscious by his drinking, which instance would be the only one in which reactive behaviors would absolutely not occur. Therefore, Arthur may have been slow to react, but, slow or not, he still would have automatically used his hands to thwart his fall, which would cause him to let go of the glass. The evidence shows, unquestioningly, that the glass in Arthur's hand has been staged, which staging shows Queenie is lying about certain aspects of Arthur's death.

• Light Blue = counter claim
• Purple = refute
• Red = commentary

NOTE: When you write your refute, keep in mind that you are rephrasing the entirety of your argument. In the example I give you, only one aspect of the argument is rephrased because I only gave you one body paragraph as an example. 

Homework for 3/14/2016

Hello! Monday is going to be a combination of Book Read Monday and a discussion of the evidence/warrants/conclusion worksheet for "The Lunchroom Murder." We will also be looking at the warrants you developed for your Hamlet essay evidence containing body paragraphs. Make sure your paragraphs contain all the required elements. In other words, refer to the evidence containing body paragraphs post to make sure you have all that you need.

DO NOT COME TO CLASS UNPREPARED! You will lose preparation points that cannot be made-up. So, bring to class the following:

• The worksheet
• PRINTED copies of your paragraphs, with each paragraph on a separate piece of full paper (keep the other copies of the body paragraphs as we will be making comparisons) 

Homework for 3/10/16 and Information on EVIDENCE CONTAINING Body Paragraphs

Hello! Here is some further explanation of a EVIDENCE CONTAINING body paragraph (there are body paragraphs that are explanatory, which do not contain evidence). Your homework assignment is located at the end of the post.

Since the evidence based body paragraphs are where the meat of the argument is contained, it must include several elements:

• A Sub-claim (or reasons): The sub-claim relates to your claim statement (main claim) and clues me, the reader, into what I am about to read in the paragraph. The sub-claim is located within the first few sentences of the paragraph.
• Here is an example:
• MAIN CLAIM (which would be located in the intro paragraph): Brownies are the best dessert for aiding student learning.
• SUB-CLAIM (which would be located in the introductory paragraph): Human beings are built physiologically to need the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is related to "feeling good" and, interestingly enough, learning. Brownies, by the very nature of one of its main ingredients, chocolate, aids in the release of the neurotransmitter that helps us all learn.
• The blue is the transition leading up to the sub-claim, and the green is the actual sub-claim.
• Notice how my sub-claim references the main claim by mentioning "brownies" and "learning." The sub-claim of every body paragraph MUST, in someway, relate to and reference the main claim that you presented in the introductory paragraph.

Here is another example of a sub-claim along with its claim statement: I am going to reference, "Slip or Trip?". Let's work under the assumption that Queenie and Arthur are not getting along and have not been for a very long time, which discontentment threatens Queenie's financial and social status due to the inevitable divorce.

• Here is the claim statement with transition (from the introductory paragraph, if such existed): 
• Human beings are hard-wired to protect themselves against threats that portend, whether perceived or actualized, hardship or loss of a cherished lifestyle. Self-preservation is an instinct of survival. Accordingly, when someone is backed into a corner and thus must fight to get out, they will do almost anything to justify their actions and behaviors when defending what is self-determined as "rightfully mine."
• Now, here is the sub-claim that will begin the first body paragraph: 
• People are, in many ways, the same when it comes to reacting to certain circumstances. Threaten a person's way of life, their life security blanket, and you will notice that they will react with interestingly negative behaviors, such as lying. Let's begin with examining the first part of Queenie's story concerning Arthur's supposedly "accidental" death...

Again, notice in the above example how the sub-claim references the main claim statement (both in green) by discussing the idea of something threatening lifestyle security. The main claim and sub-claim are relevant to each other.

Next, after the sub-claim has been presented, comes the following elements:

• Evidence: You MUST back up everything you have to say with evidence from the text. Evidence includes direct quotes and indirect quotes, or paraphrasing. Evidence is vital to validating your argument.
• Commentary: Commentary is your analysis--YOUR voice explaining YOUR thoughts and line of reasoning (after all, this is an argumentative essay).  Commentary is needed to explain quotes (why you are pointing something out from the text), and to bring the reader along with your thinking. Your argument is only as good as your ability to explain it and validate it with evidence.  
• MAKE SURE YOU STICK WITH YOUR TOPIC.  Do not go off on a tangent.  Focus on your sub-claim and you will find your commentary will say what it needs to say.
• Warrants: You must explain why your evidence is relevant--why you are telling me, the reader, about it. Warrants are the unspoken laws or general rules that make up the human condition--the logic behind why we do what we do, or how we think.
• Transitions: 1) from one thought to another WITHIN the paragraphs, and 2) AT THE END of the paragraph for moving into the next body paragraph, whether it be evidence containing or explanatory.

Here is the rest of the evidence containing paragraph example: to help explain, I am going to give you a piece of evidence (that supports my claim that people react with "interestingly negative behaviors" when their lifestyle is threatened), with transitions, commentary, and a warrant:

• Blue = transitions, Gold = evidence, Red = commentary, Grey = warrant
• ...When Queenie's friends first come onto the scene, Arthur is peacefully lying face up at the bottom of the stairs, as if asleep; however, he is quite dead. Queenie, when she answers the door, exclaims that Arthur slipped and fell down the stairs while going to refresh his drink and that she is at a loss as to what to do. The fall, as it turns out, seemingly killed him instantly. What is interesting to note is that Arthur is still, even in death, elegantly holding his drinking glass, which fact is quite odd and unexpected. The logical expectation would be that the glass would have be found broken or shattered at the bottom of the stairs, not still held in his hand. Arthur, like any other individual, would have instinctively and reflexively let go of or thrown any object that was not of great importance in order to thwart falling down stairs by grabbing a hold of something such as the banister, or by sticking out his hands as an attempt to break his fall. The fact that Arthur is still holding the glass in death does not make sense and points to a set-up and a lying wife. Clearly, Queenie feels she has much to lose if lying is what she resorts to in a time of supposed crisis. There are other indicators that not all is right in the with Queenie's story--that lying is her modus operandi.
• Notice how I incorporated the warrant as a natural part of my writing and that the warrant is derived from an aspect of how ALL humans would react when falling down the stairs.

HOMEWORK, due on Thursday, March 10th, is to:

1. Bring your revised and final intro paragraph 
2. Bring your first two evidence containing body paragraphs

Make sure the all the paragraphs are typed and each are printed on separate pieces of paper.