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Book: Essential Knowledge and Skills for Essay Writing

Chapter: Argument / Opinion Writing

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.44484

Blurb:

Unit 5 focuses on the key skills and language features that are important to argument writing. These include making measured and valid claims, choosing a debatable and interesting topic, selecting robust and reliable evidence, and referencing others’ work. Students are introduced to three popular forms of Western argument—classical/Aristotelean, Rogerian, and Toulmin—and are then given practice in constructing a Toulmin argument. In the writing tasks, the focus is on identifying/collecting the grounds (data) for a qualified claim, linking these together through warrants and backing, and countering any valid counterclaims or counterarguments through refutation and rebuttal.

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