counter-arguments

Examples of counter-arguments in the following topics:

• Introducing Quotations

  • Instead, strategic use of quotations can be a way to provide clarity to your position and increase the argumentative strength of your paper.
  • Quotations can also be introduced in order to present a counter-argument.
  • However, engaging with a counter-argument demonstrates to your reader that your research was not limited to positions that confirmed what you already thought.
  • " Additionally, a counter-argument can be an opportunity for you to begin transitioning into the body of your argument by first showing why you think the counter-argument is incorrect.
  • For example, early in your paper is best for introducing a quotation that contains a counter-argument in order to articulate how it is problematic and how your position addresses this important problem.

• Step 3: Outlining

  • You'll be able to see whether you have enough evidence to support a given claim, whether your claims support your larger thesis, how to link your arguments and counter-arguments, and what order of presented evidence feels most powerful.
  • Does it make more sense to do it early on to preempt audience objections, or would you be better off building up your argument before addressing any counter-arguments?
  • Looking at your outline board, come up with counter-arguments and questions for each claim.
  • Make it your goal to address these questions and counter-arguments sufficiently in your essay.
  • Once you have the elements of your argument, you need to connect them together in an outline, forming the skeleton of an argument that makes sense.

• Psychology and the Scientific Method

  • Critical thinking can be thought of as an equation: Argument = Reason + Conclusion.
  • In other words, a logical argument needs a specific reason and a valid conclusion in order to be considered scientific.
  • Other aspects of critical thinking include assumptions, principals, and counter arguments.
  • Counter arguments are statements that counter another person's statement or argument.

• Introduction to the Thesis Statement

  • You want the reader to be drawn in immediately to the heart of the argument.
  • (This is a debating technique that allows the debater to skillfully parry any counter-argument.)
  • Including counter-arguments in your paper is a technique we'll discuss in the drafting section.
  • Make a list of the strongest arguments for and against your thesis statement.

• Step 4: Drafting

  • You have your thesis and all of the points of argument and counter-argument mapped out, along with their supporting evidence.
  • Each point of argument or counter-argument will have a paragraph of its own.
  • Let your topic and style of argument guide your method of introduction: A controversial topic that includes strong parries with counter-arguments might best be introduced by a provocative statement.
  • Whether you start off with your strongest point or a counter-argument, or you reel your reader in slowly, your body paragraphs will each have the following elements:
  • Paragraphs that articulate a counter-argument need to refute it: Perhaps it goes without saying, but if you're going to bring up a counter-argument (and this is an excellent strategy), you need to acknowledge it and then give the reasons it does not lead to the conclusion its proponents espouse.

• Deciphering an Argument You're Reading

  • Within the body, an author may also suddenly take up a contrary position in order to demonstrate why his or her argument is more accurate than the former.
  • If in the course of reading a text, you suddenly find yourself lost or confused, stop reading and go back to the last place in it where you could still follow the author's argument.
  • Some scholarly articles are particularly arduous and require slow, repetitive reading to understand the argument of the author.
  • What can often happen in particularly dense or difficult articles is that authors do not signal to readers that they are transitioning into an engagement with counter-arguments, so suddenly it seems as though authors are arguing for the opposite of their thesis.
  • In many scholarly articles, as it should be within your own work, authors will not introduce a quote into a text unless they feel it provides something important to their larger argument.

• Limits and Continuity

  • A study of limits and continuity in multivariable calculus yields counter-intuitive results not demonstrated by single-variable functions.
  • A study of limits and continuity in multivariable calculus yields many counter-intuitive results not demonstrated by single-variable functions .
  • Continuity in each argument does not imply multivariate continuity.
  • However, continuity in multivariable functions yields many counter-intuitive results.
  • Describe the relationship between the multivariate continuity and the continuity in each argument

• Antithesis

  • Antithesis is a counter-proposition that denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition.
  • By explaining a concept, idea or argument with its opposite, you give your audience a 360 degree understanding of your point.
  • Antithesis is a great way to lead into exactly how you want to portray an idea or argument.
  • Antithesis makes for a great way to set up your argument or idea by showing your audience the opposite.
  • From there, you can then specifically tailor your argument to fill the void left when describing its opposite.

• The Proslavery Argument

  • From the late 1830s through the early 1860s, the pro-slavery argument was at its strongest, in part due to the increasing visibility of the small but vocal abolitionist movement, and in part due to Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831. 
  • Among those most famous for propagating the pro-slavery argument were James Henry Hammond, John C.
  • The famous Mudsill Speech (1858) of James Henry Hammond, depicted in , articulated the pro-slavery political argument when the ideology was at its most mature.
  • In this view, any efforts toward class or racial equality ran counter to this theory and therefore ran counter to civilization itself.
  • These arguments asserted the rights of the propertied elite against what were perceived to be threats from abolitionists, lower classes, and non-whites to gain higher standards of living.

• Types of Supporting Materials

  • Scientific evidence is evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis.
  • Personal experience is useful for emotional appeals, but is not always good for more scientific arguments.
  • Statistics are a type of scientific evidence that can bolster arguments.