This week’s reading, Understanding
Rhetoric and They Say, I Say,
were meant to help us better understand what goes into developing a thesis
statement and how to most effectively argue this thesis using relevant
arguments. Understanding Rhetoric is
always a great, informative read and this chapter was no exception. I always
appreciate how the information is relevant in more than just one way. “Arguable
Assertions” went into why arguments are necessary for explaining something, and
how treating them more like conversations will help your core argument as a
whole. By forming a thesis based off of
evidence (or grounds) and covering both sides of the argument, our arguments
will seem more credible and help the readers understand where our argument
comes from. The ‘what, how, who, why’ section explained how our evidence should
be in some way answering these questions. The evidence is very important—considering
it serves as the basis for the argument—but also very important is connecting
the dots between the argument and the evidence gathered, so the reader gains a
better understanding of why the evidence supports the thesis.
I found They Say, I
Say super helpful in attempting to form my thesis statements and supporting
evidence, as well as gaining an understanding of how to answer ‘who cares?’ and
‘why does this matter?’ in the paper. I didn’t fully realize how important it
is to establish to the reader why they should care until I read this reading! I
also love how they included the section with fill-in-the-blank templates to
understand how easy it is to give this important information.
I definitely understand why Zack has said from the beginning
to do the readings BEFORE the assignment for the week, and I’m glad he gives us
readings that are actually relevant to what we’re doing! Now, off to go work on those thesis
statements…
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