Class Minutes 9/12

Here's the class minutes from Friday, September 12

He opened up the class by telling us that we will be working on are college essays soon. Then he said that if you have anything you're working on outside of class to bring it in if you want him to look it over for you. He will critcize your work if it is not good, so for you sensitive people out there don't forget your tissues.

We also continued the notes for the Toulman Model of Argument. He went over Grounds and the common types of support for your argument which are Facts, Opinions, and Examples. Facts are vivid, identifiable and verifiable information, of more or less objective nature. Kinds of facts are detailed reports of specific events, statistics, physical evidence and experimental results. Opinions are interpretations or reasoning of relevant factual information. Examples are illustrations of facts and opinions.

Then he started talking about referring an external, verifiable source, the arguer presents factual info in support of basic contention. Next he said that opinions do have a role in arguments, they give interpretations about facts. Where you use your opinion depends on where you are in the argument. He then said nothing stays a fact and nothing is a 100% all the time. Facts and opinions change all the time and opinions can't exist without facts. Finally he said that opinion has to be relied upon, the true challenge is choosing between the valid and invalid opinions. You can't just listen to just any opinion.
-Jimmy Rhoads