Rebuttals

The Hostile Audience and Addressing Opposition One of the most effective ways of persuading hostile readers is through addressing viewpoints that oppose your position. This doesn’t mean that you should contradict yourself. It does mean that by doing this, you can show how opposing ideas, even though they may be valid, aren’t as convincing as your own. Doing this is called rebutting your opponent’s arguments and if handled correctly, it can greatly improve your writing.

How are Rebuttals Written? A rebuttal paragraph in an essay basically has two parts. The first part simply describes your opponent’s position or objection accurately. The second part then explains why this idea isn’t as good as your idea. Consider the following rebuttal paragraph from the essay on organic food from your Quick Access book, page 89.

Example: Part 1 of the paragraph Some critics point out that organic products aren’t more nutritious than regular ones. Physician Sanjay Gupta, for example, finds the medical evidence for nutritional examples “thin” (60). The Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter also reports that the research on nutritional benefits is mixed, with one important study showing “no overall differences” (“Is Organic” 8).

Example: Part 2 of the paragraph Nutritional value, which includes qualities such as vitamins and other beneficial substances, is a different measure than food safety. At this point, it seems that nutrition alone is not a sufficient reason to buy organic foods. Perhaps future research will prove otherwise; a 2007 study, for example, showed that organically raised tomatoes have higher levels of flavonoids, nutrients that have many health benefits (Mitchell). In the meantime, however, environmental quality and, most importantly, avoiding chemicals remain convincing reasons to purchase organic food, even if the same cannot yet be claimed for nutrition.

Rebuttals: Notice how the example described the opponent’s argument and even though it was valid, still showed that the writer’s idea of buying organic food was better.

An Exercise: Take a look at your current version of your research paper. Outline the argument (thesis and reasons) that you have thus far. Pair up with a partner. Read your basic argument to your partner. Don’t stop until you have read the whole thing. Your partner should not interrupt you. As you are reading your argument, your partner should be imagining what someone who disagrees with your thesis might say and what arguments against your thesis he or she might offer. Your partner should, after you are finished, State the objections to your argument that he or she has thought up. Respond to each of these objections. When finished, switch roles.

After the Exercise: When you are finished with the exercise, choose the two best objections that you can think of that someone opposing your thesis would mention. Write each of these down on the handout. Then turn them in for feedback. When you get them back next time, we will use them to help us draft the next version of our research paper.