ESL015 Writing Lejiao Wang, Tianyu Fu, Yuan Xie Argumentation ESL015 Writing Lejiao Wang, Tianyu Fu, Yuan Xie

Warm-up Activity Have you ever paid attention to the comments on online shopping websites?

Instructions Read comment Writer’s opinion towards that product? The reasons? Are you convinced or not? Why? Instructions

1. Body Shop Mask Works like Magic! This mask is unbelievably amazing! It’s the best mask I’ve ever used! I use this with the Tea Tree Blemish Fade Night Lotion, and my acne scars reduced by 75% after just 3 times of using it! The acne and acne spots are gone in just 2-3 days!

2. Comforter It is SMELLY! It is comfortable and warm, but it has a heavy smell of duck. I can not stand it. I’m trying to find ways to get rid of that smell. I don’t know if I can return this comforter since I have washed it.

3. Basketball Shoes Comfortable and good looking but doesn’t make you a better athlete I use there shoes for softball and have really enjoyed them. They provide excellent support all around and my feet feel snug in them without much movement. There are lots of rubber contacts which make pivoting on the field easy. On top of this, they look great because you’ve gotta look good playing as well. The shoelaces may be too short for some but it’s almost perfect for me. Pebbles still get inside the shoes, but I’m sure that would happen with most shoes. If mine gets worn in a year or two, I’d look to see if I could replace them with the same model.

4. Men’s Jacket Excellent store I like it! Excellent store! Everything was as expected and I would buy them again.

Two basic patterns

Induction Inductive reasoning The most common type of reasoning From specific examples to general statement Make a inductive leap

Deduction Deductive reasoning From a general statement to a specific conclusion Works on the model of the syllogism Three parts argument Deduction

Major promise: All women are mortal. Minor promise: Jeanne is a woman. Conclusion: Jeanne is mortal.

A syllogism will fail to work if either of the premises is untrue: Major Premise: All living creature are mammal. Minor Premise: A butterfly is a living creature. Conclusion: A butterfly is a mammal. Conclusion is invalid.

Major Premise: The pineapple is a kind of fruit. Minor Premise: All the fruit grows on the tree. Conclusion: The pineapple grows on the tree.

The Declaration of Independence Ma P: When a government is despotic it should be should be abolished and a new one established. Mi P: the government of King George is despotic. C: the government of King George should be abolished and a new one established. The Declaration of Independence

Activity Students are divided into 4 groups to convince the teacher to buy/not to buy something with the Inductive and Deductive methods: Group 1: Inductive + to BUY Group 2: Deductive + to BUY Group 3:Inductive + NOT to BUY Group 4: Deductive + NOT to BUY

Each group will write their arguments on the blackboard The whole class will discuss and evaluate these arguments.