Writing Homework Help

HCCC The Basics of An Argument and How to Make It Believable Discussion

 

I don’t know how to handle this English question and need guidance.

1-Looking back and reassessing the first argument I discussed for this class, wherein I tried to convince my cousin to take the COVID-19 vaccine, I think I did well at building up a reasonable and convincing argument; however, I could hone some of my argumentative tactics on reflection. First though, I would like to establish what I did well. I made sure to not simply insist on her taking the vaccine, and had a measured and researched approach to the issue, which was effective since it did not allow her to simply negate what I said, and instead encouraged her to engage thoughtfully with the evidence and research I presented. What I also did quite well is take into account my audience (in this case singular audience member) and her political leanings to show her evidence from varied sources that incorporated perspectives from all sides of the political spectrum, especially the right-leaning sources that she trusted.

That said, even though it succeeded at persuasion, perhaps appealing to her biases may not have been the most careful tactic. Rather than indulge in her biases and use sources from her political side to convince her, I could have focused instead on third-party apolitical sources. Of course, I did have these medical sources; however, I should have emphasized them more and used this as an opportunity to illustrate the shortcomings of politicizing the vaccine instead of indulging in said politics. I also think I could have further appealed to emotion. While I did assert that her not taking the vaccine would harm her ability to visit her extended family, I should have also emphasized the fact that she would be endangering the people around her, including her family, were she to not take the vaccine. I had chosen to displace her fear of the side-effects with objective evidence that logically addressed the fears; however, I could use the aforementioned point to appeal to a more genuine and grounded fear of potentially endangering one’s family by refusing to take the vaccine. Moreover, I think argumentative tactics such as anecdotes and analogies would have helped contextualize my evidence-based reasoning in something more accessible, furthering my argument’s persuasive ability. Overall, I made a good argument but I could have refined it even further.

2- Looking back at my initial argument, I was saying that social media is not appropriate for kids under the age of 14 years of age but after doing my research, social media is actually not appropriate for teenagers at all. At first, I was writing the paper based on my thoughts and experiences. After researching, I’ve learned that the effects of social media on teenagers is shocking and actually scary. With all the information I have gathered, I think my argument will be even more stronger because it will include statistics along with my personal experiences with my daughter.