Chapters 9 & 10

Chapter 9: Selecting and Integrating Evidence

This chapter is about figuring out which pieces of evidence to choose for your rhetorical situation. The authors say you need to consider your audience, purpose, timeliness, and relevance.

When thinking about the audience and purpose, figure what implicit audience you have to convince and what their values are. Their values will help you choose the best evidence to persuade them and construct your argument.

Timeliness and relevance are not always in an argument but they play important roles when they are. Only involve them if it makes the argument stronger. Bring in these two types if there is evidence needed from a specific time frame.

The internet has inevitably a source for research but it makes it difficult find reliable resources and people are forced to figure out if an internet source is reliable or not. There are three specific types of online sources: static, syndicated, and dynamic. Authors of static sources may not be as credible but they want people to read their work so they can become more credible. Authors of syndicated materials want the audience to know where the information comes from and wants them to pay money to read more.  Dynamic sources are always changing due to new evidence found in that field.

Once all the evidence is found, the authors recommend making cluster maps to figure out how to section the information and figure out what's most important.

Chapter 10: Sharing the Results

The writer needs to choose an organizational strategy to support the audience and purpose. The writer must decide on a pattern of argument and determine how to organize the argument. It's possible to use multiple types of patterns in one argument.

Types of Argument Patterns:

• Evaluation - this is where people judge an object against a specific set of criteria.
• Comparison and Contrast - one specific object against another for comparing and contrasting.
• Definition - the author makes a claim about how a specific object fits in a category. 
• Proposal - proposing a plan for action that will solve a problem identified in the argument.
• Cause and Effect - demonstrates why something happened.

Types of Presentation Patterns:

• Least important evidence to most important.
• Most important evidence to least important.
• Chronological organization. (Best for Cause and Effect arguments)

After the writer decides how to organize their argument, they need to look at the introduction and conclusion. This is something that most authors work on last because these are the parts that are filled the most with pathos and ethos. In the introduction, the author needs to make sure to engage the reader and in the conclusion, call the reader to action to do something with the information provided. It's important not to simply summarize the information in the conclusion. Another technique to try with introductions and conclusions is to use framing; to start the argument with something and end on that note.

Response to these chapters:

I found chapter 10 to be more useful to me than chapter nine because I have already found majority of my research already and I'm aware of my rhetorical situation. Looking at chapter 9, my audience is anyone who is considering going vegetarian or interested in learning how to research because these are the two things I will be discussing in my next two papers so I need to make sure my evidence is set up to satisfy that. With my evidence, I need to have the most up-to-date information as possible because I am discussing a scientific topic, meaning it's dynamic.

In chapter 10, I found everything to be relevant to me. I didn't realize there were different presentation patterns I could use to show my research. For my essay, I am most like going to do a mix of proposal and cause and effect because I will explain how being a vegetarian effects the body and mind but also if it's a good idea for everyone to try this diet. I am not sure the pattern I will have the evidence displayed yet though.

The part about the introduction and conclusion was very helpful to me because I like that they have ways to write them and such. I always struggle with those parts of my arguments and I will return to this section when writing those parts for my next two papers.