Toulmin's Argument

 According to the chapter titled “Analyzing Arguments: The Toulmin Method” in the textbook titled Communicating Online by Julia Green, the Toulmin method is a method of analyzing arguments by identifying the claim, their ground for such a claim, and the warrants that connect the two. The second level to this model is identifying any qualifiers to the claim that would limit its application, the quality of any evidence presented, and the rebuttals they address as well as how well these rebuttals are addressed (Green, 2017, p. 324). Every argument has a strong claim that is based on some aspect of their lived or researched experience. The warrant is the bridge between these two that explains how they are related. The qualifiers are limiting statements such as “in most cases” that limit the applicability and are used as a way to reduce the ability for rebuttals. The evidence used has to be from a reputable source and relevant in order to make a good argument. 


Below is an example of the Toulmin method being applied online. 

 


This website is a hub for research journals. This particular article uses the Toulin method to take apart students’ discussions online. This article found that using this analysis structure showed where the students in the introductory philosophy course both excelled and lacked in their argumentation skills. This skill is vital for their particular course, and so using this method is a great way for them to strengthen their argumentative skills. That is not limited to just these particular students though. Everyone who creates an argument on any side of any topic can use this to find where they are lacking. 


Green, J. M. (2017). Communicating online. McGraw Hill Education Create. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Native or Digital Immigrant?

Image
According to Marc Prensky, a “Digital Native” is anyone around the age to be in college (as of 2001) or younger. These people have grown up in the digital age where they have always had some form of technology accessible to them. They play more video games and watch more TV than they do reading books. They go to the internet as a first option when researching rather than a book or another person. They prefer to play games rather than doing actual work. A “Digital Immigrant” is someone in older generations who did not grow up with things such as the internet or computers readily available. Instead, they have had to adopt these into their lives much later and had to learn to use them after having already lived life without them. They appreciate a good book or long walks outside more than the average Joe who was born later than the ’80s.  Using the age definition, I technically fall under the classification of Digital Native. I was born the year Prensky wrote his paper. I grew up with...
Read more

Engaging in Online Meetings

Image
     If you are anything like me, you know what it's like to never pay attention when in an online meeting. They are boring and can never grab your attention. The professor of your class uses the same slide format every week and talks in the same monotone voice, so you'd rather be playing with your cat than focusing on class.      This week I listened to a podcast produced by Stanfords Graduate business school titled Quick Thinks: How to Shine Online and Excel at Virtual Communication (listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/19uW3rmMNnjcswqi5cOrNV?si=OmkqYKGLQz2RJbtf6QNZtg ). This episode was a shorter podcast, only about 8 minutes, but talked a lot about how to successfully communicate online using platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams.  At the time this episode was released, the current pandemic had been in full swing for a little over a year in the United States and everything such as school, business meetings, and every hanging...
Read more

Online Communication's Role in My Relationship

Image
This picture was taken at my boyfriend's brother's wedding. He remains very close with his family and so we go to family dinners quite often. I have not connected with any of his family on online platforms but I have managed to form a good relationship with all of them despite this.    Currency, I am in a committed relationship that has been going on for almost a year in a half. Moving to Corvallis from my hometown in New Mexico, I knew only one person from my graduating high school class who was also moving to Oregon. I had no other friends or even family remotely close by. Being an introvert, it has always been really hard for me to make new friends, especially since everything my freshman year was online.  A month before I left New Mexico, my best friend had moved away. On one of our multi-hour late-night phone calls, she decided to sign me up for a dating app as a joke despite me being against them because one of her friends had signed her up the night before. Origina...
Read more