Argumentative Essay
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What is argumentative essay? Through the act of writing we always aim at persuading or influencing our readers directly or indirectly. Through the work of writing we try to influence the readers to do something, change their perception on a certain issue, and begin to think in a different way. Therefore, it is important for every writer to know and be able to use the principal of persuasion. Learning to perceive the argumentative aspect in all writings is always the beginning in such knowledge.
As readers of written texts we often divide written materials into argumentative and non argumentative categories. In order for a written text to be argumentative then it must have the following qualities; it has to be defensive in that is it has to take and defend a side in a debate between opposing sides; two or more. Non argumentative writing on the other hand include texts like narratives, description, news stories, and technical reports . Some common traits in argumentative texts include thesis statement, and factual evidence and so the question of which categories research writing fall under can be raised.
Mostly research writing is put in the categories of ``non argumentative’’ writing. Classification of research writing in this categories mainly results from the way research writing is studies. In most times research writing is learnt though research reports, which put more emphasis on gathering of information and note taking over engaging in different interesting point of view that are real for the audience. Therefore, research writing has been known to involve writing and collection of material and therefore not as productive and interesting. It has also been the culture to evaluate research papers on the basis of their quantity and their accuracy rather than looking on their argumentative impact and the interest they create on readers.
Mostly in research writing the assignment are done in a way that mostly put more emphasis on logical proofs than on emotional or the ethical ones. The logical proofs found in research papers include statistics, factual information, similar evidence and examples. Therefore, it is important for research writers to try and be unbiased and also be objective on the use of logical proofs, which can be of help to them in trying to achieve this goal. Emotional appeals to the reader or the audience were considered like logical proofs and very important according to ancient rhetoricians. However, most writers are not readily convinced in the use of emotional appeals in their work. People are rather sheepish about acknowledging that their opinions can be affected by their emotions Therefore, it has been seen by many people that the use of emotions in an argumentative essay is wrong.
Is research writing a conversation? To help us answer this question we consider research writing to be a social activity. Texts are written for the purpose of being read by other people and therefore writers should not only consider their own assumptions, tastes, biases, but also those of their readers. If all this considerations are made then writing will be an interactive process, exchange of ideas, an interaction of minds and as a debate or a discussion. According to Kenneth Burke; a rhetorician in his book The Philosophy of Literary ``writing can be compared to a conversation in a social event’’ In conclusion therefore audience in any writing work is as important as the work itself and it should be the basis for good research writing.