Reading Response 1

Summary:

     In the article "Argument as Conversation," Stuart Greene intends to inform readers about arguments in relation to writing, to our lives, and to everyday conversation. Greene claims that arguments on certain topics come from research and conversations that have occurred beforehand about said topics. Basically, he is saying that an argument you make is directly related to someone else's argument or research. Greene says that when making an argument in writing, you must bring up research already made about the topic, talk about your stance on the issue, and suggest further questions and research that can be made. He argues that you also need to support your opinions and beliefs well. He does not think that it is necessarily about persuading readers to believe what you do. It is more centered around what you personally think and about giving reasons as to why you think what you do. Greene presents the idea of "framing" and compares framing in the writing world to taking a picture. He also discusses research and showing readers that you understand what others' have said.


Pre-reading (pg. 9):

     In everyday conversation, an "argument" is used to express ideas and controversial opinions about an issue. Arguments can be over basically anything. We argue to present our standpoint on a topic and to explain why we believe what we believe. In an academic setting, I think that an argument is used slightly to persuade. Also, even though it is mostly opinionated, arguments in an academic sense are meant to focus on a specific theme and give knowledge on an issue.
     The difference is that in everyday conversation, we're not necessarily trying to get everyone to agree with us or give them more information on what we've "discovered" about a topic. We're mostly trying to defend and stand up for what we think. It is part of human nature to be defensive about something we are passionate about. In an academic setting, an argument is really trying to get us to better understand why something is viewed in a certain way.


Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

2. Greene quotes the passage by Kenneth Burke to get readers to really grasp the concept of how arguments are related to past arguments and conversation about a topic. He uses "dialogue" to describe the way we write a "researched argument." It presents writing in a way that is saying conversation is a crucial part of writing arguments. This may challenge the idea that writing is completely about persuasion, or the thought that writing has nothing to do with communicating with readers and getting them to think and apply what is said to everyday life and conversation.

3. Framing is used to detail and highlight certain areas and parts of a piece of writing, and to give readers a better view of what the writer is seeing in their head and what they think. Greene compares framing to photography. He explains how when someone is trying to take a picture, they want to focus on a certain area of the picture and certain surroundings. Certain things they do not want the picture to be focused on, so they try to block it out more by setting up their camera in different ways. Framing seems important to Greene because he seems to want people to look at things in a similar way as other people and for people to better understand one another's views. Framing allows a writer to hit the important details of an argument and in turn helps readers to focus on those things and to really analyze and think about it.


Applying and Exploring Ideas:

2. Greene's article does represent a "conversation." His whole article focuses on the idea of an argument being based on other arguments and conversations people have had. His article is an argument itself, meaning in order for him to have a viewpoint and stance on the subject, he had to have done research and studied others' ideas on the same subject. This represents the "conversation" that Greene discussed in his article. He frames his article by highlighting the main subtopics in the issue and by giving detail in each one. Greene does a good job of giving his argument, while also showing that he has applied what he believes into his article and his everyday life and conversation.



My thoughts:

     The reading was fairly interesting to me. I never really thought about arguments and how they relate to conversation, not only in our lives, but in writing. I hadn't thought about the fact that our arguments are based on past thoughts and beliefs other people had and still have. I think that it will be helpful to me and make me think more on why we argue. It will help me to think about and look for other viewpoints and reasons as to why some people argue something in different ways. After reading the article, I realized that I agree with Greene. We all have our opinions, but our opinions are usually brought up by something else. Something causes us to say what we think, and then an argument has a chance to form from that. If nothing was there to give us thought and opinion, we would say nothing at all. Arguments would not exist.