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the text by piquing their interest, challenging them, or otherwise AP TIP 2
®
getting their attention. Often the introduction is where the writer While a classical argument
establishes ethos. has five parts, it’s not always
• The narration (narratio) provides factual information and five paragraphs long. For
background material on the subject at hand, thus beginning example, or you could have
the developmental paragraphs, or establishes why the three claims in your narration
that each get a separate
subject is a problem that needs addressing. Today, this is paragraph. Keep the function
more commonly known as exposition. The level of detail a of each paragraph, rather
writer uses in this section depends largely on the audience’s than just the total number, in
knowledge of the subject. Although classical rhetoric mind.
describes narration as appealing to logos, in actuality it often
appeals to pathos because the writer attempts to evoke an emotional response
about the importance of the issue being discussed. Section 1 / Logical Reasoning and Organization: Shaping an Argument
• The confirmation (confirmatio), usually the major part of the text, includes the
development or the proof needed to make the writer’s case — the nuts and bolts of
the essay, containing the most specific and concrete detail in the text. The
confirmation generally makes the strongest appeal to logos.
• The refutation (refutatio), which addresses the counterargument, is in many ways
a bridge between the writer’s proof and conclusion. Although classical rhetoricians
recommended placing this section at the end of the text as a way to anticipate
objections to the proof given in the confirmation section, this is not a hard-and-fast
rule. If opposing views are well known or valued by the audience, a writer will
address them before presenting his or her own argument. The counterargument’s
appeal is largely to logos.
• The conclusion (peroratio) — whether it is one paragraph or several — brings
the essay to a satisfying close. Here the writer usually appeals to pathos and
reminds the reader of the ethos established earlier. Rather than simply repeating
what has gone before, the conclusion brings all the writer’s ideas together
and answers the question, so what? Writers should remember the classical
rhetoricians’ advice that the last words and ideas of a text are those the audience
is most likely to remember.

Rogerian Argument

Another approach to argument is known as the Rogerian method, named for
twentieth-century psychologist Carl Rogers, who stressed the importance of replacing
confrontational argument tactics with ones that promote negotiation, compromise,
and cooperation. Rogerian argumentation is particularly appropriate and useful for
arguments on controversial subjects that for some are matters of belief — such as the
death penalty, abortion, gun control, or the place of prayer or the teaching of evolution
by natural selection in schools. Rogerian arguments are based on the assumption
that having a full understanding of an opposing position is essential to responding to it
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