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| 40252327 | argumentation | A process of reasoning that asserts soundness of a debatable position, belief, or conclusion. Does not attempt to move audience to action, but to demonstrate the (in)validity of certain ideas. | 0 | |
| 359190794 | persuasion | General term referring to how a writer influences an audience to adopt a belief or follow a course of action. | 1 | |
| 777833886 | rhetor | A speaker; specifically one who is attempting to argue or persuade. | 2 | |
| 84278450 | rhetoric | Writing/language that is designed to persuade; the art of effective persuasive speaking or writing. | 3 | |
| 747459177 | argument | A reason or set of reasons given with the specific aim of persuading others of the validity of an idea. | 4 | |
| 44041214 | purpose | What you expect your argument to accomplish and how you wish your audience to respond. | 5 | |
| 119594333 | thesis | The statement of the position you will argue. | 6 | |
| 169785979 | antithesis | A statement that asserts the opposite position of a thesis. | 7 | |
| 435683285 | skeptical audience | An audience that is at least open to your ideas, but need to be convinced. | 8 | |
| 842899190 | audience | The group of people who will be receiving the rhetor's argument. | 9 | |
| 722530683 | evidence | Facts and opinions in support of your position. | 10 | |
| 244405919 | facts | Statements that most people agree are true and that can be verified independently. Also the most commonly used form of evidence. | 11 | |
| 357956455 | opinion | Interpretations of facts. When used strategically, these will bolster (support) facts that the rhetor is using to argue their position. | 12 | |
| 847267659 | pathos | A rhetorical appeal to emotion. This type of writing/argument is meant to draw sympathy from the audience. | 13 | |
| 379755934 | logos | A rhetorical appeal to logic. The rhetor includes this in his argument in attempt to make the audience believe his position makes the most sense. | 14 | |
| 792142625 | ethos | A rhetorical appeal to credibility. The rhetor uses this tool to establish credibility with his audience. Commonly used in the form of quotes that agree with rhetor's stance from experts in the field. | 15 | |
| 479224899 | documentation | Citation that gives readers the ability to evaluate your sources. If you provide quotes and statistics, you MUST provide this. | 16 | |
| 899555272 | plagiarism | Using information, fact or opinion, that is not your own, and NOT providing documentation. This can ruin a rhetor's credibility with his audience. | 17 | |
| 326311559 | common knowledge | Information that you could easily find in several reference sources. This information can be presented without documentation with no fear of plagiarism. | 18 | |
| 1021689244 | refutation | Directly addressing opposing views in your argument to further validate your position. | 19 | |
| 64380142 | concede | Admitting the strength or validity of an opposing view. This reinforces your credibility. | 20 | |
| 517145830 | straw man | Purposely distorting an opponent's argument to make it seem weaker than it actually is. Dangerous strategy because it can backfire and turn fair-minded audience members against you. | 21 | |
| 619512162 | Rogerian argument | Entering into a cooperative relationship with your opponent in hopes of finding a common ground. | 22 | |
| 873699600 | deductive reasoning | Reasoning that proceeds from a general premise or assumption to a specific conclusion. Uses strict logical form: if all statements in an argument are true, then the conclusion must be true. | 23 | |
| 311292839 | inductive reasoning | Reasoning that proceeds from individual observations to a more general conclusion and uses no strict form. Requires only that relevant evidence be stated and that the conclusion is the best fitting one possible. | 24 | |
| 876213002 | syllogism | The basic form of deductive argument. | 25 | |
| 239258903 | major premise | A general statement that forms the first phase of deductive reasoning's strict form. | 26 | |
| 643179780 | minor premise | The statement that forms the second phase of deductive reasoning. A statement that is related to the major premise, but is more specific than the major premise. | 27 | |
| 513417168 | conclusion | The statement that forms the 3rd and final phase of deductive reasoning. A judgement/inference based on both the major and minor premises. | 28 | |
| 1030025623 | self-evident | (adj.) describes a claim or premise that is so obvious that it needs no proof. | 29 | |
| 429708247 | valid | (adj.) describes an argument that arrives at a reasonable conclusion after following reasonable major and minor premises. | 30 | |
| 314914053 | undistributed premise | A premise that covers only some of the items in the class it denotes. | 31 | |
| 66791138 | distributed premise | A premise that covers ALL the items from the class it denotes. | 32 | |
| 63404514 | sound syllogism | A syllogism that is both logical and true. | 33 | |
| 813626832 | hypothesis | A tentative answer to a question, before evidences are gathered. | 34 | |
| 599656569 | inference | A statement about the unknown based on the known. | 35 | |
| 228684330 | jumping to conclusion | Occurs when a rhetor stops considering evidence (inductive reasoning), and commits a premature inductive leap. This leads to a conclusion that is not based on facts. | 36 | |
| 867673195 | inductive leap | The crucial step taken when moving from evidence to conclusion. It is vital that this step isn't taken before all evidence has been considered. | 37 | |
| 663510939 | Toulmin logic | Method of reasoning that describes how the argumentative strategies a writer uses lead readers to respond the way they do. | 38 | |
| 498885256 | claim | In Toulmin logic, this is the main point of the essay, typically stated as the thesis. | 39 | |
| 875787308 | grounds | In Toulmin, the material a writer uses to support the claim - can be evidence (facts or opinion) or appeals to the emotions or values of the audience. | 40 | |
| 60517996 | warrant | In Toulmin logic, the inference that connects the claim to the grounds. In can be a belief that is taken for granted or an assumption that underlies. | 41 | |
| 775227860 | fallacy | Illogical statement that may sound reasonable or true, but are actually deceptive or dishonest. | 42 | |
| 426967602 | begging the question | A logical fallacy that assumes that a statement is true when it actually requires proof. The tactic asks the audience to believe certain points are self-evident when actually they are not. | 43 | |
| 674759887 | argument from analogy | Building an argument that compares one situation to another. This is risky (fallacy) because you may ignore certain dissimilarities between the two things being compared. | 44 | |
| 985901238 | personal attack (ad hominem) | Argumentative fallacy that tries to divert attention from facts by mud slinging and name calling. | 45 | |
| 58604003 | false dilemma | Fallacy occurring with a writer suggests that only two options are available, when in fact there are many. | 46 | |
| 180739168 | equivocation | Fallacy occurring when the meaning of a key term changes at some point during the argument. This makes it seem as if a conclusion follows from logical premises when it does not. | 47 | |
| 115489335 | red herring | This fallacy occurs when the focus of an argument is shifted to divert the audience from the actual issue. | 48 | |
| 57015201 | tu quoque | Fallacy asserting than an opponent's argument has no value because the opponent does not follow his or her own advice. | 49 | |
| 949747689 | appeal to doubtful authority | Fallacy occurring when a rhetor attempts to strengthen an argument with references to experts or famous people, but these "experts" have no background in the issue. | 50 | |
| 163914707 | misleading statistics | Fallacy that attempts to distort, exclude parts of, or otherwise manipulate statistics to support an argument. | 51 | |
| 487962126 | post hoc, ergo proter hoc | This fallacy assumes that because two events happen in close proximity to one another, that one caused the other. | 52 | |
| 723142453 | non sequitur | A fallacy that occurs when a minor premise (statement) does not logically follow its major premise, but the rhetor continues as if it does. | 53 | |
| 76073906 | transitional words | Words and phrases that help a rhetor shift from one idea to another within an argument. An important element of structuring your argument. | 54 |
