- In class we have been working on identifying arguments in written material. You’ll remember that an argument must have both a conclusion and reasons. The next step in evaluating information critically is looking for the evidence that supports the reasons. Summarize, in your own words, the textbook’s definition of evidence (don’t forget to provide an in-text citation).
According to the book, evidence is information that will bolster a claim that the communicator has made. It is meant to “back up or to justify the dependability of a factual claim” (Browne & Keeley 91).
- Provide a brief definition of each of the four different types of evidence discussed in this chapter (personal experience, case examples, testimonials, and appeals to authority). What is a strength and a potential problem with the validity and/or reliability of each of the four types of evidence:
Although each of the four types of evidence can be used, each has their ups and downs. First is personal experience. Its strength is that since it personally happened to you, it shows that there is reputable evidence that the arguer themself can back up their claims with their own experience. A problem is that personal experience evidence is usually based off broad generalizations. Just because you had one experience this way, does not mean that is how it works for the general population. This can go in both the positive and negative direction. Just because you got a good haircut at a certain company does not mean everyone will have a good experience. On the other hand, if you had a bad experience at a certain McDonalds does not mean that everyone will have a bad experience who eats McDonalds.
Case examples is another type of evidence. The strength to this is that it can emotionally invest the listener which may make them more easily persuaded to believe what the argument is. However, the problem is that this is mostly no more than storytelling. It is just explaining an isolated incident in great detail to evoke emotion. This has the same issues as personal experience because that one experience cannot generalize how it will always go for a majority of the population.
A third type is testimonials. This is quoting someone who is usually a celebrity as evidence. The strength is that it can more easily persuade the listener if they are familiar and give credibility to that particular celebrity. However, it is essentially preying on the idols of persuasive listeners. This leads to the problem in which just because that particular person may be someone the listener looks up to, their evidence in the end could also just be another opinion.
Appeals to authority is the last type of evidence. Appealing to authority has the strength that it makes its listener feel inferior. By breaking down their mental state to make them believe they are not intelligent enough to form their own opinion, it leaves an empty space to be filled by someone who is “superior”. A problem is that the validity of the “authority figure” may not be considered. If the authority figure does not have the credibility, then what they say is not necessarily a fact.
- Go to www.theconversation.com, www.theatlantic.com, or quillette.com and look for an article that uses one of the four types of evidence discussed in this chapter. Briefly summarize the article and describe the evidence the author provides. How reliable do you think the evidence is, given the topic of the article, and why? Include an APA citation for the article (hint, the publication/journal title is The Conversation, The Atlantic, or Quillette).
In the article It’s Okay to Miss Your Old Life, they discuss how the COVID-19 epidemic has drastically changed our lives. With a lot of articles saying that it is selfish to talk about what you are missing out on, it explains what you can do to protect yourself as well. The type of evidence used is an Appeal to Authority. However, the evidence is not extremely reliable. When they call to authority figure, they refer to them as nothing more than “experts”. There is no back up for why they are considered experts. This makes me call into question the validity of the authority figure.
Nyce, C. M. (2020, April 1). It’s okay to miss your own life. The Atlantic. Retrieved April 2nd, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2020/04/its-okay-to-miss-your-old-life/609307/