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Lars Crawford Ben Wirth English 131 April 21, 2011 A Reflection on Argument Persuasion is a powerful tool, and the capability to persuade someone, through the construction of an argument, has been utilized since the dawn of thought. To make ones point of view known and accepted, the combination of several key aspects of an argument must be taken advantage of. These aspects include an appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos, an understanding of the purpose, situation and audience, and a statement of the claim, or claims, being argued. Each essay must include some combination of these aspects in order to produce an argument. However, with the attentive reconstruction of texts from a variety of sources, and a recombination of these aspects, a whole new assertion can be made. In the essay Healthy Gaming, this technique of integrating different passages was employed along with the combination of concrete ideas, the exploitation of the aspects, and the evidence incorporated to relate them to create a persuasive argument. To start the essay, quotes were pulled from five sources: three research studies about computer games in the work force, the effect of computer games on motor skills, and the effect of breaks during the workday, and two articles about the ability of computer games to take the authors mind off of 9/11, and harmful and beneficial effects of computer games on the brain. As excerpts from each source were pulled together, the ideas seemed to bounce around, and the

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fluency of the essay as a whole was choppy. To make the essay smoother at certain points, the insertion and deletion of some minor words and alteration of tenses was necessary. However, in some cases, even minor adjustments were not enough to allow sentences to flow well; the insertion of full sentences was also required at times. These inserted sentences occurred in places where text from two different sources were next to each other, and also at the start and end of paragraphs. An example of a major adjustment occurs at the start of the paragraph regarding computer games in the work force. The source that the quote was taken from was a research essay and, as such, did not have a clear way to introduce the topic. The inclusion of a sentence at the beginning of the paragraph served as a way to introduce what was to be discussed in the rest of the paragraph. Besides improving sentence fluency, both these minor and major adjustments aided in making the essay persuasive by connecting the concepts of the argument together. The fact that five different sources were used for the essay did not only have an effect on the flow of the essay; the audience, context, purpose and claim differed in each as well. Fortunately, the adjustments that were made to improve the fluency also helped broaden the audience and context from those in the work force, parents of children, and people suffering from emotional crises, all who play computer, to the gaming community in general. Just as the audience and context did, the main claim in the essay widened relative to that of the sources: that video games, played in moderation, are healthy and engaging. The change of these aspects not only expanded the argument but also changed the tone of the essay from the sources. The change of tone was the biggest alteration of the essay from the sources in that it went from being executive, encouraging, or instructive to informative. An example of this can be seen with the article about computer playing on brain development. In the article, the author writes as though

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to instruct parents on their childrens playing habits, but with the thoughtful combination of passages, the essay simply states, and enforces, the claim. This change of tone ultimately added to the persuasiveness of the essay as a whole. The content of the passages from the sources also had an effect on the particular type of claim that was being made in the essay. The majority of the sources made claims of fact, that is, they were research based and stated information about the issues. Just as the main claim of the argument that was created in the essay changed from those in the sources, so too did its type. The type of claim in the essay became one of value in that it portrayed computer game playing in a positive light. This was done by taking counter-arguments into consideration but explaining why they were not as pertinent, and can be seen particularly in the section of the essay that refers to the addictive nature of computer games. In this part of the essay, the idea of addiction was pulled away from the action of playing computer games and shown to be a behavior issue on the part of the individual instead of a problem with the games themselves. This understanding and disproving of the counter-argument by using passages to tie value to the claim acted to make the essay more persuasive. The construction of this essay from several sources required a heightened focus in that each passage had to be chosen carefully to be able to match well with others, and also to relate well to what the essay was asserting. It was impossible to incorporate full paragraphs of text because none corresponded well enough to each other or the claim. In each case only two or three full sentences at most were pulled at a time. This manner of writing was immensely different from the way traditional essays are written in that it was not as if ideas were flowing out to create the argument, but instead that it was being spliced together piece by piece. Regardless

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of these splices, the adjustments made between them still allowed for the formation of a complete and convincing argument. Of the aspects that were utilized for the essay, the appeal to logos, pathos and particularly ethos were the most powerful. Relative to the sources used, the appeal to pathos was not as apparent as the essay was written more with the purpose to inform, than to excite emotions within readers. Even the passages taken from the article about the authors playing of computer games to cope with the disasters of 9/11 did little to transfer the emotions that were felt by the author. However, although the arguments of the essay show playing computer games to be a healthy past time, the diction throughout the essay provokes feelings that are contrary to that claim. Such diction includes words like violence, addiction and horror. This word choice conjures negative emotions such as disgust and fear, but the contrast created between them and the strong final statements settles these emotions and improves the argument. This contrast allows readers understand the claims more clearly and form opinions of agreement. Pathos is a very significant aspect of this argument because the slight feelings evoked begin to formulate the ideas that cause readers to understand, relate and agree with the argument. The appeal to logos, slightly greater in its presence than pathos in the essay, was used to create an affective argument. The appeal to logos can be seen in the inclusion of the three research studies by Professor Goldstein, Professor Schrater, and Professor Rivera, regarding the benefits of computer games on peoples sociability, fine motor skills, and focus during the work day. The use of these studies was central because the appeal to logos present in each transferred directly to the essay itself, and incorporating them provides a way for readers to feel that the argument is more relevant and has a basis in fact. By combining the results from three different

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studies, the essays appeal to logos was made even more powerful as well. These research studies and the evidence they provide for the argument not only make readers believe the statements regarding the benefits of computer games, but also make the rest of the argument more forceful. Appealing to readers logos through the use of research studies was an essential and dependable way to make readers agree with the claim thus making the argument more convincing. Lastly, and perhaps most pertinent in the essay, is the appeal to readers ethos. The idea of computer games being a detriment to ones well being is a commonly held belief among the older generation of today. The presence of ideas such as the addictive nature, waste of time, and violence of computer games countered by the arguments, and backed by the sources of the essay, act to change these commonly held beliefs to concur with the points of the essay. Though the counter arguments were disproven, the presentation of the essay was sincere and fair minded, never being malicious or insensitive, which can be seen in words such as rationally, concern, and however. The consistent level of arrangement of the essay also appealed to readers ethos in that it provided a sense of competence. Also, the use of the different sources, as they included three research studies and two articles, appealed to readers ethos in that such sources are seen to be very trustworthy. The appeal to ethos was utilized usefully to demonstrate credibility, and respect for the audience's ideas and values through reliable and appropriate use of support and accuracy of the claims made. With the combination of the three sources, and a consideration and alteration of the aspects, the argument that was created was a persuasive one. The rearrangement of passages from each source served as a way to produce an original claim with a different purpose that

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targeted a wider audience by appealing to logos, ethos and pathos. The appeals, which were the main hinge in building the persuasiveness of the essay, were shaped by the purposeful arrangement of the different passages. This synthesis of ideas and aspects created a new argument from borrowed ideas that was still able to draw readers in and persuade them that playing computer games, in moderation, truly is a healthy past-time.