Instructions
They Say, I Disagree—five, double-spaced pages, plus works cited page. Paper Objectives: excellent claim, mastery of academic voice, excellent textual evidence from sources
To refute an article is to prove someone else’s argument is wrong. Our major reading for this unit attempts to refute mainstream positions on major cultural ideas and events from the period of the civil rights movement. As you will see, King’s refutations are often subtle, arguing that the current assumptions or practices are ineffective, unethical, or flawed, but not necessarily favoring a polar opposite. In this paper, you will attempt to make a similar, subtle refutation.
Locate an article that takes a position on one of the ideas or issues from the ASU’s Privilege Workshop we have been using this semester. Select an article with which you disagree.
My article – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7722851/
After reading your article carefully, make an argument about why your audience should disagree with it. You should establish and support one overall claim about what you think is wrong or troubling or missing from your target article, then spend most of your time supporting your point. Refute the validity, ethical implications, and/or usefulness of the writer’s ideas; do not attack the writer personally or emotionally.
Use a minimum of FIVE sources, at least FOUR from the SCC Library (including articles in electronic databases). In addition, you may use other sources such as interviews, information from organizations, and credible World Wide Web sites. One of your sources will be the initial article you choose to refute. The additional four sources will support your argument. SCC Library link for sources – https://libguides.sccsc.edu/c.php?g=1126004&p=8213768
Write for an academic audience, with arguments that are formal, thoughtful, specific, and well-supported with evidence. Be sure to summarize the argument you plan to refute and provide quotes and paraphrases from the text throughout your paper to help you complete your refutation. How to start:
Identify the argument you would like to refute.
To find your claim, analyze how the article works to identify what you find wrong with the argument you plan to refute. The following questions will help you look at your argument analytically:
What is the claim of the article you want to refute?
What kind of evidence does the article offer to support it? Is any of it weak, biased, incomplete, or inadequate?
What premises and assumptions is the argument based upon? Do you find any of them unjustified or short-sighted? Why?
Does the article misjudge or manipulate its audience?
What are the negative consequences of accepting their argument?
Does the article unfairly treat or portray any group outside of their target audience?
