In a lecture hall, a professor stands in front of a classroom full of students as he waits for an answer to his question. A student raises his hand and answers “no,” but he is unable to explain his conclusion. In Deborah Tannen’s article “The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue,” she talks about how we should not just focus on stating that other people’s points are wrong and that the only way to seem original or creative is to prove other people’s points are wrong. This topic is highly important for students who are just entering college where they will encounter open discussions and the test of their ability to think outside of the box to prove an answer. Tannen’s ideas about the topic of debate may be quite beneficial for UCONN freshman students in developing skills for their classes as well as other areas in life. Developing and proving ideas are aspects that the education system has failed to emphasize. Freshman students can gain new skills in which have not been taught to them prior by reading Tannen’s article. Articles that would be less beneficial to incoming freshmen include Nick Carr’s “Is Google Making us Stupid” and Jean Twenge’s “An Army of One: Me.” Carr’s article argues that the Internet might have negative effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation but as a majority of the world community, internet and technology has already become the main method of transferring information in the twenty-first century. Those students entering college are bound to use the Internet regardless of what any article states, and the lectures of banning plagiarism continues reminding them of the dangers and repercussions that follows. While Carr talks about the consequences from co...
... middle of paper ...
...l. In her article we learn about negative connotations of the argument culture and in what ways to broaden our perspective on the idea of debate. Incoming students will experience this in college and engage into debates and discussion that can result in good or bad experiences. The good news is that her article will teach them that limiting their responses to critique means not doing other kinds of critical thinking that could build on one’s ability to think outside of the box. When drawn into a debate or conflict, she teaches us not to be aggressive and that simply saying the opponent is wrong is not sufficient, but proving them wrong is. Unlike the other two articles by Carr and Twenge, Tannen’s article will provide a new perspective and new, useful knowledge on the concept of debate that students will all encounter in college and put what they learned into use.
When I first encountered the word argument in this chapter I thought that I would be informed on what an argument is and how to construct an argument in an essay. After reading the chapter I think arguments much more than creating diversity over a topic. Also, it is much more than making a claim. There are many different styles and ways to present an argument.
There are many examples of strong argumentative writing in the second half of the book Everyday Arguments. Topics of writing examples include today’s college student, the internet, sports, earning your living, diet, and reading popular culture. Of the writings, two stood out as notable works to be critiqued; Who is a Teacher, and Thoughts on Facebook.
Nicholas Carr, a periodic writer on issues such as technology and culture, wrote the article called “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (743) In this, he discusses the way that not only Google, but also the advancement in technology, especially computers and computer engines is slowly altering our brain, along with the way we take in information. The process started back in the 1970’s and 1980’s when technology got a jump in society. For example “television was our medium of choice” says Carr (747). From then on it has been a slow decline for the way we process information. Throughout this essay Carr backs up the reasons why he feels the way by using different types of figurative language, deductive reasoning, plus the use of logical fallacies that can strengthen or may even weaken his argument.
In The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, he asserts that the evolution of information and communication technology (ICTs) is having a detrimental impact on our brains despite the many benefits and advances we have made with it. His main focus is on the internet which he commonly refers to as the “universal medium” (92). Carr presents a very detailed but biased argument in which he views the internet and other technologies as the adversary of critical thinking and progress. To Carr, we are sacrificing our ability to think logically because we are choosing the simpler way to gain knowledge.
Firstly , Tannen introduces the term “culture of critique” by beginning three successive paragraphs with the term so that the reader will not forget it. Tannen then identifies the problem presented by the “culture of critique”, that is, a tendency to attack the person making an argument, or misrepresenting the issue, rather than arguing against their position itself. She points out that instead of listening to reason, people who are caught up in the culture of critique debate as i...
The internet is our conduit for accessing a wide variety of information. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr discusses how the use of the internet affects our thought process in being unable to focus on books or longer pieces of writing. The author feels that “someone, or something, has been tinkering with [his] brain” over the past few years (Carr 731). While he was easily able to delve into books and longer articles, Carr noticed a change in his research techniques after starting to use the internet. He found that his “concentration often [started] to drift after two or three pages” and it was a struggle to go back to the text (Carr 732). His assertion is that the neural circuits in his brain have changed as a result of surfing endlessly on the internet doing research. He supports this statement by explaining how his fellow writers have had similar experiences in being unable to maintain their concentrations. In analyzing Carr’s argument, I disagree that the internet is slowly degrading our capacity for deep reading and thinking, thereby making us dumber. The Web and Google, indeed, are making us smarter by allowing us access to information through a rapid exchange of ideas and promoting the creativity and individualization of learning.
With the rise of technology and the staggering availability of information, the digital age has come about in full force, and will only grow from here. Any individual with an internet connection has a vast amount of knowledge at his fingertips. As long as one is online, he is mere clicks away from Wikipedia or Google, which allows him to find what he needs to know. Despite this, Nicholas Carr questions whether Google has a positive impact on the way people take in information. In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr explores the internet’s impact on the way people read. He argues that the availability of so much information has diminished the ability to concentrate on reading, referencing stories of literary types who no longer have the capacity to sit down and read a book, as well as his own personal experiences with this issue. The internet presents tons of data at once, and it is Carr’s assumption that our brains will slowly become wired to better receive this information.
In the articles, “How Facts Backfire” and “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Keohane and Carr explain the cognitive blocks we are faced with in society. Keohane explains how we can be misinformed because of our beliefs. These beliefs can cloud our judgement of what is true and what isn’t true. Carr focuses on how the internet has changed the way we think. Carr includes how the internet can distract us, making tasks harder to complete. Both Keohane and Carr show us the negatives side effects of cognition.
"Fighting for Our Lives" offers great insight into the current state of public dialogue. Deborah Tannen describes how our public interactions have increasingly become "warlike", in the way we discuss ideas, the way we cover the news, and the way we settle disputes. She observes that an adversarial approach has become the standard as much in public dialogue as it has in "just about anything we need to accomplish". Although she concedes that "conflict and opposition are as necessary as cooperation and agreement", she believes that the balance has been tipped in recent years. An "argument culture" has pervaded American culture, and the consequences are real.
Before the start of this school year, I was not clueless as to how to craft an argument, but, to say the least, I was unexperienced. I thought that “argumentative” was simply a fancy name for “persuasive”—needless to say, I was mistaken. Blinded by this fallacy, I avoided acknowledging any opposing views in my essays (such as in my TV argumentative impromptu), which only made it seem as if I did not have sufficient information to defend my arguments. I thought I had to induce my audience to agree with me and that if I mentioned any alternatives, I would lose them.
Deborah Tannen, the author of “The Argument Culture”, is good at persuading persons. She persuades readers, pointing problems of tradition debate that most people following without thinki...
Tannen states, “In the argument culture, criticism, attack, or opposition are the predominant if not the only ways of responding to people or ideas. I use the phrase “culture of critique,” to capture this aspect. “Critique in the sense is not a general term for analysis or interpretation but rather a synonym for criticism.” Tannen states that she is calling attention to and calling into question the inherent dangers of the argument culture, however her article does not discuss an approachable strategy that would solve this social
* The Aims of Argument. 4th ed Ed.Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Channell. New York:McGraw Hill,2003, 352-355.
Finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, Nicholas Carr in his article, Is Google is making us stupid?, addresses his beliefs that the internet is creating artificial intelligence as it effects our mind and the way we think. Throughout the article Carr supports this claim with rhetorical devices as well as Aristotelian appeals. Carr begins by using pathos by stating an anecdote from a scene in the movie A Space Odyssey, then uses logos by stating factual evidence and statistics, lastly Carr uses ethos by conceding to opposition and stating appropriate vocabulary. In the article he compares the past and present and how the Internet has changed not only himself, but also people as a whole. In order to show his credibility, Carr uses research and
The following essay will discuss how the ideas in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, is expressed in the futuristic novel Feed, by M.T Anderson.