Chapter 48 in Rules for Writers is about evaluating arguments and how to distinguish between them and emotional appeals. The first thing when evaluating an argument is to be able to tell the difference between reasonable and fallacious tactics. Fallacious tactics are used to be misguiding and/or dishonest. Secondly, you need to do some inductive reasoning by drawing a conclusion from numerous facts. Next is evaluating the conclusion is very important. In order for a conclusion to successful it must be based on factual information that is relevant to the topic. A conclusion that is based on irrelevant and false information is known as a hasty generalization. Drawing an analogy is a way to use two opposing pieces of information that are so different, but are both relevant to making a point. Lastly, it is always a good idea to be able to distinguish between unfair and fair emotional appeals.
This chapter was very informative about evaluating arguments. I have to say that I haven’t had much experience with argumentative writing, but this information will be very helpful when the time comes. I probably wouldn’t have been able to distinguish between an emotional appeal or a legitimate argument without reading this chapter. I intend on applying all these learned skills when I am evaluating an argument. I really enjoyed reading this chapter
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