I. Refutation: What is it? Why put some in your argumentative essay?
Do Now: Share an idea that challenges your argument AND defeat it was logic and evidence.
II. Rhetoric: There are many ways to turn memorable phrase. Here are a few techniques that you might use to give your essay a little more sizzle.
- Personification: the giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas or animals.
- Simile: a comparison between two usually unrelated things using "like" or "as"
- Understatement: saying less than one means or saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants.
- Anadiplosis: last word or words of one clause or sentence becomes first word/s of the next: "Suffering breeds character, character breeds faith, and faith will not disappoint. Our time has come."--Jesse Jackson, Address to the Democratic National Convention, San Francisco, July 17, 1984.
- Anaphora: the same word begins two or more clauses or sentences. "The deep-dyed color, the thickness, the closeness of it. The noises of Harlem. The sugared laughter. The honey-talk on its streets....Oh, the contagious fever of Harlem. Burning everywhere in dark-eyed Harlem....burning now in Jake’s sweet blood."--Claude McKay, Home to Harlem.
- Chiasmus: Inversion of the second of two parallel phrases, clauses, etc. “He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man” (Frederick Douglass).
- Alliteration: the repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more words in a line of verse
- Contrapuntal Turnaround: artful reversal of words. Today, we recognize these as soundbites. "Its not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, it's the size of the fight in the dog." Abraham Lincoln once said that "Right makes might," reversing the common saying "Might makes right."
You Try It: Use one of the rhetorical devices above to tell your audience that smoking is really really bad for you or that high school students shouldn't have homework.
eg. That seatbelt might be driving you crazy, but you'd be crazy not to wear it.
III. Ending your speech gracefully is an art.
Your final impression will probably linger longer in the minds of your audience. The conclusion has two functions:
•To let the audience know you are ending the speech. Don't be too abrupt.
•To inspire by artfully reinforcing the audience's understanding of and your commitment to the central idea.
Signal the End
How do you end? One way is by using phrases like, "In conclusion," "In closing," "Let me end by saying," "My purpose has been," or words to that effect. You can also let your audience know by the manner of your delivery, building to a climax.
Reinforce the Central Idea
Here are several ways to reinforce your central idea:
•Summarize your Speech
Restate the main points in different words.
•End with a quotation
•Make a dramatic statement
•Refer to the introduction