Types of Argument

I think that my argument about how computers have made it more difficult for college students to plagiarize would fall into the category of a factual and a casual argument. Chapter 7 of Everything’s an Argument states that in writing a factual argument “a writer first notes something new or different or mistaken and wants to draw attention to that fact.”(Pg. 182) My Core 4 is a factual argument in the aspect that I found information on a topic that had not been questioned. Most of the research I found was about plagiarism in the age of computers and I found no studies on whether computers helped or hindered the ease of plagiarism. That is why I decided to argue my topic, because it had not been talked about before. Finding information about computers before the use of computers and after the use of computers helped me become educated in this particular field and then lead me to draw my own conclusions. “You need to identify an issue or problem that may already have the attention of potential readers or, in your opinion, should have their attention.”(Pg. 186) I took an already talked about issue and put my own spin on it that hadn’t been talked about yet.

In Malcolm X’s essay “Learning to Read” he give the reader facts to argue his point on why learning to read and write in jail is difficult. He backs up his argument by telling readers that he did not have a lot of supplies in which to learn and that he learned new words by copying from the dictionary. These facts argue his point of how difficult it is to learn in jail but how it is possible.

I also think that my argument falls into the category of a casual argument because it uses cause and effect. The use of computers (cause) has made it more difficult for college students to plagiarize (effect). Chapter 10 of Everything’s an Argument states that “ you could challenge the causal assumptions made by people you don’t agree with.” I think that many people would disagree with my point of view arguing that computers have made plagiarism easier to get away with because of all the sources available on the Internet in which a student can copy from. I understand where those people are coming from but disagree with them due to all the research I have done. I will be supplying all my relevant research in my paper and persuading those who disagree with me to take my side of the argument.