Without evidence, no one can make his or her argument effectively. It would be on weak grounds. There are different types of evidence. What counts as evidence?
There are two types of evidence, firsthand evidence and secondhand evidence. In firsthand, to get evidence people uses observations, interviews, surveys, experiments and most importantly, personal experience. Most people when they write an argument they use personal experience because they know it will hit the readers on a personal level. In Lunsford page 478, Winn Schwartau reports on an experiment performed by a former hacker. The hacker took his audience to a trash bin behind Pacific Bell. He went dumpster diving and found all kinds of information useful for a hacker. He made a few calls and easily got $100,000 to his bank account with just that information he found in the dumpster. It is scary to know people can easily steal information and your identity! For secondhand evidence, people use library sources, and online sources to get evidence.
Writers must consider their audience and how evidence relates to them. The main thesis or point of the chapter is evidence and what kinds there are. I consider the most important for my academic writing is using different kind of evidence and how to use them effectively.
http://news-libraries.mit.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/money.jpg
yes if you write your paper with ONLY ONE evidence, it may be softer than concrete. Mostly a paper will be so strong if you used three or more techniques of evidence.
ReplyDeleteI believe Orca's right, if you used more than one source of evidence, the paper itself could come across as a solid piece of information. However the less evidence shown, the more chances of your paper being questioned by others who aren't easily convinced.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Orca and The Twylight Tower but sometimes putting in too many different kinds of evidence overwhelms the audience. Or it makes it seem like you're trying way too hard to convince the audience your argument is valid. You want to give your audience enough solid evidence to swallow. No choking your audience haha
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone above, especially with Yossarian.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the hacker in your example included tidbits of statistics of how many people suffer with identity fraud and such...
People above are very right.. evidence in a paper is great but too much can be overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteTrue to those comments.
ReplyDeletePeople above took words out of my hands.
ReplyDeleteWow, that hacker example was good one. Be careful for what you put in your trash can!
ReplyDelete