Riddle
It’s evening and I need a slice of cheesecake for our wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow. I haven’t survived 90+ years of marriage by waiting until the night before to buy an anniversary gift for my wife; the pastry is just to supplement the diamond necklace and the trip to Paris. But I digress. When I arrive at the bakery, I see this sign:
That’s not the riddle.
The meaning of the sign is clear, and its style is economical, but, despite the brevity and clarity of the writing, the sheer wastefulness of those three words is breathtaking. How can any argument—of 3 words, or 300 words, or 3,000 words—fail so completely to deliver a useful or persuasive message to its intended audience? What does it want me to do?
That’s the riddle. How can we write so well that we deliver just the right message to the reader at just the right time?
For sure, it tells me I won’t be doing business here at this hour, but I could figure that out from the locked door, the dark interior, the lack of customers and staff. And besides, that’s not what I want to know now.
Write a Better Sign.
In your Notes for today, suggest a sign that could deliver me the information I need in five words or fewer. Bonus points if your sign can include a claim about the store being closed now.
_________________
Needs a Title
Several of you have posted Definition/Categorical arguments on time. Thank you. Apparently, I neglected to instruct you on the ESSENTIAL nature of a Title. It’s the first line of argument for every essay. Almost as good as an illustration (or a photo of children paralyzed by polio), it can convey crucial information in a few words that don’t even contribute to your “word count.”
_________________
The Professional Version
- The “Protected Class” Model
- The editors of the New York Times defines a crucial constitutional term: protected class that deserves heightened scrutiny.
- Includes a brief In-Class or Take-Home Exercise
- In class today, leave a comment on the Protected Class post.
__________________
Beautiful Arguments
In your Class Notes for today, tell me what you learned about the power of a strong and appropriate image to accelerate and enrich your claims.
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Beautiful Arguments 2
It’s Worse Than You Think
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Claims Work
The sales pitch version of the LASIK story designed to be soothing while acknowledging the slightly barbaric-looking process of carving a flap into a patient’s cornea.
Below, though, is the hilarious result of grabbing whatever graphic is available for inclusion in your sales material, taken last semester from a legitimate eyecare practice in Australia. [The link has since been disabled.]
The Australian practice finally removed this graphic from their website after I and several students made appointments for surgical consults in several Australian cities and mentioned, in our requests, that we were interested in being their “victims.”
And it was only recently discontinued by the India MediTourism website.
And by a Discount website in Sydney, where your healthy virgin corneal wall can be given “irreversible damage” for 67% OFF (about $6.80 with free delivery!)
_________________
Help with Definitions
If I know enough about your developing Research Hypothesis to be of assistance, I’ll offer recommendations of terms and concepts that seem likely candidates for a Definition/Categorical argument. Follow the link to a prior semester’s interactions. Request my help for your own Definition arguments by leaving a Reply at THAT PAGE.
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The Bobblehead Strategy
I think we’ll get to this one together.
The References List link leads to a page of helpful advice for building your References list for the short arguments, like the Definition/Categorical argument due before class MON OCT 23.
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
Class Notes 10/16/2024
Riddle: people want more information when your actions impact their actions. (Sorry we’re closed sign) → (Instead, include the timeframe of when you’ll reopen)
Beautiful Arguments
Bobblehead Strategy
Yep
3/3
Class Notes – 10/16/2024
Clever summary of Bobblehead Strategy.
3/3
Class notes:
OK
3/3
Class Notes- phoenixxxx23
-! Human Worth ! argument
-What is the human significance of your argument?
-HEADLINES. Put the people in it!
-All of the wealth travels upwards, nothing launches downwards
-The “Dreaded” Socialism
-1% of poplulation has 40% of ALL Wealth in the country!!! MINDBLOWING.
-The CEO makes 380X more than their average worker
-Think reality!
-Be careful with using graphics, they also should be a human worth.
-Get a bunch of quick “yes” and one would not shake their head with “no”
-You are playing a game with your readers!
-We get to make people commit
-We need to avoid the “mob mentality”
I love the “Dreaded” Socialism.
3/3
Class Notes: 10/16/24
-Riddle: Have a sign that says “closed” with the times it will be reopen.
-Make sure we include a title in our posts, especially our argument post. Without it there is a cost, which is that the audience won’t understand the significance of our story.
-We can add pictures, charts, and other visual effects to show and persuade our audience. It will allow the reader to see it visually and understand what we are arguing about or for.
-Do not make our title a question: I must change this over the weekend as well as get rid of the other question I included for no reason.
-Writings are never finished, there is no final draft. No essay is perfect, which leaves room for change. This change can happen during the semester or even after.
-Our definition argument gives the local meaning
-The top 1% has more money than the other 99% have combined, which comes to the claim that the $1 we have today will end up in the pockets of the top 1%. I find this wild, but I do believe it. I think it is crazy how much the 1% actually makes compared to the middle class or even the top 20% percent of people in the world.
-With the use of a strong and appropriate image, it will help the audience to understand and quickly agree with a claim. The power an image can hold can generally speak to the audience to persuade them.
-Claims Work: Images matter, make sure if you want to include a picture, chart, or other visual things that it makes sense with your argument. Make sure the imagine will persuade the reader to agree with us.
-If we need help with our definition argument, we can go to the link on agenda day 10/16 and leave a reply.
-Bobblehead Strategy: If we start with a few small proposals that can easily be answered yes by the audience, we can eventually lead to the much bigger idea. We can trap them in with their yes answers in order to persuade them to agree with the argument. For better words to understand, get our audience to agree with smaller propositions that don’t raise big objections and then get on to the bigger propositions, which they should still agree with since the smaller propositions were just sound principles of the bigger proposition.
Worth 4/3, but I want to offer some syntax advice. Don’t do THIS:
-With the use of a strong and appropriate image, it will help the audience to understand and quickly agree with a claim.
Do THIS:
-A strong and appropriate will help the audience to understand and quickly agree with a claim.
No useless IT clauses.
4/3
Class Notes 10.16.24
Nice
3/3
Notes-
Try to accomplish what you want in as little words as possible. Be concise and clear. A title is critical to get readers drawn in. For the title, make it concise and interesting in a way that brings the readers into the essay, wondering what the piece of writing attached to such a title. A picture can be very effective as an argument to get a strong meaning across. Find the perfect venue to make your argument on for the best effect. The perfect venue will make the audience think about what you are trying to say more than if it were in a less meaningful place. When using a picture, don’t just pick a random graphic without taking a close look at it to avoid saying something that you don’t intend to. Avoid an early “no” by laying a foundation of values to get them to agree that there is a common ground that must be addressed and then get them into the mindset that yours is the best way to do it.
4 for “laying a foundation of values.”
4/3
class notes 10/16
Used a “sorry we’re closed” sign as an example for making specific claims, it would be more effective if it also included what time they will be open the next day.
Need titles on our essays, makes our arguments more significant.
Watched a video covering the wealth inequality in America to show how to properly use graphs and statistics in the most effective way.
OK
3/3
10/16
Very thoughtful responses.
4/3
Class Notes 10.16.24
Paid attention
3/3
10/16/24 Class Notes
OK
Bobblehead Note is useless
3/3
10/16/24
Needs a Title
Your thesis has a Human Cost
Protected Class Model
Beautiful Arguments
Beautiful takeaways.
4/3
CLASS NOTES
10/16/24
Riddle
Needs a Title
The Professional Version
Beautiful Arguments
Claims Work
Help With Definitions
Bobble Head Strategy
4 for the thoughtful replies. 5 for the overkill.
5/3
Class notes- 10/16/24
Beautiful takeaways and thoughtful insights.
Family of 10. 8 kids.
4/3
Class Notes 10/16
Beautiful takeaways.
4/3
Mongoose Notes – 10/16/2024
Thoughtful and Extremely Thorough.
5/3
class Notes 10-16-24
– Marriage = generation: Quality if same-gender marriage is aiding in continuing generations ( can be a man and woman with no kids ) – Protected class. Is their nature fundamental to them. Gays belong to a class of citizens entitled to special consideration to determine whether depriving them of the right to marry is unconstitutional ( protected class )
– Arguments can be cartigor without actually explaining anything.
Wealth: The line of what Americans think wealth is is above what the wealth line actually is. Poor people barely make it on the charts, while the super-rich are so far off the chart that we can’t see the full length.
– Make sure what you put up is what you need for the assignment. ( check to make sure they promote your argument )
– ask questions to get a yes: if I get you the lowest price for the car you want, will you drive off with it today? Yes
– Therapy should be available for everyone who wants it ( not forcing everyone to go just because )
OK
3/3
Class Notes – 10/16/24
Titles are vital. They are the very first argument your reader will see. Bring in the people you want with an effective title. Choose a title that attracts the ideal reader and can even ward off people who are not the ideal reader. Find the human cost and make the ideal reader care. A title should be dramatic no matter the topic and needs to have a human heart.
The definition of one term often leads to the necessary definition of many other terms. Defining one term can require the use of other terms and defining those may include terms that must be defined. This is how a definition argument is created. In a vacuum a term may be easily defined but gaining true understanding and support for that definition is much more complicated.
Framing your argument in a personal way is important. This means finding out who exactly your audience is and what is personal to that very small group of people.
Graphics and images make arguments that are hard to comprehend, easier to comprehend. A visual aid helps people who might not otherwise care, care.
Starting small and slowly moving towards the true claim helps the argument gain momentum before it is even introduced. This helps people listen and think about the smaller ideas and makes them more suggestible to the big claim when it is eventually introduced.
Very nice
3/3
Class notes:
Very thorough and well phrased.
4/3
Close sign. The image provided is an example of a sign that is somewhat lacking. “A bad argument in the sign” if you will, by only stating “Sorry, we are closed”. A better argument (sign) would be a sign that includes the hours of operation of the store. “I can clearly see the store is closed, why do I need a sign to tell me its closed?” is a great argument. It shows that what you really need is not a closed sign but a reopen sign.
You need a Title. Every subject has a human cost. once you get close to why this or that benefits humans, you are getting close to your thesis. It’s going to benefit someone? lives spared, lives cost.
“What is News” was a great video example.
“Dark clouds fill horizon.”
“Imminent storm threatens village.”
“What if nothing comes?”
“Village spared from deadly storm.”
The most important takeaway is to put the people’s interested or how a situation is relevant, into what you are doing.
The professional version. This went somewhat over my head in abstract form.
My own understand is a protected class is something that has a special status. Religion, race, gender to name a few are protected classes. They are protected from discrimination or harassment. Legal penalties can be leveraged if the accused is found to of done something such as discrimination to the victim.
If something should join a protected class is a question that could be debated. This article I believe is in reference to the issues surrounding gay marriage. However, when zoomed out it is perhaps really about how does the New York Times or equivalent entity handle a protected class. This to me is where the confusion comes in. The government handles it, not private companies. If we are to mean instead “how we talk about gays or gay marriage”, that is understandable. For example, you may want to say it in a neutral tone and try to stay academic because that is how your company operates. Or maybe your publication wants to talk about it in a biased way.
Beautiful Arguments We took a look at the dollar bill art from last week. Occupy George being a play on the event Occupy Wallstreet. The objective here was to show that sometimes a picture can be worth 1,000 persuasive words. It was to encourage us to use images when it enhances our argument.
Lastly was the Bobble Head method from last week. I commented on this before, it’s the ladder sales technique by a different name. Its premises is to be a tool to overcome objections by first breaking down your “big ask” into a small series of tiny asks that have obvious answers to your audience of “yes”. You may have to morph your big ask into something slightly squishier and not as harsh in order to remove all objections while still achieving your goals. Furthermore, you can strengthen your big ask by showing that it benefits most people (involved) and if it does have opponents, it is minority.
A protected class, in addition to being one that often faces discrimination, is one that we can’t unjoin and that lacks political power, thereby making it worthy of special protection.
4/3
Class notes 10/16:
Riddle: Opens up at 9:00am.
Needs a Title: Can make your argument in the title, don’t need everyone to read essay, don’t waste time on people who are never going to agree with you.
Beautiful Arguments 1: Dollars are worth less because the gap in wealth between the 1% and rest of us is widening leading to most of us to struggle to afford basic necessities.
Beautiful Arguments 2: The wealth gap is worst then we think.
Claims Work: Pictures can be useful to making a claim, as long as you be careful with what you pick to back up your claim.
The Bobblehead Strategy: Get the audience to agree with you by putting forth small questions that create common ground that create a foundation for the claim.
Assignments:
References list due before 10/23
Nice
3/3
Class Notes 9/16
Needs a Title
The Professional Version
Beautiful Arguments
The Bobblehead Strategy
Very nice
3/3
Class note 10/16
The riddle is about the inefficiency of a sign that, despite being brief and clear, fails to convey helpful information to customers. The objective is to create a better, more effective sign that conveys the intended message in less words.
Beautiful argument:- Richest 1% and 99% rest
There has to be a Title for the Definition Argument
The Bobblehead Strategy is all about throwing out small, easy questions that everyone can agree on, and that helps to create a good base for your main point.
OK
3/3
To start a powerful argumentative essay is to have a powerful headline with it because having a title can be a great kickstarter for the readers attention of what the whole essay should be about. It is not recommended to put a rhetorical question as the headline because the readers won’t even know the answer to the question. No matter what a thesis is in an argumentative essay, the thesis should have a cost and benefit to the readers wellbeing. No matter if the thesis doesn’t captured everyone but it can capture certain readers attention. Certain words can drastically impact to the readers attention if the words involved the people as whole who would be part of that given situation.
By putting images into an essay can guide readers to give a brief understanding of what it is being said because certain illustration can give more information than what it is written in an essay. One thousand words can be said based on a single image that portrays the overall topic.
OK
3/3
The riddle
Title
Definition Argument
If your sign said, “Come back later,” I would burn your store down.
3/3
Riddle
This establishment will open eventually
Title the power of a title can influence the reader view on the topic. They start off an argument
Definition Argument
From the proposal plus 5 make sure you hammer out dentinal claims for your statement making sure that they are well. establish.
Pretty weak
2/3
Class Notes: 16 October 2024
Yep
3/3
Class Notes 10/16
The “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign is pointless. If a place is dark and locked, we know it’s closed. A better sign would give us useful info, like “Reopens at 7 AM.”
Titles are crucial—they’re the first argument for your piece. A title should grab attention and hint at the story’s angle. It doesn’t need to pull everyone in, just the people who will actually connect with your argument.
Definition arguments go beyond a dictionary meaning. They’re about explaining a concept in a specific context, like how the term “protected class” applies in a legal sense. The idea is to set up definitions that make your argument clear and targeted.
The wealth gap: Visuals showed that the top 1% owns nearly as much wealth as the rest of us combined. That’s not just a stat—it’s a reality that shows money flows upwards, staying concentrated among the wealthiest. A single image or graphic here can hit harder than words alone.
Use images smartly to amplify your point. If your graphic is confusing or overly intense, it could backfire—like the LASIK ad example with language that scared potential patients.
The Bobblehead strategy is all about easing the audience into agreement. Start with easy, agreeable statements to build trust and get people nodding along before presenting the big ask. It’s a way to get buy-in without triggering resistance.
Brilliant Summaries, Skibidy.
5/3