Sheila Olson

Sheila Olson
English 102, Section 13
Christy Vance
10/18/09
Reading Response: Curious Writer
In this reading, Bruce Ballenger is making the point that there are several ways to go about writing an argument paper. While the term argument tends to lead people to assume that there are only two sides to a subject, there can actually be many sides, and overlapping areas in between. While some people tend to be loud and aggressive when arguing, others are more quiet and subtle. In his following statement Ballenger conveys that our argument style may be a reflection of our backgrounds, “argument… is bound by our feelings about argument –how comfortable we are with conflict, how confident we are in our ability to say what we think, and how strongly we feel about our opinions”(203). The question is, regardless of how you argue, are you getting your point of view across, and are you backing up your point of view with facts? Ballenger suggests there are many ways to write an argument paper including asking and answering questions, or making and supporting claims.
Another assumption is that arguing has a negative connotation to it. Ballenger however suggests just the opposite in his statement “The primary tool for shaping and even changing what we know is argument”(208). By this he means that if we all had the same opinions and no one ever argued about anything, we would never have change. We all have to respect that others may have differing opinions than our own in order for anything new to ever happen.Ballenger gives many good examples and ideas on how to begin to construct our outline and rough draft for our argument papers and offers additional places such as discussion groups to obtain additional information.