Teaching Argument Writing with Frankenstories

Factual

Key questions

  • Does this exist? Did this happen? Is it true?

Used for

  • Resolving disputes about bedrock, physical reality

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Make use of

  • Criteria match reasoning and valuational argument:
    • Establish criteria for "proof"
    • Collect evidence
    • Evaluate quality of evidence
    • Match evidence to criteria
  • Relational verbs and prepositional phrases:
    • "Found by, reported in, stored at, witnessed by..."

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Other notes

  • Weighting of evidence/criteria is key

Empire was never unanimous. The imperial project had no shortage of establishment champions at its height, ranging from Lord Cromer to Lord Curzon, General Kitchener, Lord Milner, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Chamberlain, Lord Rosebery, Cecil Rhodes [...] But equally there was not a single phase of empire when the enterprise was not being criticized, with establishment voices of opposition including Robert Graves, H. G. Wells, E. M. Forster, George Orwell, H. H. Munro (‘Saki’) and the Liberal heavyweight William Gladstone.

Empireland

Context ideas

  • Speaker roles: Investigator, detective, historian, social scientist, journalist
  • Situations: Crime, mystery, strange scientific phenomena

FS Factual argument arm-wrestling

Make factual statements about this specific situation. | R1 Obviously true | R2 Probably true | R3 Could be true | R4 Probably not true | R5 Almost certainly not true

Make a series of convincing factual statements about this general trend. Make each statement increasingly outlandish, but still sound convincing.

FS Factual argument angry swan

Someone doubts the existence of something in this specific situation. Make a series of factual statements to convince them it exists.

Someone doubts the existence of this general trend. Make a series of factual statements to convince them it exists.

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