SHS

English for Academic

and Professional
Purposes

DEFENDS A STAND ON AN ISSUE BY PRESENTING

REASONABLE ARGUMENTS SUPPORTED BY
PROPERLY CITED FACTUAL EVIDENCES

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 Welcome to this module!

In everyday life, people take sides and form opinions on anything that involves them.
However, defending your point by simply saying, “Because I think so” won’t help you make a case.
When we face an issue and are challenged to make a stand, it is necessary for us to support it with logical
arguments. It is therefore important that you learn how to properly outline your thoughts and make valid
arguments.
You will take part in a larger debate by stating your arguments and proposed course of
action. Interesting and challenging, right? In this module, you are expected to determine different kinds of
logical fallacy, identify factors on authenticity and validity of evidences/information and defend your
stand on a particular issue by presenting reasonable arguments supported by properly cited factual
evidences. You can do it! Good luck!

I. OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

defend a stand on an issue by presenting reasonable arguments supported by properly cited
factual evidences

● determine different kinds of logical fallacy

● identify factors on authenticity and validity of evidences/information
● present reasonable arguments and factual evidences to defend a stand
●
II. VOCABULARY LIST

Let’s enrich your vocabulary with these terms that you will encounter throughout this lesson.
● Stand - viewpoint
● Claims - these are statements that support the author’s stand; ARGUMENT
● Evidences - these are proofs or evidences to strengthen the author’s claim
● Fallacy - an error in reasoning which weakens an argument
● Counterclaims – arguments opposing a stand

III. LEARNING CONCEPTS

Take a glance on the picture below. Then, reflect on the question:

“Which would you follow, the decision that your mind is saying or the choice that your heart is
dictating?”
In this case whichever your choice, you have to defend it
with reasonable arguments and factual evidences.

http://www.pinterest.at/pin/211880357453253536/
Retrieved: July 15, 2020 1:34 P.M

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 Every now and then, we find the need to take a stand on an issue. How do we defend this
stand? How do we convince others about the soundness of our position?
Study the picture below.

Claim
Stand Argument
Credible
Sources

Note: You have to remember

these three facts. These are
important elements to
accomplish the tasks later.

A. LOGICAL FALLACIES

What are these logical fallacies? Why is there a need for you to be familiar with it?
LOGICAL FALLACIES are ERRORS IN REASONING that INVALIDATE AN
ARGUMENT. As a critical thinker you have to identify and examine fallacies and manipulative
language. It is therefore important that you know some of the common fallacies.

Study the types of fallacy and its example:

Fallacy Description Example

False Dilemma Occurs when an arguer presents his/her argument Either you fully devote yourself to company
as one of only two options despite the or you quit.
presence of multiple possibilities
Appeal to Occurs when something is instantly concluded to The writer does not talk about the connection
Ignorance be true just because it is not proven to be false, between the victim’s killer and his sister, so
and vice versa there
must be none.
Slippery Slope Occurs when a series of increasingly superficial If we ban computer shops, then students will
and unacceptable consequences is drawn not be able to do research. And if they do not
have tools for research, these students
will fail their subjects.
Complex Occurs when two or more points are rolled into “Have you stopped cheating on exams?”
Question one and the reader is expected to accept or reject
both at the same time, when one point may be
satisfactory while the other is not

Appeal to Force Occurs when a threat, instead of reasoning is If you do not admit that evolution is not real,
used to argue we will isolate you from the group.

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 Appeal to Pity Occurs when the element of pity is used instead Please do not fire me for being absent all
of logical reasoning month; I have a sick mother and a
special child to support.

Appeal to Occurs when unpleasant consequences of You can’t believe that colonialism is bad,
Consequences believing something are pointed out to show that because if it were, then we would not be
the belief is false civilized.
Bandwagon Occurs when an argument is considered to be Most Filipinas want to have fair skin because
valid because it is what the majority thinks they think they look beautiful. Therefore,
having fair skin must be the real standard of
beauty.
Attacking the Occurs when someone tries to refute an argument I cannot accept your argument because, unlike
Person by attacking the character of a person instead of me, you were not educated at Harvard
attacking the ideas of the argument University.
Appeal to Occurs when the argument quotes an expert Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft,
Authority who’s not qualified in the particular subject recommends the effective fabric
matter softening properties of Downy fabric softener.
Anonymous The authority in question is not mentioned or Experts claim that eating peanuts causes
Authority named pimples.
Hasty Occurs when a sample is not significant enough Martha, the foreigner from France is very
Generalization to support a generalization about a impolite. French people are mean
population and rude.
False Analogy Occurs when a writer assumes that two concepts Drugs are like massages: they make you feel
that are similar in some ways are also good.
similar in other ways
Accident Occurs when a general rule is applied to a Jaywalking is not allowed, so you should not
situation, even when it should be an exception have done that even when you were being
chased by
terrorists.
Post Hoc It is an informal fallacy that states: “Since event Dina saw cat when they went home. Along
A followed event B, event A must have been the way, they crashed into a tree. The black
caused by event B.” cat must be the reason why they met an
accident.
Wrong Direction Occurs when the direction Liver damage leads to alcoholism.
between cause and effect is reversed

Complex Cause Occurs when the explanation for an event is We were not able to solve the problem
reduced to one thing when there are other factors because of limited time, even if all the other
which also contributed to the event groups were able to do so.

Irrelevant Occurs when an argument We must support the fight

Conclusion which is supposed to prove something for genderequality
concludes something else instead between men and women. Women have
suffered enough violence at home. Violence
against women
must be stopped.
Straw Man Occurs when the position of the opposition is Opponent: We should relax the law governing
twisted so that it is easier to refute the allowed smoking areas in the city.
Fallacy: We should not do so, because the
number of smokers might increase.

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 Affirming the Any argument of the form: If A is true then B If you are drinking wine, you have a problem.
Consequent is true; If B is true therefore A is true Therefore, if you have a
problem, you are drinking wine.

Denying the Any argument of the form: If A is true then B If you are drinking wine, you have a problem.
Antecedent id true; If A is not true then B is not true Therefore, if you are not drinking wine, you do
not
have a problem.

Inconsistency Occurs when arguments contradict one Frank is older than Jake, Jake is older than Noli
another and
Noli is older than Frank.
Source: Barrot, J. T. (2016). Academic Reading & Writing for Senior High School. C&E Publishing, Inc.

Warning: Do not use these kinds of logical fallacies when you defend your stand. It weakens your
arguments.
So, what are the things that you have to do in order to refrain from these fallacies? Study the next
topic.
B. FACTORS ON AUTHENTICITY AND VALIDITY OF EVIDENCES/INFORMATION
While there is a wealth of information found in various sources electronically or
non- electronically, you should also keep in mind that not all of these pieces of
information are accurate, relevant, valid or credible. Hence, it is important to evaluate
sources of information that you plan to include in your academic writing venture.

Note: There is always a risk that the sources taken from the Internet or anywhere else have biased or
incorrect information, so you have to evaluate and filter your sources before using them.

The following are some of the criteria assessing whether the source is suitable to use for academic
purposes. The criteria include relevance, authority, currency, contents and location of sources.

1. Relevance of the Source

● How well does the source support your stand?
● You can check the title, table of contents, summary, introduction or headings of
the text to have a sense of its content.

2. Authority/Author’s Qualifications
● Is the author’s name identified?
● Is the author’s background, education or training related to the topic?
● If the source does not have an author, think twice before using it.
● Legitimate academic texts must include citations. Citations demonstrate that the
writer has thoroughly researched the topic and is not plagiarizing the material.

3. Currency/Date of Publication
● What is the date of the publication?
● In most fields, the data from the older publications may no longer be valid. As
much as possible, the date pf publication should be at most five years earlier.

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 4. Contents/Accuracy of Information
● Does the author have a lot of citations in his or her text and/or bibliography or
works cited section?
● You do not want to use source that is disputable, so make sure to verify your
findings with multiple sources.

5. Location of Sources
● Where was the source published? Was it published digitally or in print?
● Is it a book, an academic journal or a reputable news source as
www.nytimes.com or www.economist.com?
● Does it provide complete publication information such as author/s, editor/s, title,
date of publication and publisher?
● What is the URL of the website?
● Avoid using blogs or personal homepage and wiki sites (Wikipedia, Wiktionary,
Wikiquotes)
● If the URL includes the top-level domain .edu, then that means that it has been
published by an academic institution such as university
● Common URLs include .gov (government), .org (organizations), .com
(commercial sites) and .net (network infrastructures). In academic writing,
reputable sites are those with .edu, .gov, .net and .org in URL.
Source: Barrot, J, T. & Sipacio P.J (2016). Communicative Today English for Academic
and Professional Purposes for Senior High School. C&E Publishing, Inc

Remember: Aside
from your
Add on: claim/argument, you
have to discuss counter
Pieces of evidence to strengthen the author’s claims: arguments. These are
the arguments
Evidence from surveys, library research
opposing a stand.
and experiments
Evidence from informant interviews (those
who have direct experience related to the
problem/issue
Evidence from expert interviews

C. PRESENTATION OF REASONABLE ARGUMENTS AND FACTUAL EVIDENCES

TO DEFEND A STAND

Guidelines in presentation of reasonable arguments and factual evidences to defend a stand:

● C - ontains a clear proposition or statement that must be defended
● A - ssesses conflicting opinions or opposing views on the issue
● T - akes a firm stand on the issue
● L - ists arguments in an organized manner to defend the stand
● C -onsider your audience/reader

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 Study the example using the guide questions:

Guide Questions:

1. What is the topic?

2. What is the stand of the

writer?

3. Look at the explanation and

evidence. Are there any
connections?

4. How did the writer show the

conclusion?

Exercise 1

Instructions: Read each statement below and identify what it describes by choosing the
word in the word pool. Write your answers in your paper.
Attacking the False Hasty
Logical Person Bandwagon Generalization
Dilemma
Fallacies

Complex Wrong Irrelevant

False Analogy Post Hoc Cause Direction Conclusion

1. These are errors in reasoning that invalidate an argument.

2. It occurs when the direction between cause and effect is reversed.
3. It occurs when an arguer presents his/her argument as one of only two options
despite the presence of multiple possibilities.
4. We must support the clean and green program of the government. Mountaineers
have suffered climbing on the mountains.
5. I cannot accept your argument because unlike me, you were not educated at
Harvard University.
6. We were not able to solve the problem because of limited time even if all the
other groups were able to do so.
7. It occurs when an argument is considered to be valid because it is what the
majority thinks.

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 8. It occurs when a writer assumes that two concepts that are similar in some ways
are also similar in other ways.
9. Juan saw a black cat when they went home. Along the way, they crashed into a
tree. The black cat must be the reason why they met an accident.
10. It occurs when a sample is not significant or enough to support a generalization
about a population.

Never stop doing great!

Exercise 2. Modified True or False

Instructions: Write T if the statement is true. If it is false change the underlined word with the
correct one. Write your answers in a separate sheet of paper.

1. The criteria for assessing whether a source is suitable to use for academic
purposes are: relevance, authority, currency contents and references.
2. Sources not written by experts are not valid.
3. Sources published online should always be used as reference.
4. Sources that are personal and editable such as blogs and Wikipedia are acceptable.
5. Sources that have no relevance to your academic paper should not be used.
6. Evidence from surveys, library research and experiments can strengthen your
argument.
7. Evidence from informant interviews (those who have direct experience related to
the problem/issue is acceptable.
8. Evidence from expert interviews is credible.
9. Outdated sources should not be considered.

Mind Map
Instructions: Complete the mind map below. Write your answers in your paper.

13.
12. 14.

Guidelines in 15.
11.
presentation of
reasonable
arguments and
factual evidences to
defend a stand
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 Exercise 3. Defend your stand
Instructions: Write your stand on the given issues. Defend it using your claims/arguments.
For each argument, give an evidence. Your answers will be evaluated through the criteria
below.
Content: 15
Organization: 10
Grammar and Mechanics: 10
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Example: Cycling to commute to work or school

Stand: In favor
Argument: Health benefits, environment-friendly
Evidence: Cycling as a mode of transport should be promoted since it has several health
benefits. It’s easy on the joints. When you sit on a bike, you put your weight on a pair of
bones in the pelvis called the ischial tuberosities. “That makes it good for anyone with
joint pain or related stiffness,” says Dr. Clare Safran-Norton, a physical therapist at
Harvard -affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In addition, it can save non-
renewable resources. According to the Encyclopedia of Energy, bicycles can cover a
given distance using one-thousandth of the fuel that an automobile uses. It cuts down on
greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change and reduces pollutants.

Begin here:

1. Issue: Use of Social Media Websites in school

Stand:
Argument:
Evidence:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________

2. Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020

Stand:
Argument:
Evidence:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________

3. Issue: Who is a better leader: Someone who is loved or someone who is feared?

Argument:
Evidence:

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_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________

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