Argument Analysis Outline
- Purpose: The purpose of the article is to inform individuals of positive impact expressive writing can have and to educate individuals on who can do it, how they can do it, and why they should do it. The article is very effective and compelling.
- Main Claim/Thesis: The main claim of the article is that individuals who actively write expressively everyday can have emotional and physical health benefits.
- Community/Discipline in which it is written: This paper is written for the psychology and psychiatry disciplines. It features contentions on how expressive writing affects the psychology of patients and how it can be used as a psychiatric treatment.
- Target Audience: The target audience is psychiatrists, psychologists, and patients struggling with emotional, stressful, and traumatic events in their lives.
Analysis:
- Reasons/Grounds provided for the main claim: It has health, social, and behavioral benefits. These include, but are not limited to, fewer stress-related visits to the doctor, reduced blood pressure, improved liver function, reduced absenteeism from work, and improved working memory.
- Warrants: There are many underlying assumptions in this paper. One such assumption is that the condition you are in is causing you problems with either your health or your behavior. Another is that you are literate in your condition and can write expressively.
- Evidence/Backing of the claim: The paper provides a plethora of evidence in the form of case studies, research results, and examples of precedence.
- Any concessions and/or counterarguments: None
Support:
I will reference From Inquiry to Academic Writing and the Easy Writer sections on creating an effective argument as well as their lessons on logical appeals and persuasion.
Citations:
I will cite the textbooks and article I used in MLA format.
