Issue 4: Argument Beyond Pro and Con

After reading Issue 4: Argument Beyond Pro and Con, I gained a lot of useful insight over how to create a strong argument in both an academic and professional setting. I have never really considered academic arguments done in research papers or other scholarly forms to be so similar to conversations, but this issue thoroughly relates the two.

"A good argument is actually a lot like a good conversation. It is important to represent more than one side."

Writers Losh and Alexander use the idea of a talk show host to explain how presentable and well structured arguments are much like real life conversations. For an argument to be successful, it needs to represent more than one side. The visual representation of the talk show host helps readers better understand this idea because "in a way, talk shows stage debates as conversations among several different participants" (Losh et al 158). This visual metaphor kept me interested in what I was reading and learning. During this section, the two opponents discussed their sides and their argued over who was correct. The talk show host explains that good arguments need to go far beyond what is right and wrong!

Talk show 

Following the talk show segment, the issue uses the well known example of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. This iconic fable helps readers connect something they are already familiar with to the idea of arguments with multiple perspectives. This helps readers better understand what they are being taught. The cartoon versions of Losh and Alexander are detectives in the case of the break-in at the bears residence. Before jumping to conclusions, they consider both sides of the story, the bears' and Goldilocks'. This showed me that people can see the same situation a lot differently based on their identity and current and past situations. This is something that we need to make sure to account for when writing arguments in an academic setting and conducting field research over our side of the arguments.

A children's bed time story version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears that can be found on Youtube

Finally, one of the last sections in Issue 4 focuses on how to effectively organize an argument. This section used a sandwich as a visual metaphor for how to set up the argument. Each piece of the argument was considered a certain ingredient in the sandwich. For example; the buns were introductory and concluding claims, the context and background is the lettuce, and the evidence is the meat. Although you can rearrange the contents in the background is many ways, you do not want to "put your introductory claim in the middle of the sandwich" (Losh et al 170). This visual metaphor helped get the point across that although there are different varieties of how to set up an argument, the argument should still be prepared and composed properly.

Sandwich, as you can see, the bread (or the introductory and concluding claims) is on the outside of the sandwich.

All of these sections taught me valuable information over how to properly execute an argument. The visual metaphors and illustrations used made the information much more clear and entertaining to read. This new information will greatly impact the way I set up any future arguments in both academic and professional settings.


Flour, Arthur. “Classic Sandwich Bread Recipe.” King Arthur Flour, www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-sandwich-bread-recipe.

KiddoStories. “Fairy Tales as Short Bedtime Stories: The Story of Goldilocks and The 3 Bears.” YouTube, YouTube, 27 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KndSVsY5HWM.

“Talk Show Host with Adoring Crowd: Looping Motion Background - Videoblocks.” Royalty Free Stock Video, Footage, Backgrounds and More, www.videoblocks.com/video/talk-show-host-with-adoring-crowd-looping-rnux4g9feizfsc8ax.