Comes the most critical and important feature in any academic writing that we take part in. The evidence that we present to support our points are essential to making our pieces a success. Lunsford in this chapter tries to get across his point that there are different aspects of how to not only use evidence but present it in a way that the audience would be able to understand.
Instead of just plopping evidence all over our blogs, (Using blogs as an example since it’s our main work this semester) Lunsford challenges us to thoroughly examine and evaluate the quality of evidence itself before using it to support our points. The contents of firsthand and secondhand evidence -- (Firsthand = involved personally / Secondhand = sources beyond)
• Observations
• Interviews
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Experiments
• Personal Experience
• Library/Online Sources
The most important part to me covered in chapter sixteen by Lunsford was the material covered on providing evidence with personal experiences. For me personally, I like to include personal experiences frequently in my blogs to draw in my audiences more. The explanation of how to apply personal experiences in academic writing by Lunsford is very detailed and helpful. Lunsford mentions that even though personal experiences “can be especially effective for drawing in listeners or readers” (Lunsford et al. 479), it’s still not enough to stand alone in an argument blog. It was mentioned by Lunsford that the common mistake that writers makes with personal experiences was that it wasn’t really “pertinent to the topic, understandable to the audience, and clearly related to your purpose and claim” (Lunsford et al. 482). To use personal experiences in your blogs, Lunsford advises his audience clearly that a good observation has to be made before applying. In a good observation, one will find out that if it applies to the topic and is related to his/her claim.
Even though I felt relatively skilled in the usage of personal experiences, the advices of Lunsford made me understand how to use personal experiences more effectively in my blogs.
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i do agree with you about personal experiences. Yes, personal experience is the most powerful technique of evidence which influence the most percent of people around us.
ReplyDeleteNow that i've seen it firsthand that people do use their personal experiences and apply it to their writing to solidify their piece, I have to say, "Yes. Personal experiences are a wonderful way of using it as evidence into our daily lives in terms of writing, or discussions, etc."
ReplyDeletei like it when people include personal experiences because then that way i can learn about them more.
ReplyDeleteIs there any way you can argue the opposite? When are personal experiences not ok to use?
ReplyDeleteRight on with using personal experience to draw the audience and all. But put other writing styles into perspective. What about a research paper? Opinion paper? Persuasive paper? Or even a process paper? Would firsthand personal experience cut it and give you that A?
ReplyDeleteSometimes you have to include other aspects of evidence to make your paper (whatever type) a stronger one.
I agree with what you said about personal experiences... it stands out the most to me, but sometimes with your personal experiences, you dont know if your readers would believe you, you have to earn their trust first.
ReplyDeletePersonal experience is good way to get audience's attention but will it be best way to support your arguement? I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteGood blog. I think that personal experience could be used as a good example, but the writer will have to establish good credibility. Without it, readers won't be as convinced as they would.
ReplyDeletetotally with you on personal experiences and how it's important :]
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