Chapter 7 and 8 quiz

Justyn Cole
8 April 2010
Mrs Moody
ENC 1102-005
Chapter 7 and 8 quiz
I believe that my argument, text messaging does affect our youths literacy, but in a positive way, is an argument of fact rather than an argument of definition. In Lunsford, an argument of fact is defined as an argument that attempts to establish whether something exists or not or whether claims made about something are true.
I have noticed during my research that many sources shine a negative light upon text messaging when it comes to if and how it affects our youth and their literacy skills. I attempt in my argument paper to prove that text messaging does affect literacy but in a positive sense. I have found a few sources that believe text messaging helps our children and I will use those sources to also support my view on texting and its effects. The book states that a key feature of a factual argument is making a claim that addresses the facts and eventually challenging or correcting them. I feel that I am challenging the claims made by most professionals in the field of education and literacy by claiming that text messaging affects our youth’s writing skills but for the better.
Selber and Wysocki showed that argument of definition is like making a claim than supporting it. In an argument of definition, one tends to attempt to support a claim or prove a claim right as it applies to their definition, whereas in an argument of facts, I still attempt to prove my view but not for the sake of changing the definition or because my definition differs; I'm proving my point as it relates to facts researched and discovered by previous professionals who have studied or researched in the same field.
I also feel that many of the articles that I am dealing with while conducting my research for this paper are arguments of fact rather than definition. My topic is not as focused on defining texting or its affects, but rather on discovering those affects, which will be discovered through research/experiments and displayed in arguments of facts. For example, one source that I am using tells of an experiment done on 10-11 year old children who text an average of 4 times a day. The source says that the children who texted more often were better writers and readers whereas the ones who didn’t showed less advanced skills. Now although this is an argument on facts, it does not mean that the facts are correct. I will use this source to show why I believe the experiment is invalid and explain what I would do in attempt to make the findings more factual. No one can tell if ones literacy skills are affected from sending 4 texts a day! The research experiment is not an accurate depiction of text messaging and its’ affects.