1st day of October 2012
Professor Enright
English 205
Augmentative Analysis Against the Toulmin Model
The late Stephen Toulmin the creator of the Toulmin Model has constructed and contributed immensely to the analytical study of arguments. The Toulmin Model, a dynamic foundation of structured analysis commonly used to analyze any text in which an argumentative statement develops through the essential elements which goes to define the Toulmin process. In a textbook titled, Elements of Argument written by Annette Rottenberg and Donna Haisty Winchell summarizes the Toulmin Model as a “systematic manner.” (Rottenberg and Winchell, page 22) Stephen Toulmin pointed out three main key terms crucial to the process of rhetoric when analyzing argumentative text. These key terms Toulmin highlights as vital to the process of rethoric when applying the theory of his model. The claim, the support, and the warrant are what Toulmin emphasizes as essential. When applying these critical elements of rhetoric theory to a speech, such as one recently given by presidential candidate Mitt Romney. One should be able to isolate the claim, the support, and the warrant found within his speech. Mitt Romney, a presidential candidate for the upcoming 2012 general election delivered a speech to the Latino Coalition on the 23rd day of May 2012 in Washington D.C on the topic of American education. Romney’s speech vis-à-vis the decline of the American education system supplies magnificent examples and illustrations used to harness the core developments and applications of the Toulmin Model. Rhetoric implications generated by Stephen Toulmin renders one’s ability to become familiar with the evaluative process.
Rottenberg and Winchell announce the definition of the claim when writing, “The claim (also called a proposition) answers the question ‘What are you trying to prove?’ It will generally appear as the
Cited: Report 1. Romney, Mitt. Romney 's Speech on Education. Speech on Education. Washington D.C., 2012. Textbook 1. Rottenberg, Annette and Donna Haisty Winchell. Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader. 10th. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin 's, 2012.