Devil's Advocate: Rebutting the Opposition
Directions
A terrific arguing tool is the rebuttal. Refuting opposition arguments naturally strengthens your side. In order to refute arguments effectively, you must anticipate the other side's best points and point out the flaws in those arguments. In this activity, we are going to see how well you can defend yourself against opposition arguments.
First, log in to the MOO. I will send each of you to your small classroom with two other people. One of you has to turn on the recorder.
Then, each of you in turn will present the thesis of your multi-source essay. It is up to the other members of the group to form objections to that argument. After each objection, you defend your thesis by refuting it. Each group should come up with at least two legitimate objections for each thesis before moving on to the next one.
Any legitimate objections above and beyond the minimum two are worth one point extra credit each for the person who comes up with them.
This is called "Devil's Advocate" because you are taking a side you might not necessarily agree with in order to find holes in any given argument. It's all about being able to put yourself in other people's shoes.
At the end of class, e-mail me the MOO transcript.