What i have learned

Over the course of this semester I have not only increased my knowledge of argumentative and reasoning skills but I have also learned a lot about myself. One of the most interesting concepts I learned were all the different types of appeals. People use all different types of appeals such as sympathy and fear to convince others to join their cause or support them and I never realized how gullible I was to most of them. I realized that I am easily convinced by advertisements specifically those that use the appeal to sympathy. Overall I think I have learned how to strengthen the claims I make from exercises about repairing and analyzing arguments. The examples in the book about these helped me realize common mistake I make all the time in my arguments and I learned ways to repair them and make them stronger. Another important concept I learned was how much being clear and concise in an argument makes a difference. In the group facilitation study a lot of the arguments the people made were vague and did not offer much support. I realize that the people who spoke and gave strong reasons with lots of support were often the ones who had an impact on the decision of the group.