My class- and roommate Chris Sung wrote about his reliance of primary, aka exhibit, sources in his first post. While I agree that exhibit sources are important, I think they should be used in conjunction with argument sources in order to add greater depth to your own work. What I mean is that exhibit sources ground your argument in the reality of the topic whereas argument sources provide a voice of authority to either support your claim or act as a counter-argument to refute.
Replace “dad” with “Sparknotes Character Analysis.”
In Critical Thinking and Writing I, we established the necessity in using someone with authority on a topic in order to provide your own argument with ethos, or credibility. This persuades the audience, who will recognize that credibility, to agree with you. Let’s take an essay about the bearing of the Bible on stability in the Middle East as an example.
As an example, let’s say I write an essay about the bearing of the Bible on stability in the Middle East. While I may have interesting things to say about the Bible and interesting things to say about current and historical events in the Middle East, I lack an in-depth knowledge of the complexities of the culture in the region and historical context of the text. This is not to say that the connections I make are invalid. Instead, I mean that there are individuals who dedicate their life to this topic and I should utilize their knowledge to support and affirm my own claims.