Analyzing a Web Site

By Brian W. Carver

The purpose of the Analyze a Web Site assignment is primarily for you to get practice crafting your own original counter-argument or rebuttal.
So, the first thing to do is to do some web surfing and find a web site that makes an argument with a conclusion you disagree with or at least would like to argue against.  (Your actual opinions do not matter to me, but it is probably easier to argue against something you actually disagree with.)  You might also try to pick a topic that interests you or that you already know something about, as your counter-argument might require a little research.  Be careful of a couple things.

1) Make sure the web site authors are actually making an argument, and not just reporting facts.
2) Many web sites that are expressing opinions are not necessarily making arguments.  Try to find a site that is actually making a somewhat decent argument, not just ranting.  They have to give reasons to support their opinions.
3) Some web sites make many arguments or give extended arguments that go on at nearly book length.  Try instead to choose a site that has a single, clear, simple argument that can be made in about a page or less.
4) Many web sites that are making arguments will provide you with just the facts that they want you to have and that support their position.  The reliability of the purported facts on their site can also vary widely.  In many cases you will want to check several sources to confirm or disconfirm what a web site claims to be fact.

As you can see, I think the bulk of this assignment involves simply finding a suitable site.  If you do this assignment right, you will likely spend most of your time just trying to find a good argument on a web site.  (Of course, you might get lucky and find one quickly.  Good luck!)  A good search engine to use to hunt for sites can be found at http://www.google.com Also check out the companion web site for our text.

First, do the 10-step analysis of the web site's argument, but summarize it in paragraph form.  Remember that the first paragraph should just present their argument as clearly as possible.  The second paragraph can then be used to begin criticizing their argument using information from the 10-steps.

Next, present your own original counter-argument or rebuttal.  While you might spend some time showing how their argument fails, you must also present your own positive argument for an opposing position.  The easiest way to do this would be to simply take your opponent's conclusion and negate it.  Then try to come up with a good argument in support of that negated conclusion.

Example: You find some crackpot on the web who believes people should be forced to eat Lucky Charms breakfast cereal every morning.  His conclusion is "Therefore, people should be compelled to eat Lucky Charms breakfast cereal every morning."  Then your conclusion could be "People should not be compelled to eat Lucky Charms breakfast cereal every morning."  Your argument for this position could take many forms.  You might agree that people should be compelled to eat Lucky Charms, just not EVERY morning, or you might agree that people should be compelled to eat Fruit Loops every morning, and not Lucky Charms.  Or, you might argue for a slightly broader conclusion like "People should be free to eat whatever breakfast cereal they choose, and free to refrain from eating breakfast cereal at all, if they choose."  (You radical you!)  Make sure your own argument is a good one, probably by analyzing yourself via the 10-step method.  You can keep those results to yourself though, using them merely to improve your argument's presentation.  Also, as mentioned above, if some research is required to check purported facts (theirs or yours), then do it!