post 3

Picking a concept was not as easy as it sounded. In this communications class there were so many that you could apply to your life and there were a lot of useful concepts that this class has taught me. One concept I felt was helpful was the concept of cause and effect. I always thought that just because you have a strong effect to a cause then it would be a strong argument but that is not always the case. One thing this course shows you is to look at all the little aspects about a cause and effect argument and that there are so many different kinds. You have to really look into it and the most obvious answer might not always be the right one because it could have cracks in it that you would not have noticed if you never took this class. Anyone can apply communication to their daily lives and everyone should work on having better communication no matter who you are.

post 2

what was my most favorite and least favorite things about this class? Well everything has pros and cons and this class is no exception. The both share the same thing that I liked and disliked, it is just the different aspects about the certain thing. This class being online was by far my favorite part of it because it gave you that sense of freedom and independence that a normal class simply does not grant you. You are not obligated to have to go to class at a certain place at a certain time. You simply log onto your computer and you look at the blog on a daily basis. This is also my least favorite part because it relies so heavily on yourself. If you miss a post or anything like that then it is totally your fault and you have no one to blame.

post 1

What have you learned over the course? Well that’s a good question because when I first signed up for this class I assumed it was going to be somewhat of an easy no brainer class, but I was wrong. I found out that if you take the time and actually try to learn from the material that you can really take a lot out of this class. I think that the most important thing that I learned was overall communication. I feel that I can now communicate better, more comfortably, and communicate with more success after taking this class. Overall communication I feel is a vital tool to have in your arsenal. You can take this skill and apply it to anything in your life. When it comes to finding a job good communication is key and even once you have that job communication is something that can definitely get your further.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 talks about cause and effect and it was actually somewhat confusing for me. One part in the book that I found helpful would be the criteria for cause and effect. There is a chart on page 307 that lists the necessary criteria for cause and effect. One important element that it tells us is that the cause makes a difference – if the cause had not happened, the effect would not have happened. An example of this could be….
Example. I got paid early this week on Thursday so I had money in my account otherwise I would have been broke. I wanted pizza, so I went to the bank to get money so I could afford the pizza.
I got paid early which allowed me to get pizza because if I got paid on Friday like I normally did then I would not have been able to get pizza on Thursday. This was one part I was unclear about but I think I understood correctly.

Mission Critical

this mission critical page was extremely useful. It helps you with complete understanding of various subjects that we are studying in this class. It gives lots of in depth helpfulness on each topic you need help on. For someone like me, who struggles on certain parts with understanding, I wish I found this earlier. One part that I felt was extremely helpful was the Fallacies and Non-Rational Persuasion section. This section has all of the appeals and even groups them into two separate categories. I had a problem understanding the appeals because there were so many of them and after going through each one of the subjects it has helped me learned to look for specifics which will prove the difference between them. The website also provides exercises to look at. I personally did not do any of them but looking at them I can see that they are helpful because you can use the website while you look at the exercises to get a more hands on effort.

Casuse and Effect

This webpage is a great piece of reading that discusses cause and effect. It helps further understand all the key specifics that need to be present in order for the argument to be successful. Basically this webpage went step by step through the trial case sort of on what if scenarios. Each one of these different what if circumstances was to help further understand the specifics. I felt that some of the most important information presented to us here was determining the strength of a causal argument. According to this webpage there are three factors in which they rely on.
1. How acceptable or demonstrable the implied comparison is. In this case its basically asking is this circumstance basically the same as other similar incidents on this street.
2. How likely the case for causation seems to be. Basically, can a bicycle swerving into the traffic lane cause an accident?
3. How credible the “only significant difference” or “only significant commonality” claim is. In this case, is the illegally parked truck the only difference compared to previous incidents which were identical or extremely similar?

reasoning by example.

Reasoning by example I thought was a very interesting topic. Just because you give an example does not mean it is going to be a good argument. When you think of an example for your argument you are going to make one that fits into your topic and makes your argument strong. Your example that you think of might not correlate directly with the current situation and in effect hurt the strength of your argument. An example would be:
Playing World of Warcraft hardcore will destroy your life. I have had friends go through this so you should not play hardcore.
This is an argument with an example, but there are so many technicalities which can put holes within the argument. Just because we provided an example does not mean our argument will become stronger. You need to look and see what kind of reasoning will most benefit your argument because it might not always be the best choice.