Counterarguments in College Essays
Critical Thinking – Finding and Addressing Opposing Views
Jun 6, 2009
Counterarguments, or opposing views, are a common feature of composition courses. They can also be used to strengthen essays for other classes. Professors want to know if a student has thought a topic through from multiple points of view. This is known as critical thinking: examining an issue from all sides before accepting a conclusion as true.
Yet many students resist the idea of counterarguments. “If my position is correct,” they say, “why do I have to bother with other views?” The problem is that very few issues have one answer that is universally accepted as “correct.” No one, for example, would reasonably argue that murder is good. However, when students write about hotly debated issues such as abortion or same-sex marriage, they often think that their own view (either for or against) is already the correct one.
Reasonable Disagreement
Counterarguments force students to research the “other side” of the issue. This, in turn, forces them to consider how reasonable people of good will might disagree with their views. (Of course, unreasonable people of ill will might also disagree.) It could even force them to question their own deep-rooted beliefs—beliefs shared by parents, friends, clergy leaders, or previous teachers.
Although researching other views may seem risky, doing so is essential for students to truly understand a topic, particularly a controversial one. Without such an understanding, students often write papers with one-sided, illogical, or emotional arguments.
Where do students find counterarguments? Most college libraries have access to online databases such as Opposing Views Resource Center. Another option is to type a topic (such as “same-sex marriage”) and “opposing views” into a search engine. Be forewarned: Many Internet sources rely on biased coverage or unreliable information. Students should examine their sources carefully before using them.
A third option is to ask a college librarian for assistance. Librarians are skilled at research, and their primary job is to assist patrons.
Conceding and Refuting
Once students have found counterarguments, what exactly should they do with them? Some students make the mistake of simply “plopping” a counterargument into an essay by writing, for example, “Some say that abortion should be legal because women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies.” Period.
But this doesn’t address the counterargument. Students must still show that their own position is worthy of consideration by conceding or refuting other views.
To concede means to admit that the other side has a valid point. To refute means to disprove. Notice how public policy expert Mary Jo Bane does both in her article, “Boston’s Priest-Pedophile Crisis”: “There will no doubt be accusations that Boston’s lay Catholics are using the current crisis to advance their own agendas for reform, which is, of course, partly true. But Vatican II made very clear that we are all, lay and clergy, called to holiness and to ministry” (342).
Bane first acknowledges her audience’s concerns by conceding that Boston’s lay (non-ordained) Catholics have an agenda for reforming the Catholic church. She then refutes the notion that lay Catholics should not have a voice in church affairs by referring to Vatican II, a council recognized by Catholics as an authority on church matters.
Conceding and refuting opposing views helps students understand their target audience. Students can use such strategies to persuade the audience to take their views seriously, whether they are writing for a professor, a class, or an external audience.
Best of all, students can emerge from studying counterarguments with a deeper understanding of their own views and which ones they wish to keep and discard.
Source:
Bane, Mary Jo. “Boston’s Priest-Pedophile Crisis.” Commonweal. March 2002. St. Martin’s Guide to Writing by Rise B. Axelrod and Charles Cooper. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
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