Page 248 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

• Causal warrants assert that either a cause will lead to an effect or a known
effect was due to a cause.
• Sign warrants assert that a sign (such as clouds) is a reliable indicator of
some other condition (such as impending rain).

Check Your Understanding: Exercises and Activities

1. A speaker arguing that we should buy American products presents the fol-
lowing example: “I purchased a Japanese car last year. Since I purchased
it, I have had nothing but trouble. I think this proves that you should buy
American!” Compare this example with the tests of examples discussed in
this chapter. Which of the tests does it fail to meet?
2. How would you go about verifying the “fact” that the leading causes of death
in the United States are heart disease, cancer, and infectious diseases? What
sources would you consult? Are these in fact the three leading causes of
death?

3. Obtain a recent poll (one that appears in an article in, for example, USA To-
day or Newsweek). Does the poll meet the tests of numerical data outlined in
this chapter? How large was the sample, and what was the margin of error?
Did differences in the poll exceed the margin of error? What, if anything,
does the article on the poll not tell you that you need to know to properly
interpret the poll?

Notes

1. FactCheck.org, 2004. [Retrieved from http://www.factcheck.org,
5 August 2004.]

2. This was fi rst developed by Stephen Toulmin, The Uses of Argument (London:
Cambridge University Press, 1958). It has been revised by Stephen Toul-
min, Richard Rieke, and Allan Janik, An Introduction to Reasoning, 2nd ed.
(New York: Macmillan, 1984).
3. “Selling Green,” Consumer Reports, October 1991, 687–92.

4. Cynthia Crossen, “Lies, Damned Lies—and ‘Scientifi c’ Studies,” Sacramento
Bee, Forum, 24 November 1991, 1–2. (Reprinted from the Wall Street Journal.)
5. Crossen, “Lies, Damned Lies—and ‘Scientifi c’ Studies.”

6. Robert S. Erikson and Kent L. Tedin, American Public Opinion, 6th ed. (New
York: Longman, 2001), 29.
7. “Down to the Wire,” Newsweek, 15 November 2004, 127.

8. Chalsey Phariss, “Lake Tahoe,” speech delivered at California State Univer-
sity, Chico, 18 April 1998.
9. Walter R. Fisher, Human Communication as Narration (Columbia: University
of South Carolina Press, 1987).

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