Philosophy

Pierce College

Department of History, Philosophy, & Sociology

Writing Group Exercise on Brain Storming Arguments  

(Notes on the importance of group exercises.) 

Group Work Summary: In groups discuss your individual sample supporting statements. 

Step 1 (five or so minutes): Individually, write out five different supporting statements for the sample thesis written on the board.  Your five supporting statements should be as follows:

g) Totally irrelevant, and thus totally wrong.    

h) Totally relevant, but totally wrong. 

i) Totally relevant, but "meh." 

j) Totally relevant and ... okay. 

k) Totally relevant and as strong as you can make it. 

Step 2 (ten or so minutes): In groups,

a) Introduce yourself. 

b) Share one of your statements without identifying which statement it is. 

c) Others guess which statement it was. 

d) You may ask them why that was their guess. 

e) Move on to the next person. 

f) Repeat the whole process with different statements. 

Step 3 (one minute): In the same groups, put today's date, your group member's names, and your group's exemplar statements (for a total of five on this sheet of paper): 

g) Totally irrelevant, and thus totally wrong.    

h) Totally relevant, but totally wrong. 

i) Totally relevant, but "meh." 

j) Totally relevant and ... okay. 

k) Totally relevant and as strong as you can make it. 

Step 4 (ten or so minutes):  In your original (pre-group) seats, we collectively discuss the fruits of our labor.