After you find the instance that you want to dispute, explain how the other person/organization/
entity seems to define the word. This is hard to do because the person probably doesn’t come right
out and say, By freedom’ I mean…. More likely is that they just use the word in the course of
talking about other things. So, your task is to interpret how they define the term based on how they
use it. Thus, for this essay, you will be composing both value claims and interpretive claims.
You will need to make use of your fact-generating skills and point to verifiable evidence (i.e., the
person’s own words) to make your case. In other words, you cannot speculate about the person’s
thoughts or psychologize them based on your impressions. You need to support your summary
with concrete examples that you can point to.
3. Next, you need to build your case for your definition of the term. This, too, is a challenge because as
David Foster Wallace explains, meanings are not definitive. They must be worked out. We can turn
to dictionaries to help us out, but to make a strong case, we also have to show how the word is used
in practice. You are going to do both.
Specifically, you are going to reference two different dictionaries (and no, you cannot just use
Webster and Dictionary.com – you can only reference one or the other). For a list of other
possible dictionaries, visit the tutorial on value claims. Nor is it enough to simply quote them.
You must show alignment between the two and show how the definitions they offer differ from
how the word is used in the text that you are disputing.
In addition to two different dictionaries, you will also reference three non-dictionary sources.
These could be anything – speeches, movies, newspapers, academic articles, or anything else.
Your chosen word must appear in these texts. In other words, you cannot reference a movie that
does not actually use your specific word. Euphemisms and synonyms are not good enough. It
must be your word. An exception to this rule would be a different grammatical form of your
word, like an adjectival form of hero (i.e., heroic). As you did in step #2, you will need to
explain how each of these three texts defines your word, and you must point to verifiable
evidence to support your case.
4. Once you establish your preferred definition of your word, you want to circle back to the person that
you dispute and explain what your definition would change about their argument. I will pause to
allow you to read that last sentence again… Your task here is explain the implications of defining
your word as you propose versus defining it some other way.
