Feelings About Rational Argument

    

    Initially, the drafting process for my Rational Argument was very slow and I was only able to crank out a few sentences before hitting writer's block constantly. The issue with my topic, trash-talking in sports, is that not many people have fully explored the topic for there to be a lot of academic sources. I eventually was able to find two very good ones, which also mentioned the shortage of research in the field, but this wasn't the end of my struggles. Researching someone's intentions behind doing something is very difficult as the only way we can do it, in this case, is with a survey/interview. These are some of the least accurate ways to collect information about human nature because of the amount of bias and external factors that play into the individual's answer. For example, on camera, it's unlikely that a professional athlete who has a reputation to uphold would admit that the reason he was talking trash is because he just doesn't like the guy. 

    Another problem I faced while drafting my Rational Argument was adding too much of my own experience or facts that weren't backed by an academic source. This was especially hard when trying to come up with ways to try and prove what I was saying was true. For example, as a teen on social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, I have experienced and seen firsthand how videos with trash-talkers get the most views. The problem is I can't exactly prove that to be true. Another example of this is the comments, without doing a case study on every single one of the most popular sports accounts on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, I can't state any of what people say in the comments to be fact. 

    I picked my topic based on previous experiences and what I've personally seen happening. To be honest, I think this was a mistake as not only was the research process hard, but trying to come up with things that I could actually prove to be true ended up being even more challenging. Had I picked a topic that has actually been researched by scholars before, this drafting process might not have been so hard, but it was still beneficial as I learned about something I was actually curious about.