Scientific or Not? Mapping Category of Students’ Written Argument

Abstract

Argumentation skills have to be mastered and owned by students of the college. To investigate these, mapping the characteristics of students' written argument should be revealed. Therefore, this study aims to map how students' written arguments are categorized. Content analysis is a research method utilized in this study. Students' written argument of electricity and magnetism from 22 participants are analyzed. The analysis of mapping the written argument is divided into two parts. First, analysis is focused on considering argumentation components without scientific level. Finding the research portrays that level 2 (i.e. Data, Claim and or Warrant) dominates. Second, analysis is emphasized in argumentation components and scientific level of arguments. The result of research depicts that the category of Scientifically Unacceptable-Incorrect Scientific Knowledge (SU-2) is dominant. Its implication is a written argument should be taught to students comprehensively. Both components and scientific level of argument should be mastered by students.