This concise, accessible text teaches students how to write logical, cohesive arguments and how to evaluate the arguments of others.   Integrating writing skills with critical thinking skills, this practical book teaches students to draw logical inferences, identify premises and conclusions and use language precisely. Students also learn how to identify fallacies and to distinguish between inductive and deductive reasoning. Ideal for any composition class that emphasizes argument, this text includes coverage of writing style and rhetoric, logic, literature, research and documentation.

Guide to Readings        

Preface    

  

CHAPTER 1

Thinking and Writing—A Critical Connection     

Thinking Made Visible  

Critical Thinking  

    AN OPEN MIND—EXAMINING YOUR WORLD VIEW 

Writing as a Process  

    INVENTION STRATEGIES—GENERATING IDEAS  

    THE FIRST DRAFT  

    THE TIME TO BE CRITICAL  

Audience and Purpose 

     E-MAIL AND TEXT MESSAGING

       WRITING ASSIGNMENT 1  Considering Your Audience and Purpose  

Reason, Intuition, Imagination, and Metaphor  

      REASONING BY ANALOGY            

SUMMARY  

KEY TERMS  

 

CHAPTER 2

Inference—Critical Thought          

What Is an Inference?  

    HOW RELIABLE IS AN INFERENCE?  

What Is a Fact?  

    RELIABILITY OF FACTS IN A CHANGING WORLD

What Is a Judgment?  

Achieving a Balance Between Inference and Facts 

    FACTS ONLY  

    INFERENCES ONLY  

       WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2  Reconstructing the Lost Tribe  

Reading Critically

Making Inferences—Writing About Fiction  

           WRITING ASSIGNMENT 3   Interpreting Fiction  

         WRITING ASSIGNMENT 4  Analyzing Fiction 

Making Inferences—Analyzing Images  

    PERSUADING WITH VISUAL IMAGES

    EXAMINING ADS  

        the smoking campaign

        vidual images and the law

SUMMARY  

KEY TERMS  

 

CHAPTER 3

The Structure of Argument       

Premises and Conclusions  

Distinguishing Between Premises and Conclusions  

Standard Form  

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 5  Creating a Political Handout  

Ambiguous Argument Structure  

Hidden Assumptions in Argument  

    DANGERS OF HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS  

    HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS AND STANDARD FORM  

    HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS AND AUDIENCE AWARENESS  

Summaries  

    STRATEGIES FOR WRITING A SUMMARY  

    AN EXAMPLE OF A SUMMARY 

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 6  Summarizing an Article  

Argument and Explanation—Distinctions  

SUMMARY  

KEY TERMS  

 

CHAPTER 4

Written Argument         

Focusing Your Topic  

    THE ISSUE  

    THE QUESTION AT ISSUE  

    THE THESIS 

Shaping a Written Argument—Rhetorical Strategies  

    THE INTRODUCTION 

    THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR ARGUMENT 

    HOW MANY PREMISES SHOULD AN ARGUMENT HAVE?  

    THE CONCLUSION  

A Dialectical Approach to Argument  

    ADDRESSING COUNTERARGUMENTS  

    HOW MUCH COUNTERARGUMENT?  

    REFUTATION AND CONCESSION 

    ROGERIAN STRATEGY  

    WHEN THERE IS NO OTHER SIDE  

Logical Connections—Coherence  

    JOINING WORDS  

    MORE ON COHERENCE  

Sample Essays  

A Two-Step Process for Writing a Complete Argument  

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 7  Arguing Both Sides of an Issue  

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 8  Taking a Stand  

SUMMARY  

KEY TERMS  

 

CHAPTER 5

The Language of Argument—Definition

Definition and Perception  

        who controls the definitions? 

    DEFINING OURSELVES  

    SHIFTING DEFINITIONS  

    DEFINITION: THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND GOVERNMENT 

Language: An Abstract System of Symbols  

    THE IMPORTANCE OF CONCRETE EXAMPLES  

    ABSTRACTIONS AND EVASION  

    EUPHEMISM AND CONNOTATION  

Definition in Written Argument  

    APPOSITIVES—A STRATEGY FOR DEFINING TERMS WITHIN THE SENTENCE  

    APPOSITIVES AND ARGUMENT  

    PUNCTUATION OF APPOSITIVES  

    EXTENDED DEFINITION   

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 9  Composing an Argument Based on a Definition  

Inventing a New Word to Fill a Need  

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 10  Creating a New Word  

SUMMARY  

KEY TERMS  

 

CHAPTER 6

Fallacious Arguments  

What Is a Fallacious Argument?  

    APPEAL TO AUTHORITY  

    APPEAL TO FEAR  

    APPEAL TO PITY  

    BEGGING THE QUESTION  

    DOUBLE STANDARD  

    EQUIVOCATION  

    FALSE ANALOGY  

    FALSE CAUSE  

    FALSE DILEMMA  

    HASTY GENERALIZATION  

    PERSONAL ATTACK 

    POISONING THE WELL 

    RED HERRING  

    SLIPPERY SLOPE  

    STRAW MAN  

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 11  Analyzing an Extended Argument  

KEY TERMS  

 

CHAPTER 7

Deductive and Inductive Argument       

Key Distinctions  

    (1) NECESSITY VERSUS PROBABILITY  

    (2) FROM GENERAL TO SPECIFIC, SPECIFIC TO GENERAL  

The Relationship Between Induction and Deduction  

Deductive Reasoning  

    CLASS LOGIC  

    RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CLASSES  

    INCLUSION  

    EXCLUSION  

    OVERLAP 

    CLASS LOGIC AND THE SYLLOGISM  

    THE SUBJECT AND THE PREDICATE  

    TRUTH, VALIDITY, AND SOUNDNESS 

    GUILT BY ASSOCIATION 

    MORE ON SYLLOGISMS 

Hypothetical Arguments  

    THE VALID HYPOTHETICAL ARGUMENT 

    THE INVALID HYPOTHETICAL ARGUMENT  

    NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS  

    HYPOTHETICAL CHAINS  

    HYPOTHETICAL CLAIMS AND EVERYDAY REASONING  

Inductive Reasoning  

    GENERALIZATION  

    THE DIRECTION OF INDUCTIVE REASONING 

    TESTING INDUCTIVE GENERALIZATIONS  

    CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING STATISTICAL GENERALIZATIONS  

    HASTY GENERALIZATIONS  

    THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT SURVEYS AND STATISTICS  

     MISTAKING CORRELATION FOR CAUSATION  

    EPIDEMIOLOGY  

    CONSIDERING THE SOURCE  

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 12  Questioning Generalizations  

     WRITING ASSIGNMENT 13  Conducting a Survey: A Collaborative Project  

SUMMARY  

KEY TERMS 

 

CHAPTER 8

The Language of Argument—Style       

Parallelism  

    THE STRUCTURE OF PARALLELISM  

    LOGIC OF THE PARALLEL SERIES  

    EMPHASIZING IDEAS WITH PARALLELISM 

Sharpening Sentences, Eliminating Wordiness  

    CONCRETE SUBJECTS  

    ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VERBS  

    PASSIVE VERBS AND EVASION  

    WHEN THE PASSIVE IS APPROPRIATE 

    CONSISTENT SENTENCE SUBJECTS  

SUMMARY  

KEY TERMS  

Revision:  A Checklist

 

A Quick Guide to Evaluating Sources and Integrating Research into Your Own Writing    

Where to Begin  

Evaluating Online Sources

Checking for Bias

Three Options for Including Research   

Blend Quotations and Paraphrases into Your Own Writing  

    MAKE THE PURPOSE CLEAR  

    PUNCTUATION AND FORMAT OF QUOTATIONS 

    OMITTING WORDS FROM A DIRECT QUOTATION—ELLIPSIS  

Plagiarism 

A Final Note                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

Additional Readings     

“The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage,” Ted Olsen

“You Are What You Speak,” Guy Deutscher

“The Order of Things,” Malcolm Gladwell