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.
Table of Contents:
Each chapter conludes with a Summary and Key Terms.
Guide to Readings
Preface
1. Thinking and Writing—A Critical Connection
Thinking Made Visible
Critical Thinking
AN OPEN MIND—EXAMINING YOUR WORLD VIEW
CRITICAL THINKING AS SELF-DEFENSE—Media Literacy
Writing as a Process
INVENTION STRATEGIES—GENERATING IDEAS
THE FIRST DRAFT
THE TIME TO BE CRITICAL
Audience and Purpose
Writing Assignment 1 Considering Your Audience and Purpose
E-MAIL AND TEXT MESSAGING
REASON, INTUITION, IMAGINATION, AND METAPHOR
2. Inference—Critical Thought
What Is an Inference?
HOW RELIABLE IS AN INFERENCE?
What Is a Fact?
FACTS AND JOURNALISM
What Is a Judgment?
Achieving a Balance between Inference and Facts
FACTS ONLY
INFERENCES ONLY
Reading Critically
Writing Assignment 2Reconstructing the Lost Tribe
Making Inferences—Analyzing Images
EXAMINING AN AD
Making Inferences—Writing About Fiction
Writing Assignment 3 Interpreting Fiction
Writing Assignment 4 Analyzing Fiction
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
4. Written Argument
Focusing Your Topic
THE ISSUE
THE QUESTION AT ISSUE
THE THESIS
TWO KINDS OF THESIS STATEMENTS
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
Two Approaches to Writing Arguments
Writing Assignment 7 Arguing Both Sides of an Issue
Writing Assignment 8 Taking a Stand
5. The Language of Argument—Definition
Definition and Perception
CONTROLLING THE DISCOURSE
DEFINING OURSELVES
SHIFITNG 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 Determining Your State’s Position on Gay Marriage
Writing Assignment 10 Composing an Argument Based on a Definition
INVENTING A NEW WORD TO FILL A NEED
Writing Assignment 11 Creating a New Word
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 12 Analyzing an Extended Argument
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
THE VALID HYPOTHTICAL ARGUMENT
THE INVALID HYPOTHTICAL ARGUMENT
NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS
HYPOTHETICAL CHAINS
HYPOTHTICAL CHAINS 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 13 Questioning Generalizations
Writing Assignment 14 Conducting a Survey: A Collaborative Project
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
A Quick Guide to Integrating Research Into Your Own Writing
WHERE TO BEGIN
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
GUIDE TO READINGS
CHAPTER 1 Thinking and Writing–A Critical Connection
“The Problem with New Data,” Jon Carroll
NEWSPAPER COLUMN
“The Child’s Draft,” Anne Lamott
BOOK EXCERPT
“The Writer,” Richard Wilbur
POEM
CHAPTER 2 Inference–Critical Thought
“The Facts of Media Life,” Max Frankel
ESSAY
“The Totleigh Riddles,” John Cotton
POEMS
“Mirror,” Sylvia Plath
POEM
“Metaphors,” Sylvia Plath
POEM
“On Me!” Philip Levine
POEM
“The Painful Images of War,” Clark Hoyt
EDITORIAL
“Grace Period,” Will Baker
FICTION
“Hostess,” Donald Mangum
FICTION
“Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway
FICTION
CHAPTER 3 The Structure of Argument
“AP Courses–Mounting Burden, Declining Benefit,” Nathan Yan
STUDENT ESSAY
“Bush Remarks Roil Debate over Teaching of Evolution,” Elizabeth Bumiller
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
“Of God and the Case for Unintelligent Design,” Lisa Fullam
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
CHAPTER 4 Written Argument
“Could It Be That Video Games Are Good for Kids?” Steven Johnson
EDITORIAL
“College Athletes–Special Admissions?”
STUDENT ESSAY
“A Case for Affirmative Action,” Cynthia Tucker
EDITORIAL
CHAPTER 5 The Language of Argument–Definition
“The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently,” Thomas Lux
POEM
“Let Gays Marry,” Andrew Sullivan
ESSAY
“Leave Marriage Alone,” William Bennett
ESSAY
“Radical” [1]
STUDENT ESSAY
“Radical” [2]
STUDENT ESSAY
“Slut,” Maureen Dowd
EDITORIAL
CHAPTER 6 Fallacious Arguments
“On Date Rape,” Camille Paglia
ESSAY
“Boxing, Doctors–Round Two,” Lowell Cohn
NEWSPAPER COLUMN
CHAPTER 7 Deductive and Inductive Argument
“Mechanics’ Logic,” Robert Pirsig
BOOK EXCERPT
“To His Coy Mistress,” Andrew Marvel
POEM
“Dulce Et Decorum Est,” Wilfred Owen
POEM
“Preventive Medicine, Properly Practiced,” Dr. Susan Love
ESSAY
ADDITIONAL READINGS
“Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr
“Blinded by Science,” Chris Mooney
“When Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans,” Donald G. McNeil, Jr.
