Discovering Arguments:An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writingwith Readings

List of contents

CHAPTER 1
Communication and Persuasion: Logos, Pathos, Ethos                                                          
      Noticing and Thinking                                                                                                               
      The process of thinking
            The paradigm shift
      Communicating Clearly and Effectively
            Specific evidence
Writing an Opinion Essay
            Finding your subject
      Writing Persuasively
The Persuasive Appeals
            Logos       Pathos        Ethos
      Thesis Statements
            Evaluating your thesis statement
            Guide for thesis statements in persuasive essays
Engaging Your Audience
            Titles      Introductions      Conclusions
      Guide for Evaluating Writing
 
INTERCHAPTER 1
Style and Voice
Diction
            Monosyllabic words       Multisyllabic words
            Pretentious writing
Other Features of Diction
            Specific or general       Concrete or abstract
            Literal or figurative      Avoid cliches        Precise words
      Language and Thought
      Voice
            Features of objective writing
      The writing situation and voice
      Tone
      Analyzing attitude toward readers
      Analyzing attitudes toward subject and self
      Sentence Tools
            Simple sentences      Joining complete thoughts: coordination
            Using semicolons to join complete thoughts
      Solving Two Common Sentence Problems
            Comma splices and run-on sentences
 
CHAPTER 2
Arguments and Controversies
Critical Reading and Writing:
 
Agree, Disagree or Maybe Both
Reading Tools
            Asking questions        Noticing insights        Noticing assumptions      
            Noticing overgeneralizations
      Analyzing and Evaluating Two Essays on a Controversy
            Analysis and evaluation of Mitch Albom's essay
            Different ways to present other arguments
            Analysis and evaluation of Thomas Sowell's essay
            Features of outlining         Features of summarizing
      Kinds of Evidence for Arguing: Examples, Reasons,
      Authorities, Statistics
            Using examples          Using reasons
            Using authorities        Using statistics
      Writing an Essay about a Local Issue                     
      Writing a Report to Analyze and Evaluate an Argument
            Guidelines for a report analyzing and evaluating an argument
      Five Essays on Controversial Issues for a Report    
National service        Women in combat         College or pro sports             
            Donating organs          Stem cell research
      Writing an Essay with Sources about a Controversy
Guidelines for writing an essay about a controversy
Organizing an essay about a controversy
Rogerian argument     Advantages of presenting other arguments first       
            Guidelines for organizing an essay about a controversy                   
      Readings on Controversial Issues: Three Case Studies                                                            
            Cheating for Success       Same Sex Marriage       Affirmative Action
 
INTERCHAPTER 2
Voice and Emphasis
      Diction and Repetition
            Repeating words for emphasis      Alliteration
Sentence Tools
            Joining complete and incomplete thoughts: subordination 
            Colons and dashes and voice         Underlining (italics) and voice
            Parentheses and voice
      Fine-tuning Sentences                                
            Sentence fragments: pros and cons          Conciseness
            Omit needless words I             Omit needless words II
 
CHAPTER 3 
Strategies of Argumentation
      Arguing by Induction and Deduction
      Arguing by Illustration
Arguing by Narration and Description
      Arguing by Refutation
      Arguing from Comparison
            Organizing comparison: block and alternate patterns
      Arguing from Contraries
            Using contradictions and paradoxes
            Paradox and tolerance for ambiguity        Either/or thinking
      Arguing from Analogy
            Explaining the mind
      Arguing from Classification
      Arguing from Cause and Effect
      Arguing from Definition
            Digging for roots of words
Definition Essay Using Various Strategies of Argumentation
Analyzing and Evaluating an Essay
Using the Toulmin Strategy to Argue
            Kinds of arguments--kinds of claims       Warrants 
            Guidelines for increasing the credibility of your arguments
      Toulmin and the Psychology of Argument 
            Uncovering hidden values, beliefs, attitudes
      Using the Toulmin Strategy to Analyze and Evaluate an Argument
      Essays to Analyze and Evaluate with the Toulmin Strategy
 
INTERCHAPTER 3
Strategies of Repetition
      Sentence Tools
            Parallelism          Anaphora          Epistrophe 
      The Power of Threes in Sentences
            Using threes in sentences: rising order or not
      Varying Sentence Beginnings: Three Ways
            Using -ing phrases       Using -ed or -en phrases      Using To phrases
 
CHAPTER 4
Problems in Reasoning
      Finding the Facts 
      Implications, Assumptions, and Inferences  
      Fallacies 
      Problems of Insufficient Evidence 
            Overgeneralizing        Card stacking         Ad ignorantium 
            Post hoc ergo propter hoc 
      Problems Based on Irrelevant Information
            Ad Baculum         Ad hominem         Fallacy of opposition 
            Genetic Fallacy        Guilt by association        Ad misericordiam 
            Ad Populum        Bandwagon        Plain folks and snob appeal 
            Ad Verecundiam        Red herring        Weak opponent
            Tu quoque          Oversimplification 
Problems of Ambiguity 
            Amphibole        Begging the question        Equivocation 
            Loaded language          False analogy 
      Problems of Faulty Reasoning 
            False dilemma (either/or thinking)       Non sequitur 
            Rationalization       Reductio ad absurdum       Slippery slope 
      Reading and Writing Activities 
     
INTERCHAPTER 4
Style and Contraries
Sentence Tools
      Antithesis        Antithesis and balanced sentences                  
            Loose and periodic sentences
      Fine Tuning Sentences 
            False starts       Active and passive verbs   
 
CHAPTER 5
Visual Arguments     
Photographs
            News photographs     Guidelines for analyzing and evaluating images
            Staged images       Documentary photographs      
            Fotolog: A new photo phenomenon
            Student essays analyzing and evaluating photographs
            Like a photograph, a painting
      Advertisements
            Commercial ads       Special considerations for analyzing and evaluating ads         
            Ads for social causes      Student essays analyzing and evaluating advertisements
      Cartoons   
            Cartoons and creativity         Creativity and humor
            Serious cartoons         Editorial cartoons
            Special considerations for analyzing and evaluating cartoons
            Student essays analyzing and evaluating cartoons
      Film                                                           
            Writing about a film        Guidelines for writing a film review
            Organizing your film review       Finding and synthesizing sources
            Special considerations for using sources in a film review
            Student film reviews
 
INTERCHAPTER 5
Analyzing Style
      Tools of Style 
      Guidelines for Writing an Essay Analyzing and Evaluating Style       
      Analyzing and Evaluating the Style of a Passage 
      Analyzing and Evaluating the Style of an Essay or a Speech 
      Essays for Analysis and Evaluation
 
CHAPTER 6
Critical Thinking about Poetry, Fiction, and Literary Nonfiction
      Reading and Writing about Poetry 
            The language of poetry        Elements of poetry
            Diction       Imagery         Figures of speech: metaphors,
            similes, and symbols       Tone          Speaker          
            Sound patterns        Structure         Line breaks
      Reading Notebook 
      Writing an Essay about a Poem 
      Guidelines for writing an essay about a poem 
      Student Essay Analyzing and Evaluating a Poem
      Poems to Consider for Writing an Essay 
      Reading and Writing about Fiction 
            Elements of fiction         Plot and conflict        Character
            Point of view        Setting           Moral issues
      Writing an Essay about a Story 
            Guidelines for writing an essay about a story
      Stories to Consider for Writing an Essay 
      Reading and Writing about Literary Nonfiction 
      Writing about a Literary Nonfiction Essay 
 
CHAPTER 7
Library Strategies
      Research Writing Options 
            The informational report         The argument paper
      Modern Research   
      Start in the Library  
            Preliminary reading           Locating your research question
      Strategy One: Finding Background Material 
 
            The general encyclopedias       Specialized encyclopedias
            Critical thinking in a research notebook
      Strategy Two: Looking for Books
            Bibliographies         Online databases and bookstores
            The Library of Congress online      Other online sources
            The public access catalog
      Strategy Three: Look for Articles
            Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature     Newspaper online archives
            FirstSearch and ProQuest      To use popular sources or not
            Professional, technical, and specialty journals 
      Strategy Four: Look for Reports, Other Specialized Information  
            Government documents, reports        Statistical information  
            Biographical sources online         Book reviews  
      Strategy Five: Use Electronic Sources and Microform Readers
      The Working Bibliography
      Writing a Research Proposal  
            Giving the background research      Describing your project  
            Explaining your methods and procedures  
            Anticipating problems and requirements in your project  
            Discussing the significance of your project 
            Listing your works cited or references  
 
CHAPTER 8
Evaluating Evidence
      Research and the Internet
      Evaluation and the Internet 
            Millions of hits         Print out Internet material  
      What Is a Reliable Site?  
            Evaluating Web sites        Criteria for Web sites
      Who Is the Author?
            Identifying authors        Caution on the Internet  
            Authority         The establishment bias: an exception
            Guidelines for evaluating authors
      Reliable Information: On the Net and Off   
            Context          Timely data         Documentation and credibility   
            Hoaxes, jokes, conspiracies, and frauds   
            Guidelines for reliable information
      Understanding Evidence
            Active reading         Questioning evidence
      Primary and Secondary Evidence  
            A problem solving approach to research       The weight of evidence  
            Magazines and journals        Researchers' rule         Examining testimony   
            Considering the evidence itself        Defining your terms   
            Occam's razor: the rule of simplicity       Remaining impartial   
            Remaining objective         Determining relevance         Significance        
            Claim           Persuasion       Judging probability         
            Evaluating statistical data          Problems of questionnaires
      Evaluating the Data: A Test Case
            Summing up the evidence
 
CHAPTER 9
Documentation
      How Much Documentation?  
      Research Problems to Avoid  
            The string of pearls      Underresearched paper   
            Overworking the data       Underdocumentation       Plagiarism  
      Summarizing and Paraphrasing
      Parenthetical References    
      What to Document  
            Direct quotations       Words and ideas from a source  
            Paraphrases and restatements       Discussing the same source
            Source within a source       Content notes  
      What Not to Document  
            Common knowledge  
      In-Text Rules  
            Use author's name and signal phrase
            Use name and title for more than one work by same author           &nb...

Summary

For Freshman-level writing courses, such as Freshman Composition, English Composition, First-Year Writing, or Expository Writing.
The only argument text that emphasizes style throughout. 
Presenting a holistic view of content and style, this all-in-one argument rhetoric, reader, research guide and handbook helps students analyze and evaluate what they read, argue persuasively, and communicate more clearly than they ever have before.  Students discover, internalize and apply at increasing levels of sophistication the impact of persuasive appeals (logos, pathos and ethos), the principles of critical thinking and the hallmarks of effective style through more than 200 embedded, guided activities directed at their own papers.
 

Product details

• Authors: Dean Memering, William Palmer
• Publisher: Pearson Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2006
• EAN: 9780131895676
• ISBN: 978-0-13-189567-6
• No. of pages: 624
• Series: Allyn & Bacon; Allyn & Bacon
• Subject: Non-fiction book > Art, literature > Literature: general, reference works