Full Description
The Craft of Argument is designed to help integrate the skills of writing, critical thinking, and arguing for the purpose of enabling the writer to write arguments that are clear, sound, and persuasive.
Contents
PrefaceA Message to StudentsAcknowledgments1. Argument and Rationality. What Is Argument?What Good Is Argument?Arguments Help Us Think CriticallyArguments Help us Sustain CommunitiesArguments Define Academic and Professional CommunitiesArguments Enable DemocracyWhat's Not an Argument.?: Three Forms of Persuasion That Are Not ArgumentsArguments and ExplanationsArguments and StoriesArguments and Visual ImagesWRITING PROCESS: Argument and Critical ThinkingThinking and TalkingReading and ResearchingPreparing and PlanningDraftingRevisingWorking CollaborativelyINQUIRIES: Reflections; Tasks; ProjectsIN A NUTSHELL2. Argument as Civil Conversation. The Five Questions of Argument.The Roots of Argument in Civil Conversation.Review: Modeling an Argument.The Core of an Argument: Claim + Reason + EvidenceDialogue with Readers: Acknowledgment + ResponseExplaining Logic: WarrantsCrafting Written Arguments.Thickening Your Argument.WRITING PROCESS: Argument as Civil ConversationThinking and TalkingPreparing and PlanningDraftingRevisingINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsSAMPLE ESSAYSIN A NUTSHELL3. Motivating Your Argument. Two Kinds of Problems.How Practical and Conceptual Problems Motivate ArgumentsThe Two-Part Structure of Practical ProblemsThe Two-Part Structure of Conceptual ProblemsHow To Identify Motivating Costs or Consequences by Asking So What?Framing Problems in Introductions.The Core of an Introduction: Conditions and CostsThe Outer Frame of an Introduction: Common Ground and SolutionConclusions.Introductions and Conclusions as Ways of Thinking.Problem-Posing Versus Problem-Solving ArgumentsWRITING PROCESS: Motivating Your ArgumentReading and ResearchPreparing and PlanningDraftingRevisingWorking CollaborativelyINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsSAMPLE ESSAYSIN A NUTSHELLII. DEVELOPING YOUR ARGUMENT: INTRODUCTION 4. The Core of Your Argument: Finding and Stating A Claim Exploring Claims Without Rushing to Judgment.What Kind of Claim Does Your Problem Require?Is Your Claim Pragmatic or Conceptual?How Strongly Do You Want Your Readers to Accept Your Claim?What Counts as a Claim Worth Considering?What Does a Thoughtful Claim Look Like?Is Your Claim Conceptually Rich?Is Your Claim Logically Rich?Is Your Claim Appropriately Qualified?WRITING PROCESS: Finding and Stating ClaimsDraftingRevisingINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsSAMPLE ESSAYSIN A NUTSHELL5. The Core of Your Argument: Reasons and Evidence. Supporting ClaimsReasons and Evidence as Forms of Support.Distinguishing Reasons and Evidence.Distinguishing Evidence and Reports of ItDirect and Reported EvidenceMultiple Reasons.Reasons in ParallelReasons in SequenceThe Deep Complexity of Serious ArgumentsUsing Reasons to Help Readers Understand Evidence.WRITING PROCESS: Reasons and EvidancePreparing and PlanningDrafting: Integrating Quotations into Your Sentences; Avoiding Inadvertent PlagiarismRevisingINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsSAMPLE ESSAYSIN A NUTSHELL6. The Core of Your Argument: Reporting Evidence. Weigh Your Burden of Evidence.Make a Plan to Find EvidenceThe Four Maxims of Quality.Trustworthy Reports of Evidence.Reports of MemoriesAnecdotesReports from AuthoritiesVisual Reports with Photographs, Drawings, and RecordingsVisual Presentations of Quantitative DataRadical SkepticismWRITING PROCESS: Reporting EvidenceReading and ResearchWorking CollaborativelyINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsSAMPLE ESSAYSIN A NUTSHELL7. Your Readers' Role in Your Argument: Acknowledgments and Responses The Importance of Other Viewpoints.Questions about Your Problem and Its Solution.Questions about Your Support.Questions about Your Consistency.Responding with Subordinate ArgumentsWRITING PROCESS: Acknowledgment and ResponsesReading and ResearchPreparing and PlanningDraftingWorking CollaborativelyINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsIN A NUTSHELL8. The Logic of Your Argument: Warranting Claims and ReasonsThe Reasoning behind ReasonsWhat Warrants Look Like.How Warrants WorkKnowing When to Use Warrants in a Written ArgumentThe Most Common Uses for WarrantsTwo Special Uses for WarrantsHow to Test a WarrantDistinguishing Reasons and WarrantsThe Challenge of Using Warrants.Review: A Test Case.Warranting Evidence Arguing by Evidence vs. Arguing by Warrants.WRITING PROCESS: WarrantsPreparing and PlanningWorking CollaborativelyINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsIN A NUTSHELL9. The Forms of Reasoning. Three Forms of ReasoningInductive Reasoning; From Specifics to a General ConclusionDeductive Reasoning: From a Generalization to a Specific ConclusionAbductive Reasoning: From Problem to Hypothesis to ConfirmationReal Life Barriers to Abductive Critical ThinkingDon't Rely on Warrants in Place of EvidenceDon't Collect Evidence RandomlyGuard Against the Biases Common in Abductive ThinkingWRITING PROCESS: Forms of ReasoningPreparing and PlanningINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsIN A NUTSHELL10. Arguments about Meanings. Some Terminology.Meanings and Problems.What Problems Does Your Definition Solve?Is the Issue of Meaning a Surrogate for a Larger Problem?How to Argue about Meanings.Do Readers Expect Common or Authorized Meanings?Strategies for Using Common MeaningsStrategies for Using Authorized MeaningsWhen to Rely on Authorized DefinitionsWhy Dictionaries Cannot Settle Arguments over MeaningWRITING PROCESS: Arguments about MeaningsPreparing and PlanningDraftingINQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, ProjectsIN A NUTSHELL11. Arguments about CausesThe Impossible Vastness of Causes.Finding Relevant Causes.Everyday Thinking about CausationThoughtful Thinking about CausationAnalyzing Causation Systematically.The Principle of Similarity and DifferenceThe Principle of Co-VariationFour Cautions about Using the PrinciplesCausation and Personal Responsibility.Who's Responsible?Five Criteria for Assigning Personal ResponsibilityAttribution BiasWRITING PROCESS: Arguments about CausesPreparing and PlanningDraftingINQUIRIES: Reflections, TasksIN A NUTSHELL12. Clear Language. Some Principles of Clear and Direct Writing.The Principles in a NutshellConcision and Vividness.How to Be ConciseHow to Be VividAbstract vs. ConcreteThe System of Imageable WordsDeliberate GeneralityWRITING PROCESS: Clear LanguageRevisingINQUIRIES: Reflections, TasksIN A NUTSHELL13. The Overt and Covert Force of Language. Invoking Values, Evoking Feeling.Value-Laden WordsYou Can't Avoid ValuesWhen Emotional Language Undermines Sound ThinkingPolarizing LanguageCynical LanguageSubjects and Point of View.Manipulating Subjects to Assign ResponsibilityTreating Means as AgentsAbstractions as Characters.Metaphorical Scenarios.WRITING PROCESS: The Overt and Covert Force of LanguageDraftingRevisingINQUIRIES: Reflections, TasksIN A NUTSHELLAppendix 1: Avoiding Inadvertent Plagiarism through Proper CitationsAppendix 2: Cognitive Biases and FallaciesV. READINGS
