Full Description
Emphasizing the practical and the local, THE PURPOSEFUL ARGUMENTPRACTICAL GUIDE, BRIEF EDITION, 2E effectively brings argument into real life with community-based writing activities, illustrating that the tools and skills of argument are critical to readers today-and wherever their careers take them. With a focus on accessibility, the text encourages students to argue in response to issues in a variety of environments-school, workplace, family, neighborhood, social-cultural, consumer, and concerned citizen-and learn how argument can become an essential negotiating skill in everyday life. It offers thorough treatments of Toulmin-based and Rogerian approaches to argument as well as teaches the value of fully understanding the opposition, the importance of aiming for the middle ground, and how to use a microhistory to forge an unconventional position. The only introduction to argument written with the today's diverse student body in mind, THE PURPOSEFUL ARGUMENT uses vivid explanations, detailed examples, and practical exercises to guide students step by step through the process of building an effective argument.
Contents
Part I1. Argue with a Purpose.What Argument Is and What Argument Is Not. "Graduating Debtors" by Thomas Frank. Recognize Where Argument Is Appropriate in Real Life. Argue About Issues that Matter to You. Establish Local Context for an Issue Through the Research Process. Recognize Why Arguments Break Down. Match Argument with Purpose. 2. Explore an Issue that Matters to You.Determine What Matters to You and Why. Choose an Issue within a Topic. Pre-Think About Your Issue. Define and Target Your Audience. Stake, Defend, and Justify Your Claim. Vary the Support You Bring to an Argument. Working with a Target Audience: Two Examples. Argue at the Right Moment. Getting Started.3. Develop a Research Plan.Use Reference Works, Encyclopedias, and Topic Overviews Profitably. Gather Search Terms. Use Search Engines to Find Internet Sources on the Surface Web and on the Deep Web. Perform Keyword Queries. Find News Sites and Use RSS Feeds to Receive Updates. Find and Use Databases in Libraries. Find and Use Primary Sources. Find and Use Government Sources. Find and Use Multimedia Sources. Find Books.4. Evaluate and Engage with Your Sources.Take Notes, Read Critically, and Evaluate Internet Sites. Take Notes, Read Critically, and Evaluate Articles. Take Notes and Read Books Critically. Take Notes and Evaluate Primary Sources. Introduce and Comment on Sources. Quote and Cite Quotations. Summarize and Cite Summaries. Paraphrase and Cite Paraphrases. Avoid Plagiarism. Documentation: Works Cited Page.5. Read Critically and Avoid Fallacies.Define Fallacies. Identify and Avoid Fallacies. Avoid Fallacies of Choice. Avoid Fallacies of Support. Avoid Fallacies of Emotion. Avoid Fallacies of Inconsistency.6. Work Fairly with the Opposition.Why the Opposition Matters. Resist Easy Generalizations. Listen to Local Voices. Summarize Other Voices Fairly. Value Expertise Over Advocacy. Avoid Bias When You Summarize. Find Points of Overlap. Respond to Other Views.7. Develop a Strategy. 8. Consider Toulmin-Based Argument.9. Consider Middle Ground and Rogerian Argument, and Argument based on Microhistory. 10. Build Arguments.11. Support an Argument with Fact (Logos), Credibility (Ethos), and Emotion (Pathos).12. Enhance Your Argument with Visuals and Humor.What Are Visual Arguments? Read Visual Arguments. Use Humor in Your Argument. When Is Humor Appropriate?12. Develop and Edit Argument Structure and Style.
