Current Issues and Enduring Questions

Current Issues and Enduring Questions is a text and reader that serves as an extensive resource for teaching argument, persuasive writing, critical thinking, and research. It includes readings on topics that matter to students, such as being seen as “the other” and student loan forgiveness, issues that students will want to engage with and debate.  Comprehensive coverage of classic and contemporary approaches to argument includes Aristotelian, Toulmin, Rogerian, and a range of alternative views, such as analyzing and writing about visual arguments.

This new edition does more than ever to make argument concepts clear, and to give students strategies for crafting effective arguments.  For today’s ever-increasingly visual learners who are challenged to separate what’s real from what’s not, new activities and visual flowcharts support information literacy. Newly annotated readings highlight important rhetorical moves. And new readings explore controversial issues such as mass incarceration, cultural appropriation, and the way computer algorithms make biased decisions.

Preface
 
PART ONE: CRITICAL THINKING AND READING 
 
1           Critical Thinking 
Thinking through an Issue 
Analyzing and Evaluating from Multiple Perspectives 
             Survey, Analyze, and Evaluate the Issue 
Visual Guide: Evaluating a Proposal 
             Obstacles to Critical Thinking 
             Anticipating Counterarguments 
Critical Thinking at Work: From a Cluster to a Short Essay 
ALEXA CABRERA, Stirred and Strained: Pastafarians Should Be Allowed to Practice in Prison (annotated student essay) 
Generating Ideas: Writing as a Way of Thinking 
             Confronting Unfamiliar Issues 
             Using Clustering to Discover Ideas 
             Approaching an Issue (or an Assignment) 
             Prompting Yourself: Classical Topics and Invention 
An Essay for Generating Ideas
NINA FEDOROFF, The Genetically Engineered Salmon Is a Boon for Consumers and Sustainability 
Thinking Critically: Generating Ideas with Topics 
             Thinking Critically about the Issue 
A Checklist for Critical Thinking 
A Short Essay Calling for Critical Thinking 
LYNN STUART PARRAMORE, Fitbits for Bosses (annotated)
Examining Assumptions 
A Checklist for Examining Assumptions 
*HELEN BENEDICT, The Military Has a Man Problem
Assignments for Critical Thinking 
 
2           Critical Reading: Getting Started 
Active Reading 
             Previewing 
             A Short Essay for Previewing Practice 
Thinking Critically: Previewing
SANJAY GUPTA, Why I Changed My Mind on Weed 
             Reading with a Careful Eye: Underlining, Highlighting, Annotating 
             Reading: Fast and Slow 
             Defining Terms and Concepts 
Summarizing and Paraphrasing 
A Checklist for a Paraphrase
Patchwriting and Plagiarism 
Strategies for Summarizing 
             Critical Summary 
Visual Guide: Writing a Critical Summary 
             A Short Essay for Summarizing Practice 
SUSAN JACOBY, A First Amendment Junkie (annotated)
A Checklist for a Summary
Essays for Analysis
GWEN WILDE, Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should Be Revised (annotated student essay)
ZACHARY SHEMTOB and DAVID LAT, Executions Should Be Televised
A Casebook for Critical Reading: Should Some Kinds of Speech Be Censored? 
*SUZANNE NOSSEL, The Pro-Free Speech Way to Fight Fake News  
CHARLES R. LAWRENCE III, On Racist Speech 
Assignments for Critical Reading 
 
3           Critical Reading: Getting Deeper into Arguments 
Persuasion, Argument, and Rhetorical Appeals 
Visual Guide: Evaluating Persuasive Appeals 
Thinking Critically: Identifying Ethos 
Reason, Rationalization, and Confirmation Bias 
Types of Reasoning  
             Induction 
             Deduction 
             Premises and Syllogisms 
Some Procedures in Argument 
             Definitions 
             Assumptions 
             Evidence: Experimentation, Examples, Authoritative Testimony, and Numerical Data 
Thinking Critically: Authoritative Testimony 
A Checklist for Evaluating Statistical Evidence 
Nonrational Appeals 
             Satire, Irony, Sarcasm 
             Emotional Appeals 
Thinking Critically: Nonrational Appeals 
Does All Writing Contain Arguments? 
A Checklist for Analyzing an Argument 
An Example: An Argument and a Look at the Writer’s Strategies 
*JOHN TIERNEY, The Reign of Recycling (annotated) 
Arguments for Analysis 
*KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH, Go Ahead, Speak for Yourself 
*NAUSICAA RENNER, How Do You Explain The “Obvious?” 
ANNA LISA RAYA, It’s Hard Enough Being Me (student essay) 
RONALD TAKAKI, The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority  
JAMES Q. WILSON, Just Take Away Their Guns 
*BERNIE SANDERS, We Must Make Public Colleges and Universities Tuition Free  
Assignments for Critical Reading 
 
4           Visual Rhetoric: Thinking about Images as Arguments 
Uses of Visual Images 
             Types of Emotional Appeals 
Seeing versus Looking: Reading Advertisements 
A Checklist for Analyzing Images
Levels of Images 
Visual Guide: Analyzing Images  
Documenting Reality: Reading Photographs 
             A Word on “Alternative Facts” 
Accommodating, Resisting, and Negotiating the Meaning of Images 
Are Some Images Not Fit to Be Shown?: Politics and Pictures  
An Argument on Publishing Images 
Writing about Political Cartoons  
Thinking Critically: Analysis of a Political Cartoon 
A Checklist for Analyzing Political Cartoons 
An Example: A Student’s Essay Analyzing Images 
*RYAN KWON, The American Pipe Dream? (annotated student essay) 
Visuals as Aids to Clarity: Maps, Graphs, and Pie Charts 
             A Word on Misleading or Manipulative Visual Data 
A Checklist for Charts and Graphs 
Using Visuals in Your Own Paper
Additional Images for Analysis 
DOROTHEA LANGE, Migrant Mother 
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, World War II Recruitment Poster 
NORA EPHRON, The Boston Photographs 
Assignments in Visual Rhetoric 
 
Part Two CRITICAL WRITING
 
5           Writing an Analysis of an Argument
Analyzing an Argument    
Examining The Author’s Thesis  
Examining The Author’s Purpose            
Examining The Author’s Methods           
Examining The Author’s Persona            
Examining The Author’s Audience          
A Checklist for Analyzing an Author’s Intended Audience          
             Organizing Your Analysis                 
Visual Guide: Organizing Your Analysis    
             Summary versus Analysis        
A Checklist for Analyzing a Text      
An Argument, Its Elements, and a Student’s Analysis of the Argument 
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, For Environmental Balance, Pick Up a Rifle
Thinking Critically: Examining Language to Analyze an Author’s Argument   
             The Essay Analyzed           
*THERESA CARCALDI, For Sound Argument, Drop The Jokes: How Kristof Falls Short in Convincing His Audience (annotated student essay)          
An Analysis of the Student’s Analysis     
A Checklist for Writing an Analysis of an Argument               
Arguments for Analysis
JEFF JACOBY, Bring Back Flogging
*MATTHEW WALTHER, Sorry, Nerds: Video Games Are Not a Sport
JUSTIN CRONIN, Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner
*CARL SAFINA, Never Mind Theory
Assignment for Writing an Analysis of an Argument  
 
6 Developing an Argument of Your Own  
Planning an Argument      
             Getting Ideas: Argument as an Instrument of Inquiry                
             Three Brainstorming Strategies: Freewriting, Listing, and Diagramming 
             Revision as Invention 
             Asking Questions with Stasis Theory             
             Considering Evidence       
             The Thesis or Main Point                 
A Checklist for a Thesis Statement  
Thinking Critically: Walking the Tightrope    
             Imagining an Audience     
             The Audience as Collaborator 
             Addressing Opposition and Establishing Common Ground 
A Checklist for Imagining an Audience          
Drafting and Revising Argument    
             The Title              
             The Opening Paragraphs                 
             Organizing the Body of the Essay   
Visual Guide: Organizing Your Argument  
             The Ending         
Thinking Critically: Using Transitions in Argument  
             Uses of an Outline            
A Checklist for Organizing an Argument       
             Tone and the Writer’s Persona       
             We, One, or I?                    
Thinking Critically: Eliminating We, One, and I           
A Checklist for Establishing Tone and Persona             
             Avoiding Sexist Language   
Peer Review                   
A Checklist for Peer Review
A Student’s Essay, from Rough Notes to Final Version               
EMILY ANDREWS, Why I Don’t Spare Change (annotated student essay)
Assignment for an Argument of Your Own  
 
7           Using Sources
Why Use Sources?
             Entering a Discourse        
             Understanding Information Literacy             
Choosing a Topic
Finding Sources
Visual Guide: Finding Discourse on Your Topic       
             Finding Quality Information Online
             Finding Articles Using Library Databases
Thinking Critically: Using Search Terms         
             Locating Books
Evaluating Sources
             Scholarly, Popular, and Trade Sources         
             Evaluating Online Sources 
             Why Finding Reliable Internet Sources Is So Challenging          
             A Word on “Fake News” 
A Checklist for Identifying Fake News
             Native Advertising and Branded Content                     
             Considering How Current Sources Are         
A Checklist for Evaluating Sources     
Performing Your Own Primary Research     
             Interviewing Peers and Local Authorities
Visual Guide: Conducting Interviews          
             Conducting Observations 
             Conducting Surveys          
             Research in Archives and Special Collections             
Synthesizing Sources
Taking Notes
             A Note on Plagiarizing      
A Checklist for Avoiding Plagiarism
Compiling an Annotated Bibliography
Quoting from Sources
Visual Guide: Integrating Quotations
Thinking Critically: Using Signal Phrases       
Documentation
             A Note on Footnotes (and Endnotes)
MLA Format: Citations within the Text
MLA Format: The List of Works Cited
APA Format: Citations within the Text
APA Format: The List of References
A Checklist for Critical Papers Using Sources                 
An Annotated Student Research Paper in MLA Format
LESLEY TIMMERMAN, An Argument for Corporate Responsibility (annotated student essay)
An Annotated Student Research Paper in APA Format
*HANNAH SMITH BROOKS, Does Ability Determine Expertise? (annotated student essay)
 
Part Three FURTHER VIEWS ON ARGUMENT
 
8 A Philosopher’s View: The Toulmin Model              
Visual Guide: The Toulmin Method 
Components of the Toulmin Model
The Claim
Grounds
Warrants
Backing
Modal Qualifiers
Rebuttals
Thinking Critically: Constructing a Toulmin Argument                
Putting the Toulmin Method to Work: Responding to an Argument
JAMES E. McWILLIAMS, The Locavore Myth: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet  
Thinking with Toulmin’s Method
 A Checklist Using the Toulmin Method 
 
9 A Logician’s View: Deduction, Induction, and Fallacies  
Using Formal Logic for Critical Thinking        
Visual Guide: Deduction and Induction         
Deduction
Examples of Deduction
Induction
             Observation and Inference
             Probability
             Mill’s Methods
Fallacies
             Fallacies of Ambiguity
             Fallacies of Presumption
             Fallacies of Irrelevance
             Additional Fallacies           
A Checklist for Evaluating an Argument from a Logical Point of View
Thinking Critically: Identifying Fallacies 
MAX SHULMAN, Love Is a Fallacy
 
10 A Psychologist’s View: Rogerian Argument           
Rogerian Argument: An Introduction
Visual Guide: Rogerian Argument  
A Checklist for Analyzing Rogerian Argument              
CARL R. ROGERS, Communication: Its Blocking and Its Facilitation
EDWARD O. WILSON, Letter to a Southern Baptist Minister
 
11 A Literary Critic’s View: Arguing about Literature
Interpreting
Judging (or Evaluating)  
Theorizing
A Checklist for Arguing about Literature       
Examples: Two Students Interpret Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”  
ROBERT FROST, Mending Wall
JONATHAN DEUTSCH, The Deluded Speaker in Frost’s “Mending Wall” (student essay)  
FELICIA ALONSO, The Debate in Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” (student essay)
Reading a Poem and a Story
*RICHARD BLANCO, One Today
KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour
Thinking about the Effects of Literature
PLATO, “The Greater Part of the Stories Current Today We Shall Have to Reject”  
 
12 A Debater’s View: Individual Oral Presentations and Debate           
Oral Presentations
             Methods of Delivery
             Audience
A Checklist for an Oral Presentation
             Delivery
             Content
Formal Debates
             Standard Debate Format
A Checklist for Preparing for a Debate           
 
Part Four CURRENT ISSUES: OCCASIONS FOR DEBATE
Debates as an Aid to Thinking
A Checklist for Analyzing a Debate
 
13        Student Loans: Should Some Indebtedness Be Forgiven?
ROBERT APPLEBAUM, Debate on Student Loan Debt Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Analyzing a Visual: Student Loan Debt
JUSTIN WOLFERS, Forgive Student Loans? Worst Idea Ever
 
*14      Are Algorithms Biased (Or Are We)?           
*SUFIYA UMOJA NOBLE, Missed Connections: What Search Engines Say about Women    
Analyzing a Visual: Predictive Search
*ALEX P. MILLER, Why Do We Care So Much about Explainable Algorithms?: In Defense of the Black Box 
 
*15 (Un)safe Spaces: Can We Tolerate Intolerant Speech on Campus? 
*JULIA SERANO, Free Speech and the Paradox of Tolerance
Analyzing a Visual: Student Views on Speech              
DEREK BOK, Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus              
 
16        The Current State of Childhood: Is “Helicopter Parenting” the “Problem” with Millennials?
NICK GILLESPIE, Millennials Are Selfish and Entitled, and Helicopter Parents Are to Blame
Analyzing a Visual: Overparenting
ALFIE KOHN, The One-Sided Culture War against Children
 
17        Genetic Modification of Human Beings: Is It Acceptable?
RONALD M. GREEN, Building Baby from the Genes Up
Analyzing a Visual: Genetic Modification of Human Beings
RICHARD HAYES, Genetically Modified Humans? No Thanks
 
18        Military Service: Should It Be Required?
CHARLES RANGEL, The Draft Would Compel Us to Share the Sacrifice
Analyzing a Visual: Military Recruiting
JAMES LACEY, We Need Trained Soldiers, Not a Horde of Draftees
 
Part Four CURRENT ISSUES: CASEBOOKS

19        A College Education: What Is Its Purpose?
ANDREW DELBANCO, 3 Reasons College Still Matters
CARLO ROTELLA, No, It Doesn’t Matter What You Majored In
EDWARD CONARD, We Don’t Need More Humanities Majors
CHRISTIAN MADSBJERG AND MIKKEL B. RASMUSSEN, We Need More Humanities Majors
*CAROLINE HARPER, HBCUs, Black Women, and STEM Success
 
*20 Race and Criminal Justice: Is the System Broken?                    
ADAM GOPNIK, The Caging of America                        
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN, The Cradle to Prison Pipeline      
PRISON POLICY INITIATIVE, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie  (infographic)
*HEATHER MAC DONALD, The Myth of Criminal-Justice Racism 
STEVE CHAPMAN, Are Blacks to Blame for Cops’ Actions?  
*PAUL BUTLER, The Chokehold 
 
*21 The Ethics of Appropriation: Is It OK to Copy?   
*KENAN MALIK, The Bane of Cultural Appropriation  
*YO ZUSHI, What’s Mine Is Yours                   
*K. TEMPEST BRADFORD, Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible 
*CONOR FRIEDERSDORF, A Food Fight at Oberlin College                        
*ANDREA PITZER, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan  
*KENNETH GOLDSMITH, Uncreative Writing        
 
22 Online Versus IRL: How Has Social Networking Changed How We Relate to One Another? 
JULES EVANS, Are We Slaves to Our Online Selves?  
NAVNEET ALANG, Eat, Pray, Post    
*HOSSEIN DERAKSHAN, How Social Media Endangers Knowledge  
STEPHEN MARCHE, Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? 
JOSH ROSE, How Social Media Is Having a Positive Impact on Our Culture 
*JARON LANIER, Social Media Is Making You into an Asshole                   
*TOURIA BENLAFQIH, Has Social Media Made Young People Better Citizens?    
 
23 Immigration: What Is to Be Done? 
*AVIVA CHOMSKY, Talking Sense about Immigration  
*JOSEPH CARENS, The Case for Open Borders 
*REIHAN SALAM, Beyond the Wall   
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, Our Brave New World of Immigration 
Analyzing Visuals: Immigration Then and Now  
 
*24 #MeToo: (How) Has Society Changed for Women?  
*SARAH JAFFE, The Collective Power of #MeToo  
*ASHWINI TAMBE, Reckoning with the Silences of #MeToo
*V.L. SEEK, Utmost Resistance
*ROBIN WEST, Manufacturing Consent  
*BECKY HAYES, The Critics of #MeToo and the Due Process Fallacy 
*BARI WEISS, The Limits of “Believe All Women”          
 
*25 American Democracy: Is Our Nation in Danger?               
*IAN BREMMER, Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism  
*DAVID RUNCIMAN, How Democracy Ends  
*SEBASTIEN THIBAULT, America’s Collapse (Illustration)             
*RUSSELL MUIRHEAD AND NANCY ROSENBLUM, The New Conspiracists            
*GANESH SITARAMAN, Divided We Fall       
*MEGAN McARDLE, The New Nationalism America Needs Right Now    
 
Part Six ENDURING QUESTIONS: ESSAYS, POEMS, AND STORIES
 
26 What Is the Ideal Society?        
THOMAS MORE, From Utopia
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, From The Prince
THOMAS JEFFERSON, The Declaration of Independence
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., I Have a Dream
W. H. AUDEN, The Unknown Citizen
EMMA LAZARUS, The New Colossus
WALT WHITMAN, One Song, America, Before I Go
URSULA K. LE GUIN, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
 
*27      How and Why Do We Construct the “Other”?          
*JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, Anti-Semite and Jew  
*HANS MASSAQUOI, Destined to Witness 
*W.E.B. DUBOIS, Of Our Spiritual Strivings   
*BRIDGET ANDERSON, The Politics of Pests: Immigration and the Invasive Other 
*JOHN BARTH, Us/Them
*JACOB RIIS, How the Other Half Lives  
*SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR, The Woman as Other           
*RUDYARD KIPLING, We and They  
*EMARI DIGIORGIO, When You Are the Brownest White Girl   
 
28 What Is Happiness? 
Thoughts about Happiness, Ancient and Modern                  
DANIEL GILBERT, Does Fatherhood Make You Happy?  
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, Selections from Walden
DARRIN M. McMAHON, In Pursuit of Unhappiness
EPICTETUS, From The Handbook
BERTRAND RUSSELL, The Happy Life
THE DALAI LAMA AND HOWARD C. CUTLER, Inner Contentment
C. S. LEWIS, We Have No “Right to Happiness”  
DANIELLE CRITTENDEN, About Love               
JUDY BRADY, I Want a Wife

Index of Authors, Titles, and Terms

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