The Structure of Argument

Taking the art of argument one element at a time, Structure of Argument walks you through how to approach, develop, and defend your position on a topic in order to create a thoroughly researched and persuasive stance on a variety of unsettled topics.

PART ONE Understanding Argument

1 Approaches to Argument

What Is Argument?

Aristotelian Rhetoric

Ethos

Logos

Pathos

Research Skill Using Databases

Ancient Rhetoric Today

Argument Essentials Aristotelian Rhetoric

READING ARGUMENT

Richard J. Davis, In Gun Control Debate, Logic Goes out the Window

The Shelter Pet Project, A Person Is the Best Thing to Happen to a Shelter Pet (advertisement)

Liza Long, I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother

*Stasis Theory

*The Stasis Questions

*READING ARGUMENT

*Stasis Theory Claims

Rogerian Argument

Argument Essentials Rogerian Argument

READING ARGUMENT

Julia Belluz and Steven J. Hoffman, Katie Couric and the Celebrity Medicine Syndrome

*Sarah Seltzer, Teaching Trigger Warnings: What Pundits Don’t Understand about the Year’s Most Controversial Higher-Ed Debate

Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, Warning: College Students, This Editorial May Upset You

The Toulmin Model

The Claim

The Support

The Assumption

Toulmin and the Syllogism

Argument Essentials The Toulmin Model

READING ARGUMENT

Robert J. Samuelson, In Health, We’re Not No. 1

Steven Reinberg, Embryo Selection May Help Prevent Some Inherited Disorders

Assignments for Understanding Approaches to Argument

Prereading

READING ARGUMENT

Carol Rose, On Pins and Needles Defending Artistic Expression

Amin Ahmad, I Belong Here

Reading for Content and Structure

Working with the Text

READING ARGUMENT

Christopher Elliott, A Tale of Two Airlines

Summarizing

Research Skill Summarizing

READING ARGUMENT

Mallory Simon, Gun Debate: Where Is the Middle Ground?

Stephanie Fairyington, The Gay Option

Evaluation

Argument Essentials Examining Written Arguments

READING ARGUMENT

Bruce Schneier, The Internet Is a Surveillance State

Whitney Cramer, Giving Up Our Privacy: Is It Worth It? (student essay)

Assignments for Examining Written Arguments

Visual Rhetoric

Photographs

READING ARGUMENT

Dave Martin, Looting (photograph)

Chris Graythen, Finding (photograph)

*Rick Loomis, Los Angeles Airport Police Remove the Camouflaged Gun Case That Caused the Evacuation (photograph)

*Charlie Riedel, Rio Olympics Refugees (photograph)

*Dinendra Haria, Hey Mister! Hands Off My Sister! (photograph)

Michael Krasowitz, Texting and Driving (photograph)

Print Advertisements

Argument Essentials Visual Rhetoric

READING ARGUMENT

World Wildlife Fund, Stop Climate Change before It Changes You (advertisement)

*Ad Council, It Only Takes a Moment to Make a Moment (advertisement)

Political Cartoons

READING ARGUMENT

*Peter Steiner, No Caption (cartoon)

*David Sipress, If One Political Party or the Other . . . (cartoon)

Graphics

READING ARGUMENT

theworld.org, Tobacco’s Shifting Burden (infographic)

Union of Concerned Scientists, Where Your Gas Money Goes (infographic)

Audiovisual Rhetoric

Television Commercials

READING ARGUMENT

Toyota, Let’s Go Places (advertisement)

Speeches and Debates

READING ARGUMENT

*Elizabeth Warren, Remarks at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, September 27, 2015

Broadcast News

Strategies for Critical Listening

READING ARGUMENT

CNN Correspondents, Coverage of Obama’s Announcement in Support of Gay Marriage

Argument Essentials Audiovisual Rhetoric

Online Environments

Networking Sites

Argument Essentials Online Environments

READING ARGUMENT

William Wharton, "Peaceful" Act of Compassion

Online News and Blogs

READING ARGUMENT

*Luke T. Harrington, Summer Shootings, Pokemon Go: Rebuilding Community in the Wake of Destruction (online blog)

Visual Lectures

Research Skill Evaluating Online Sources

Interactive Web Sites

READING ARGUMENT

*Ad Council, embracerefugees.org

Assignments for Examining Multimodal Arguments

*Argument Essentials Writing Argument Analysis

Argument Essentials Writing the Claim

Planning the Structure

Argument Essentials Planning the Structure

Providing Support

Summarizing

Paraphrasing

Quoting

Argument Essentials Providing Support

Research Skill Incorporating Quotations into Your Text

Documenting Your Sources

Writer’s Guide Documenting Use of Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation

READING ARGUMENT

Michael Isikoff, The Snitch in Your Pocket

Ray Chong, Misuse of Cell-Phone Tracking (student essay)

DeRon Williamson, How Our Technology Is Used against Us (student essay)

Robert D. Stuart, Social Media: Establishing Criteria for Law Enforcement Use

*Healthcare Management, The Science Facts about Autism and Vaccines (infographic)

*James W. Ingram III, Electoral College Is Best Way to Choose U. S. President

Assignments for Responding to Arguments

Organizing the Argument

Defending the Thesis

Refuting an Opposing View

READING ARGUMENT

Sharon Astyk and Aaron Newton, The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Go Hungry

Strategies for Refuting an Opposing View

Finding the Middle Ground

READING ARGUMENT

*Damon Linker, Finding the Moral, Sensible Middle Ground on Abortion

Strategies for Finding the Middle Ground

Presenting the Stock Issues

READING ARGUMENT

*John R. Koza, States Can Reform Electoral College--Here's How to Empower Popular Vote

Writing

Writing the Introduction

Writing the Conclusion

Argument Essentials Writing Arguments

Assignments for Writing Arguments

Claims of Fact

Argument Essentials Claims of Fact

Research Skill Identifying Your Sources

READING ARGUMENT

Josh Levs, Loaded Language Poisons Gun Debate

Claims of Value

Aesthetics

Morality

Argument Essentials Claims of Value

READING ARGUMENT

*Samuel Chi, The NFL's Protest Crisis

*Justin Chang, Grace Shines Past the Emotional Manipulations of "The Light between Oceans"

Claims of Policy

Argument Essentials Claims of Policy

READING ARGUMENT

Elisha Dov Hack, College Life versus My Moral Code

Kiara Ventura, Your Toxic Beauty Regime

Writer’s Guide Stating Your Claim

Assignments for Claims: Making a Statement

Writer’s Guide Using Support

Evidence

Factual Evidence

Images

*Tulsa Police Department, Police Shootings – Medical Help (photo)

Research Skill Evaluating Evidence

Argument Essentials Evidence

READING ARGUMENT

Sid Kirchheimer, Are Sports Fans Happier?

Kristen Weinacker, Safer? Tastier? More Nutritious? The Dubious Merits of Organic Foods (student essay)

Siddhartha Mukherjee, I’m Sorry, Steve Jobs: We Could Have Saved You

Appeals to Needs and Values

Appeals to Needs

Appeals to Values

Research Skill Evaluating Appeals to Needs and Values

Argument Essentials Appeals to Needs and Values

READING ARGUMENT

Ronald M. Green, Building Baby from the Genes Up

Jeremy Markel, Marketing to "Tweens" Objectifies Women

Assignments for Support: Backing Up a Claim

General Principles

Widely Held Assumptions

Recognizing and Analyzing Assumptions

Unstated Assumptions

READING ARGUMENT

Terry Eastland, Don’t Stop Frisking

Research Skill Finding and Narrowing a Research Topic

READING ARGUMENT

Michael Levin, The Case for Torture

Robert A. Sirico, An Unjust Sacrifice

Assignments for Assumptions

The Purposes of Definition

Argument Essentials Purposes of Definition

READING ARGUMENT

*Sunnivie Brydum, The True Meaning of "Cisgender"

Guy-Uriel Charles, Stop Calling Quake Victims Looters

Defining the Terms in Your Argument

The Limitations of Dictionary Definitions

Stipulation and Negation: Stating What a Term Is and Is Not

Defining Vague and Ambiguous Terms

Research Skill Using Encyclopedias

Definition by Example

Argument Essentials Defining the Terms in Your Argument

Writing Extended Definitions

Writer’s Guide Writing a Definition Essay

READING ARGUMENT

Brian Whitaker, The Definition of Terrorism

Ishmeal Bradley, Conscientious Objection in Medicine: A Moral Dilemma

Assignments for Definition: Clarifying Key Terms

The Power of Words

READING ARGUMENT

Stihl, Consumer Confidence (advertisement)

Connotation

READING ARGUMENT

Frank Deford, Why Keep Athletes Eligible but Uneducated?

Steven Best, Dispatches from a Police State: Animal Rights in the Crosshairs of State Repression

Slanting

Research Skill Evaluating Language in Sources

Figurative Language

READING ARGUMENT

M. D. Anderson, Arming Teachers: A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Idea

Concrete and Abstract Language

Shortcuts

Clichés

Slogans

Writer’s Guide Choosing Your Words Carefully

Argument Essentials Evaluating Language

READING ARGUMENT

Jennifer Grossman, Food for Thought (and for Credit)

*Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers

Assignments for Language: Using Words with Care

Induction

Argument Essentials Induction

READING ARGUMENT

Jared Diamond, Will Big Business Save the Earth?

Deduction

Argument Essentials Deduction

READING ARGUMENT

David von Drehle, It’s All about Him

Hillary Clinton, Excerpt from Remarks at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Women and the Economy Summit

Research Skill Identifying Reliable Authorities

Common Fallacies

Hasty Generalization

Faulty Use of Authority

Post Hoc or Doubtful Cause

False Analogy

Ad Hominem

False Dilemma

Slippery Slope

Begging the Question

Straw Man

Red Herring

Two Wrongs Make a Right

Non Sequitur

Ad Populum

Appeal to Tradition

READING ARGUMENT

Christopher Caldwell, Drivers Get Rolled

*Elizabeth Lee Vliet,"Gender Neutral" Bathrooms Are Dangerous

Assignments for Logic: Understanding Reasoning

Finding an Appropriate Topic

Invention Strategies

Evaluating Possible Topics

WRITER’S GUIDE Effective Research Paper Topics

Initiating Research

Keeping Research on Track

Writer’s Guide Keeping Your Research on Track

Research Skill What Is Common Knowledge?

Sketching a Preliminary Outline

Types of Sources

Research Skill Popular vs. Scholarly Articles

Finding Sources

Databases

Encyclopedias

Statistical Resources

Government Resources

Web-Based Sources

Multimodal Sources

Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Sources for Relevance

Evaluating Sources for Reliability

Research Skill Evaluating Web-Based Sources

Research Skill Evaluating Multimodal Sources

Argument Essentials Evaluating Sources

READING ARGUMENT

United States Department of Agriculture, Child Nutrition Programs

Taking Notes

Note Taking and Prewriting

Working with Your Outline

Managing and Documenting Sources

Argument Essentials Taking Notes

READING ARGUMENT

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Childhood Obesity: The Challenge

Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, To Curb School Lunch Waste, Ease the Fruit and Vegetable Rules

Reviewing Your Research

Research Skill Reviewing Your Research

*Avoiding Plagiarism

*Argument Essentials Avoiding Plagiarism

*Using Sentence Forms to Write about Arguments

*Argument Essentials Using Sentence Forms

Building an Effective Argument

Revising

Argument Essentials Checklist for Effective Arguments

Oral Arguments

The Audience

Credibility

Organization

Language

Support

Presentation Aids

READING ARGUMENT

Anna Maria Chávez, Address to the National Council Session/52nd Convention of the Girl Scouts of the USA

Kathleen Sebelius, Remarks to Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute

MLA In-Text Citations

MLA Works Cited Entries

Directory of MLA Works Cited Entries

Print Sources

The Elements of Citation Book (MLA)

Electronic Sources

The Elements of Citation Article from a Web Site (MLA)

Other Sources

The Elements of Citation Article from a Database (MLA)

MLA-Style Annotated Bibliography

MLA Paper Format

MLA-Style Sample Research Paper

Kathleen Hedden, Competitive Foods and the Obesity Epidemic (student essay)

APA In-Text Citations

APA List of References

Directory of APA Reference Entries

Print Sources

The Elements of Citation Book (APA)

Electronic Sources

The Elements of Citation Article from a Website (APA)

The Elements of Citation Article from a Database (APA)

Other Sources

APA-Style Sample Research Paper

Angela Mathers, The Controversy over Women in Combat (student essay)

*15 Rating Your Professors: Do Course Evaluations Matter?

*Rebecca Schuman, Needs Improvement

 *Stephen Burt, Why Not Get Rid of Student Evaluations?

*American Association Of University Professors, On Trigger Warnings

*Aaron R. Hanlon, The Trigger Warning Myth

*Delia Melody, The Crucial Problem We're Forgetting in the Trans Bathroom Debate

*Socawlege.Com, The Case Against Fully Shifting to Gender-Neutral Bathrooms

18 Gender Stereotypes: Is the "Princess" Phenomenon Detrimental to Girls’ Self-Image?

*Calah Alexander, The Dangers of the Princess Culture

Crystal Liechty, In Defense of Princess Culture

Paul Marx, Athlete’s New Day

Warren Hartenstine, College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

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Glossary

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

INDEX OF AUTHORS AND TITLES

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