Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing, with Readings - Softcover

DISCOVERING ARGUMENTS: AN INTRODUCTION TO CRITICAL THINKING AND WRITING, WITH READINGS, by Dean Memering and William Palmer, focuses on the thought processes and research involved in argumentation and provides students with the necessary background to write critically and effectively. The text fully incorporates the rhetorical triangle of persuasive appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. These powerful appeals offer students both analytical and persuasive tools that form the core of reading, writing, and thinking activities in the text.

The text uses inductive learning throughout to encourage students to discover new ideas and skills. After students have discovered or inferred ideas for themselves, the ideas are explained in depth. In addition to its innovative approach, the text offers the following features:

• Over 100 professional and student writings on divisive issues including male/female communication styles, racial profiling, abortion, gun control, and gambling
• Unique interchapters on style and voice in brief sections between major chapters
• Various sections on arguing methods such as Rogerian argument, the Toulmin strategy, and inductive and deductive reasoning
• Engaging student journal activities that encourage students to track their progress
• Comprehensive coverage on how to evaluate and document sources-including electronic sources

By engaging students logically, emotionally, and ethically, DISCOVERING ARGUMENTS is more accessible and stimulating than any other argument textbook on the market.

Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing; with Readings encourages you to discover the critical powers of your mind. By "thinking" we mean not only analyzing a text but also extending from the text, using it as a springboard for your own interpretation, imagination, and insight.

At the end of the year 2000, the media were full of interviews, articles, and talking heads discussing the candidates, then Governor George Bush of Texas and Vice President Al Gore, and the issues of the presidential election: vouchers for private schools, prescription drugs for the elderly, the future role of the military, gun control, stem-cell research, and so on. Most viewers had simple responses to the arguments: "I agree" or "I disagree." Many responded with analytical statements: "it will never work . . . it will cost too much . . . it benefits only the rich." Some people had more detailed responses: "Why don't we try that program for the medical use of marijuana in a few states to see how well it works?" To argue well, you need to know some history of an issue, but you don't have to be a genius to recognize strategies of argument and persuasion (recognizing similarities and differences for example). Most college students can learn them. Discovering Arguments will help you do this.

We use the terms argue and persuade in their several meanings. One common meaning is "to fight or dispute with words," as in a heated argument on whether same-sex marriages should be legal. Another is "to offer reasons or evidence," as does a lawyer who argues that eyewitnesses can identify an accused. Also, an argument can mean a theory, a philosophy, or hypothesis, as in the argument that "all life is based on self-interest." In composition classes, argument often means writing a paper in which you construct an argument for or against, or both for and against, a thesis by giving reasons, examples, facts, and other evidence.

Discovering Arguments is a book about using your mind, making thoughtful applications of reading, writing, and persuasion. One of the significant differences between Discovering Arguments and other books is our emphasis on audience and persuasive appeals: logos (using reasons), pathos (using emotions), and ethos (using ethics). These appeals offer powerful tools that form the center of thinking, reading, and writing activities in the book. Classroom experience shows that students find this approach useful, and it quickly influences the quality of their thinking and writing.

Except for our collection of logical fallacies (which we call "problems in reasoning"), we have made little use of the premises and conclusions of formal logic; instead, you will discover that there are ample resources for argumentation using informal reasoning. Among these we have included a simplified presentation of philosopher Stephen Toulmin's general theory: most arguments are similar; they make some claim that must be supported by credible evidence.

Writing awakens the mind. It causes you to search for ideas, to construct and analyze thoughts that connect with your audience. Overall, this book values reading and writing for their relationships with thinking. You can view essays, books, newspapers, magazines—any text—as the thoughts of other men sand women reaching out to their readers. Reading and writing are like a conversation between you and your readers: a conversation that awakens your mental powers as you work through details, facts, library materials, probable arguments, contradictions, paradoxes, and the search for truth.

Discovering Arguments incorporates both product and process approaches to learning. As a reader analyzing an essay, poem, or story, you may see a selection as a product—a fusion of thought and form. Or, as a writer working on a report or an argument, you may see your task as a process of planning, composing, and revising. Process approaches help you find subjects that matter to you and to a real audience. Your process approach can assist you with finding information to assemble your thoughts and, eventually, to reach the revision stages, when your thoughts and language skills come together.

THE BOOK IS MULTIFUNCTIONAL

Discoveries Arguments can be used as a rhetoric: it presents a variety of strategies for communicating clearly and persuasively. It can be used as a reader: you will find a variety of papers from our students; published student essays (from Newsweek's "My Turn" column); and essays, articles, poems, and stories by professional writers such as Mitch Albom, Ellen Goodman, Richard Selzer, Thomas Sowell, Deborah Tannen, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others. Although the book contains a few poems and fiction pieces, the majority of the readings are nonfiction. The book can be used as a handbook on research writing: it features comprehensive sections on library strategies, evaluation of evidence, documentation—including electronic sources from the Internet—and detailed guidelines for writing reports as well as persuasive papers using both MLA and APA styles. Finally, Discovering Arguments can be used as a proofreading guide. The Concise Handbook on Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage after the chapters can help you understand and correct the errors that plague many writers. Errors in sentence construction such as fragments; problems with punctuation, capitalization, and other "mechanics"; and usage problems such as the differences between who and whom, lie and lay, and others are explained in brief, simple language.

UNIQUE COMPONENTS OF THE BOOK

Active-Discovery Learning

The book is a balance between traditional, deductive teaching, which tells students in advance what they are to learn, and a newer, inductive approach in which students infer for themselves the underlying strategies of composition. In chapter 1, for example, we ask you to write an essay while you read the chapter instead of reading the whole chapter first arid then writing your essay. "What you really learn is what you discover," says writing teacher Ann Berthoff (9). Our goal is to help you discover and apply tools of critical thinking that will benefit you whenever you read and write.

An abundance of pedagogy provides students with a variety of ideas and skills to learn, and instructors with a variety of material to teach. Because there are many ways to think, we have included several strategies to help you respond thoughtfully. Discovering Arguments contains many more activities and assignments than are usually provided in similar books.

Interchapters

The interchapters are brief presentations of matters of style and voice. The book provides an interchapter after each of the first five chapters so that learning and practice can begin early in the semester and can be sequenced to correspond with your work as you revise your own writing. You learn tools of style one at a time, discovering patterns of diction, sentences, and punctuation. Our emphasis on the relationship between style and thought offers insights into language as an instrument of persuasion. We present a holistic view of content and style. You learn to excel at what you say as well as how you say it. At the heart of this view is a paradox: how you say something colors what you mean, and what you mean can be clarified by the way you say it. With a minimum of grammatical jargon, the interchapters help you develop an effective style while learning to communicate persuasively.

Thinking with Contraries

Contradictions, paradoxes, and other forms of reversal offer rich possibilities. Statements such as "love your enemies" or "the indirect is just as real as the direct" stimulate thought. Contraries require exploration and explanation for understanding and, therefore, make an excellent inclusion for careful thinking, reading, and writing. Contraries enable you to discover and to evaluate ideas and information. With contraries you learn to develop a high tolerance for ambiguity and a low tolerance for either/or thinking. You learn ways to use creative thinking skills (such as humor, analogy, and empathy) to complement critical thinking skills (such as analysis, argumentation, and evaluation).

SECTION I: ARGUMENTATION

Chapter 1: Communication and Persuasion: Logos, Pathos, Ethos

Chapter 1 introduces the essential skill of observation: noticing details, examples, ideas, problems, arguments, and structures. You learn to use specific, concrete evidence to support your opinions. Chapter 1 presents the appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos used throughout the book as a unifying foundation for persuasive, argumentative writing. The chapter also offers guidelines for finding a subject, creating thesis statements in persuasive essays, and engaging an audience with effective titles, introductions, and conclusions. You learn to read actively by annotating an essay—a skill that helps to evaluate essays. The appeals not only give you tools to communicate persuasively but also to evaluate how well other writers communicate and persuade.

Interchapter 1: Style and Voice

The first interchapter introduces style and voice and related matters of diction and sentence patterns. Activities here help you use effective diction: the effects of monosyllables or multisyllables, and using specific or general, concrete or abstract, literal or figurative words. You learn the effects of precise words, natural writing, and pretentious writing; and you learn the uses of voice—the sound of your writing personality on the page. You learn about objective writing, persuasive writing, and tone—your attitudes toward audience, subject, and self. Interchapter 1 also introduces you to the use of short sentences for emphasis, joining two complete thoughts for coordination, and using semicolons.

Chapter 2: Arguments and Controversies

Chapter 2 t...