The Craft of Argument
3rd Edition
Published on 21. November 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
528 pages
978-0-321-45327-3 (ISBN)
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.
More details
Other editions
Previous edition
Joseph M. Williams | Gregory G. Colomb
The Craft of Argument
Book
05/2003
2nd Edition
Pearson
€48.27
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Content
Preface: Teaching the Craft of Argument
A Message to Students
Acknowledgments
I. THE NATURE OF ARGUMENT: INTRODUCTION
1. Argument and Rationality.
What Is Argument?
What Good Is Argument?
Arguments Help Us Think Critically
Arguments Help us Sustain Communities
Arguments Define Academic and Professional Communities
Arguments Enable Democracy
What's Not an Argument.?: Three Forms of Persuasion That Are Not Arguments
Arguments and Explanations
Arguments and Stories
Arguments and Visual Images
WRITING PROCESS: Argument and Critical Thinking
Thinking and Talking
Reading and Researching
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Revising
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections; Tasks; Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
2. 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 + Evidence
Dialogue with Readers: Acknowledgment + Response
Explaining Logic: Warrants
Crafting Written Arguments.
Thickening Your Argument.
WRITING PROCESS: Argument as Civil Conversation
Thinking and Talking
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
3. Motivating Your Argument.
Two Kinds of Problems.
How Practical and Conceptual Problems Motivate Arguments
The Two-Part Structure of Practical Problems
The Two-Part Structure of Conceptual Problems
How To Identify Motivating Costs or Consequences by Asking So What?
Framing Problems in Introductions.
The Core of an Introduction: Conditions and Costs
The Outer Frame of an Introduction: Common Ground and Solution
Conclusions.
Introductions and Conclusions as Ways of Thinking.
Problem-Posing Versus Problem-Solving Arguments
WRITING PROCESS: Motivating Your Argument
Reading and Research
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Revising
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
II. 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 Claims
Drafting
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
5. The Core of Your Argument: Reasons and Evidence.
Supporting Claims
Reasons and Evidence as Forms of Support.
Distinguishing Reasons and Evidence.
Distinguishing Evidence and Reports of It
Direct and Reported Evidence
Multiple Reasons.
Reasons in Parallel
Reasons in Sequence
The Deep Complexity of Serious Arguments
Using Reasons to Help Readers Understand Evidence.
WRITING PROCESS: Reasons and Evidance
Preparing and Planning
Drafting: Integrating Quotations into Your Sentences; Avoiding Inadvertent Plagiarism
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
6. The Core of Your Argument: Reporting Evidence.
Weigh Your Burden of Evidence.
Make a Plan to Find Evidence
The Four Maxims of Quality.
Trustworthy Reports of Evidence.
Reports of Memories
Anecdotes
Reports from Authorities
Visual Reports with Photographs, Drawings, and Recordings
Visual Presentations of Quantitative Data
Radical Skepticism
WRITING PROCESS: Reporting Evidence
Reading and Research
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
7. 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 Arguments
WRITING PROCESS: Acknowledgment and Responses
Reading and Research
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
8. The Logic of Your Argument: Warranting Claims and Reasons
The Reasoning behind Reasons
What Warrants Look Like.
How Warrants Work
Knowing When to Use Warrants in a Written Argument
The Most Common Uses for Warrants
Two Special Uses for Warrants
How to Test a Warrant
Distinguishing Reasons and Warrants
The Challenge of Using Warrants.
Review: A Test Case.
Warranting Evidence
Arguing by Evidence vs. Arguing by Warrants.
WRITING PROCESS: Warrants
Preparing and Planning
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
III. THINKING ABOUT THINKING IN ARGUMENTS: INTRODUCTION
9. The Forms of Reasoning.
Three Forms of Reasoning
Inductive Reasoning; From Specifics to a General Conclusion
Deductive Reasoning: From a Generalization to a Specific Conclusion
Abductive Reasoning: From Problem to Hypothesis to Confirmation
Real Life Barriers to Abductive Critical Thinking
Don't Rely on Warrants in Place of Evidence
Don't Collect Evidence Randomly
Guard Against the Biases Common in Abductive Thinking
WRITING PROCESS: Forms of Reasoning
Preparing and Planning
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
10. 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 Meanings
Strategies for Using Authorized Meanings
When to Rely on Authorized Definitions
Why Dictionaries Cannot Settle Arguments over Meaning
WRITING PROCESS: Arguments about Meanings
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
11. Arguments about Causes
The Impossible Vastness of Causes.
Finding Relevant Causes.
Everyday Thinking about Causation
Thoughtful Thinking about Causation
Analyzing Causation Systematically.
The Principle of Similarity and Difference
The Principle of Co-Variation
Four Cautions about Using the Principles
Causation and Personal Responsibility.
Who's Responsible?
Five Criteria for Assigning Personal Responsibility
Attribution Bias
WRITING PROCESS: Arguments about Causes
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
IV. THE LANGUAGES OF ARGUMENT: INTRODUCTION
12. Clear Language.
Some Principles of Clear and Direct Writing.
The Principles in a Nutshell
Concision and Vividness.
How to Be Concise
How to Be Vivid
Abstract vs. Concrete
The System of Imageable Words
Deliberate Generality
WRITING PROCESS: Clear Language
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks
A GUIDE TO TERMS
IN A NUTSHELL
13. The Overt and Covert Force of Language.
Invoking Values, Evoking Feeling.
Value-Laden Words
You Can't Avoid Values
When Emotional Language Undermines Sound Thinking
Polarizing Language
Cynical Language
Subjects and Point of View.
Manipulating Subjects to Assign Responsibility
Treating Means as Agents
Abstractions as Characters.
Metaphorical Scenarios.
WRITING PROCESS: The Overt and Covert Force of Language
Drafting
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks
IN A NUTSHELL
Appendix 1: Avoiding Inadvertent Plagiarism through Proper Citations
Appendix 2: Cognitive Biases and Fallacies
V. READINGS
A Message to Students
Acknowledgments
I. THE NATURE OF ARGUMENT: INTRODUCTION
1. Argument and Rationality.
What Is Argument?
What Good Is Argument?
Arguments Help Us Think Critically
Arguments Help us Sustain Communities
Arguments Define Academic and Professional Communities
Arguments Enable Democracy
What's Not an Argument.?: Three Forms of Persuasion That Are Not Arguments
Arguments and Explanations
Arguments and Stories
Arguments and Visual Images
WRITING PROCESS: Argument and Critical Thinking
Thinking and Talking
Reading and Researching
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Revising
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections; Tasks; Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
2. 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 + Evidence
Dialogue with Readers: Acknowledgment + Response
Explaining Logic: Warrants
Crafting Written Arguments.
Thickening Your Argument.
WRITING PROCESS: Argument as Civil Conversation
Thinking and Talking
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
3. Motivating Your Argument.
Two Kinds of Problems.
How Practical and Conceptual Problems Motivate Arguments
The Two-Part Structure of Practical Problems
The Two-Part Structure of Conceptual Problems
How To Identify Motivating Costs or Consequences by Asking So What?
Framing Problems in Introductions.
The Core of an Introduction: Conditions and Costs
The Outer Frame of an Introduction: Common Ground and Solution
Conclusions.
Introductions and Conclusions as Ways of Thinking.
Problem-Posing Versus Problem-Solving Arguments
WRITING PROCESS: Motivating Your Argument
Reading and Research
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Revising
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
II. 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 Claims
Drafting
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
5. The Core of Your Argument: Reasons and Evidence.
Supporting Claims
Reasons and Evidence as Forms of Support.
Distinguishing Reasons and Evidence.
Distinguishing Evidence and Reports of It
Direct and Reported Evidence
Multiple Reasons.
Reasons in Parallel
Reasons in Sequence
The Deep Complexity of Serious Arguments
Using Reasons to Help Readers Understand Evidence.
WRITING PROCESS: Reasons and Evidance
Preparing and Planning
Drafting: Integrating Quotations into Your Sentences; Avoiding Inadvertent Plagiarism
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
6. The Core of Your Argument: Reporting Evidence.
Weigh Your Burden of Evidence.
Make a Plan to Find Evidence
The Four Maxims of Quality.
Trustworthy Reports of Evidence.
Reports of Memories
Anecdotes
Reports from Authorities
Visual Reports with Photographs, Drawings, and Recordings
Visual Presentations of Quantitative Data
Radical Skepticism
WRITING PROCESS: Reporting Evidence
Reading and Research
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IN A NUTSHELL
7. 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 Arguments
WRITING PROCESS: Acknowledgment and Responses
Reading and Research
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
8. The Logic of Your Argument: Warranting Claims and Reasons
The Reasoning behind Reasons
What Warrants Look Like.
How Warrants Work
Knowing When to Use Warrants in a Written Argument
The Most Common Uses for Warrants
Two Special Uses for Warrants
How to Test a Warrant
Distinguishing Reasons and Warrants
The Challenge of Using Warrants.
Review: A Test Case.
Warranting Evidence
Arguing by Evidence vs. Arguing by Warrants.
WRITING PROCESS: Warrants
Preparing and Planning
Working Collaboratively
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
III. THINKING ABOUT THINKING IN ARGUMENTS: INTRODUCTION
9. The Forms of Reasoning.
Three Forms of Reasoning
Inductive Reasoning; From Specifics to a General Conclusion
Deductive Reasoning: From a Generalization to a Specific Conclusion
Abductive Reasoning: From Problem to Hypothesis to Confirmation
Real Life Barriers to Abductive Critical Thinking
Don't Rely on Warrants in Place of Evidence
Don't Collect Evidence Randomly
Guard Against the Biases Common in Abductive Thinking
WRITING PROCESS: Forms of Reasoning
Preparing and Planning
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
10. 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 Meanings
Strategies for Using Authorized Meanings
When to Rely on Authorized Definitions
Why Dictionaries Cannot Settle Arguments over Meaning
WRITING PROCESS: Arguments about Meanings
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks, Projects
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
11. Arguments about Causes
The Impossible Vastness of Causes.
Finding Relevant Causes.
Everyday Thinking about Causation
Thoughtful Thinking about Causation
Analyzing Causation Systematically.
The Principle of Similarity and Difference
The Principle of Co-Variation
Four Cautions about Using the Principles
Causation and Personal Responsibility.
Who's Responsible?
Five Criteria for Assigning Personal Responsibility
Attribution Bias
WRITING PROCESS: Arguments about Causes
Preparing and Planning
Drafting
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks
FOCUS ON WRITING
IN A NUTSHELL
IV. THE LANGUAGES OF ARGUMENT: INTRODUCTION
12. Clear Language.
Some Principles of Clear and Direct Writing.
The Principles in a Nutshell
Concision and Vividness.
How to Be Concise
How to Be Vivid
Abstract vs. Concrete
The System of Imageable Words
Deliberate Generality
WRITING PROCESS: Clear Language
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks
A GUIDE TO TERMS
IN A NUTSHELL
13. The Overt and Covert Force of Language.
Invoking Values, Evoking Feeling.
Value-Laden Words
You Can't Avoid Values
When Emotional Language Undermines Sound Thinking
Polarizing Language
Cynical Language
Subjects and Point of View.
Manipulating Subjects to Assign Responsibility
Treating Means as Agents
Abstractions as Characters.
Metaphorical Scenarios.
WRITING PROCESS: The Overt and Covert Force of Language
Drafting
Revising
INQUIRIES: Reflections, Tasks
IN A NUTSHELL
Appendix 1: Avoiding Inadvertent Plagiarism through Proper Citations
Appendix 2: Cognitive Biases and Fallacies
V. READINGS