Argument Now: A Brief Rhetoric
Jonathan Alexander, University of Cincinnati
Margaret Barber, Colorado State University, Pueblo

ISBN-10: 0321113608
ISBN-13: 9780321113603

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2005
Format: Paper; 352 pp
Published: 01/18/2005

Suggested retail price: $44.20
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Argument Now is a brief guide to composing persuasive texts and conducting research, with an emphasis on practiced, computer- and web-based strategies, models, and assignments.

The text emphasizes rhetorical considerations and the writing process, not the technology itself. The text maximizes the opportunities computers offer students to engage in the writing process with a sense of freedom and creativity. It encourages students to “play” with their own text, with their ideas and words. An approachable writing style makes the innovative content easy to understand.

  • Three chapters (Ch. 3, 4 & 5) introduce various approaches to the structure of argument and ways to read and analyze arguments.  Chapter 5 focuses on visual arguments in particular.
  • Three chapters (Ch. 6, 7 & 8) walk students through the prices of composing a researched argument, and offers models for doing a print-based research project and a Web-based project.
  • Chapters 5 and 8 each include a consideration of alternative venues for composing and publishing student writing, including the use of visual rhetoric (Chapter 5) and using Web texts as arguments (Chapter 8).
  • Student work is featured in almost every chapter in “Writing Spotlight” sections — these show students analyzing argumentative texts, evaluating sources, writing research projects and composing for the Web.
  • “Your Turn” exercises are short assignments integrated into every chapter.   Many of these exercises take advantage of networked computer technology, word processing programs, the Web, and email to facilitate discussion, research, composition, and revision.
  • Professional readings are included at the end of most chapters, in the “Writers In Action” sections, with accompanying “Questions for Discussion.”
  • “Useful Links” sections at the end of each chapter and integrated “HyperTEXT” boxes suggest online resources related to the topic of each chapter.

 

Preface.

 

I. Writing Orientations.

1. Writing Processes: A Review.

Approaching the Writing Situation: Purpose and Audience.

           

Thinking about Purpose.

           

Thinking about Audience.

 

Writing Spotlight:   The YOUth & AIDS Web Site Project.

 

Capturing Your Ideas: Pre-Writing Strategies.

 

            Pre-Writing about Reading.

 

            Writing in a Journal.

 

            Freewriting.

 

            Listing.

 

            Finding a Focus.

 

Organizing a Writing Project.

 

            Choosing a Form or Genre.

 

            Clarifying Your Thesis.

 

            Developing an Outline.

 

Writing the First Draft.

 

            Starting the Rough Draft…At Last!

 

            Effective Introductions.

 

            Effective Theses.

 

            Effective Conclusions.

 

A Student Writer in Action–A Rough Draft.

 

More than Type, Click, Print:   Rewriting and Revising.

 

            Revising for Unity, Coherence, and Style.

 

Getting Help–Peer Review.

 

            Tracking Changes.

 

Finishing Touches: Editing and Proofreading.

 

            Spell-Checkers and Grammar-Checkers.

 

A Writer in Action: Galen Geer’s Revised Draft.

 

Useful Links.

 

Additional Writing Activities.

2. Something to Talk About: Understanding Academic Writing.

What Makes Writing “Academic”?

 

Academic Writing: Audience and Purpose.

 

            Academic Writing and the Public.

 

Some Key Characteristics of Academic Writing.

 

            Writing Spotlight: Popular Academic Writing.

 

Writing for an Academic Audience: Some Conventions and Expectations.

 

            1. Academic readers read critically.

 

            2. Informed academic readers expect outside sources and appropriate documentation.

 

3.   Academic readers expect to see familiar genres.

 

            4.   Academic readers look for the argument.

 

            5.   Academic readers expect stylish and mechanically correct writing.

 

Strategies used in Academic Writing.

 

Comparison and Contrast.

 

Definition.

 

Analysis.

 

Useful Links.

 

A Writer in Action: Susan Sontag on Photography.

 

“Regarding the Pain of Others” by Susan Sontag.

 

Additional Writing Activities.

II. Writing Situations.

3. Fighting Words? Understanding Argument.

Some Elements of Argument.

 

            Pathos, Ethos, and Logos.

 

The “Basic” Form of an Argument: A Claim with Stated Reasons.

 

Writing Spotlight: Pathos, Ethos, Logos, and Argument in a “Raccoon in a Bag.”

 

Kinds of Arguments.

 

            Inductive Arguments.

 

Deductive Arguments and the Enthymeme.

 

Cause and Effect.

 

Analogies.

 

Definitions.

 

Examining Assumptions.

 

Considering Counterarguments.

 

A Writer in Action: Combining Multiple Argumentative Strategies.

 

Additional Writing Activities.

4. New Worlds, New Ways: Contemporary Argument.

The Limits of Aristotle’s Approach.

 

Toulmin’s Model.

 

            Using Toulmin’s Model Electronically.

 

Rogerian Argument.

 

Writing Spotlight: Rogerian Argument in Action.

 

“Towards Reconciliation: Common Ground in the Education Curriculum” by Robert Leston.

 

Evaluating an Argument.

 

Avoiding Logical Fallacies.

 

Useful Links.

 

Writers in Action: Contemporary Strategies of Argument.

 

“A Fist in the Eye of God” by Barbara Kingsolver.

 

Additional Writing Activities.

5. More than Just Words Here: Visual Literacy, Visual Argument.

Rethinking Literacy: Understanding Visual Rhetoric.

 

Visuals and Images in Texts.

 

            Comics.

 

            Pictures, Graphs and Charts.

 

            Graphic Manipulation of Text.

 

            Writing Brochures and Newsletters.

 

            Using Visuals in Academic Presentations.

 

Visual Literacy and the Web.

 

Visual Argument.

 

            Visual Argument in Print.

 

            Visual Argument on the Web.

 

Useful Links.

 

Writers in Action: Hawisher and Sullivan Talk about.

 

            Women on the Web.

 

“Fleeting Images: Women Visually Writing the Web” by Gail E. Hawisher and Patricia A. Sullivan.

 

Additional Writing Activities.

6. Navigating a World of Information: Conducting Research.

Academic Research.

 

Popular Reporting versus Academic Research.

 

The Research Process.

 

1. Conducting preliminary research.

 

2. Identifying a research question.

 

3. Creating a research proposal.

 

4.1 Finding Information, Part One: Considering a    Variety of Sources.

 

4.2    Finding Information, Part Two: Recording Information.

 

A Student Writer in Action: A Research Project.

 

“The Travel of Henry Timberlake to Jerusalem: A Pilgrimage That Hatched an Idea” by Hershield Keaton.

 

Useful Links.

 

Additional Writing Activities.

 III. Writing Destinations.

7. Putting It All Together: Combining Research and Argument.

Crafting Print-Based Researched Arguments: Some Basic Guidelines.

 

Considering Audience and Crafting Introductions.

 

            Considering Research and Drafting an Outline or Project Plan.

 

            Drafting and Incorporating Sources.

 

            Composing Conclusions.

 

Writing Spotlight: Research and Rogerian Argument.

 

Useful Links.

 

A Writer in Action: Alfie Kohn and the Issue of Competition.

 

            “Is Competition More Enjoyable? On Sports, Play, and Fun” by Alfie Kohn.

 

Additional Writing Activities.

8. Putting It All Online: Research and Argument on the World Wide Web.

Strategies for Crafting Researched Webtexts.

 

Writing with Hypertext–Some Initial Considerations.

 

            Using Hypertext to Organize a Document, Part 1: Source Linking.

 

            Using Hypertext to Organize a Document, Part 2: Text Chunking.

 

Hypertext, the Web, and Argument.

 

Considering Rebuttals or Counter-Arguments with Hypertext.

 

Blogs and Argument.

 

Writing Spotlight: Writing and Blogging.

 

Some Questions and Issues to Consider about Web Authoring.

 

Writing for E-Zines.

 

            Preparing to Submit an Article to an E-Zine.

 

Useful Links.

 

A Writer in Action: Mark Bernstein on Hypertext.

 

            “Patterns of Hypertext” by Mark Bernstein (online).

 

Additional Writing Activities.

APPENDIX: Documenting Sources.

For First-Year Composition - Rhetoric


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