Everything's an Argument With Readings 9th Edition

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A Note about the Cover
Is everything really an argument? Seeing the images on the cover
of this book might make you wonder. The surgical masks, for
example, instantly call to mind the COVID-19 pandemic and
debates around mask mandates. The pop art design of the image
suggests that masks have become a cultural symbol broadcasting
the wearer’s values — or style. The sticker with the flag is another
wearable argument that boasts support for voting by mail,
perhaps implying that doing so is more patriotic. What does the
student in front of the open laptop tell us about learning or what
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it means to be a college student in the twenty-first century? The
magnifying glass on fact reminds us to investigate our sources
closely, which many argue has become an even more crucial skill
in the digital age. Do you agree? The police riot shields recall the
protests for Black lives and against police brutality. But this image
could be used to argue against or in support of law enforcement,
depending on the context. What’s your take?
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EVERYTHING’S AN
ARGUMENT
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Ninth Edition
EVERYTHING’S AN
ARGUMENT
Andrea A. Lunsford
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
John J. Ruszkiewicz
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
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For Bedford/St. Martin’s
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Copyeditor: Nancy Benjamin, Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
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Indexxer: Christine Hoskin, Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Composition: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Cover Image: (police) Stocktrek Images/Getty Images; (masks)
Yulia Shaihudinova/Moment/Getty Images; (student)
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Copyright © 2022, 2019, 2016, 2013 by Bedford/St. Martin’s. All
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except as may be permitted by law or expressly permitted in
writing by the Publisher.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942519
ISBN 978-1-319-41328-6 (epub)
1 2 3 4 5 6 26 25 24 23 22 21
Acknowledgments
Texxt acknowledgments and copyrights appear at the back of the book
on pages 5449–50, which constitute an exxtension of the copyright page.
Art acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as the
art selections they cover.
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Preface
We are writing this preface in 2021, looking back on one of the
most grueling years we can remember. A worldwide pandemic
that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives (and counting) in
the United States alone has compelled tens of millions of teachers
and students to teach and learn while sheltering in place. The
crisis has contributed to record unemployment, increased
homelessness, and widespread food insecurity — all at a time of
destructive and devastating divisions in our society.
Such difficulties have challenged teachers to step up as never
before. As schools shut down, they’ve had to create online courses
literally overnight, find ways to reach students without access to
the internet, and then move from online teaching to “hybrid”
teaching and, in some cases, back to in-person teaching again —
all in the same term. But step up they did: we have talked with
teachers across the country who shared their stories, their
successes, and their failures, and learned firsthand of their
resilience. But it hasn’t been easy, with students at every level
facing unprecedented obstacles to learning — technological,
educational, institutional, financial, and emotional.
And so with our ninth edition, we dedicate Everything’s an
Argument to teachers of writing, reading, and speaking
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everywhere. And to the students whose lives they touch. Bravo,
brava.
As we, too, sheltered in place and taught via Zoom (and
sometimes by phone), we worked on the revision of this book,
grateful to have a project we could do from home that connected
us with each other and with many of you.
You now have the results of our labor, a new edition that hopes
not only to meet this particular moment but also to provide tools
for effectively moving beyond it. Here you will find lively
examples of rhetoric and argumentation that fit the times, along
with three new sample student essays and five new articles by
professional writers, and revised Guides to Writing for each
genre.
Several issues called for special attention. One is the
overwhelming presence — indeed dominance — of social media
in communication today, for both good and ill. While these
networks have in some ways democratized communication,
opening a space for everyone to have their voices heard, they
have also enabled the spread of lies and misinformation, for
manipulation, exploitation, and censorship, based on what some
have called a “disinformation for profit model” controlled by a
very few very powerful entities.
As a result, we offer much more guidance to students about how
to evaluate what they find on social media (through fact-checking
and through critical and lateral reading) as well as how they can
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use social media ethically to protect both truth and freedom of
speech. We discuss confirmation bias, media bias, echo
chambers, and filter bubbles to help students recognize
tendencies that they may see in themselves or in the media. We
want readers and writers who are alert, but not discouraged or
made cynical by their cultural environments.
In the face of a deeply divided nation in which everyone seems to
be shouting and no one listening, where people seem to inhabit
completely different realities, we have tried to provide practical
help for students in learning how to listen — respectfully — even
to those they disagree with. We want them to search for the
common ground that can lead to understanding. That need for
such respectful listening, for striving to understand varying
perspectives, and for using the art of argumentation to share factbased
knowledge as a means of bringing people together has
never been more urgent.
We recognize, too, that arguments today come in an increasingly
wide variety of media and genres and that it takes more than facts
to mount convincing arguments. As Tyrion Lannister in Game of
Thrones says, “There’s nothing more powerful than a good story.”
So we have tried to show students the many ways in which
narratives — including their own stories and personal
experiences — can work to their advantage in developing
arguments. In some respects, we are stretching the boundaries of
what counts as research and argument. We encourage students to
seek evidence in places they might have ignored in the past,
learning to respect the wisdom of everyday people as well as of
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experts. In the same way, we offer a more inclusive view of what
may count as academic discourse, including writing that engages
audiences through a broader range of styles and linguistic
choices.
Given the dramatic growth of online instruction, it is crucial to
note that the ninth edition is available in a sophisticated and
robust new online platform: Achieve with Everything’s an
Argument. In fact, from the very beginning we have worked
closely with our editors and with instructors who teach argument
to take advantage of what this digital environment can offer both
instructors and students. It is not an ancillary, but an important
new place for learning about writing and argumentation.
While there is much that is new in this edition of Everything’s an
Argument, the foundation remains the same: our conviction that
rhetoric and argumentation play crucial roles in personal, work,
and school lives. At its best, rhetoric is the art, theory, and
practice of ethical communication, needed more sorely today
than perhaps ever before. Everything’s an Argument presents this
view of rhetoric and illustrates it with a fair and wide range of
perspectives and views, which we hope will inspire student
writers to think of themselves as rhetors, as Quintilian’s “good
person, speaking well.”
Key Features
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Brief, cogent explanations of key argument concepts in a
student-friendly voice.
Part 1 introduces Aristotelian appeals, Toulmin argument,
Rogerian argument, and rhetorical analysis.
Part 2 covers common types of arguments, with a student
and a professional model of each type.
Part 3 addresses the range of media available to writers,
including visual rhetoric, presentations, and multimodal
arguments in new media.
Part 4 guides students in researching arguments, including
searching for, evaluating, integrating, and documenting
sources and avoiding plagiarism.
A commitment to diverse perspectives and contexts helps
students resist one-dimensional or biased argument. Examples
from authors and students of different nationalities, political
parties, races, genders, and experiences illustrate the
instructional concepts, and Cultural Contexts for Argument boxes
offer suggestions on how to think critically about argument for
inclusive audiences.
Snappy examples weave in the debates that rage around us.
From tweets and protest posters to essays and scholarly writing,
boldfaced examples illustrate the arguments happening in
politics, economics, journalism, and media, with brief studentfriendly
analyses.
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Featured arguments in multiple genres show students that
everything is, in fact, an argument. Text-based arguments from
op-eds, books, scholarly articles, blog posts, poll results and
reports, film reviews, tweets, and more illustrate how ideas are
communicated and supported in many recognizable forms,
according to audience and purpose.
Bright visuals and a colorful design build students’ knowledge
of visual rhetoric. Photographs, illustrations, infographics, and
more visualize chapter concepts and teach students to recognize
distinctions in genre, design, and media.
New to This Edition
A new focus on lateral reading in Chapters 1 and 19, a strategy
that helps students evaluate sources in today’s fast-paced media
landscape, builds information literacy with a clear strategy for
determining the reliability and accuracy of their research.
Five new full-length models provide engaging, topical examples
of rhetorical analysis, Rogerian/invitational argument, and
arguments of fact, evaluation, and proposals on such topics as
public safety, science and transphobia, and voting privileges.
Three new annotated student essays address topics students
care about, including a new rhetorical analysis on the
relationship between language and cultural identity, the benefits
of virtual learning, and representations of the body positivity
movement in popular culture.
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More support in the instructor’s notes for teaching online and
with Achieve. New teaching tips, activities, and course plans give
both experienced and first-time instructors flexibility for teaching
in a variety of course formats.
Bedford/St. Martin’s Puts You First
From day one, our goal has been simple: to provide inspiring
resources that are grounded in best practices for teaching reading
and writing. For more than forty years, Bedford/St. Martin’s has
partnered with the field, listening to teachers, scholars, and
students about the support writers need. No matter the moment
or teaching context, we are committed to helping every writing
instructor make the most of our resources — resources designed
to engage every student.
How Can We Help You?
Our editors can align our resources to your outcomes
through correlation and transition guides for your syllabus.
Just ask us.
Our sales representatives specialize in helping you find the
right materials to support your course goals.
Our learning solutions and product specialists help you make
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Our Bits blog on the Bedford/St. Martin’s English Community
(community.macmillan.com) publishes fresh teaching ideas
regularly. You’ll also find easily downloadable professional
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resources and links to author webinars on our community
site.
Contact your Bedford/St. Martin’s sales representative or visit
macmillanlearning.com to learn more.
Digital and Print Options for Everything’s
an Argument
Choose the format that works best for your course, and ask about
our packaging options that offer savings for students.
Digital
Achieve with Everything’s an Argument with Readings.
Achieve puts student writing at the center of your course and
keeps revision at the core, with a dedicated composition
space that guides students through dra ing, peer review,
Source Check, reflection, and revision. Developed to support
best practices in commenting on student dra s, Achieve is a
flexible, integrated suite of tools for designing and
facilitating writing assignments, paired with actionable
insights that make students’ progress toward outcomes clear
and measurable. Fully editable pre-built assignments support
the book’s approach and an e-book is included. To order
Achieve with Everything’s an Argument with Readings, use
ISBN 978-1-319-33209-9. For details, visit
macmillanlearning.com/college/us/achieve/english.
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Popular e-book formats. For details about our e-book
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Inclusive Access. Enable every student to receive their
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Macmillan Learning’s Inclusive Access program is the
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Print
Paperback. To order the paperback edition of Everything’s an
Argument, use ISBN 978-1-319-24448-4. To order the
paperback packaged with Achieve, use ISBN 978-1-319-44329-
0.
Paperback edition with five additional readings chapters.
To order the paperback edition of Everything’s an Argument
with Readings, use ISBN 978-1-319-24447-7.
Your Course, Your Way
No two writing programs or classrooms are exactly alike. Our
Curriculum Solutions team works with you to design custom
options that provide the resources your students need. (Options
below require enrollment minimums.)
ForeWords for English. Customize any print resource to fit
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range of prepared topics, such as Sentence Guides for
Academic Writers.
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Macmillan Author Program (MAP). Add excerpts or package
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students with prominent authors and public conversations. A
list of popular examples or academic themes is available
upon request.
Mix and Match. With our simplest solution, you can add up
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Instructor Resources
You have a lot to do in your course. We want to make it easy for
you to find the support you need — and to get it quickly.
Instructor’s Notes for Everything’s an Argument is available in
Achieve and also as a PDF that can be downloaded from
macmillanlearning.com by visiting the instructor resources tab
for Everything’s an Argument. In addition to chapter overviews and
teaching tips, the instructor’s manual offers an introduction to
teaching the argument course, sample syllabi, guidance on using
Achieve in the argument course, and suggested answers to the
“Respond” questions in the book.
Acknowledgments
We owe a debt of gratitude to many people for making
Everything’s an Argument possible. Our first thanks must go to the
thousands of people we have taught in our writing courses over
nearly four decades, particularly students at the Ohio State
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University, Stanford University, the Bread Loaf School of English,
the University of Texas at Austin, Portland State University, and
Bethlehem University. Almost every chapter in this book has been
informed by a classroom encounter with a student whose shrewd
observation or perceptive question sent an ambitious lesson plan
spiraling to the ground. (Anyone who has tried to teach claims
and warrants on the fly to skeptical first-year writers will surely
appreciate why we have qualified our claims in the Toulmin
chapter so carefully.) But students have also provided the motive
for writing this book. More than ever, they need to know how to
read and write arguments effectively if they are to secure a place
in a world growing ever smaller and more rhetorically
challenging.
We are deeply grateful to the editors at Bedford/St. Martin’s who
have contributed their formidable talents to this book. In
particular, we want to thank the imaginative and meticulous Leah
Rang for guiding us so patiently and confidently — helping us
locate just the right items whenever we needed fresh examples
and images and gracefully recasting passage a er passage to
satisfy permissions mandates. Senior content project manager
Ryan Sullivan was relentlessly upbeat and amazingly efficient in
all his communications, making the ever-more-complex stages of
production almost a pleasure. We also appreciate the extensive
support and help of Cari Goldfine, whose skills at sleuthing
perfect examples and innovative selections for the readings are
unmatched. We are similarly grateful to senior program manager
John Sullivan, whose support was unfailing; Elaine Kosta, for text
permissions; Krystyna Borgen, for art permissions; William
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Boardman, for our cover design; and Nancy Benjamin,
copyeditor. All of you made editing the ninth edition feel fresh
and creative.
We’d also like to thank the astute instructors who reviewed all or
parts of this edition, who demonstrated and gathered information
about the use of Achieve writing tools, who helped us identify
student writers, and who otherwise offered timely and helpful
advice: Brigitte L. Anderson, University of Pikeville; Sidney
Blaylock Jr., Middle Tennessee State University; Allison D.
Brenneise, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities; Kendra N.
Bryant, North Carolina A&T State University; Matt Childres,
Appalachian State University; Elizabeth Donley, Clark College;
Kristin Dorsey, Central Oregon Community College; Jessica
Enoch, University of Maryland College Park; Katharine Fulton,
Iowa State University; Nancy Gebhardt, Rockford University;
Jenna Goldsmith, Oregon State University; Anna Katherine
Hammerle, Coconino County Community College; Cynthia
Hardman, College of Southern Maryland–Leonardtown; Sarah E.
Heidebrink-Bruno, Lehigh University; Sean Henne, West Shore
Community College; Anna Iushchenko, McLennan Community
College; Elizabeth Jones, Georgia Gwinnett College; Ruth
Knezevich, Hamline University; Katy Krieger, University of
Oklahoma; Laura La Flair, Belmont Abbey College; Celia M.
Lewis, Louisiana Tech University; Crystal Manboard, Northwest
Vista College; Ashlea Massie, Alvin Community College; Teaira
McMurtry, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Sierra Mendez,
University of Texas at Austin; David M. Merchant, Louisiana Tech
University; Emily Janda Monteiro, Blinn College; Grace Nambela,
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Riverside City College; Kolawole Olaiya, Anderson University;
Christopher D. Peace, University of Kansas; Natalie Pleimann,
North Lake College; Sam Ruckman, Arizona State University;
Khirsten L. Scott, University of Pittsburgh; Becky Mitchell
Shelton, Bluegrass Community and Technical College; Katrina
Shilts, Elmira College; Elizabeth Simmons, Collin College–Plano;
Amanda Smothers, Elgin Community College; Michael Sobiech,
Carson Newman University; Andrew Tolle, Eastfield College; Beth
Arnette Wade, Prairie View A&M University; Amy Walton, Iowa
State University; Dana-Linn Whiteside, Roanoke College; Beth
Williams, Stark State College; and those who gave anonymous
feedback.
We thank Lucy Johnson, University of Washington–Eau Claire,
Madonna Kemp, Middle Tennessee State University, and Valerie
Duff-Strautmann, who are working closely with us to make sure
this edition of Everything’s an Argument is even more interactive in
Achieve by scripting new tutorials for us, including instructor tips
for teaching online, and writing new quizzes.
Finally, we are especially grateful to the student writers who
generously allowed us to include their work in this edition:
Marielys Diaz, Anderson University; Makiya Lineberger, North
Carolina A&T State University; and Caroline Utz, Stanford
University. Thank you all!
Andrea A. Lunsford
John J. Ruszkiewicz
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Brief Contents
Preface
Part 1 Reading and Understanding Arguments
1 Understanding Arguments and Reading Them
Critically
2 Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos
3 Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
4 Arguments Based on Facts and Reason: Logos
5 Fallacies of Argument
6 Rhetorical Analysis
Part 2 Writing Arguments
7 Structuring Arguments
8 Arguments of Fact
9 Arguments of Definition
10 Evaluations
11 Causal Arguments
12 Proposals
Part 3 Style and Presentation in Arguments
13 Style in Arguments
14 Visual Rhetoric
15 Presenting Arguments
16 New Media and Multimodal Arguments
Part 4 Research and Arguments
17 Academic Arguments
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18 Finding Evidence
19 Evaluating Sources
20 Using Sources
21 Maintaining Academic Integrity and Crediting
Sources
22 Documenting Sources
Glossary
Index
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Contents
Preface
Part 1 Reading and Understanding Arguments
1 Understanding Arguments and Reading Them
Critically
Everything Is an Argument
Reading Arguments Rhetorically and Critically
Reading Laterally
Reading for Bias
Listening to Arguments Rhetorically and
Respectfully
Why We Make Arguments
Arguments to Convince and Inform
Arguments to Persuade
Arguments to Make Decisions
Arguments to Understand and Explore
Occasions for Argument
Arguments about the Past
Arguments about the Future
Arguments about the Present
Kinds of Argument
Did Something Happen? Arguments of Fact
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What Is the Nature of the Thing? Arguments of
Definition
What Is the Quality or Cause of the Thing?
Arguments of Evaluation
What Actions Should Be Taken? Proposal
Arguments
STASIS QUESTIONS AT WORK
Appealing to Audiences
Emotional Appeals: Pathos
Ethical Appeals: Ethos
Logical Appeals: Logos
Bringing It Home: Kairos and the Rhetorical
Situation
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT:
Considering What’s “Normal”
2 Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos
Reading Critically for Pathos
Using Emotions to Build Bridges
Using Emotions to Sustain an Argument
Using Humor
Using Arguments Based on Emotion
3 Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
Thinking Critically about Arguments Based on
Character
Establishing Trustworthiness and Credibility
Claiming Authority
Coming Clean about Motives
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Ethos
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4 Arguments Based on Facts and Reason: Logos
Spotting Fake News
Thinking Critically about Hard Evidence
Facts
Statistics
Surveys and Polls
Testimonies and Narratives
Using Reason and Common Sense
Providing Logical Structures for Argument
Degree
Analogies
Precedent
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Logos
5 Fallacies of Argument
Fallacies of Emotional Argument
Scare Tactics
Either/Or Choices
Slippery Slope
Overly Sentimental Appeals
Bandwagon Appeals
Fallacies of Ethical Argument
Appeals to False Authority
Dogmatism
Ad Hominem Arguments
Stacking the Deck
Fallacies of Logical Argument
Hasty Generalization
Faulty Causality
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Begging the Question
Equivocation
Non Sequitur
Straw Man
Red Herring
Faulty Analogy
Paralipsis
6 Rhetorical Analysis
Composing a Rhetorical Analysis: Reading and
Viewing Critically
Understanding the Purpose of Arguments You Are
Analyzing
Understanding Who Makes an Argument
Identifying and Appealing to Audiences
Examining Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos
Examining Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
Examining Arguments Based on Facts and Reason:
Logos
Examining the Arrangement and Media of
Arguments
Looking at Style
Examining a Rhetorical Analysis
BLOG POST Kevin Garcia, Can You Lose a Language
You Never Knew?
“I’m not sure if I’ll ever be comfortable with my
relationship to Spanish. I mourn the loss of a
language that I’ve been told all my life I have
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some sort of claim over. But, can I lose
something I never really had to begin with?”
STUDENT ESSAY Marielys Diaz, The Loss of a
Language Kevin Garcia Never Knew: A Rhetorical
Analysis
“Garcia’s argument is a complicated one…. He’s
not just talking about language; he is also talking
about the identity that comes with a language.”
GUIDE TO WRITING A RHETORICAL
ANALYSIS
Part 2 Writing Arguments
7 Structuring Arguments
The Classical Oration
Rogerian Argument
A Sample Rogerian Argument
OP-ED Pamela Paresky and Bradley Campbell,
Safetyism Isn’t the Problem
“Solving the complex problems of the pandemic
cannot be accomplished without considering
ideological opponents’ views.”
Invitational Argument
Toulmin Argument
Making Claims
Offering Evidence and Good Reasons
Determining Warrants
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Offering Evidence: Backing
Using Qualifiers
Understanding Conditions of Rebuttal
Outline of a Toulmin Argument
A Toulmin Analysis
OP-ED Stephen L. Carter, Offensive Speech Is Free
Speech. If Only We’d Listen.
“The First Amendment protects not admirable
speech or good speech or likeable speech. It
protects speech.”
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT:
Organization
8 Arguments of Fact
Understanding Arguments of Fact
Characterizing Factual Arguments
Developing a Factual Argument
Identifying an Issue
Researching Your Hypothesis
Refining Your Claim
Deciding Which Evidence to Use
Presenting Your Evidence
Considering Design and Visuals
GUIDE TO WRITING AN ARGUMENT OF FACT
Two Sample Factual Arguments
STUDENT ESSAY Makiya Lineberger, A Change in
Education: The Benefits of Online vs. In-Class Learning
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“Understanding the benefits that virtual learning
can provide and applying them to everyday life
may change the way today’s college students
think about and approach virtual learning.”
WEB ARTICLE Simón(e) D Sun, Stop Using Phony
Science to Justify Transphobia
“Defining a person’s sex identity using
decontextualized ‘facts’ is unscientific and
dehumanizing. The trans experience provides
essential insights into the science of sex and
scientifically demonstrates that uncommon and
atypical phenomena are vital for a successful
living system.”
9 Arguments of Definition
Understanding Arguments of Definition
Kinds of Definition
Formal Definitions
Operational Definitions
Definitions by Example
Negative Definitions
Developing a Definitional Argument
Formulating Claims
Cra ing Definitions
Qualifying Claims
Considering Design and Visuals
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GUIDE TO WRITING AN ARGUMENT OF
DEFINITION
Two Sample Definitional Arguments
STUDENT ESSAY Natasha Rodriguez, Who Are You
Calling Underprivileged?
“The word made me question how I saw myself
in the world.”
LETTER Rob Jenkins, Defining the Relationship
“I used to think the boundaries and expectations
were clear on both sides, but that no longer
seems to be the case.”
10 Evaluations
Understanding Evaluations
Criteria of Evaluation
Characterizing Evaluation
Quantitative Evaluations
Qualitative Evaluations
Developing an Evaluative Argument
Formulating Criteria
Making Claims
Presenting Evidence
Considering Design and Visuals
GUIDE TO WRITING AN EVALUATION
Two Sample Evaluations
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STUDENT ESSAY Jenny Kim, The Toxxicity in
Learning
“Across all disciplines, there is an unhealthy
infatuation with a 4.0 GPA that detracts from true
learning.”
MAGAZINE ARTICLE Christopher Orr, The Secret of
Scooby-Doo’s Enduring Appeal
“What on earth is going on? Why has Scooby-Doo
… outlasted not only such Hanna-Barbera
brethren as The Flintstones and Yogi Bear, but also
pretty much everything else on television?”
11 Causal Arguments
Understanding Causal Arguments
Arguments That State a Cause and Then
Examine Its Effects
Arguments That State an Effect and Then Trace
the Effect Back to Its Causes
Arguments That Move through a Series of Links
Characterizing Causal Arguments
They Are O en Part of Other Arguments
They Are Almost Always Complex
They Are O en Definition Based
They Usually Yield Probable Rather Than
Absolute Conclusions
Developing Causal Arguments
40

Exploring Possible Claims
Defining the Causal Relationships
Supporting Your Point
Considering Design and Visuals
GUIDE TO WRITING A CAUSAL ARGUMENT
Two Sample Causal Arguments
STUDENT ESSAY Laura Tarrant, Forever Alone (and
Perfectly Fine)
“Singleness doesn’t have to be a stepping-stone
on the way to a relationship, nor does it have to
result from some emotional deficiency. Rather,
singleness is its own alternative lifestyle.”
OP-ED Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, America’s Birthrate
Is Now a National Emergency
“[P]eople’s willingness to have children is not
only a sign of confidence in the future, but a sign
of cultural health.”
12 Proposals
Understanding and Categorizing Proposals
Characterizing Proposals
Developing Proposals
Defining a Need or Problem
Making a Strong and Clear Claim
Showing That the Proposal Addresses the Need
or Problem
Showing That the Proposal Is Feasible
41

Considering Design and Visuals
GUIDE TO WRITING A PROPOSAL
Two Sample Proposals
STUDENT ESSAY Caleb Wong, Addiction to Social
Media: How to Overcome It
“Like tooth-brushing and nail-biting, using social
media regularly is a habit.”
PROPOSAL Associated Students of the University of
California, Proposal to Make Election Day a Non-
Instructional Day
“It is imperative that as many students as
possible vote while still in college as studies have
shown that voting at a young age increases your
likelihood for voting for the rest of your life.”
Part 3 Style and Presentation in Arguments
13 Style in Arguments
Style and Word Choice
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT:
Pronouns
Sentence Structure and Argument
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT:
“Standard,” “Formal,” and Other Conventions
Punctuation and Argument
Special Effects: Figurative Language
Tropes
42

Schemes
14 Visual Rhetoric
The Power of Visual Arguments
Using Visuals in Your Own Arguments
Using Images and Visual Design to Create Pathos
Using Images to Establish Ethos
Using Visual Images to Support Logos
15 Presenting Arguments
Class and Public Discussions
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT:
Speaking Up in Class
Preparing a Presentation
Assess the Rhetorical Situation
Nail Down the Specific Details
Fashion a Script Designed to Be Heard by an
Audience
Choose Media to Fit Your Subject
Deliver a Good Show
Poster Sessions: Oral Presentations in Academic
Settings
Webcasts: Live Presentations on the Internet
16 New Media and Multimodal Arguments
Old Media Transformed by New Media
READING IN PRINT VS. ONLINE
New Content in New Media
New Audiences in New Media
Analyzing Arguments in New Media
Making New Media and Multimodal Arguments
43

Websites
Videos and Video Essays
Wikis
Blogs
Comics
Memes
A Final Note on Time
Part 4 Research and Arguments
17 Academic Arguments
Understanding What Academic Argument Is
Conventions in Academic Argument Are Not
Static
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT:
Considering English(es)
Developing an Academic Argument
Two Sample Academic Arguments
STUDENT ESSAY Charlotte Geaghan-Breiner, Where
the Wild Things Should Be: Healing Nature Deficit
Disorder through the Schoolyard
“The most practical solution to this staggering
ri between children and nature involves the
schoolyard.”
BLOG POST Sidra Montgomery, The Emotion Work
of “Thank You for Your Service”
“The well-meaning intent behind TYFYS isn’t
always received by post-9/11 veterans in the
44

same way.”
18 Finding Evidence
Considering the Rhetorical Situation
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: The
Rhetorical Situation
Searching Effectively
SEARCHING ONLINE OR IN DATABASES
Collecting Data on Your Own
Drawing Upon Narratives as Evidence
19 Evaluating Sources
Identifying Bias
Assessing Sources
Practicing Crap Detection
Triangulate
Use Fact-Checking Websites
Practice Lateral Reading
CASE STUDY: Lateral Reading
Assessing Field Research
20 Using Sources
Practicing Infotention
Building a Critical Mass
Synthesizing Information
Paraphrasing Sources You Will Use Extensively
Summarizing Sources
Using Quotations Selectively and Strategically
Framing Materials You Borrow with Signal
Words and Introductions
45

Using Sources to Clarify and Support Your Own
Argument
Avoiding “Patchwriting”
21 Maintaining Academic Integrity and Crediting
Sources
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT:
Intellectual Property and Remix Culture
Crediting Sources
WHAT COPYRIGHT DOESN’T PROTECT
Getting Permission for and Using Copyrighted
Internet Sources
Acknowledging Your Sources Accurately and
Appropriately
Crediting Collaborators
22 Documenting Sources
MLA Style
In-Text Citations
Content and Bibliographic Notes
List of Works Cited
Sample First Page for an Essay in MLA Style
Sample List of Works Cited Page for an Essay in
MLA Style
APA Style
In-Text Citations
Content Notes
List of References
Sample Title Page for an Essay in APA Style
Sample First Text Page for an Essay in APA Style
46

Sample References List for an Essay in APA Style
Glossary
Index
47

EVERYTHING’S AN
ARGUMENT
48

P A R T 1
Reading and Understanding
Arguments
49

C H A P T E R 1
Understanding Arguments
and Reading Them Critically
When you wanted updates during a national crisis, where did you
go? And whenever a story breaks, what news sites do you visit?
Even if you’re not on Facebook or Twitter, these privately
controlled, for-profit online media forums probably influence you
now as much or more than so-called heritage media — that is,
newspapers, magazines, TV news, books, or even your school
courses. Trendy topics, memes, slogans, and political movements
50

start in social media. But many a consequential argument does
too these days.
Social media sites work because they are interactive, fluid, and
entertaining. On Facebook and Instagram you connect with
friends, create groups, support causes, follow celebrities, share
articles, and livestream. Same on Twitter, but quicker — just 280
characters per message and enhanced by images, videos, and
links, all searchable and archived. Its supercharged chatter pulls
in people from every walk of life: talking heads, politicians of all
stripes, professionals, activists, advocates, extremists, haters, and
ordinary folks too: more women than men, more wealthy than
poor, more progressives than conservatives, if a 2019 Pew Center
Report is reliable. Even presidents of the United States.
What could be wrong with that?
Nothing, when it works. Social media today certainly connects
more people more effortlessly than even Star Trek writers
imagined. And people excited by ideas and arguments are usually
a good thing. Many Twitter posts, threads, and replies are
illuminating, especially early on in the discussion.
But social media o en turns ugly. Trolls post toxic items, driving
people into opposing camps where ideas aren’t so much engaged
as mugged. Nuances disappear, bad motives are assumed,
evidence is skewered, identity politics reign, and public shaming
is practiced, usually with the intent of muffling debate. Taylor
Lorenz described the environment in the Atlantic in 2018: “As
51

trolls and bad actors have weaponized social-media sites like
Twitter, abuse and harassment campaigns can become
mechanisms for spreading misinformation and divisive political
content.”
So, for good reason, many people walk away from such forums.
Writing in the New York Times, Maggie Haberman explained her
own decision to leave Twitter, describing it as “an anger video
game for many users. It is the only platform on which people feel
free to say things they’d never say to someone’s face.”
Her critique resonates because arguments of the sort we
encourage in this book work best with open-minded audiences
willing to listen to others. Writers who insult and bully are neither
arguing nor persuading. And, sadly, habits of social media
corrupt culture at large. Shallow ideas get attention without hard
work. In contrast, responsible arguments require clear and
nuanced claims backed by sound reasons and reliable,
convincing evidence. They are produced by writers who respect
their readers, even those with differing views. And they take time
and effort.
Yes, people can be swayed by very short messages. If that weren’t
the case, we’d not have so many words for clever remarks:
apothegms, axxioms, bon mots, epigrams, maxxims, quips, witticisms.
And, yes, genuine persuasion can occur even in social media
when strong claims are endorsed by rational authorities backed
by links to convincing evidence, images, and videos. A Twitter
storm can sometimes be welcome as rain a er drought.
52

But more than ever, it is important to understand what extended
argument looks like and how its strategies help to civilize our
world. It makes more durable connections between people than
can 280 characters pounded on the fly into a keyboard.
53

Everything Is an Argument
As you well know, arguments occur in every medium, in every
genre, in everything we do. There may be an argument on the T-
shirt you put on in the morning, in the sports column you read on
the bus, in the prayers you utter before an exam, in the off-thecuff
political remarks of a teacher lecturing, or on the bumper
sticker on the car in front of you. The foods you eat, the groups
you join, the books you collect similarly make nuanced,
sometimes unspoken assertions about who you are and what you
value.
So an argument can be any text — written, spoken, aural, or visual
— that expresses a point of view. In fact, some theorists claim that
language itself is inherently persuasive. When you say, “Hi, how’s
it going?” in one sense you’re arguing that your hello deserves a
response. Even humor makes an argument when it causes
readers to recognize — through bursts of laughter or just a faint
smile — how things are and how they might be different.
More obvious as arguments are those that make direct claims
based on or drawn from evidence. Such writing o en moves
readers to recognize problems and to consider solutions.
Persuasion of this kind is usually easy to recognize, as in these
paragraphs from a 2020 report in the Atlantic on the
disappearance of workplace dress codes:
54

Gurung, Cawood, and Hall all agree that the mandate for greater
fairness in the workplace — spurred by non-discrimination laws and
the need to retain workers in a tight labor market — will likely spell the
end of the dress code as we know it, sooner rather than later. For
traditionalists, this might sound like an abandonment of pride and
professionalism, but in reality, Cawood says, companies that overhaul,
simplify, or drop their dress code rarely do anything but make their
employees happier. Regulating bad behavior — everything from being
a smelly desk neighbor to sexual harassment — doesn’t require rules
about pantyhose or facial hair. Cawood points to General Motors as a
model for policing how employees adorn themselves, even if it means
managers actually have to manage. The entire dress code is two words:
Dress appropriately.
Ultimately, what such simple dictates acknowledge is that workers are
adults, not babies at productivity day care. “People just generally know
how to self-govern, and I don’t think you need these archaic rules to
punish that outlier that may or may not occur,” Hall said. “Just cover
the things you want covered and call it a day.”
— Amanda Mull, “Kill the Office Dress Code”
●
Can an argument really be any text that expresses a point of
view? What kinds of arguments — if any — might be made by
the following items?
ASICS Novaplast running shoes
“Explicit lyrics” label on a best-selling rap album
E-cigarettes
Tesla Model Y electric SUV
COVID-19 face mask
55

New York Yankees baseball cap
56

Reading Arguments Rhetorically
and Critically
More than two millennia ago, Aristotle told students they needed
to learn the arts of rhetoric for two major reasons: to get their
ideas across effectively and to protect themselves from being
manipulated by others. Today, these abilities are perhaps more
important than ever. Inundated with “alternative facts,” “fake
news,” mis- and disinformation, and flat-out lies in both
alternative and mainstream media, we need survival skills to
assess the claims and arguments we encounter. (For more on fake
news, see Chapter 4.)
Reading Laterally
A 2017 study from the Stanford History Education Group
suggested one efficient way of ferreting out potential
misinformation and propaganda, especially in electronic media
where most of us today do much of our reading. Authors Sam
Wineburg and Sarah McGrew compared the ways students,
historians, and fact-checkers approached materials on websites.
They discovered that students and historians alike judged the
credibility of such materials mainly by what they found by
reading vertically — that is, within the site itself, examining
elements such as the names of authors, the bibliography, even
official logos and other visual elements to test their soundness
57

and authenticity. They o en missed, at least initially, critical
signals that what they were reading was less than reliable.
Fact-checkers, on the other hand, spotted problems with
credibility far more quickly by reading laterally — that is, they le
the site they were examining and opened a new tab to read what
other online sources could reveal about the material. Lateral
reading of this type turned up problems in websites much
quicker than simply reading a source straight through — lapses
such as political biases, undue influences, questionable sources of
funding, and more. To flip an adage Ronald Reagan once applied
to negotiations with the former Soviet Union: when it comes to
reading, verify, then trust.
An example of searches made by a fact-checker, demonstrating how long
lateral reading takes (or how quick it can be)
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Lateral reading is a habit that can be applied to print sources too,
since most already have a presence on the internet. For example,
you might find book reviews or information about authors (their
education, credentials, reputation) or publishers (types of works
published, institutional affiliations, reputation). If lateral reading
makes you skeptical, that’s a quality any reader or fact-checker
should cultivate — even about themselves.
Here are some other ways to defend against misrepresentation in
what you read:
Pay attention, close attention, to what you read or view. Avoid
the temptation to skim, especially when the stakes are high.
Be wary of “click bait,” those items near the bottom of a
screen screaming “read me, read me.” They usually lead to
ads or worthless “news” items.
Look for any unstated assumption behind claims — and then
question them.
Distinguish between verified facts and unproven claims.
Learn to triangulate: don’t trust the word of a single source.
Look for corroboration from other reliable sources by
reading laterally.
Become a fact-checker! Use fact-checkers like PolitiFact,
FactCheck.org, the Sunlight Foundation, and Snopes.com.
But understand that fact-checkers have biases too.
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You will find additional information about reading critically
throughout this book, especially in Chapters 6 and 19. Pay
attention, too, to the discussion of what media critic Howard
Rheingold calls “crap detection” (see “Practicing Crap Detection”
in Chapter 19).
Reading for Bias
Reading critically also entails learning about the biases and
leanings of major news sources. For example, the following image
is a “media bias chart” produced by AllSides, a group that defines
its mission as to “[s]trengthen our democracy by freeing people
from filter bubbles so they can better understand the world — and
each other.” Before relying on the chart, you’d want to read
laterally to check out what others say about AllSides.
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A visual depiction of bias in the media, moving from le (liberal) to center to
right (conservative)
61

Listening to Arguments
Rhetorically and Respectfully
Being a critical reader does not mean being closed or cynical.
Rhetorician Krista Ratcliffe recommends that we learn to listen
rhetorically, which she defines as “a stance of openness” you can
take in relation to any person, text, or culture. Taking such a
stance is not easy when emotions and disagreements run high.
Amid the extreme divisions in the United States today, the charges
and countercharges, the ongoing attacks of one group on another,
it’s important to listen to others, especially those with whom we
drastically disagree. Scholars and pundits alike have written
about echo chambers and filter bubbles we increasingly inhabit,
the latter created by media algorithms that feed us what we prefer
to read. On campus or online, we may hear only from people who
already think, act, and believe as we do. Such vacuums are
dangerous to a democracy, o en segregating us by class, income,
race, genders, religion, work status, even by majors. You can’t
think critically if your own views are narrow, uninformed, or
prejudiced. (For more on echo chambers, see Chapter 17.)
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An echo in action, confirming belief
When you encounter people who differ from you politically,
socially, racially, religiously, or in any other way, practice
63

rhetorical listening. Resist the tendency to be defensive (or
superior) and give others’ views a respectful hearing. Be open to
understanding and acknowledging real differences of various
kinds. Ask them for the same courtesy. Search for common
ground and common language, no matter how small; chances are
you’ll find some. Then look for ways forward that benefit more
than just people who share your point of view.
Arguments are rarely won by insisting “I’m right” and “You’re
wrong” or by calling people names. Yet that is the way many
discussions go today, compounded by institutions and media that
profit by advancing stark ideological positions:
le ist/conservative, Marxist/capitalist, Democrat/Republican,
secular/religious, urban/rural, managerial elites/working classes,
and on and on. Learning to listen to all those we perceive (rightly
or wrongly) as others — who differ in opinion or experience from
our own — may be a more productive way to argue. It’s certainly
better than plunging right in with clueless accusations or claims.
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Why We Make Arguments
As this discussion suggests, in today’s media-driven culture, the
word argument makes people think of hostile rants, belligerent
tweets, and raised voices of politicians or pundits seeking to
prevail over enemies. Despite its long history, this winner-take-all
attitude undermines faith in the notion that we can solve
problems through reasoned conversation. Tired of perpetual
standoffs with those on “the other side,” many people now go
silent (sometimes in fear), sidestepping opportunities to have
their say on issues shaping their lives and work.
We want to counter this attitude throughout this book: we urge
you to examine your values and beliefs, to understand where they
come from, and to voice them clearly and cogently in arguments
you make, all the while respecting the values and beliefs of
others.
Some arguments, of course, are aimed at winning, especially
those related to the law, business, and, yes, politics. Two lawyers,
for example, try to outwit each other in pleading to judge and
jury; the makers of one smartphone try to outsell their
competitors by offering more features at a lower price; two
candidates for office vie for most votes. Even in your college
writing, you may be asked to make arguments that appeal to a
“judge” and “jury” (perhaps your instructor and classmates). You
might, for instance, maintain that students in every field should
65

be required to engage in service learning projects. In doing so,
you will need to offer better arguments or more convincing
evidence than those with alternative views or perspectives — who
might regard service learning as coercive and politicized. You can
do so reasonably and responsibly, no name-calling required.
There are many reasons to argue and principled ways to do so. We
explore some of them in the following sections.
Arguments to Convince and Inform
We’re stepping into an argument ourselves in drawing what we
hope is a useful distinction between convincing and — in the next
section — persuading. (Feel free to disagree with us!) Arguments to
convince lead an audience to accept a claim as true or reasonable
— based on factual and reliable evidence; arguments to persuade
then seek to move people from conviction to action. Academic
arguments o en combine both elements. So do political ones.
Think about the difference between convincing medical experts
around the world that a coronavirus likely originating in Wuhan,
China, was virulent and persuading politicians to take drastic
measures to counter it.
Many news reports and analyses, white papers, and academic
articles aim to influence audiences by broadening what they
know about a subject. Such fact-based arguments might have no
motives beyond laying out what the facts are. Here’s an opening
paragraph from a 2014 news story by Anahad O’Connor in the
New York Times that itself launched a thousand arguments (and
66

lots of huzzahs) simply by reporting the results of a scientific
study:
Many of us have long been told that saturated fat, the type found in
meat, butter and cheese, causes heart disease. But a large and
exhaustive new analysis by a team of international scientists found no
evidence that eating saturated fat increased heart attacks and other
cardiac events.
— Anahad O’Connor, “Study Questions Fat and Heart Disease Link”
Wow. You can imagine how carefully the reporter walked through
the scientific data, knowing how this new information might be
understood and repurposed by his readers. (Years later, the safety
of eating foods with saturated fats is still controversial.)
Images too can offer powerful arguments designed both to
inform and to convince. Consider for example the cover shown
here from the Economist magazine, June 17–22, 2019 — a simple
but memorable comment on attempts by the government of
China to suppress dissent in Hong Kong. It was selected as one of
Folio’s favorite magazine covers of 2019. Matt Srelecki, the
Creative Director at Meredith Agrimedia, acknowledged that
representing complex ideas or issues in a simple image is o en
very difficult work, and he offered this assessment of its
persuasive power: “The design team at The Economist have
managed to make a very effective statement using the Chinese
flag as a source and the symbol of brute power to convey the
immediacy of what is now happening in Hong Kong as citizens
demand their freedom from Beijing’s incursion into their lives.”
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Cover of the Economist issue that reported on dissent in Hong Kong against the
Chinese government
Arguments to Persuade
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Today, climate change may be the public issue that best illustrates
the chasm that sometimes separates conviction from persuasion.
Although the weight of scientific research attests to the fact that
the earth is warming and that humans are responsible for a good
bit of that increase, persuading people to act on this evidence still
doesn’t follow easily. How then does change occur? Some
theorists suggest that persuasion — understood as moving people
to do more than nod in agreement — is best achieved via appeals
to emotions such as fear, anger, envy, pride, sympathy, or hope.
We think that’s an oversimplification. The fact is that persuasive
arguments, whether in advertisements, political blogs, YouTube
videos, tweets, or newspaper editorials, use all the appeals of
rhetoric that appear in this book (see “Appealing to Audiences”
later in this chapter) to spur action — whether to buy a product,
pull a lever for a candidate, create new business opportunities, or
alter government policies.
For example, Congresswoman Representative Rashida Tlaib was
unequivocal in her condemnation of the January 6, 2021, attack
on the United States Capitol by violent protestors challenging the
outcome of the presidential election (“Trump’s mob” she called
them). But Tlaib’s appeal in a letter to congressional leaders two
weeks later was careful to recommend policies that might
persuade not only her own constituents, but also others
concerned by a tendency to use such incidents to expand
government power and authority:
While we are not necessarily opposed to reforms to address the law
enforcement and intelligence communities’ inability or unwillingness
to seriously confront domestic white nationalist violence, we firmly
69

believe that the national security and surveillance powers of the U.S.
government are already too broad, undefined, and unaccountable to
the people. To further degrade those rights and liberties in reaction to
this attack would undermine our democracy at a time when we must
join together to defend it with all our collective might.
— Rashida Tlaib (and nine other members of Congress), January 19,
2021
Elsewhere in the letter, the representative lists and briefly
discusses four specific examples of government overreach that
illustrate her point. To react to violence is essential, she argues,
but “not at the expense of our people’s rights.”
An AP photo by Patrick Semansky from the 2020 State of the Union Address,
captures Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi making an emotional argument
against then-president Donald Trump’s speech. Her unprecedented gesture
likely motivated her base. Was it convincing or persuasive?
70

●
Apply the distinction made here between convincing and
persuading to the way people respond to two or three current
political or social issues. Is there a useful difference between
being convinced and being persuaded? Explain your position
in a paragraph or in discussion with a partner, using the
responses to current issues as support.
Arguments to Make Decisions
Sometimes, arguments are about determining the best options in
a given situation, whether political or personal — from managing
out-of-control deficits to choosing majors or careers. There are
always choices to make and reasons for and against them.
Arguments to make decisions occur routinely in the public arena,
where they may be slow to evolve, explosive, or caught up in
electoral politics or endless legal squabbles. Yet a need to find
consensus may drive them forward. In recent years, for instance,
U.S. citizens have argued hard about health care, racial justice,
voting procedures, and the status of undocumented immigrants
in the country. Subjects so complex aren’t debated in straight
lines. They get haggled over in every imaginable medium by
thousands of writers, politicians, and ordinary citizens working
alone or via political organizations to present a range of ideas.
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In a different way, choosing a career or major can be a
momentous personal decision, requiring the exploration of many
alternatives. By the time you’ve explored the pros and cons of
each, you should be a little closer to a satisfying and defensible
decision.
Sometimes decisions, however, are not so easy to make.
An argument presenting two choices regarding climate change
Arguments to Understand and
Explore
Arguments to make decisions o en begin as choices between
opposing positions already set in stone. But is it possible to
72

examine important issues in more open-ended ways? That may
seem tough these days. But many situations, again in civil or
personal arenas, do call for arguments that earnestly explore
possibilities without constraints or prejudices. If there’s an
“opponent” in such situations at all (o en there is not), it’s likely
to be the status quo or a current trend which, for one reason or
another, puzzles just about everyone.
Philanthropic institutions and foundations typically engage in
exploratory arguments as they decide what their mission should
be or what problems to address. On its website for example, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation outlines problems it wants to
address in different areas of the world. Its Global Growth and
Opportunity Division argues that poverty exists not because
people are lazy or unlucky but because the economic system fails
them. Their mission is to fund and create change — as well as
products — that helps people suffering from poverty succeed
economically. Its U.S. Program focuses on education, looking for
ways that the foundation can “trigger change on a broader scale”
than schools can manage on their own. The movement in these
exploratory or proposal arguments is from general principles to
specific actions.
Exploratory arguments can also be personal, such as Zora Neale
Hurston’s ironic exploration of racism and of her own identity in
the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” If you keep a journal or
blog, you have no doubt found yourself making arguments to
explore issues near and dear to you. Perhaps the essential
discovery in any such piece is the writer’s realization that a
73

problem exists — and that the writer (or reader) needs to respond
constructively to it if possible.
Explorations of ideas that begin by trying to understand another’s
perspective have been described as invitational arguments by
researchers Sonja Foss, Cindy Griffin, and Josina Makau. Such
arguments are interested in inviting others to join in mutual
explorations of ideas based on discovery and respect. Another
kind of exploration, called Rogerian argument (a er
psychotherapist Carl Rogers), approaches audiences in similarly
nonthreatening ways, finding common ground and establishing
trust among those who disagree about issues. Writers who take a
Rogerian approach try to see where the other person is coming
from, looking for “both/and” or “win/win” solutions whenever
possible. (For more, see “Rogerian Argument” in Chapter 7.)
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The risks of Rogerian argument
●
What are your reasons for making arguments? Keep notes for
two days about every single argument you make, using our
broad definitions to guide you. Then identify your reasons:
How many times did you aim to convince? To inform? To
persuade? To explore? To understand?
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Occasions for Argument
In a fi h-century BCE textbook of rhetoric (the art of persuasion),
the philosopher Aristotle ingeniously classified arguments based
on the time they are concerned with — the past, future, or
present. His analysis still helps us to appreciate the role
arguments play in the twenty-first century. As you consider
Aristotle’s occasions for argument, remember that any such
classifications overlap (to a certain extent) and that we do live in a
world much different than his.
Arguments about the Past
Debates about what has happened in the past, what Aristotle
called forensic arguments, are the red meat of government,
courts, businesses, and academia. People want to know who did
what in the past, for what reasons, and with what liability. When
you argue a speeding ticket in court, you are making a forensic
argument, claiming perhaps that you weren’t over the limit or
that the officer’s radar was faulty. A judge would have to decide
what exactly happened on that interstate a month earlier in the
unlikely case you push the issue that far.
Some forensic arguments go on … and on and on. Consider, for
example, the lingering arguments over Christopher Columbus’s
“discovery” of America. Are his expeditions cause for celebration
or notably unhappy chapters in human history? Or some of both?
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How might the people living in the lands Columbus visited have
told the story? Such arguments about past actions — heated
enough to spill over into the public realm — are common in
disciplines such as history, philosophy, and ethics.
Conspicuous and controversial in more recent times have been
forensic inquiries into charges of sexual assault. Spurred by the
#MeToo movement, hundreds of prominent figures have been
accused of serious misconduct, assault, harassment, and worse in
their past. People like Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Senator Al
Franken, and Bill O’Reilly faced various consequences, ranging
from imprisonment to loss of their jobs and reputations. One
contentious case involved the 2018 charge that Supreme Court
nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted a woman in the 1980s when
he was in high school, and the 2020 accusation that then-Senator
Joseph Biden molested a woman on his Senate office staff in 1993.
Kavanaugh faced a hostile press that investigated the matter
immediately and made other accusations, while Biden’s press
interviewers didn’t raise the matter with him for almost two
weeks. That initial disparity says something about the nature of
forensic inquiries. They required digging into the past, and that’s
not easy work. Both men denied the accusations, and both
survived because the charges against them could not be
convincingly corroborated.
In the a ermath of the Biden sexual assault charge, actress and
prominent #BelieveWomen advocate Alyssa Milano — a
Kavanaugh critic and Biden supporter — acknowledged in a tweet
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(April 6, 2020) that “accusations need to be investigated with due
process for the accused.”
An argument depicting shi ing values from past to present
Arguments about the Future
Debates about what will or should happen in the future —
deliberative arguments — o en influence legislation or
government policy. Should local or state governments allow or even
encourage the use of self-driving cars on public roads? Should colleges
and universities move toward vastly more online instruction to bring
down the cost of higher education? Should coal-fired power plants be
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phased out of our energy grid? These are the sorts of deliberative
issues that legislatures, boards, assemblies, and committees of all
sorts routinely address when making laws or establishing
policies.
But arguments about the future can also be speculative and
idealistic, advancing by means of projections, reasoned guesses,
and political zeal. Here for example is the agenda of the muchpublicized
and controversial Green New Deal endorsed by
Senator Edward Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez (among many others) as described in the bill put forth by
the 1st session of the 116th Congress in 2019:
It is the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal —
A. To achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and
just transition for all communities and workers;
B. To create millions of good, high wage jobs and ensure prosperity
and economic security for all people of the United States;
C. To invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to
sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century;
D. To secure for all people of the United States for generations to
come — clean air and water, climate and community resiliency,
healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment;
and
E. To promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing
future, and repairing historic oppression of … frontline and
vulnerable communities.
What these ambitious, futuristic goals do not address is how they
will be achieved. As they say, the devil is in the details.
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Arguments about the Present
Arguments about the present — what Aristotle terms epideictic or
ceremonial arguments — explore the current values of a society,
affirming or challenging its widely shared beliefs and core
assumptions. Epideictic arguments are o en made at public and
formal events such as inaugural addresses, sermons, eulogies,
memorials, and graduation speeches. Members of the audience
listen carefully as credible speakers share their wisdom. For
example, as the selection of college commencement speakers has
grown increasingly contentious, Ruth J. Simmons, the first
African American woman to head an Ivy League college, used the
opportunity of such an address (herself standing in for a rejected
speaker) to offer a timely and ringing endorsement of free
speech. Her words perfectly illustrate epideictic rhetoric:
Universities have a special obligation to protect free speech, open
discourse and the value of protest. The collision of views and
ideologies is in the DNA of the academic enterprise. No collision
avoidance technology is needed here. The noise from this discord may
cause others to criticize the legitimacy of the academic enterprise, but
how can knowledge advance without the questions that overturn
misconceptions, push further into previously impenetrable areas of
inquiry and assure us stunning breakthroughs in human knowledge?
If there is anything that colleges must encourage and protect it is the
persistent questioning of the status quo. Our health as a nation, our
health as women, our health as an industry requires it.
— Ruth J. Simmons, Smith College, 2014
Perhaps more common than Simmons’s impassioned address are
values arguments that examine contemporary culture, praising
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what’s admirable and blaming what’s not. In the following
argument, student Latisha Chisholm looks at the state of rap
music a er Tupac Shakur:
With the death of Tupac, not only did one of the most intriguing rap
rivalries of all time die, but the motivation for rapping seems to have
changed. Where money had always been a plus, now it is obviously
more important than wanting to express the hardships of Black
communities. With current rappers, the positive power that came from
the desire to represent Black people is lost. One of the biggest rappers
now got his big break while talking about sneakers. Others announce
retirement without really having done much for the soul or for Black
people’s morale. I equate new rappers to NFL players that don’t love
the game anymore. They’re only in it for the money…. It looks like the
voice of a people has lost its heart.
— Latisha Chisholm, “Has Rap Lost Its Soul?”
As in many ceremonial arguments, Chisholm here reinforces
common values such as representing one’s community honorably
and fairly.
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Are rappers since Tupac — like Jay Z or Cardi B — only in it for the money, as Chisholm
claims? Many epideictic arguments either praise or blame contemporary culture in
this way.
Occasions for Argument
PAST FUUTUURE PRESENT
WHAT IS IT
CALLED?
Forensic Deliberative Epideictic
WHAT ARE
What happened in the past?
What should be
Who or what
ITS
done in the
deserves praise or
CONCERNS?
future?
blame?
WHAT DOES
Court decisions, legal briefs,
White papers,
Eulogies,
IT LOOK
legislative hearings,
proposals, bills,
graduation
LIKE?
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investigative reports,
academic studies
regulations,
mandates
speeches, inaugural
addresses, roasts
●
Find three editorials in recent magazines, newspapers, or
websites — one that makes a forensic argument, one a
deliberative argument, and one a ceremonial argument.
Analyze the arguments by asking these questions: Who is
arguing? What purposes are the writers trying to achieve? To
whom are they directing their arguments? Take notes and be
prepared to share and discuss the arguments you have
analyzed, in a group discussion or in writing.
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Kinds of Argument
Yet another way of categorizing arguments is to consider their
status or stasis — that is, the specific kinds of issues they address.
This approach, called stasis theory, helped citizens and lawyers
in ancient Greece and Rome work through legal cases by
providing a series of questions to ask in sequence. Each question
depends on answers from the preceding ones. Together, the
queries helped identify the bone of contention in an argument —
that is, where the parties disagreed or what exactly had to be
proven. A modern version of those questions might look like the
following:
Did something happen?
What is its nature?
What is its quality or cause?
What actions should be taken?
Each stasis question explores a different aspect of a problem and
uses different evidence or techniques to reach conclusions. You
can use these questions to explore the aspects of any topic you’re
considering. You’ll discover that we use the stasis issues to define
key types of argument in Part 2.
Did Something Happen? Arguments
of Fact
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There’s no point in arguing a case until its basic facts are
established. So an argument of fact usually involves a statement
that can be proved or disproved with specific evidence or
testimony. For example, the question of pollution of the oceans —
is it really occurring? — might seem relatively easy to settle.
Either the data proves that human activity is despoiling the
oceans, or it doesn’t. But to settle the matter, writers and readers
need to interrogate the “facts”:
Where did the facts come from?
Are they reliable?
Is there a problem with the facts — with how they were
gathered or who presented them?
Where did the problem begin and what caused it?
(For more on arguments based on facts, see Chapters 4 and 8.)
What Is the Nature of the Thing?
Arguments of Definition
Some of the most hotly debated issues in our lives today involve
questions of definition: we argue over the nature of the human
fetus, the meaning of “amnesty” for immigrants, the boundaries
of sexual assault. As you might guess, issues of definition have
mighty consequences, and decades of debate may nonetheless
leave the matter unresolved. Here, for example, is how one type
of sexual assault is defined in an important 2007 report submitted
to the U.S. Department of Justice by the National Institute of
Justice:
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We consider as incapacitated sexual assault any unwanted sexual
contact occurring when a victim is unable to provide consent or stop
what is happening because she is passed out, drugged, drunk,
incapacitated, or asleep, regardless of whether the perpetrator was
responsible for her substance use or whether substances were
administered without her knowledge. We break down incapacitated
sexual assault into four subtypes….
— “The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study: Final Report”
Of course, many arguments of definition are less weighty than
this, though still hotly contested in some communities: Is Pluto a
planet? Is breakdancing a sport? Can Batman be a tragic figure?
(For more about arguments of definition, see Chapter 9.)
What Is the Quality or Cause of the
Thing? Arguments of Evaluation
Arguments of evaluation present criteria and then measure
individual people, ideas, or things against those standards. For
example, in 2020, U.S. News and World Report needed more than
three thousand words on its website to explain its complicated
process for ranking colleges and universities. Some of its “15
diverse measures of academic quality” are statistical and
objective, such as degree completion, while other standards such
as “academic reputation” require a more nuanced approach and
rely on surveys administered to top academics. If you used U.S.
News and World Report to help you decide where to go to school,
it’s useful to know their standards and methods.
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Although evaluations differ from causal analyses, in practice the
boundaries between stasis questions are o en porous: arguments
have a way of defining their own issues. Note that both U.S. News
and World Report criteria of evaluation for institutions of higher
learning are based on specific causes: students graduating in a
timely fashion and schools earning the good opinion of experts.
(For much more about arguments of evaluation, see Chapter 10;
for causal arguments, see Chapter 11.)
What Actions Should Be Taken?
Proposal Arguments
A er facts in a controversy have been confirmed, definitions
agreed on, evaluations made, and causes traced, it may be time
for a proposal argument answering the question “Now, what do
we do about all this?” For example, in a specific case at Colby
College in October 2019, the lecture of a controversial former
governor led some students to complain that the format of the
event — attended by many sign-carrying protesters — did not
allow for adequate response. Weeks later in the magazine
Guernica, a professor from the school, Aaron R. Hanlon, offered
an intriguing (and perhaps radical) address to the problem:
We could eliminate much of the recent strife over free speech on
campus, de-platforming, and speaker disinvitation simply by
rethinking the format of campus talks for controversial speakers….
[S]peaking events should allow the speaker a few minutes of opening
remarks as preamble to a moderated question and answer session. If
we truly want debate and discussion — the contestation of ideas — then
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campus speakers should be prepared for spirited audience
engagement and disagreement.
— Aaron R. Hanlon, “Anatomy of a Successful Campus Talk”
Hanlon’s proposal, of course, raises issues of quality related to the
third stasis question: How does one define “controversial
speaker”? How does one define “speaking events”? (For more
about proposal arguments, see Chapter 12.)
Suppose you have an opportunity to speak at a student conference on the
impact of climate change. You are tentatively in favor of strengthening
industrial pollution standards aimed at reducing global warming trends. But to
learn more about the issue, you use the stasis questions to get started.
Did something happen? Does global warming exist? Maybe not, say
many in the oil and gas industry; at best, evidence for global warming is
inconclusive. Yes, say most scientists and governments; climate change is
real and even seems to be accelerating. To come to your conclusion,
you’ll weigh the facts carefully and identify problems with opposing
arguments.
What is the nature of the thing? Skeptics define climate change as a
naturally occurring event; most scientists base their definitions on
change due to human causes. You look at each definition carefully: How
do the definitions foster the goals of each group? What’s at stake for each
group in defining it that way?
What is the quality or cause of the thing? Exploring the differing
assessments of damage done by climate change leads you to ask who will
gain from such analysis: Do oil executives want to protect their
investments? Do scientists want government money for grants? Where does
evidence for the dangers of global warming come from? Who benefits if the
dangers are accepted as real and present, and who loses?
What actions should be taken? If climate change is occurring naturally
or causing little harm, then arguably nothing needs to be or can be done.
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But if it is caused mainly by human activity and dangers, action is
certainly called for (although not everyone may agree on what such
action should be). As you investigate the proposals being made and the
reasons behind them, you come closer to developing your own
argument.
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Appealing to Audiences
Exploring all the occasions and kinds of arguments available will
lead you to think about the audience(s) you are addressing and
the specific ways to appeal to them. Audiences for arguments
today are amazingly diverse, from the flesh-and-blood person
sitting across a desk when you negotiate a student loan to your
“friends” on social media, to the “ideal” reader you imagine for
whatever you are writing, to the unknown people around the
world who may read a Twitter rant you have posted.
Audiences are very complicated too — and subtle and challenging
— and yet you somehow must attract and even persuade them. As
always, Aristotle offers an answer. He identified three time-tested
appeals, sometimes described as lines of argument, that speakers
and writers can use to reach almost any audience, labeling them
pathos, ethos, and logos — strategies as effective today as they were
in ancient times, though we usually think of them in slightly
different terms. Used in the right way and deployed at the right
moment, emotional, ethical, and logical appeals have enormous
power, as we’ll see in subsequent chapters.
●
When you write (and this includes on social media), how
much do you think about your readers? How well could you
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describe them? What audiences do you find most challenging
to write for, and why? Think about a significant piece of
writing you’ve done recently — in or out of school. What was
its audience and what challenges did it pose? Share your
experience with classmates or in writing.
Emotional Appeals: Pathos
Emotional appeals, or pathos, generate emotions (fear, pity, love,
anger, jealousy) that the writer hopes will lead the audience to
accept a claim. Here is an alarming sentence from Too Big to Fall:
America’s Failing Infrastructure and the Way Forward, a book by
Barry B. LePatner arguing that U.S. citizens need to make hard
decisions about repairing the country’s failing infrastructure:
When the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis shuddered, buckled, and
collapsed during the evening rush hour on Wednesday, August 1, 2007,
plunging 111 vehicles into the Mississippi River and sending thirteen
people to their deaths, the sudden, apparently inexplicable nature of
the event at first gave the appearance of an act of God.
LePatner’s sober and yet descriptive language helps readers
visualize the dire consequence of neglected road maintenance
and bad design decisions. Making an emotional appeal like this
can dramatize an issue and sometimes even create a bond
between writer and readers. (For more about emotional appeals,
see Chapter 2.)
Ethical Appeals: Ethos
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When writers or speakers come across as trustworthy, audiences
are likely to listen to and accept their arguments. That
trustworthiness (along with fairness and respect) is a mark of
ethos, or credibility. Showing that you know what you are talking
about exerts an ethical appeal, as does emphasizing that you
share values with and respect your audience. Once again, here’s
Barry LePatner from Too Big to Fall, shoring up his authority for
writing about problems with America’s roads and bridges by
invoking the ethos of people even more credible:
For those who would seek to dismiss the facts that support the thesis of
this book, I ask them to consult the many professional engineers in
state transportation departments who face these problems on a daily
basis. These professionals understand the physics of bridge and road
design, and the real problems of ignoring what happens to steel and
concrete when they are exposed to the elements without a strict
regimen of ongoing maintenance.
It’s a sound rhetorical move to enhance credibility this way. (For
more about ethical appeals, see Chapter 3.)
Logical Appeals: Logos
Appeals to logic, or logos, are o en given prominence and
authority in U.S. culture: “Just the facts, ma’am,” a famous early
TV detective on Dragnet used to say. Indeed, audiences respond
well to the use of reasons and evidence — to the presentation of
facts, statistics, credible testimony, cogent examples, or even a
narrative or story that embodies a sound reason in support of an
argument. Following almost two hundred pages of facts,
statistics, case studies, and arguments about the sad state of
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American bridges, LePatner can offer this sober, logical, and
inevitable conclusion:
We can no longer afford to ignore the fact that we are in the midst of a
transportation funding crisis, which has been exacerbated by an even
larger and longer-term problem: how we choose to invest in our
infrastructure. It is not difficult to imagine the serious consequences
that will unfold if we fail to address the deplorable conditions of our
bridges and roads, including the increasingly higher costs we will pay
for goods and services that rely on that transportation network, and a
concomitant reduction in our standard of living.
(For more about logical appeals, see Chapter 4.)
Bringing It Home: Kairos and the
Rhetorical Situation
In Greek mythology, Kairos — the youngest son of Zeus — was the
god of opportunity. He is most o en depicted as running, and his
most unusual characteristic is a shock of hair on his forehead. As
Kairos dashes by, you have a chance to seize that lock of hair,
thereby seizing the opportune moment; once he passes you by,
however, you’ve missed your chance.
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Time as Occasion (Kairos) by Italian Renaissance painter Francesco de’ Rossi
Kairos is also a term used to describe the most suitable time and
place for making an argument and the most opportune ways of
expressing it. It is easy to point to rhetorical moments, when
speakers find exactly the right words to stir — and stir up — an
audience: Franklin Roosevelt’s “We have nothing to fear but fear
itself,” Ronald Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” and
of course Martin Luther King Jr.’s stirring “I have a dream….” But
kairos matters just as much in less dramatic rhetorical situations.
Every day, speakers or writers use their expertise and ethos to
create individual messages aimed at specific audiences. The
triangular diagram below depicts the elements of rhetorical
situations.
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The rhetorical situation
But these situations are dynamic too and usually complicated.
The moment you find a subject, you inherit all the knowledge,
history, culture, and technology surrounding it. To lesser and
greater degrees (depending on the subject), you also bring
personal circumstances onto the field — perhaps your gender,
race, religion, economic class, habits of language. And those
issues also weigh upon the people you write to and for.
Such rhetorical situations should push you to think about kairos —
your rhetorical opportunities. How might you take advantage of
circumstances to choose the best, most timely proofs and
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evidence for a given place, situation, and audience? Kairos means
seizing moments and enjoying opportunities, not being
overwhelmed by them.
That’s what makes writing arguments exciting.
Considering What’s “Normal”
If you want to communicate effectively with people across cultures, explore
traditions in those cultures and examine the norms guiding your own behavior:
Examine your assumptions! Most of us regard our habitual ways of
thinking as “normal” or “right.” Such assumptions guide our judgments
about what works in persuasive situations too. But just because, for
example, it may seem natural to speak bluntly in arguments, consider
that others may find such aggression startling or even alarming.
Remember: ways of arguing differ widely across cultures. Notice how
people from groups or cultures other than your own argue. Be sensitive
to different paths of thinking and differences in language.
Don’t assume all people share your cultural values, ethical principles, or
political assumptions. People across the world (as well as across the
room) may define family, work, or happiness differently. As you present
arguments to them, consider that they may be content with how they
organize their societies and lives.
Respect differences among individuals within a group. Don’t expect every
member of a community to behave — or argue — in the same way or
share the same beliefs. Avoid thinking, for instance, that there is a single
Asian, African, or Hispanic culture or that people from Europe are any less
diverse or more predictable than people from the United States or
Canada in their thinking. In other words, be skeptical of stereotypes.
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●
Have you ever experienced a kairotic moment that you will
never forget — an instance when someone (maybe you?)
found exactly the right words, the right time, and/or the right
place to make a powerful and convincing argument? It may
have happened in your life or you may have seen it in media.
Describe that incident in a paragraph or more, explaining
why you found it so convincing, powerful, or maybe even
thrilling. Be sure to consider any rhetorical concepts from
this chapter that may have been in play: a speaker with a
strong ethos, ideas that were convincingly logical or
irresistibly emotional, excellent timing in response to events,
and so on. If possible, share your anecdote with colleagues
and discuss.
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C H A P T E R 2
Arguments Based on
Emotion: Pathos
Emotional appeals (appeals to pathos) are powerful tools for
influencing what people think and believe. We all make decisions
— even the most important ones — based on our feelings. Our
memories of important events and trying times are sometimes
best captured in gut-wrenching images worth easily a thousand
words.
Some issues lend themselves to emotional appeals and
arguments. Think of photos you’ve seen of isolated polar bears on
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ice floes or factories bellowing smoke into already dark skies,
stirring fears in viewers about the consequences of climate
change. The result may be calls for legislation to protect the
environment. But just about any social or political issue can be
advanced by some emotional pull or manipulation. Indeed,
research has shown that we o en make decisions based on
emotional appeals. (That would not be news to ancient Roman
and Greek rhetoricians either.) So, if you hear that formal or
academic arguments should rely solely on facts, remember that
facts alone o en won’t convince wider audiences.
Editorial cartoons sometimes generate feelings and emotions by giving
concrete form to abstract concepts.
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