CONTENTS
Preface xxv
PART ONE Strategies for Reading and Writing Arguments 1
CHAPTER 1 Understanding Persuasion: Thinking Like a Negotiator 3
Argument 3
What Makes an Argument 4
Facts Are Not Arguable 4
The Uses of Argument 6
Debate 7
Moving from Debate to Dialogue 13
Dialogue 13
Deliberation 14
Deborah Tannen, "Taking a `War of Words' Too Literally" 16
Sample Arguments for Analysis
Michael Lewis, "The Case Against Tipping" 21
Andrew Braaksma, "Some Lessons I Learned on the Assembly" 24
CHAPTER 2 Reading Arguments: Thinking Like a Critic 28
Why Read Critically? 28
Preview the Reading 29
Skim the Reading 31
Sample Arguments for Analysis
Henry Wechsler, "Binge Drinking Must Be Stopped" 32
Consider Your Own Experience 34
Annotate the Reading 35
Summarize the Reading 37
Analyze and Evaluate the Reading 39
Argue with the Reading 40
Create a Debate and Dialogue Between Two or More Readings 41
Sample Arguments for Analysis 42
Fromma Harrop, "Stop Babysitting College Students"(student essay) 42
Construct a Debate 44
Sample Arguments for Analysis 45
Kathryn Stewart and Corina Sole, "Letter to the Editor" from the Washington Post 46
James C. Carter, S. J., "Letter to the Editor" from the Times-Picayune 46
Deliberate About the Readings 47
Look for Logical Fallacies 48
CHAPTER 3 Finding Arguments: Thinking Like a Writer 61
The Writing Process 61
Finding Topics to Argue 63
Developing Argumentative Topics 65
Finding Ideas Worth Writing About 66
Refining Topics 71
Sample Student Arguments for Analysis 73
Stephanie Bower, "What's the Rush? Speed Yields Mediocrity in Local Television News"(student essay) 74
CHAPTER 4 Addressing Audiences: Thinking Like a Reader 84
The Target Audience 85
The General Audience 87
Guidelines for Knowing Your Audience 88
Adapting to Your Readers' Attitudes 91
Sample Arguments for Analysis
C. Everett Koop, "Don't Forget the Smokers" 97
Jeff Jacoby, "What the Antismoking Zealots Really Crave" 99
Robert J. Samuelson, "Media Have Fallen for Misguided Antismoking Campaign" 101
Danise Cavallaro, "Smoking: Offended by the Numbers" (student essay) 103
Choosing Your Words 109
CHAPTER 5 Shaping Arguments: Thinking Like an Architect 122
Components of an Argument 122
Sample Arguments for Analysis 126
Clara Spotted Elk, "Indian Bones" 126
Analyzing the Structure 127
Sample Arguments for Analysis 129
Ron Karpati, "I Am the Enemy" 129
Analyzing the Structure 131
Two Basic Types for Arguments 135
Position Arguments 135
Sample Position Arguments for Analysis 140
Sean Flynn, "Is Anything Private Anymore?" 140
Analysis of a Sample Position Argument 142
Proposal Arguments 144
Sample Proposal Arguments for Analysis 147
Amanda Collins, "Bring East Bridgewater Elementary into the World" (student essay) 147
Analyzing the Structure 158
Narrative Arguments 160
Sample Narrative Arguments163
Jerry Fensterman, "I See Why Others Choose to Die" 164
Analyzing the Structure 165
Analyzing the Narrative Features 166
CHAPTER 6 Using Evidence: Thinking Like an Advocate 169
How Much Evidence is Enough? 170
Why Arguments Need Supporting Evidence 170
Forms of Evidence 171
Different Interpretations of Evidence 176
Different Interpretations of Scientific Data 179
S. Fred Singer, "The Great Global Warming Swindle" 179
Some Tips About Supporting Evidence 182
Sample Arguments for Analysis 187
Arthur Allen, "Prayer in Prison: Religion as Rehabilitation" 187
CHAPTER 7 Establishing Claims: Thinking Like a Skeptic 194
The Toulmin Model 194
Toulmin's Terms 195
Finding Warrants 198
Sample Arguments for Analysis 200
Steven Pinker, "Why They Kill Their Newborns" 200
An Analysis Based on the Toulmin Model 204
Michael Kelly, "Arguing for Infanticide" 209
Sample Student Argument for Analysis 212
Lowell Putnam, "Did I Miss Something?" (student essay) 213
CHAPTER 8 Using Visual Arguments: Thinking Like an Illustrator 219
Common Forms of Visual Arguments 219
Analyzing Visual Arguments 220
Art 221
Pablo Picasso's Guernica 221
Norman Rockwell's Freedom of Speech 224
Advertisements 228
Toyota Tacoma Truck Ad 229
Sample Ads for Analysis 233
Quaker Chewy Granola Bites 234
Victoria's Dirty Secret 236
Editorial or Political Cartoons 238
Jack Ohman's "Cloned Embryo Department" Cartoon 239
Pat Bagley's "Back in Aught-Five ..." Cartoon 241
Daryl Cagle's "I Hate Them" Cartoon 242
News Photographs 243
Ancillary Graphics: Tables, Charts, and Graphs 246
Sample Student Argument for Analysis 253
Lee Innes, "A Double Standard of Olympic Proportions" (student essay) 254
CHAPTER 9 Researching Arguments: Thinking Like an Investigator 264
Sources of Information 265
A Search Strategy 267
Sample Entries for an Annotated Bibliography 269
Locating Sources 270
Evaluating Sources 275
Taking Notes 280
Drafting Your Paper 283
Revising and Editing Your Paper 285
Preparing and Proofreading Your Final Manuscript 287
Plagiarism 287
DOCUMENTATION GUIDE: MLA and APA Styles 291
Where Does the Documentation Go? 291
Documentation Style 292
A Brief Guide to MLA and APA Styles 293
SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPERS 303
Shannon O'Neill, "Literature Hacked and Torn Apart: Censorship in Public Schools" (MLA) (student essay) 304
Robin Fleishman, "Public Policy Proposal: Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Purposes" (APA) (student essay) 316
PART TWO Essays and Readings
CHAPTER 10: Advertising and Consumerism
HOOKING THE CONSUMER
Targeting a New World
Joseph Turow
"With budgets that add up to hundreds of billions of dollars, the [advertising] industry exceeds the church and the school in its ability to promote images about our place in society-where we belong, why, and how we should act toward others."
Buy This 24-Year-Old and Get All His Friends Absolutely Free
Jean Kilbourne
"Although we like to think of advertising as unimportant, it is in fact the most important aspect of the mass media. It is the point."
** Consumer Angst
Paul Lutus
"Consumerism is one of religion's modern replacements, and, like religion, it actively encourages, then exploits, dissatisfaction with everyday reality."
Which One of These Sneakers Is Me?
Doug Rushkoff
"The battle in which our children are engaged seems to pass beneath our radar screens, in a language we don't understand. But we see the confusion and despair that results. How did we get in this predicament, and is there a way out?"
**Branded World: The Success of the Nike Logo
Michael Levine
"How did Nike transform the category of sports footwear into the massive $14 billion business it is today? And how did it manage to grab an astounding 45 percent of the market by the year 2000."
** READING THE VISUAL: Brand Logos
THE QUEST FOR STUFF
Two Cheers for Consumerism
James Twitchell
Face it. We're all consumerists at heart. So why doesn't anyone want to talk about it?
READING THE VISUAL: Powerful Drug Advertising
Mike Lester
Manufacturing Desire
Harry Flood
Six bathrooms, four bedrooms, vaulted ceiling, indoor swimming pool, great room: How much house does anyone really need?
** Materialistic Values: Causes and Consequences
Tim Kasser, Richard M. Ryan, Charles E. Couchman, and Kennon M. Heldon
Consumer culture ... must be understood as reflecting the combined actions and beliefs of a large number of individuals who have internalized a capitalistic, consumeristic worldview.
The $100 Christmas
Bill McKibben
A small revolt takes hold in the author's New England hometown when a local minister proposes families celebrate a "$100 holiday."
READING THE VISUAL: Bump
THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING
With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything
William Lutz
"Advertisers use weasel words to appear to be making a claim for a product when in fact they are making no claim at all."
The Language of Advertising
Charles A. O'Neill
"The language of advertising is a language of finely engineered, ruthlessly purposeful messages."
** Waaaasssuuuuppp with Advertising?
Tracy Pomerinke
When it comes to ad copy that "breaks the rules," grammarians and linguists don't speak the same language.
** Blog It: Flip It-Girls Fight Back Against Bad Ads
Holly Buchanan
Hip young women explain why different ads "flipped" past-and why marketers are failing to reach their target audiences.
http://marketingtowomenonline.typepad.com/blog/2007/10/flip-it---girls.html#more
Sample Ads and Study Questions
CHAPTER 11: Gender Matters
FITTING IN
Saplings in the Storm
Mary Pipher
"Something dramatic happens to girls in early adolescence. Just as planes and ships disappear mysteriously into the Bermuda Triangle, so do the selves of girls go down in droves. They crash and burn in a social and developmental Bermuda Triangle."
The Bully in the Mirror
Stephen S. Hall
"Tormented by an unattainable ideal, boys are learning what girls have long known: it isn't easy living in a Baywatch world."
READING THE VISUAL: NEDA Ad and BOD Ad
** What I Think About the Fashion World
Liz Jones
"We decided to publish two covers for the same edition [of Marie Claire]-one featuring Sophie Dahl, a size 12; the other, Pamela Anderson, a minute size 6-and we asked readers to chose . . . You would think that we had declared war."
** Men's Magazines and Gender Construction
David Gauntlett
Contemporary masculinity is often said to be 'in crisis'; as women become increasingly assertive and successful, apparently triumphing in all roles, men are said to be anxious and confused about what their role is today. Men's magazines are less about entertainment and more about helping men finding a place for themselves in the modern world.
In the Combat Zone
Leslie Marmon Silko
"It isn't height or weight or strength that makes women easy targets; from infancy women are taught to be self-sacrificing, passive victims."
He's a Laker; She's a "Looker"
Jennifer L. Knight and Traci A. Giuliano
"Coverage of women's sport is inferior to that of men's not only in quantity but in quality. . . . Sport commentators and writers often allude or explicitly refer to a female athlete's attractiveness, emotionality, femininity, and heterosexuality . . . yet male athletes are depicted as powerful, independent, dominating, and valued."
** Self-Made Man
Norah Vincent
I had lived in that neighborhood for years. As a woman, you couldn't walk down those streets invisibly. But that night, dressed as a man, I walked by those same stoops and doorways...I walked right by those same groups of men. Only this time they didn't stare. It was astounding, the difference, the respect they showed me by not looking at me, by purposely not staring.
A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
** Where the Boys Aren't
Melana Zyla Vickers
Here's a thought that's unlikely to occur to twelfth--grade girls as their college acceptances begin to trickle in: After they get to campus in the fall, one in four of them will be mathematically unable to find a male peer to go out with.
** The New Girl Order
Kay S. Hymowitz
The Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle is showing up in unexpected places, with unintended consequences.
** READING THE VISUAL: STOPPING FOR DIRECTIONS (CARTOON)
** Soldiers Ahead
Holly Yeager
We now have units under fire with men and women in them. We have experience of women firing weapons. Guess what? They don't fall to emotional bits.
** Homeward Bound
Linda Hirshman
"The family -- with its repetitious, socially invisible, physical tasks -- is a necessary part of life, but it allows fewer opportunities for full human flourishing than public spheres like the market or the government. This less-flourishing sphere is not the natural or moral responsibility only of women. Therefore, assigning it to women is unjust. Women assigning it to themselves is equally unjust."
** BLOG IT: Do Violent Words Beget Violent Deeds?
Rod Van Mechelen
Is boy-bashing, good, clean fun, damaging to self-esteem, or does it promote violence?
** Revisionist Feminism
Susan Faludi and Karen Lehrman
"Karen, I enter into this conversation with you about feminism with some misgivings. Not because I don't want to talk to you. It is just that I suspect it will be like a phone conversation where the connection's so bad neither party can hear the other through the static."
CHAPTER 12: Spotlight on America
THE AMERICAN WAR IN IRAQ
Terrorism and the Media
The Council on Foreign Relations
"Terrorism is calculated violence, usually against symbolic targets, designed to deliver a political or religious message. . . . Terrorists [tailor] their attacks to maximize publicity and get their messages out through all available channels."
READING THE VISUAL: Support our Troops: Editorial Cartoon
News Judgment and Jihad
Mark Bowden
Terrorists depend on the cooperation of the media. It's time to stop providing it.
"We live in a new world, and now must make some careful adjustments to our way of life."
** Words in a Time of War
Mark Danner
** Why Study War?
Victor Davis Hanson
Military history teaches us about honor, sacrifice, and the inevitability of conflict.
** Fear and Trembling in the Age of Terror
Robert J. Lewis
Since terrorism is not going to go away, the question we must ask is do we allow ourselves to be held hostage by the constant threat of it and resign ourselves to the gradual erosion of freedoms that have defined the Western spirit, or do we decide to live with terrorism on our terms -- and not theirs?
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN- VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES
** Pell-Mell
Tom Wolfe
The Ameican idea was born at approximately 5 pm on Friday, December 2, 1803, the moment Thomas Jefferson sprang the so-called pell-mell on the new British ambassador.
** Dear Mr. President
Joe Rothstein
"I'm traveling in Europe. And everywhere I go I hear Pink's song, "Dear Mr. President." In France. In Germany. In the Czech Republic. Everywhere. It's constantly on the radio. You hear it in small shops. People talk about it. Young and old. The song has captured the continent. What does it mean that this song's so popular in Europe? What does it mean? You decide."
** BLOG IT: Does Europe Really Hate Us?
Corrina Collins
Why has U.S. stature in the world eroded? Opinion polls cite widespread dismay with the Iraq war, our dog-eat-dog social model and the arrogance of an imperial superpower that places itself above international law. But behind the surveys about "why they hate us" lies a reservoir of goodwill waiting to be tapped among foreigners who would prefer to see the United States succeed rather than fail.
READING THE VISUAL: Anti-American Graffiti
** BBC Opinion Poll: What Do You Think of America?
Land of the free, home of junk food, or global policeman: What do you think of America?
The USA's role in the world was discussed in a unique global television debate hosted by the BBC. The debate revealed the results of a ground-breaking, international survey of attitudes that will capture popular prejudices and convictions about America.
CHAPTER 13: In God We Trust?
Church and State
What the Wall That Never Was
Hugh Heclo
"A hundred years ago, advanced thinkers were all but unanimous in dismissing religion as a relic of mankind's mental infancy. What's being dismissed today is the idea that humanity will outgrow religion."
Why We're Not One Nation "Under God"
David Greenberg
"Since the founding, critics of America's secularism have repeatedly sought to break down the church-state wall."
READING THE VISUAL: Religious Membership in the United States
God of Our Fathers
Walter Isaacson
"Whenever an argument arises about the role that religion should play in our civic life, such as the dispute over the phrase `under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance . . . assertions about the faith of the founders are invariably bandied about."
Public Prayers on State Occasions Need Not Be Divisive or Generic
Charles Haynes
"Since it's difficult to imagine any . . . president eliminating the tradition of opening and closing the inauguration with prayer, is there a way to pray that is genuine and yet somehow speaks to our nation's expanding diversity?"
READING THE VISUAL: Church and State
What Happy Holidays?
Cathy Young
"Peace on Earth? Forget it. Nowadays, Christmas is a battle in the culture wars."
Deck the Halls?
Bridget Samburg
"The tension that we face is a larger tension about what the relationship of religion and state should be in America. We agree that the notion of a triumphant Christianity in society or in the classroom is inappropriate."
WHAT'S WRONG WITH DARWIN?
** The Courtship of Charles Darwin
Edward J. Larson
Controversy over whether scientific of biblical explanations of life's origins should be taught in our public schools took root eighty years ago in Tennessee. Today, evolutionists and creationists are engaged in a national wide legal battle.
** Remove the Stickers, Open Minds
Kenneth R. Miller
The forces of anti-evolution will pretend that the sticker case is an example of censorship and that the sinister forces of science have converged on classrooms to prevent honest and open examination of a controversial idea.
** The Crusade Against Evolution
Evan Ratliff
In the beginning there was Darwin. And then there was intelligent design. How the next generation of "creation science" is invading America's classrooms.
BLOG IT: EVOLUTION BEATS INTELLIGENT DESIGN IN FLORIDA
** Does Darwinism Devalue Human Life?
Richard Weikart
A number of years ago two intelligent students surprised me in a class discussion by defending the proposition that Hitler was neither good nor evil. Though I kept my composure, I was horrified. How could they justify such a view?--They did it by appealing to Darwinism. Darwinism, these students informed us, undermined all morality.
** A New Theology of Celebration
Francis S. Collins
As one of a large number of scientists who believe in God, I find it deeply troubling to watch the escalating culture wars between science and faith, especially in America.
CHAPTER 14: Campus Experience
THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY
** Diversity: The Value of Discomfort
Ronald D. Liebowitz
It is no longer adequate to understand only one's own culture...To succeed in the 21st century you need to be multi-cultural, multi-national, and multi-operational in how you think. And you can only be multi-cultural, multi-national, and multi-operational if you feel comfortable with the notion of difference.
** Who Should Get into College?
John H. McWhorter
"Even as we seek diversity in the worthy, we must recognize that students need to be able to excel at college-level studies. Nobody wins, after all, when a young man or woman of whatever color, unprepared for the academic rigors of a top university, flunks out."
** What's Wrong With Vocational School?
Charles Murray
"[Unqualified students] are in college to improve their chances of making a good living. What they really need is vocational training. But nobody will say so, because "vocational training" is second class. `College' is first class."
** How to Get a College Education
Jeffrey Hart
"I launched into an impromptu oral quiz. Could anyone (in that class of 25 students) say anything about the Mayflower Compact? Magna Carta? The Spanish Armada? The Battle of Yorktown? The Bull Moose party? Don Giovanni ? William James? The Tenth Amendment? Zero. Zilch. Forget it."
** What a College Education Buys
Christopher Caldwell
Economists would say that a college degree is partly a "signaling" device - it shows not that its holder has learned something but rather that he is the kind of person who could learn something. Colleges sort as much as they teach. Even when they don't increase a worker's productivity, they help employers find the most productive workers, and a generic kind of productivity can be demonstrated as effectively in medieval-history as in accounting classes.
STUDENTS' RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Welcome to the Fun-Free University
David Weigel
"Many college administrators throughout the country are taking great pains to keep their students under tight control. The return of in loco parentis is killing student freedom."
Parental Notification: Fact or Fiction
Joel Epstein
On campuses across the country, inebriated students are being written up and told that under a newly enacted disciplinary policy their parents will be notified. Can a school really confront student drinking in this manner?
READING THE VISUAL: NASULCG/Anheuser-Busch Spring Break Ad
** In loco parentis: Invasion of privacy or moral formation?
Joanne K.M. Bratten
It is rather a fruitless inquiry to ask if universities have the right to attempt to reform the moral lives of their students and invade their privacy. As adults they should be given the freedom to make adult choices, some of which may be personally detrimental.
** In re: Loco Parents
Margaret Gutman Klosko
Student affairs professional regularly remark to novices, "You see all those students walking around with cell phones? They are not talking to friends. They are talking to their mothers."
CHAPTER 15: Family and Relationships
WHAT ABOUT MARRIAGE?
** The Future of Marriage in America
David Popenoe
"There can be no doubt that the institution of marriage has continued to weaken in recent years. Whereas marriage was once the dominant and single acceptable form of living arrangement for couples and children, it is no longer."
** Five Non-religious Arguments for Marriage over Living Together
Dennis Prager
I have always believed that there is no comparing living together with marriage. There are enormous differences between being a "husband" or a "wife" and being a "partner," a "friend" or a "significant other"; between a legal commitment and a voluntary association; between standing before family and community to publicly announce one's commitment to another person on the one hand and simply living together on the other.
** On Not Saying "I DO"
Dorian Solot
I must have missed the day in nursery school when they lined up all the little girls and injected them with the powerful serum that made them dream of wearing a white wedding dress.
READING THE VISUAL: Families on Television
Marriage and Divorce American Style
E. Mavis Hetherington
"Before betting the farm on marriage . . . policy makers should take another look at the research. It reveals that there are many kinds of marriage and not all are salutary."
READING THE VISUAL: Marriage Trends
** The Decline of Marriage
James Q. Wilson
"Culture has shaped how we produce and raise children, but that culture surely had its greatest impact on how educated people think. Yet the problem of weak, single-parent families is greatest among the least educated people. Why should a culture that is so powerfully shaped by upper-middle-class beliefs have so profound an effect on poor people?"
GAY MARRIAGE... "WE DO?"
The "M" Word
Andrew Sullivan
"When people talk about `gay marriage,' they miss the point. This isn't about gay marriage. It's about marriage. It's about family. It's about love."
** Defining Marriage Down is No Way to Save It.
David Blankenhorn
Does permitting same-sex marriage weaken marriage as a social institution? Or does extending to gay and lesbian couples the right to marry have little or no effect on marriage overall?
Same-Sex Marriage
Laurie Essig
"The reality is that I don't want to marry Liza (nor she me). In fact, I'm against same-sex marriage for the same reasons I'm against all marriage."
READING THE VISUAL: Wedding Day
** Can This Marriage Be Saved?
Jonathan Rauch
Gay marriage is risky, but banning it is riskier.
** BLOG IT: A really, really, really long post about gay marriage
CHAPTER 16: Race and Ethnicity
STEREOTYPES: HOW THEY HURT
The Myth of the Latina Woman
Judith Ortiz Cofer
"There are . . . thousands of Latinas without the privilege of an education or the entree into society that I have. For them life is a struggle against the misconceptions perpetuated by the myth of the Latina as whore, domestic or criminal."
Fairness for America's Muslims
Omar Ahmad
"With negative stereotypes prevailing among more than a quarter of the American people, there is no wonder that reported hate crimes and discrimination against Muslim Americans [have] increased."
Hailing While Black
Shelby Steele
Are we debating racism in America or merely defending our ideologies?
Who Is a Whiz Kid?
Ted Gup
"Stereotypes that hint at superiority in one race implicitly suggest inferiority in another. They are ultimately divisive, and in their most virulent form, even deadly."
READING THE VISUAL: Chief Wahoo
BLOG IT: IS YOUR MASCOT A RACIAL STEREOTYPE?
Stereotypes, Positive or Negative, cloud the Truth
Cathy Hwang
READING THE VISUAL: Stereotypes 200 Years Ago
RACIAL PROFILING
You Can't Judge a Crook by His Color
Randall Kennedy
Racial profiling may be justified, but is it still wrong?
READING THE VISUAL: Pulling Teeth
The Racial Profiling Myth Debunked
Heather MacDonald
"The anti-racial profiling juggernaut has finally met its nemesis: the truth."
Are You a Terrorist, or Do You Play One on TV?
Laura Fokkena
"Racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping are nothing new to Americans of Middle Eastern descent. . . . Nowhere is this game of Pin-the-Bomb-Threat-on-the-Muslim more obvious than at the airport."
Credits
Index