Everything's An Argument and Writing in the Works

Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, 4^th Edition (2007)

$38 new $23 used (Amazon)

Sections and Chapters:

Part 1: Reading Arguments

Everything Is an Argument

Arguments from the Heart – Pathos

Arguments Based on Character – Ethos

Arguments Based on Facts and Reason – Logos

Thinking Rhetorically

Structuring Arguments

Part 2: Writing Arguments

Structuring Arguments (includes Toulmin section)

Arguments of Fact

Arguments of Definition

Evaluations

Causal Arguments

Proposals

Part 3: Style and Presentation in Arguments

Style in Arguments

Humor in Arguments

Visual Arguments

Presenting Arguments

Part 4: Conventions of Argument

What Counts as Evidence

Fallacies of Argument

Intellectual Property, Academic Integrity, and Avoiding Plagiarism

Evaluating and Using Sources

Documenting Sources

It is relatively inexpensive, given that it is printed in full color. It is a new edition, which means that it is newly updated and relevant to today. It integrates some popular and somewhat recent events and topics (the 2004 elections, info about the Bush administration, Terri Schiavo, Freedom Tower, Lil’ Kim) but balance them with classic and less timely things about body image, patriotism, ML King, etc. It is particularly nice that it is so small and is rather light. I think the smaller the book, the more students will be likely to bring it with them to class (or at least they won’t be able to use its size as an excuse). Because the text claims that everything is an argument, it really emphasizes visual arguments and new media stuff. There are tons of examples, both blunt and subtle, of visual arguments and the text encourages students to grapple with them.

The text does not abandon classic argumentation for visual, however. There is a decent-sized section on Toulmin which includes diagrams of these representations. It is really strong, I think, in presenting argument and has a chapter devoted to fallacies.

Its weakness, however, is with the writing process. There is very little about revision at all. While they briefly talk about revising a warrant, they don’t really talk about revising a whole paper. They especially don’t go so far as to offer side-by-side or sequential student drafts and revisions. That is the one thing that I think is really missing from this text. They do, however, have guides to writing (not unlike our Guide to Revision) that give students things to look for in their own and their peers’ writing. They also show have commentary written in the margins of the essays printed in the book, showing examples of components of argument and summarizing what the paragraphs accomplish in the grand scheme of the argument as a whole.

The “If Everything’s an Argument” sections really encourage students to question even the textbook itself. For example, in the citation section, the authors point out that they have not used any formal citation methods in the text (and they explain what they have done). They then encourage students to consider why they didn’t formally cite their sources and what they (and other textbook authors) gain from that technique. In another of these sections, the authors encourage students to verify their (the authors’) credentials. Are they really from Stanford and University of Austin (respectively)? Is the publisher (Bedford St. Martins) really a reputable publishing company? Etc. These sections seem to really challenge students to think critically. Much of the book, particularly in these sections, uses the same sorts of nondirective strategies that we (ideally) use in the writing lab, getting students to question things they might not have thought of.

The textbook also has a companion website. Many of the resources do not even require signing in. Those that do don’t require an activation code or anything, at least not for students. They only have to input their names and email addresses, meaning that this feature won’t be lost if students purchase used copies of the text. Bedford has a research-based web resource which gives information on evaluating websites, writing theses, refining research questions into theses, and citation assistance. There is even a website design tutorial offered. There are also a few additional readings offered online and supplements to readings from the “with readings” version.

All in all, I think that this textbook rocks. It isn’t perfect, but I think that it is the one that I’m going to use. I think that it might mean sort of restructuring my class a bit to fit into the textbook, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Writing in the Works by Susan Blau and Kathryn Burak, 1^st edition (2007)

$55 new, $22 used (Amazon)

Sections and Chapters:

Part 1: The Writer’s Craft

The Writer’s Process

Reading and Thinking Critically

Part 2: Assignments

Short Articles: Writing Exposition

Application Essays: Writing for a Specific Audience

Memoirs: Writing a Narrative

News Stories: Writing the Public Record

Editorials: Writing Arguments

Proposals: Writing for Your Community

Public Service Messages: Writing Appeals

Websites: Writing for Electronic Media

Film Reviews: Writing Evaluations

Profiles: Writing about Others

Research Articles: Analyzing Trends

Part 3: Research and Documentation

Research

Documentation

Part 4: Grammar Handbook

Grammar Refresher

Punctuation

Common Errors

Trouble Spots for Nonnative Speakers

This text is comprehensive and all encompassing. Including sections on writing narratives, editorials, profiles, etc, it could serve as a nice sourcebook for students’ use throughout their college careers, or, in its words, it provides instruction for “Writing for a Lifetime.” The text includes over 100 readings on everything from Med Schools to Genetics to the movie Whale Rider. It has an introduction for instructors and an introduction for students and comes with an online component and several teaching resources, including their own classroom management software, eduspace, with “more than 2.000 grammar and writing exercises, a series of diagnostic tests, and access to an easy-to-search digital handbook” (xliv).

The text forefronts the idea of writing as a process, a cycle of brainstorming, composing, and revising. It includes details about different types of freewriting activities, including concept mapping to bring in the visual. The text then goes through forming and shaping a thesis, organizing the paper, writing the first draft, and revising. The revising section is particularly nice since it shows several examples of types of revision—refocusing, reordering, adding, cutting, and editing and proofreading. There is also a section on peer editing. The textbook then takes readers through a student’s complete writing process—from freewriting through peer review to final submission. In order to keep its broad focus, however, the text also includes an example of a professional first draft and final draft as well as a visual depiction of revision.

The section on reading is really nice, also. It takes students through active reading, describing and showing examples of underlining, paraphrasing, summarizing, annotation, outlining, analyzing, and synthesizing. Like the chapter above, the reading chapter does not lose sight of visual arguments (no pub intended) and it even brings in ways of understanding irony, metaphors, means of distinguishing opinions from facts, and determining biases presented in texts.

While these two chapters are awesome, however, most of the rest of the text is not necessary for English 1000. I’m not sure that it is worth the price, given how little is actually necessary. Because the first two chapters are a brief section of a pretty long text, however, they make up less than 10% of the work itself. That’s all I will say about that.