152 ❯
CHAPTERCHAPTER
9 Comprehensive Review—Argument
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: Experience why everything is an argument. Examine the process
for presenting a position that others will understand and accept.
Key Ideas
✪ Learn the format for the basic argumentative essay.
✪ Learn the difference between deduction and induction.
✪ Become familiar with logical fallacies.
✪ Practice reading and evaluating an argument.
Some Basics
What Is ARGUMENT?
In its broadest sense, all writing is argument. It is the presentation and defense or support
of a specific thesis, assertion, or claim. This thesis can be a strongly held belief, a critical
view of an issue, a presentation of an insight, a search for the truth, or even a description of
that mountain view that moved you to tears that you hope others will share. To convince
the reader to accept the position, the writer provides support using objective facts or logical
evidence, and sometimes, even emotional appeals.
You can find argument almost anywhere: from ads in your favorite magazine or on tel-
evision to academic journals, from “Peanuts” to political cartoons, from letters to the editor
of Sports Illustrated to editorials in the New York Times, and from a plea to your parents
to a president’s speech to the nation. Possibly the only writing that is not an argument is a
piece that offers no support for a claim.
KEY IDEA
