Dialogues

Description

•   Promotes the effective exchange of opinions and ideas by emphasizing dialogue while examining different points of view with an open mind.  Part I defines argument as a process of “Debate,” “Dialogue,” and “Deliberation,” offers guidance for evaluating and building arguments through comparing and synthesizing diverse viewpoints, and takes students step-by-step through every stage of a critical reading process—from previewing and skimming a reading, through annotating and summarizing, to analyzing, evaluating and arguing with that reading.
• Free of technical jargon, Dialogues is the most clearly written, student-friendly argument text on the market today. The text’s discussion of how to write effective arguments is uncluttered and accessible.
• Integrated sample arguments in Part I exemplify important strategies of argument and give students practice in analyzing the features of good arguments, while thematically connected essays encourage students to compare different strategies and approaches to the same topic.
• Student essays are used throughout to model the process of creating good arguments. 
•  Ch. 8, Visual Arguments, and Ch. 9, Researching Arguments, provide necessary skills for analyzing images and appropriately documenting sources with an emphasis on evaluating electronic sources.
•  The Documentation Guide includes student sample research papers in both MLA and APA styles, annotated to highlight important documentation issues. Examples of documentation using electronic sources have also been updated and expanded.
• Reading the Visual segments encourage students to consider how graphs, charts, cartoons, ads, and photographs can be used to persuade and influence.
•  Part II is comprised of a compelling collection of model essays centered on contemporary issues and designed to provoke discussion and written responses.

Part One        Strategies for Reading and Writing Arguments

Chapter1          Understanding Persuasion: Thinking Like a Negotiator

Argument  

What Makes an Argument?  

The Uses of Argument  

Debate  

Moving from Debate to Dialogue  

Dialogue  

Deliberation  

Deborah Tannen, “Taking a ‘War of Words’ Too Literally”  

Sample Arguments for Analysis  

Michael Lewis, “The Case Against Tipping”  

* Catherine Rampell, “A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much” 

Exercises    

Chapter 2         Reading Arguments: Thinking Like a Critic                                                      

Why Read Critically?  

Preview the Reading  

Skim the Reading  

Sample Argument for Analysis  

Henry Wechsler, “Binge Drinking Must Be Stopped”  

Consider Your Own Experience  

Annotate the Reading  

”Binge Drinking Must Be Stopped”  

Summarize the Reading  

Analyze and Evaluate the Reading  

Argue with the Reading  

Create a Debate and Dialogue Between Two or More Readings  

Sample Argument for Analysis  

Froma Harrop, “Stop Babysitting College Students” (student essay)  

Construct a Debate  

Sample Arguments for Analysis  

Kathryn Stewart and Corina Sole, “Letter to the Editor” from the Washington Post 

James C. Carter, S. J., “Letter to the Editor” from the Times-Picayune  

Deliberate About the Readings  

Look for Logical Fallacies  

Exercises    

Chapter 3          Finding Arguments: Thinking Like a Writer                                                      

The Writing Process  

Promotes Argument as the Effective Exchange of Ideas

• Teaches students how to create effective arguments that encourage discussion and understanding rather than confrontation by examining different points of view with an open mind. 
• Demonstrates critical thinking, reading, and writing skills with  NEW activities and  NEW student and professional samples designed to help students analyse and evaluate arguments. 
• Teaches strategies for addressing different audiences.  
• Demonstrates the importance of evidence and the various kinds to bolster arguments . 

Provides tools that show students how to best showcase their arguments

•  Helps develop visual literary skills and demonstrates how visuals can enhance written arguments. 
• Teaches research strategies while providing a full Documentation Guide for formatting in MLA and APA styles.

• Three new chapters, including medical ethics, family dynamics, and the economy, encourage students to contemplate their world
•  Issues that matter to students encourage their desire to debate and explore topics in depth, including social networking, race and ethnicity, gender, and consumerism.
•  Focused exercises direct students to research nuanced issues from multiple points of view
•  Thoughtful apparaus provides students with tools and tactics to improve their research efforts 

Dialogues represents argument not as a battle to be won, but as a process of dialogue and deliberation–the exchange of opinions and ideas–among people with different values and perspectives.

Part One contains succinct instruction on analyzing and developing arguments, including critical reading, source documentation, and analyzing visual arguments. Part Two, updated with many new readings addressing current issues, offers a diverse collection of provocative essays from both the popular and scholarly medium. The lucid, lively, and engaging writing addresses students as writers and thinkers, without overwhelming them with unnecessary jargon or theory.