Books about Argumentation from Amazon.com

Updated examples, streamlined text, and the chapter on definition reworked in a rule-based format strengthen this already strong volume. Readers familiar with the previous edition will find a text that retains all the features that make Rulebook ideally suited for use as a supplementary course book-including its modest price and compact size.

Unlike most textbooks on argumentative writing, Rulebook is organized around specific rules, illustrated and explained soundly and briefly. It is not a textbook, but a rulebook, whose goal is to help students get on with writing a paper or assessing an argument..
Price: $5.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Thank You for Arguing is your master class in the art of persuasion, taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill. The time-tested secrets the book discloses include Cicero’s three-step strategy for moving an audience to actionÑas well as Honest Abe’s Shameless Trick of lowering an audience’s expectations by pretending to be unpolished. But it’s also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians’ use of “code” language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of popular-culture dodges, including:

The Eddie Haskell Ploy
Eminem’s Rules of Decorum
The Belushi Paradigm
Stalin’s Timing Secret
The Yoda Technique

Whether you’re an inveterate lover of language books or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments on the page, at the podium, or over a beer, Thank You for Arguing is for you. Written by one of today’s most popular online language mavens, it’s warm, witty, erudite, and truly enlightening. It not only teaches you how to recognize a paralipsis and a chiasmus when you hear them, but also how to wield such handy and persuasive weapons the next time you really, really want to get your own way..
Price: $7.89 [Notify me when price goes down.]

T9583-0, 0-20529583-5, Rybacki, Karyn C. (Northern Michigan University), Rybacki, Donald J. (Northern Michigan University), ADVOCACY AND OPPOSITION: An Introduction to Argumentation, Fourth Edition, Previous Edition ISBN: 0-205-19379-X, 6 x 9, paperbound, 320 pp., $46.00 K, HA17 * / This book is a comprehensive and practical approach to argumentation and critical thinking for the beginner who needs to construct and present arguments on questions of fact, value, and policy both orally and in writing. This book offers a theoretical view of the nature of argument in our society, a discussion of principles of arguing as a form of communication, and a focus on how arguments are created using the Toulmin model of argument. Presents the concepts of stock issues in fact, value, and policy argument. Retains the Toulmin model of argument as the basis for explaining how chains and clusters of arguments are constructed favoring or opposing change. Showcases works of European and American argumentation scholars are showcased to explain how students use factual argumentation in everyday situations to develop and test their knowledge. Includes material on how new technology (CD-ROMs, Online Databases) can be used to streamline research. Incorporates real life examples drawn from public debates in which real people argue real issues. for anyone interested in Argumentation and Debate..
Price: $54.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Presenting the basic tools for the identification, analysis, and evaluation of common arguments for beginners, this book informs by using examples of arguments in dialogues, both in the text itself and in the exercises (Examples of controversial legal, political, and ethical arguments are analyzed.) Illustrating the most common kinds of arguments, the book also explains how to evaluate each kind by critical questioning. Douglas Walton demonstrates the reasonable nature of arguments under the right dialogue conditions by using critical questions to evaluate them..
Price: $11.36 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This is an introductory guide to the basic principles of constructing good arguments and criticizing bad ones. It is nontechnical in its approach, and is based on 150 key examples, each discussed and evaluated in clear, illustrative detail. The author explains how errors, fallacies, and other key failures of argument occur. He shows how correct uses of argument are based on sound argument strategies for reasoned persuasion and critical questions for responding. Among the many subjects covered are: techniques of posing, replying to, and criticizing questions, forms of valid argument, relevance, appeals to emotion, personal attack, uses and abuses of expert opinion, problems in deploying statistics, loaded terms, equivocation, and arguments from analogy..
Price: $6.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"It is difficult to see how any rhetorician, rhetorical critic, logician interested in verbal logic, or student of either philosophical or popular argument can claim full competence without familiarity with this work. It challenges the orthodoxies of all and suggests fresh modes of inquiry to all." —The Quarterly Journal of Speech.
Price: $22.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book concentrates on argumentation as it emerges in ordinary discourse, whether the discourse is institutionalized or strictly informal. Crucial concepts from the theory of argumentation are systematically discussed and explained with the help of examples from real-life discourse and texts. The basic principles are explained that are instrumental in the analysis and evaluation of argumentative discourse. Methodical instruments are offered for identifying differences of opinion, analyzing and evaluating argumentation and presenting arguments in oral and written discourse. In addition, the book provides a great variety of exercises and assignments to improve the students' skill in presenting argumentation.

The authors begin their treatment of argumentation theory at the same juncture where argumentation also starts in practice: The difference of opinion that occasions the evolvement of the argumentation. Each chapter begins with a short summary of the essentials and ends with a number of exercises that students can use to master the material. Argumentation is the first introductory textbook of this kind. It is intended as a general introduction for students who are interested in a proper conduct of argumentative discourse. Suggestions for further reading are made for each topic and several extra assignments are added to the exercises.

Special features:
* A concise and complete treatment of both the theoretical backgrounds and the practice of argumentation analysis and evaluation.
* Crucial concepts from pragmatics (speech act theory, Grice's cooperative principle) presented in a non-technical way; introducing the theory of verbal communication.
* Unique coverage of both oral and written presentation of arguments.
* Exercises and assignments based on real-life texts from a variety of contexts.
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Price: $29.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Arranged rhetorically, this anthology of short essays and paragraphs suits both essay-level developmental writing and freshman composition courses. Each chapter focuses on a different rhetorical mode, from narration and description to process writing. Three features make Patterns Plus a perennial best-seller: an engaging mix of nonfiction, fiction, and student essays with a careful consideration of multicultural issues; a strong pedagogical apparatus that helps develop comprehension, analytical, and writing skills; and clear presentation of the writing process and paragraph/essay structure. The Ninth Edition includes new student readings, as well as works by well-known writers such as Thomas Friedman, Walter Kirn, and Anna Quindlen. Updated pedagogical tools offer developmental students exactly what they need to master the content, including pre-reading, vocabulary, and post-reading questions that test comprehension and encourage critical analysis of each selection..
Price: $41.85 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Master the principles of good argumentation with ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE with InfoTrac®! With coverage of academic debate, policy debate, and models of good argumentation, this communication text provides you with the tools you need to learn how to formulate successful arguments. Sample transcripts of real debates, a mini glossary, exercises for each chapter, and debate propositions make studying easy..
Price: $27.70 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Thinking Syntactically: A Guide to Argumentation and Analysis is a textbook designed to teach introductory students the skills of relating data to theory and theory to data.

* Helps students develop their thinking and argumentation skills rather than merely introducing them to one particular version of syntactic theory.

* Structured around a wide range of exercises that use clear and compelling logic to build arguments and lead up to theoretical proposals.

* Data drawn from current media sources, including newspapers, books, and television programs, to help students formulate and test hypotheses.

* Generative in spirit, but does not focus on specific theoretical approaches but enables students to understand and evaluate different approaches more easily.

* Written by an established author with an international reputation..
Price: $35.08 [Notify me when price goes down.]