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    Read more about How Arguments Work - A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College

    How Arguments Work - A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College

    (4 reviews)

    Anna Mills, Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges OER Initiative

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    Publisher: LibreTexts

    Language: English

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    CC BY-NC-SA

    Reviews

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    Reviewed by Jason Parks, Professor of English, Anderson University on 7/5/24

    This text includes everything you would need for an entire semester composition course focused on writing arguments. There are over 16 chapters (including a newly developed one on AI). I really appreciated the teacher's guides and the exercises. read more

    Reviewed by Carl Smeller, Associate Professor, Texas Wesleyan University on 7/31/23

    The text covers all the important concepts relevant to argumentation. In fact, it goes more in--depth than any one instructor might want. The advantage of the text is that each chapter is subdivided so that an instructor can assign just the... read more

    Reviewed by Liz Onufer, English Instructor, College of Eastern Idaho on 5/4/22

    The textbook covers a great breadth of content with the appropriate depth for 100-level writing courses. The chapters provide an introductory understanding of a wide range of composition content including argument, academic research, the writing... read more

    Reviewed by Tim Marmack, Assistant Professor of English, University of Hawai’i Maui College on 12/12/21

    The text covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately and provides an effective index and/or glossary. read more

    Table of Contents

    • 1: Introduction
    • 2: Reading to Figure out the Argument
    • 3: Writing a Summary of Another Writer’s Argument
    • 4: Assessing the Strength of an Argument (Logos)
    • 5: Responding to an Argument
    • 6: The Research Process
    • 7: Forming a Research-Based Argument
    • 8: How Arguments Appeal to Emotion (Pathos)
    • 9: How Arguments Establish Trust and Connection (Ethos)
    • 10: Writing an Analysis of an Argument’s Strategies
    • 11: The Writing Process
    • 12: Essay Organization
    • 13: Correcting Grammar and Punctuation
    • 14: Style: Shaping Our Sentences
    • 15: Teacher's Guide

    Ancillary Material

    • LibreTexts
    • About the Book

      How Arguments Work takes students through the techniques they will need to respond to readings and make sophisticated arguments in any college class. This is a practical guide to argumentation with strategies and templates for the kinds of assignments students will commonly encounter. It covers rhetorical concepts in everyday language and explores how arguments can build trust and move readers.

      About the Contributors

      Author

      Anna Mills currently serves as the English Discipline Lead for the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges OER Initiative.  She has taught English at City College of San Francisco since 2005 and has specialized in teaching Argumentative Writing and Critical Thinking since 2008. She earned a master’s degree from Bennington College in Writing and Literature with a focus on nonfiction writing. Her collection of book reviews, “Anna Mills on Nature Writing,” can be found at onnaturewriting.blogspot.com. Her essays have appeared in The Writer's Chronicle, The SunSalmagundiCimarron ReviewIsotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science WritingNorth Dakota QuarterlyUnder the SunBanyan Review, and various anthologies. She interned as a technical writer at Sun Microsystems and spent two years as a writer and web developer for the nonprofit CompuMentor, where she published a collection of articles for the portal TechSoup.org.

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