Cover: High School Version for Everything's an Argument with Readings, 7th Edition by Andrea A. Lunsford; John J. Ruszkiewicz

High School Version for Everything's an Argument with Readings

Seventh Edition ©2016 Andrea A. Lunsford; John J. Ruszkiewicz

A unique and well-loved text for the AP Language course, this best-selling combination argument text and thematically organized reader shows students how to analyze all kinds of arguments — not just essays and editorials, but clothes, smartphone apps, ads, and Web site designs — and then how to use
Read more

Institutional Prices

ISBN:9781319016326

Cover: High School Version for Everything's an Argument with Readings, 7th Edition by Andrea A. Lunsford; John J. Ruszkiewicz

A unique and well-loved text for the AP Language course, this best-selling combination argument text and thematically organized reader shows students how to analyze all kinds of arguments — not just essays and editorials, but clothes, smartphone apps, ads, and Web site designs — and then how to use what they learn to write their own effective arguments. Its signature engaging and jargon-free instruction emphasizes cultural currency, humor, and visual argument. The 7th edition, revised based on feedback from its large and devoted community of users, offers a new chapter on multimedia argument and more than 35 readings across perspectives and genres, from academic essays and newspaper editorials to tweets and infographics. Students love Everything’s an Argument because it helps them understand how a world of argument already surrounds them; instructors love it because it helps students construct their own personally meaningful arguments about that world. Also available in a variety of e-book formats

Combine the text with LaunchPad for Everything’s an Argument with Readings for even more engaging content and new ways to get the most out of your course. Access unique, book-specific materials in a fully customizable online course space; then adapt, assign, and integrate our resources with yours. This LaunchPad includes:

  • Interactive exercises and tutorials for reading, writing, and research

  • LearningCurve adaptive, game-like practice that helps students focus on the topics where they need the most help, such as fallacies, claims, evidence, and other key elements of argument

  • Reading comprehension quizzes

Features

A clear guide establishes founding principles of argumentation, including classical and visual rhetoric, logic and fallacies, the syllogism, induction and deduction, Toulmin and Rogerian argument, rhetorical analysis, presentation, and style.
 
Readings on current events in the form of Twitter feeds, journal articles, editorials, and other genres encourage students to analyze the world around them. For instance, “Who Are You Calling Underprivileged?” by Natasha Rodriguez, and “Friending: The Changing Definition of Friendship in the Social Media Era,” by Joyce Xinran Liu, immerse students in complex arguments with real consequences.
 
A bold design and thought-provoking images engage students.

New to This Edition

A new chapter on multimedia arguments and an expanded chapter on presenting arguments explore today’s changing media landscape. These chapters address how new media such as video, wikis, blogs, and multimedia presentations have become an integral part of academic and public conversations. 

Seven new selections offer real-world arguments, such as Neil Irwin’s New York Times article, “What the Numbers Show about NFL Player Arrests,” and Virginia Postrel’s essay, “Let’s Charge Politicians for Wasting Our Time.” 

A new “Considering Format and Media” section in each chapter’s Guide to Writing offers practical advice for composing specific types of arguments in multiple media and across genres.

Newly annotated MLA and APA student essay excerpts offer helpful models of documentation. The documentation chapters have also been updated to reflect current examples of all source types.

Expanded coverage of fair use, sampling, and mash-ups, as well as more advice on evaluating online sources address the kinds of plagiarism issues that challenge students and instructors.      

“Everythings an Argument is a thorough and thoroughly engaging text rooted in classical rhetoric while, at the same time, cutting edge in its attention to contemporary writing practice, presentation, and production. Its style is colorful, witty, and pedagogically motivated to help students grasp the complexities of written, oral, and visual argument.” --William Taylor, University of Alabama, Huntsville

“I think Everything’s an Argument is well organized, fantastically written, and designed beautifully. It achieves the right tone for the students and offers a good range of examples. I also enjoy the way the text utilizes sophisticated rhetorical and analytical tools without making them seem so. The opening chapters on ethos, pathos, and logos in particular provide the foundation for the following chapters and, for me, the course.” --Kevin Petersen, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Digital Options

Table of Contents

Preface 
Part 1: Reading and Understanding Arguments  

1. Everything Is an Argument  
Why We Make Arguments  
Occasions for Argument  
Kinds of Argument 
STASIS QUESTIONS AT WORK  
Appealing to Audiences  
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT 

2. Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos
Reading Critically for Pathos
Using Emotions to Build Bridges
Using Emotions to Sustain an Argument
Using Humor
Using Arguments Based on Emotion

3. Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
Thinking Critically About Arguments Based on Character
Establishing Trustworthiness and Credibility
Claiming Authority
Coming Clean about Motives
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT

4. Arguments Based on Facts and Reason: Logos
Thinking Critically About Hard Evidence 
Using Reason and Common Sense
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT
Providing Logical Structures for Argument

5. Fallacies of Argument
Fallacies of Emotional Argument
Fallacies of Ethical Argument
Fallacies of Logical Argument 

6. Rhetorical Analysis
Composing a Rhetorical Analysis
Understanding the Purpose of Arguments You Are Analyzing
Understanding Who Makes an Argument
Identifying and Appealing to Audiences
Examining Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos
Examining Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
Examining Arguments Based on Facts and Reason: Logos
Examining the Arrangement and Media of Arguments
Looking at Style
Examining a Rhetorical Analysis
     David Brooks, It’s Not about You
     Rachel Kolb, Understanding Brooks’s Binaries (student essay)
GUIDE TO WRITING A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS


Part 2: Writing Arguments

7. Structuring Arguments
The Classical Oration
Rogerian and Invitational Arguments
Toulmin Argument
     Deborah Tannen, Why Is Compromise Now a Dirty Word?
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT

8. Arguments of Fact
Understanding Arguments of Fact
Characterizing Factual Arguments
Developing a Factual Argument
GUIDE TO WRITING AN ARGUMENT OF FACT
Projects
Two Sample Factual Arguments
     Taylor Pearson, Why You Should Fear Your Toaster More Than Nuclear Power (student essay)
     *Neil Irwin, What the Numbers Show about NFL Player Arrests

9. Arguments of Definition
Understanding Arguments of Definition
Kinds of Definition
Developing a Definitional Argument
GUIDE TO WRITING AN ARGUMENT OF DEFINITION
Projects
Two Sample Definitional Arguments
     *Natasha Rodriguez, Who Are You Calling Underprivileged? (student essay)
     *Joyce Xinran Liu, Friending: The Changing Definition of Friendship in the Social Media Era 

10. Evaluations
Understanding Evaluations
Criteria of Evaluation
Characterizing Evaluation
Developing an Evaluative Argument
GUIDE TO WRITING AN EVALUATION
Projects
Two Sample Evaluations
     Sean Kamperman, The Wikipedia Game: Boring, Pointless, or Neither? (student essay)
     *Hayley Tsukayama, My Awkward Week with Google Glass [New]

11. Causal Arguments
Understanding Causal Arguments
Characterizing Causal Arguments
Developing Causal Arguments
GUIDE TO WRITING A CAUSAL ARGUMENT
Projects
Two Sample Causal Arguments
     *Raven Jiang, Dota 2: The Face of Professional Gaming (student essay)
     John Tierney, Can a Playground Be Too Safe?

12. Proposals
Understanding and Categorizing Proposals
Characterizing Proposals
Developing Proposals
GUIDE TO WRITING A PROPOSAL
Projects
Two Sample Proposals
     Manasi Deshpande, A Call to Improve Campus Accessibility  (student essay)
     *Virginia Postrel, Let’s Charge Politicians for Wasting Our Time


Part 3: Style and Presentation in Arguments

13. Style in Arguments
Style and Word Choice
Sentence Structure and Argument
Punctuation and Argument
Special Effects: Figurative Language
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT

14. Visual Rhetoric
The Power of Visual Arguments
Using Visuals in Your Own Arguments

15. Presenting Arguments
Class and Public Discussions
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT
Preparing a Presentation

* 16. Multimedia Arguments
Old Media Transformed by New Media
New Content in New Media
New Audiences in New Media
Analyzing Multimedia Arguments 
Making Multimedia Arguments


Part 4: Research and Arguments

17. Academic Arguments
Understanding What Academic Argument Is
Developing an Academic Argument
Two Sample Academic Arguments
     *Charlotte Geaghan-Breiner, Where the Wild Things Should Be: Healing Nature Deficit 
     Disorder through the Schoolyard (student essay)
     Lan Xue, China: The Prizes and Pitfalls of Progress

18. Finding Evidence
Considering the Rhetorical Situation
Cultural Contexts for Argument
Using Data and Evidence from Research Sources
SEARCHING ONLINE OR IN DATABASES
Collecting Data on Your Own

19. Evaluating Sources
Assessing Print Sources
Assessing Electronic Sources
Assessing Field Research

20. Using Sources
Practicing Infotention
Building a Critical Mass
Synthesizing Information 

21. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
Giving Credit
Getting Permission for and Using Copyrighted Internet Sources
Acknowledging Your Sources Accurately and Appropriately
Acknowledging Collaboration

22. Documenting Sources
MLA Style
APA Style
Glossary
Index
Headshot of Andrea A. Lunsford

Andrea A. Lunsford

Andrea Lunsford, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of English emerita and former Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University, joined the Stanford faculty in 2000. Prior to this appointment, she was Distinguished Professor of English at The Ohio State University (1986-2000) and, before that, Associate Professor and Director of Writing at the University of British Columbia (1977-86) and Associate Professor of English at Hillsborough Community College. A frequent member of the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English, Andrea earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Florida and completed her Ph.D. in English at The Ohio State University (1977). She holds honorary degrees from Middlebury College and The University of Ôrebro.

Andreas scholarly interests include the contributions of women and people of color to rhetorical history, theory, and practice; collaboration and collaborative writing, comics/graphic narratives; translanguaging and style, and technologies of writing. She has written or coauthored many books, including Essays on Classical Rhetoric and Modern Discourse; Singular Texts/Plural Authors: Perspectives on Collaborative Writing; and Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the History of Rhetoric, as well as numerous chapters and articles. For Bedford/St. Martin’s, she is the author of The St. Martins Handbook, The Everyday Writer, and EasyWriter; the co-author (with John Ruszkiewicz) of Everything’s an Argument and (with John Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters) of Everything’s an Argument with Readings; and the co-author (with Lisa Ede) of Writing Together: Collaboration in Theory and Practice. She is also a regular contributor to the Bits teaching blog on Bedford/St. Martin’s English Community site.

Andrea has given presentations and workshops on the changing nature and scope of writing and critical language awareness at scores of North American universities, served as Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, as Chair of the Modern Language Association Division on Writing, and as a member of the MLA Executive Council. In her spare time, she serves on the Board of La Casa Roja’s Next Generation Leadership Network, as Chair of the Kronos Quartet Performing Arts Association--and works diligently if not particularly well in her communal organic garden.

Headshot of John J. Ruszkiewicz

John J. Ruszkiewicz

John J. Ruszkiewicz is a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin where he taught literature, rhetoric, and writing for forty years. A winner of the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award, he was instrumental in creating the Department of Rhetoric and Writing in 1993 and directed the unit from 2001-05. He has also served as president of the Conference of College Teachers of English (CCTE) of Texas, which gave him its Frances Hernández Teacher—Scholar Award in 2012. For Bedford/St. Martins, he is coauthor, with Andrea Lunsford, of Everything’s an Argument and the author of How to Write Anything. In retirement, he writes the mystery novels under the pen name J.J. Rusz; the most recent, The Lost Mine Trail, published in 2020 on Amazon.

Program Resources

See a preview of this program’s resources

1. Sign in to unlock your preview.   |   2. Select your desired resources  |   3. Submit a request.  |   4. Download.

Unlock Your Preview.

Program Resources

request locked icon

Instructor's Notes for Everything's an Argument with Readings

request locked icon

Sample Course Plan for Everything's an Argument with Readings