Argument Today, 2nd edition

Published by Pearson (July 19, 2019) © 2020
  • Richard Johnson-Sheehan
  • Charles Paine

Title overview

For courses in argument.

Prepares students to communicate persuasively and collaboratively in academic, career and other real-life settings

Argument Today helps instructors convey to students how to listen carefully, analyze all sides of an issue, weigh available evidence, determine what they believe and clearly express their ideas, instead of training them to attack and defend. The text's genre-based approach promotes academic, career and personal effectiveness through adaptable, common arguments like analyses, narratives, commentaries, evaluations and proposals.

The 2nd Edition offers numerous enhancements and revisions to set students up for success in today's world.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Streamlined and visual, the text gets to-the-point, helps students access the knowledge they need and reinforces concepts.
  • Students benefit from annotated examples of peer writing and QuickViews, which help them visualize how to organize an argument in a persuasive or generative context.
  • "Moves” for arguing are intuitive strategies provided in each genre chapter.
  • 10 Things You Need to Know summaries reinforce chapter moves, offering an outline to help students craft their own arguments.
  • Post-reading questions and prompts inspire deeper analysis, while end-of-chapter exercises prompt discussion and segue into writing projects.
  • All 10 genre chapters feature microgenres and highlight techniques for argument in digital spaces.

Key features

Features of Revel for the 2nd Edition

  • NEW: Podcasts featuring Argument Today authors: Each chapter includes a brief podcast recorded by the authors that presents key information in an approachable way, using contemporary examples.
  • NEW: Integrated writing opportunities: To help students connect chapter content with personal meaning, each chapter offers two varieties of writing prompts: Journal Prompts elicit free-form responses using the “Moves for Arguing” examples as starting points, and an end-of-chapter Shared Writing prompt encourages students to share and reply to each other's brief responses while practicing generative and persuasive argument strategies.
  • NEW: Interactive genre pattern graphics: Every genre chapter contains an interactive graphic that allows students to move part-by-part through one or more typical patterns for that chapter's genre. Moving at their own speed, students build each pattern one piece at a time, then view the entire pattern.
  • NEW: Videos created for Argument Today: Engaging videos produced specifically for this edition present concepts in a fresh way, explaining how to put into practice key skills, such as “How to Generate Ideas with Others.”

Table of contents

Part 1: Fundamentals of Argument

  1. Starting an Argument
  2. Generating Arguments
  3. Persuading Others
  4. Reading and Reflecting Critically

Part 2: Genres of Argument

  1. Narrative Arguments: Arguing with Stories
  2. Comparisons: Arguing by Comparing and Contrasting
  3. Causal Analyses: Arguing about Causes and Effects
  4. Visual Arguments: Arguing by Showing and Telling
  5. Review Arguments: Arguing about Performance
  6. Commentaries: Arguing about Current Issues and Events
  7. Proposals: Arguing about the Future
  8. Research Papers and Reports: Arguing Using Research

Part 3: The Research Project

  1. Researching and Discovering
  2. Crediting, Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
  3. Using MLA Style
  4. Using APA Style

Part 4: Style, Design and Medium

  1. Editing to Strengthen Your Style
  2. Designing Arguments
  3. Presenting Your Argument
  4. Arguing in Virtual Spaces

Author bios

About our authors

Richard Johnson-Sheehan is a professor of rhetoric and composition at Purdue University. At Purdue, he has directed the Introductory Composition program and he has mentored new teachers of composition for many years. He teaches a variety of courses in composition, professional writing and writing program administration, as well as classical rhetoric and the rhetoric of science. He has published widely in these areas. His prior books on writing include Writing Today, now in its 4th edition, Technical Communication Today, now in its 6th edition, and Writing Proposals, now in its 2nd edition. Professor Johnson-Sheehan was awarded 2008 Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing and has been an officer in the Council for Writing Program Administrators. He was also awarded the Jay R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Society for Technical Communication in 2017.

Charles Paine is a professor of English at the University of New Mexico, where he teaches undergraduate courses in first-year, intermediate, and professional writing as well as graduate courses in writing pedagogy, the history of rhetoric and composition and other areas. At UNM, he is director of the Rhetoric and Writing Program and the First-Year Writing Program. He is an active member of the Council of Writing Program Administrators and has served on its Executive Board and other committees. His prior books on writing include The Resistant Writer, Writing Today (now in its 4th edition), and his coedited collection of essays, Teaching with Student Texts. He cofounded and coordinates the Consortium for the Study of Writing in College, a joint effort of the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Council of Writing Program Administrators.

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