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

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City College of San Francisco via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

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.

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Argumentation

The words argumentation and argument here do not mean the same thing as they do in casual conversation, where they are associated with bickering, contention, and conflict. In the context of writing essays, an argument is the combination of a point you are trying to make and the support you offer in order to make that point. This is sometimes called academic argumentation , especially when the argument is supported by rational explanations, reliable evidence, and similar rhetorical strategies (see the textbook section Rhetoric).

At some level or another, nearly all college writing is argumentation. This is because every assignment asks you to convey your point, claim, or message, and to support it somehow: with explanation, research, description, etc.

Argumentation in college writing overlaps with purely persuasive writing in many ways as well, but there is a subtle difference: pure persuasion needs to change others’ minds in order to succeed, but academic arguments don’t. Instead, to be successful, an academic argument need only be complete and valid, independent of whether the audience agrees. Good academic arguments are persuasive, but it’s also possible to have a good academic argument—through careful support of a claim—that a reader rejects in belief or action yet considers viable and worthy of sincere consideration. This subtle difference becomes apparent in the tone of a good academic argument, which is typically sober, precise, and focused on the ideas themselves, as opposed to purely persuasive writing, which can seem closer to a cloying sales-pitch focused on the beliefs or actions of the reader. The former is our aim in argumentation, and the latter is to be avoided.

But in order for writers to make their arguments successful, they do need to make writing decisions that express their ideas as effectively as possible for the audience. This means that argumentation requires the use of rhetorical strategies. This also means that when you are using rhetorical strategies, you are assumed to be engaging in some version of argumentation. Just as there is a lot of overlap between argumentation and persuasion, so too is there a lot of overlap between argumentation and rhetoric. In fact, the three terms—rhetoric, argumentation, and persuasion—are often used interchangeably.

Why is argumentation so vital in a college education? One main reason is that the world you live in today was built by a series of well written arguments. If you live in the United States of America, that is because Thomas Jefferson wrote an argument called “The Declaration of Independence,” and the founders of the USA made sure to protect the freedom to write more arguments in the future by identifying the freedom of speech in the First Amendment. Martin Luther King, Jr. presented an argument in a speech of his called “I Have a Dream,” and it was effective enough to help bring about the much more just society you have now. And the man after whom Martin Luther King, Jr. was named, Marin Luther, wrote an argument called “The Ninety-Five Theses,” which in many ways led history into the modern era. To participate in writing an argument is to better understand the world around you, and, by doing so, to empower you to participate in that world. If you paid close attention here, you can point out that even this paragraph is an argument: it presents a thesis that is arguable, specific, and significant, and it supports that thesis with explanation and examples.

Argumentation and Rhetoric (and Persuasive Writing)

Argumentation and rhetoric have many similarities and are sometimes used as interchangeable terms. Argumentation is the mode of writing in which the author clarifies and supports a point for an audience, and rhetoric is the art of “finding all available means of persuasion” (see the textbook section Rhetoric), so the two indeed coincide. From the perspective of argumentation, being more persuasive through the use of rhetorical strategies makes for a better argument, so rhetoric improves argumentation. From the perspective of rhetoric, argumentation can be one mode of persuasion, perhaps even a strategy, one that relies on clarity of and support for a main point. So considering the two as interchangeable in many instances is fair enough.

But there are some subtle differences.

One difference is that rhetoric is an art that can be used in modes other than argumentation. Rhetorical appeals and strategies can be used in personal narratives, illustration or descriptive writing, comparison and contrast writing, and others, and it can even be used in non-written forms, such as advertising images intended to provoke emotions from viewers. So the art of rhetoric exists beyond the argumentation mode of writing to clarify and support a main point.

Another difference is that, while rhetoric is the “art of finding all available means of persuasion,” argumentation need not be merely persuasive. This is the same difference that distinguishes argumentation from persuasive writing or persuasive speeches. The aim or persuasion is to convince an audience to accept or agree with a proposal or position, but a good argument doesn’t have to convert any readers in order to remain a good argument. Instead, a good argument clarifies its point and presents support for it in such a way as to be considered valid by an intelligent audience. Even if the audience does not agree with the argument’s point or adopt its position, that audience could still accept its validity, and therefore, even though the argument would have failed as persuasion or as an exercise in rhetoric, it would have succeeded in the mode of argumentation. Indeed, this is how academia has come to encompass “schools of thought” or competing theories within its various fields. In economics, psychology, sociology, literature, even physics, arguments have been presented that don’t agree with each other, and audiences within the field don’t or can’t necessarily agree with all of them, yet those same audiences consider those theories or schools of thought valid regardless, which means they have succeeded as arguments.

Key Parts of an Argument

A good argument can be constructed using many different strategies and arrangements, but most of them have some common components. These key parts of an argument can be scaled up and down: they can all exist within the small space of single paragraph, or they can each take their own paragraphs and build and entire essay or book. As detailed below, the four key parts of an argument are the following:

Acknowledgment with Rebuttal

The claim is the main point about a subject, or the position on it. The main claim of a whole essay is often called the “thesis,” and the main claim of a paragraph is often called the “topic sentence.” Sometimes claims include a main reason, often as a “because” clause, such as, “Schools should eliminate the requirement of uniforms because they are unfair and ineffective.”

Support is a broad term in argumentation. It refers to any reasons to accept the claim, or any strategies a writer uses to effectively convey the claim to the audience. In essence, all the other parts of an argument that follow are types of support. And there are numerous other strategies for support that are detailed in other sections of this textbook (see Body Paragraphs or Rhetoric and Argumentation), such as offering examples, comparisons, definitions, or discussions of causes and effects. And as you support your claims, remember not to assume that your reader automatically agrees with your statements. Convey your ideas as if you are dealing with an intelligent, critical, and reasonably skeptical reader.

Evidence is any information from external references and sources that demonstrate the validity of your claim, or of your support. The best evidence relies on information from legitimate, authoritative, or commonly accepted experts, publishers, and institutions. Mere research alone isn’t enough to function as evidence; you need to explain how the research relates to your claim or support in order for it to be real evidence. Remember that MLA format requires you to cite all instances of such evidence.

Acknowledgment is a technical term in argumentation that means to address reasonable opposition to the ideas you state above. In other words, it is the strategy of bring up counter-arguments, or the ideas from the other side that go against yours. Do this by anticipating what other perspectives or weaknesses a critical thinker might be able to find in your ideas. Consider using research to find the best available opposing ideas. Remember not to assume that your interpretation of the evidence is the only valid possibility. Instead, state an opposing interpretation.

The whole point of acknowledgment is to further strengthen your own argument, not to contradict it. Addressing opposition and counter-arguments is a way for you to test out the validity and resilience of your ideas, and to show your readers that you have thought through the issue thoroughly rather than having taken a narrow-minded short-cut. Also note that true acknowledgment doesn’t bother with unreasonable, exaggerated, or easily-defeated opposition. This poor strategy is often called “the straw-man fallacy.” Acknowledgment can only strengthen your argument when the counter-argument is strong itself.

But acknowledgment won’t strengthen your argument unless you offer your own rebuttal to it. Rebuttal is your explanation to defend your ideas against the acknowledged opposition. Don’t forget this rebuttal. A common error is to end on just the acknowledgment, which only creates contradiction and confusion. Another common error is to get aggressive or bombastic, but this only weakens your argument. Instead, remain focused, reasonable, and professional. Admit to your weaknesses with honesty if the opposition is to too solid to rebut directly, but end on a strong defense of your ideas regardless. And remember that the best defense is a clear expression of good ideas.

Short Examples

Here are examples of short excerpts that contain all five parts of an argument. They short for convenience and space, but whole articles—such as those listed as readings in this textbook—can serve as larger examples.

TV violence can have harmful psychological effects on children because those exposed to lots of it tend to adopt the values of what they see. Their constant exposure to violent images makes them unable to distinguish fantasy from reality. Smith found that children ages of 5-7 who watched more than three hours of violent television a day were 25 percent more likely to say what they saw on television was “really happening” (214). Of course, some children who watch more violent entertainment might already be attracted to violence. But Jones found that “children with no predisposition to violence were as attracted to violent images as those with a violent history” (12).

—Adapted to display MLA format quotation from The Craft of Research (Booth, Colomb, Williams 113)

Claim: “TV violence can have harmful psychological effects on children because those exposed to lots of it tend to adopt the values of what they see.”

Support: “Their constant exposure to violent images makes them unable to distinguish fantasy from reality.”

Evidence: “Smith found that children ages of 5-7 who watched more than three hours of violent television a day were 25 percent more likely to say what they saw on television was ‘really happening’ (214).”

Acknowledgment: “Of course, some children who watch more violent entertainment might already be attracted to violence. ”

Rebuttal: “But Jones found that ‘children with no predisposition to violence were as attracted to violent images as those with a violent history’ (12).”

What was not foreseen was the backlash of the [First World War]. Emotionally, it was a revulsion against four years of carnage. In practical effect, it was nothing less than a social revolution. The war itself was revolutionary, having moved the masses out of their routines-the men into the trenches, the women into the factories. What happened under Lenin in Russia, and for a time among her neighbors, advertised this social upheaval. The masses were now sovereign in their outlook and behavior. Henceforth, whatever was done must be done for their good and in their name. Their needs and wants, their habits and tastes, marked the high tide of democracy as Tocqueville had foreseen it in this country. The message was clear to all, because it had been preached with growing intensity for 100 years. Universal suffrage; the end of poverty; identical rights for everybody; social, economic, even sexual emancipation; popular culture, not elite esthetics—these demands went with a distrust and hatred of all the old orders, old leaders, and old modes of life that had brought on the four years of homicidal horror and destruction. The new modes were to be anti-capitalist (obviously); anti-Victorian in morals, and anti-parliamentarian as well, for many thought representative government a corrupt and contemptible fraud. Democracy needed better machinery. In that mood it is no wonder that fascism and the corporate state triumphed so rapidly.* If England and France hung on to their constitutional freedoms amid this turmoil, it was due largely to historical momentum, the same force that threw Russia back into its old groove.

—Jacques Barzun, “Is Democratic Theory for Export?”

Claim: “What was not foreseen was the backlash of the [First World War]. Emotionally, it was a revulsion against four years of carnage. In practical effect, it was nothing less than a social revolution.”

Support: “The war itself was revolutionary, having moved the masses out of their routines-the men into the trenches, the women into the factories. What happened under Lenin in Russia, and for a time among her neighbors, advertised this social upheaval. The masses were now sovereign in their outlook and behavior. Henceforth, whatever was done must be done for their good and in their name. Their needs and wants, their habits and tastes, marked the high tide of democracy as Tocqueville had foreseen it in this country. The message was clear to all, because it had been preached with growing intensity for 100 years.”

Evidence: “Universal suffrage; the end of poverty; identical rights for everybody; social, economic, even sexual emancipation; popular culture, not elite esthetics—these demands went with a distrust and hatred of all the old orders, old leaders, and old modes of life that had brought on the four years of homicidal horror and destruction. The new modes were to be anti-capitalist (obviously); anti-Victorian in morals, and anti-parliamentarian as well, for many thought representative government a corrupt and contemptible fraud. Democracy needed better machinery. In that mood it is no wonder that fascism and the corporate state triumphed so rapidly.* …

*The theory of the corporate state, or socialism in the guise of state capitalism, was expounded in France and Germany and promulgated in Italy. It had intellectual adherents for a time; Winston Churchill praised Mussolini, and David Lloyd George, Hitler. The defeat of the Axis powers silenced such advocates, which shows again how dependent on current events theorists are.”

Acknowledgment: “If England and France hung on to their constitutional freedoms amid this turmoil, …”

Rebuttal: “… it was due largely to historical momentum, the same force that threw Russia back into its old groove.”

Our Founding Fathers gave us excellent advice on foreign policy. Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, called for “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” George Washington, several years earlier, took up this theme in his Farewell Address. “Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest,” he maintained. “But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences.” Washington added:

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible… Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

Unfortunately, we have spent the past century spurning this sensible advice. If the Founders’ advice is acknowledged at all, it is dismissed on the grounds that we no longer live in their times. The same hackneyed argument could be used against any of the other principles the Founders gave us. Should we give up the First Amendment because times have changed? How about the rest of the Bill of Rights? It’s hypocritical and childish to dismiss certain founding principles simply because a convenient rationale is needed to justify foolish policies today. The principles enshrined in the Constitution do not change. If anything, today’s more complex world cries out for the moral clarity of a noninterventionist foreign policy.

It is easy to dismiss the noninterventionist view as the quaint aspiration of men who lived in a less complicated world, but it’s not so easy to demonstrate how our current policies serve any national interest at all. Perhaps an honest examination of the history of American interventionism in the twentieth century, from Korea to Vietnam to Kosovo to the Middle East, would reveal that the Founding Fathers foresaw more than we think.

Anyone who advocates the noninterventionist foreign policy of the Founding Fathers can expect to be derided as an isolationist. I myself have never been an isolationist. I favor the very opposite of isolation: diplomacy, free trade, and freedom of travel. The real isolationists are those who impose sanctions and embargoes on countries and peoples across the globe because they disagree with the internal and foreign policies of their leaders. The real isolationists are those who choose to use force overseas to promote democracy, rather than seeking change through diplomacy, engagement, and by setting a positive example. The real isolationists are those who isolate their country in the court of world opinion by pursuing needless belligerence and war that have nothing to do with legitimate national security concerns.

—Ron Paul, “The Foreign Policy of the Founding Fathers”

Summarized Claim: The US should have a noninterventionist foreign policy.

Summarized Support: The Founding Fathers advised it. The advice is old but still relevant. Recent troubles with interventions show this.

Summarized Evidence: Quotations from Founding Fathers; analogies to the Bill of Rights; lists of violent and chaotic locations of US intervention

Summarized Acknowledgment: Opponents might think it’s isolationism.

Summarized Rebuttal: Isolationism is created by interventions; noninterventionists seek peace, exchange, and freedom.

Extended Examples

For extended examples (entire essays) of masterful argumentation, go to Readings in this textbook, and read “An Animal’s Place” by Michael Pollan, “The Moral Equivalent of War” by William James, and “The Federalist No. 10” by James Madison.

Read either “An Animal’s Place” by Michael Pollan, “The Moral Equivalent of War” by William James, or “The Federalist No. 10” by James Madison, and analyze its parts of an argument:

Read any other essay included in Readings in this textbook, and explain how it works as an argument.

See the following example of argumentation, which is excellent, and which the author wrote when she was in a first-year composition course. It is so good that it was soon after published by the international magazine Areo .

“Why We Need Fantasy Literature”

By Lauren Stengel

First published in Areo , May 17, 2019

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings has sold around 150 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the bestselling fiction novels of all time. Some even claim it is the greatest book of the twentieth century . While Tolkien’s Middle-earth novels continue to grow in popularity, many scholars still refuse to take them seriously. Most critics not only disregard, but despise them with a fiery passion. Critics of the younger generation focus on the supposed social problems in Middle-earth, such as racism or sexism . But the most astounding criticisms come mostly from the older generation of literary critics, who claim that Tolkien’s writing is just awful. Edmund Wilson argues in “Oo, Those Awful Orcs” that The Lord of the Rings is nothing but “juvenile trash.” In the introduction to Bloom’s Critical Modern Interpretations: J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Harold Bloom claims that Tolkien’s writing style is “stiff, false archaic, and overwrought.” Bloom is “not able to understand how a skilled and mature reader can absorb about fifteen hundred pages of this quaint stuff.” These criticisms are as absurd are they are comical. If anything, The Lord of the Rings is anti-racist and anti-sexist and beautifully written. Of course, the merit of any work is, in essence, subjective and tastes differ. But what is the cause of both the contemptuous criticisms and unwarranted indifference toward The Lord of the Rings ?

Realism has taken over literature; fantasy—and other genres—have been deemed childish garbage. Ursula K. Le Guin blames the modernists for this. In her article “The Critics, the Monsters and the Fantasists,” she writes,

The modernists are largely to blame. Edmund Wilson and his generation left a tradition of criticism that is, in its way, quite a little monster. In this school for anti-wizards, no fiction is to be taken seriously except various forms of realism, which are labelled ‘serious.’ Universities have taught generations of students to shun genres , including fantasy (unless it was written before 1900, wasn’t written in English, and/ or can be labelled magic realism ).

But realism is a very recent movement. Before the eighteenth century, genre fiction was literature. What makes genre writing after 1900 any less significant than its predecessors? There isn’t any lost, secret knowledge on how to write fantastical literature. There isn’t anything about English that changes the literary merit of genre writing. Perhaps, as Le Guin asserts, these critics simply don’t understand how to read fantasy. And, if they don’t understand how to read genre literature, by what authority can they criticize The Lord of the Rings ?

Critics’ obsession with allegory may be one of the obvious pitfalls, since fantasy literature—at least according to Tolkien—should never be read in this way. In the foreword to the second edition of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes:

I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.

Of course, as Tolkien states, there’s nothing wrong with finding parts of faerie stories applicable to our own individual lives: that’s one of the greatest things about them. But Harold Bloom’s claim that The Lord of the Rings is a “giant Period Piece” about World War II is nonsense. Simply put, it is a story of a hobbit and his companions and their quest to destroy a ring. Tolkien did not write allegory. Anything more you get from the story is on you. Of course, living through both world wars influenced Tolkien’s ideology, and that ideology made its way into his fiction—but, in writing the books, Tolkien had no political agenda. He only wanted to create a faerie story.

But what is it about The Lord of the Rings specifically that provokes such strong objections from the critics? Possibly, the question is too specific. Perhaps it’s the genre of faerie story that critics detest, not The Lord of the Rings itself. Critics raise the same objections to other modern fantasy works that receive acclaim. In a review of Harry Potter , Bloom writes, “Taking arms against Harry Potter, at this moment, is to emulate Hamlet taking arms against a sea of troubles. By opposing the sea, you won’t end it. The Harry Potter epiphenomenon will go on, doubtless for some time, as J. R. R. Tolkien did, and then wane.” This is from a review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone , the first book in the series, and was written in 2007, while the novel itself was written ten years previously. Yet, twenty-one years after publication, Harry Potter is still as big as ever, if not bigger. It makes one wonder what Bloom thinks of Amazon’s plans for a new Lord of the Rings series (65 years after publication, The Lord of the Rings is still going strong). These faerie stories aren’t going anywhere.

They aren’t going anywhere because we need them. It’s no coincidence that the fantasy genre can be traced back to some of the earliest forms of writing. We need the warriors, the adventure, the monsters, the magic. Exploring these aspects of fantasy is a great way of gaining insight into what it means to be human. Critics love to attack fantasy for not being serious literature: realism is the human experience. But not only does fantasy encompass the human experience, it does so better than realism. In his essay “Hamlet and His Problems,” T. S. Eliot outlines his theory of the objective correlative:

The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an “objective correlative”; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.

Don’t tell us how you feel—show us how you feel. This is one reason storytelling is so important. It’s not that realism can’t incorporate the objective correlative in beautiful ways, but what better way to show our fear of the deep than Tolkien’s Watcher in the Water, our fear of death than Ringwraiths, or our fear of the forest than Mirkwood? These images are so much stronger than those realism can produce. Realism is forced by its own limitations, in many instances, to deal in abstracts, while fantasy gives us concrete images of emotions that couldn’t be as vividly portrayed otherwise. Fantasy also allows us to lower our guard, which makes it easier to understand otherwise difficult subject matter, and helps us see things from new perspectives. Maybe the new insights into ourselves that we gain from fantasy literature are too difficult for critics to accept. People usually don’t like to admit they’re wrong. And maybe, whether they’re aware of it or not, that’s why critics shun fantasy literature: they’re afraid of what they’ll discover about themselves by studying it. The anthropocentric nature of realism makes us out to be both the victims and heroes of our reality, while fantasy forces us to confront the monsters within ourselves. I bet the critics don’t like accepting that. I doubt anyone does. But the truth is important.

Not only does fantasy remind us of what we are, it reminds us of what we once were. The industrialization of our current world has severed us from the connection we used to have with nature. In “The Critics, the Monsters, and the Fantasists,” Ursula K. Le Guin expresses this beautifully:

The fields and forests, the villages and byroads, once did belong to us, when we belonged to them. That is the truth of the non-industrial setting of so much fantasy. It reminds us of what we have denied, what we have exiled ourselves from.

Animals were once more to us than meat, pests, or pets: they were fellow-creatures, colleagues, dangerous equals … what fantasy generally does that the realistic novel generally cannot do is include the nonhuman as essential.

That’s possibly another reason critics discredit fantasy literature. Fantasy, at its foundation, is anti-anthropocentric. But news flash, critics: we’re not in charge. We don’t run the world: nature does. We enjoy pretending we’re in control—and fantasy challenges that. Progressivism is certainly at least partially to blame for the shunning of the fantasy genre. The idea of progress assumes that it is imperative to the betterment of the human condition, but it may be just the opposite. The repercussions of such a philosophy are a narcissistic, materialistic and ruthless humanity, which is becoming more and more distanced from its roots in the natural world. It’s no coincidence that realism took over as the primary literary mode during the Industrial Revolution. Maybe we’ve become too sophisticated to find meaning in childish fairy tales. But, as we run away from these childish themes of hope, heroism, magic and divinity, we become less inclined to care for anyone or anything but ourselves. We’ve become selfish. We build ourselves up just to tear others down; we pollute our oceans and destroy our forests. We are disconnecting ourselves from nature, with which we should be in harmony. So maybe it’s society’s fault that critics shun The Lord of the Rings and other fantastical literature. We don’t need magic; we have science. We’re our own heroes, in it for ourselves. But we don’t seem to be getting anywhere worthwhile in our industrial progressiveness: we live in a world of greed, hatred and constant war. Possibly, one of the reasons is our abandonment and complete disregard of the faerie story and its significance. This may seem like a giant leap, but maybe we can only learn morality through storytelling and from the magic embraced by fantastical literature.

In the Boston Globe article “Dumbing Down American Readers,” Bloom claims that the fantasy genre is dumbing down America. But perhaps it’s our flight from fantasy that is dumbing us down. Bloom says that the reasons are “very complex … there’s very little authentic study of the humanities remaining.” But maybe we’re tired of being told what is and isn’t relevant. Maybe we’re ready to accept that fantasy is an important aspect of the human experience and will continue to be. The twenty-first century is a century of the strange and magical, of the fantastical. It’s a century of wizards, faeries and dragons, and the critics will eventually have to accept that. The fantasy genre is back, ready to reclaim the rightful place in the world of literature that realism unjustly stole from it.

After careful study of the essay above, “Why We Need Fantasy Literature,” identify and explain three particular strengths or strategies of argumentation that Stengel employs.

Read the next student example, which is a lesser essay than the above example but is still functional overall. Then evaluate it as argumentation. Which parts of an argument does it achieve well? Which part of an argument are weak, vague, or missing?

Student Example:

Universal Health Care Coverage for the United States

The United States is the only modernized Western nation that does not offer publicly funded health care to all its citizens; the costs of health care for the uninsured in the United States are prohibitive, and the practices of insurance companies are often more interested in profit margins than providing health care. These conditions are incompatible with US ideals and standards, and it is time for the US government to provide universal health care coverage for all its citizens. Like education, health care should be considered a fundamental right of all US citizens, not simply a privilege for the upper and middle classes.

One of the most common arguments against providing universal health care coverage (UHC) is that it will cost too much money. In other words, UHC would raise taxes too much. While providing health care for all US citizens would cost a lot of money for every tax-paying citizen, citizens need to examine exactly how much money it would cost, and more important, how much money is “too much” when it comes to opening up health care for all. Those who have health insurance already pay too much money, and those without coverage are charged unfathomable amounts. The cost of publicly funded health care versus the cost of current insurance premiums is unclear. In fact, some Americans, especially those in lower income brackets, could stand to pay less than their current premiums.

However, even if UHC would cost Americans a bit more money each year, we ought to reflect on what type of country we would like to live in, and what types of morals we represent if we are more willing to deny health care to others on the basis of saving a couple hundred dollars per year. In a system that privileges capitalism and rugged individualism, little room remains for compassion and love. It is time that Americans realize the amorality of US hospitals forced to turn away the sick and poor. UHC is a health care system that aligns more closely with the core values that so many Americans espouse and respect, and it is time to realize its potential.

Another common argument against UHC in the United States is that other comparable national health care systems, like that of England, France, or Canada, are bankrupt or rife with problems. UHC opponents claim that sick patients in these countries often wait in long lines or long wait lists for basic health care. Opponents also commonly accuse these systems of being unable to pay for themselves, racking up huge deficits year after year. A fair amount of truth lies in these claims, but Americans must remember to put those problems in context with the problems of the current US system as well. It is true that people often wait to see a doctor in countries with UHC, but we in the United States wait as well, and we often schedule appointments weeks in advance, only to have onerous waits in the doctor’s “waiting rooms.”

Critical and urgent care abroad is always treated urgently, much the same as it is treated in the United States. The main difference there, however, is cost. Even health insurance policy holders are not safe from the costs of health care in the United States. Each day an American acquires a form of cancer, and the only effective treatment might be considered “experimental” by an insurance company and thus is not covered. Without medical coverage, the patient must pay for the treatment out of pocket. But these costs may be so prohibitive that the patient will either opt for a less effective, but covered, treatment; opt for no treatment at all; or attempt to pay the costs of treatment and experience unimaginable financial consequences. Medical bills in these cases can easily rise into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is enough to force even wealthy families out of their homes and into perpetual debt. Even though each American could someday face this unfortunate situation, many still choose to take the financial risk. Instead of gambling with health and financial welfare, US citizens should press their representatives to set up UHC, where their coverage will be guaranteed and affordable.

Despite the opponents’ claims against UHC, a universal system will save lives and encourage the health of all Americans. Why has public education been so easily accepted, but not public health care? It is time for Americans to start thinking socially about health in the same ways they think about education and police services: as rights of US citizens.

The Writing Textbook Copyright © 2021 by Josh Woods, editor and contributor, as well as an unnamed author (by request from the original publisher), and other authors named separately is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Publisher: Virginia Western Community College

Language: English

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Reviewed by Kelly Clasen, Professor of English, Hutchinson Community College on 12/20/21

The text presents standard composition content in language that is accessible to its target audience, and key concepts are arranged in a logical fashion. The book contains sufficient information, along with supplemental exercises and links to... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The book's content is on par with that of other traditionally published composition textbooks; the authors' experience in the field is clear. The text also appears to have been carefully edited for clarity, flow, and concision. While there is some unusual spacing in article title links, these links appear work consistently.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

While the text takes a rather traditional approach to teaching composition, it includes links to a nice range of still-relevant articles and essays, some of which I have seen appear in print composition textbooks published within the last decade. The MLA content in the text will need to be edited to reflect the most recent style guide changes, yet this is the case with any MLA resource used in a composition class.

Clarity rating: 5

The book's prose is appropriate to its college-writing audience and generally void of jargon. In general, even subject-specific terms are explained using direct, accessible language. The authors do an especially nice job of explaining rhetorical terms (pathos, egos, logos, kairos, etc.) in everyday language and via modern examples. While the chapter on argument tends to run a bit long, helpful images help exemplify various logical fallacies. Additionally, the "tiered" approach to evaluating sources is a thoughtful way of helping students categorize different types of articles and (hopefully) make the best selections for their research assignments.

Consistency rating: 4

Helpful graphics, visual aids, and links invigorate the first half of the book or so, yet these drop off somewhat by Ch. 6. The book becomes more text-heavy toward the end and less visually engaging. Various grammatical topics are only briefly addressed, and I think adding in more supplemental materials--visual aids and/or links to additional practice exercises or handouts, for example--would add some depth to the final chapters and bring those more in balance with the detailed, visually lively opening chapters.

Modularity rating: 3

While the overall layout of the book is logical, I felt overwhelmed by the inclusion of eight rhetorical modes in a single chapter (Ch. 5). I believe that if each rhetorical mode is not going to be explored in its own chapter, these modes should at least be separately linked in the overall course content menu. Adding subtopic links to the "Writing Basics" and "Punctuation" chapters in the content menu would also improve ease of access.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I especially like the inclusion of the first chapter on "Critical Reading," which is clearly geared toward students transitioning into a college learning environment. Other topics/chapters flow logically from that point on, introducing students to standard composition ideas--the rhetorical triangle and writing process, for example--and moving into an overview of various rhetorical modes, how to locate and evaluate sources, citation methods, and mechanics.

Interface rating: 4

I think the overall content menu could be more robust to help offset the navigational challenges associated with some of the longer chapters, and especially Ch. 5, "Rhetorical Modes." Additionally, Ch. 6, "Finding and Using Outside Sources," and Ch. 7, "How and Why to Cite," link frequently to college-specific library and documentation resources. Faculty at other institutions would likely need to redirect students to their own school's databases and other resources or perhaps create supplemental research guides for use with these chapters.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see any grammatical errors; however, the language on pronouns (Ch. 8) is very general and could be edited to use the increasingly accepted singular "they"--or to at least acknowledge the important historical evolution of pronouns.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text links to example articles and essays from a diverse body of writers. As noted, the only culturally insensitive aspects appear in the chapter on "Writing Basics," which seems outdated in its approach to pronouns. In general, the approach to "Writing Basics" seems outdated as many books have started to include sections highlighting the importance of inclusive language.

Thank you for making this content accessible to the public.

Reviewed by Julia Cafritz, Adjunct Professor, Holyoke Community College on 6/29/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Let's Get Writing! is the typical freshman composition textbook, covering all the basics in a methodical but lively way. Some chapters feel long, particularly Chapters 2 - Rhetorical Analysis and Chapter 3- Argument. It's all good material but I think they could have been broken up in more digestible way. While there are plenty of useful writing exercises throughout, the actual discussion of the Writing Process doesn't happen until Chapter 4. Let's Get Writing...in a bit... after we go over the whole Western history of rhetoric and argument first.

The book seems accurate and error-free, other than a few broken hyperlinks. Content sources clearly identified and made available.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This book is very similar to, and in some ways better (lots of interesting and up to date periodical readings) than the current equivalent expensive textbook company Freshman Comp texts. It covers all the basics.

The text is easy to read and follow: terms are defined, examples are provided, readings are interesting and well-chosen, and writing assignments are clear. The use of text boxes, tables, charts, and infographics break up the pages and make it more readable.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework; chapters follow a similar format.

Modularity rating: 5

Easily broken up into more manageable reading and homework assignments.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The order of the chapters could be rearranged. I'd separate the Rhetorical Analysis and Argument chapters because they're a lot to wade through one after the other.

Navigating through the text is easy and straightforward. The graphics aren't particularly sophisticated or visually pleasing, but they are clear, for the most part. Most , but not all, of the hyperlinks worked/were easily accessed.

I spotted no grammatical errors .

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

While there is some attempt to make the linked readings culturally diverse, the textbook itself is very rooted in white, Western, mostly American, values, examples and perspectives. There is no discussion of non-standard English or anti racist writing practices. Instead, we get lost in the weeds of the Rogerian v. Toulmin argumentative models. Nothing offensive but the omissions are notable. Just because this is pretty typical of the category, doesn't mean it's acceptable.

Reviewed by Ashley Ott, Adjunct Assistant Professor, College of DuPage on 4/23/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Let's Get Writing! offers a standard menu of first-year writing topics, presented in 10 discrete chapters. Instructors and students will universally benefit from the canonical rhetorical situation discussion and the book's homage to critical reading. These authors balance text-heavy chapters with multimodal features that engage their readers: frequent infographics, linked materials, student exercises, and "Tip" boxes allow for quick navigation of this online educational resource.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The content of this textbook is mostly accurate, although I would like to see some added content on discourse communities (under the rhetorical situation chapter) and some awareness of inclusive and anti-racist writing practices/strategies that may be easily accommodated in the "Writing Basics" or "Working with Words" chapters. I am happy these authors have included live links, but some of them do not work (cf. the External Links section on page 134-135).

The examples provided have universal qualities, though there are active links that are no longer working. Where I teach there has been a push to move toward multimodal assignments that overlay traditional essay genres, an emphasis that is beyond the scope of this book, but an area nonetheless, that may be easily addressed and/or developed in this text's future instantiations.

Terminology is often clarified and/or elaborated upon so that key concepts become familiar in many different settings. For example, on page 13, Browning explains that "Your instructor may use the term“main point” interchangeably with other terms, such as thesis, main argument, main focus, or core concept." A key terms and concepts index and/or glossary (missing from this book) would benefit this audience.

Consistency rating: 3

Font and color schemes are uniform across chapters, although there needs to be more consistency of form in terms of chapter organization (from one chapter to the next). The variation of placement and inclusion of text content, images, links, "Tip "boxes, "Key Takaways," exercises, and example writing are inconsistent across chapters, hindering user accessibility.

This book is easily divisible into smaller reading sections as each of the 10 chapters (in addition to the forward and introduction) are linked from the Contents menu.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

This book offers a clear organization scheme that works from conceptual thinking (critical reading and rhetorical analysis) to the technical aspects of reading and writing (reading research, writing with clarity and precision). I do suggest revising the placement of the "Rhetorical Modes" (chapter 5) so that it follows directly from chapter 3, "Rhetorical Analysis." Currently, these two chapters are separated by "The Writing Process" (chapter 4).

Interface rating: 3

There are many small interface issues, especially with linked (tinyURL) material. There are also areas where page breaks divide content mid-section. For example, the material discussing Brian Williams appears on page 24, but his portrait is placed aside content that discusses Marilee Jones at the beginning of page 25, which may cause confusion.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

I would like to see more consistency of audience in this book. Generally this writing is addressed to a student, the second person "you," but at other times this address encompasses "we" (the writers of this book), "us" (writers more generally?), and "the student" (aimed at an instructor audience).

This text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way, although there is much wanting in the way of inclusive readings and examples from a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Again, there must be some discussion and awareness of inclusive and anti-racist writing practices/strategies.

Thank you for using and acknowledging the beautiful cover art from student Noah Sutphin!

Reviewed by Cara Miller, Associate Professor of English, Anderson University on 3/18/21

The book is excellent in its beginning chapters about reading critically, understanding the rhetorical situation, analyzing arguments, and working through the writing process. These chapters provide a lot of depth in terms of key terms, underlying strategies, and connections to student writing. For instance, the chapters on reading discuss important concepts and strategies that can be applied to writing tasks. I also appreciated that the chapters drill down into specifics of things like context cues and language indicators. On the other hand, the chapters that deal with research (particularly chapter 6 on outside sources) seem a little thin, especially when compared to the depth in the other chapters.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content of the book is accurate. It is helpful that the authors provide links to their sources and examples.

This book is very relevant for freshmen in first-year composition. The chapters relate directly to key rhetorical concepts and drafting strategies to help students meet their writing goals. Again, the depth of terms and the connections to specific reading and writing tasks add value to the text and make it even more relevant for first-year students who struggle with these same concepts.

Clarity is a strength for the text. It is written in a way that is accessible for college students. It defines key terms and also includes tips and explanations of underlying conventions or assumptions that instructors may fail to make explicit. It also provides a list of key takeaways at the end of each section, links to worksheets and sample essays, and helpful graphics.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is easily divided into small readings. Each chapter has several sections with their own headings. However, individual sections and chapters are scaffolded in such a way that it would be difficult to read them out of order and have the same level of understanding.

The book begins with basic reading and rhetorical concepts and then moves into writing strategies that stem from this foundation. The book is organized in a top-down way, beginning with more fundamental concepts of genre, structure, and idea development and then ending with sentence-level issues related to grammar, punctuation, and formatting. This mirrors the writing process itself and seems like a logical organization for the book.

The navigation is effective. Internal links on the Table of Contents page as well as at the top of each chapter make it easy to navigate the textbook. I noted a few minor issue with graphics that went off the page or white space that seemed excessive.

I didn't notice any grammatical errors.

There isn't a big focus on students from different racial or ethnic backgrounds, which might have added nuance and a level of sensitivity. For instance, the chapter on sentence basics is really helpful, but doesn't acknowledge the different ways of writing and speaking for people from non-mainstream cultures and backgrounds. While the book might have provided more sensitivity or focus on these issue, it certainly isn't offensive. In fact, its tone is very respectful of students and their writing abilities. It also provides transcripts of videos to enhance access.

We've adopted this book for our first-year composition students next year, and I'm excited to use it. There are lots of clear explanations as well as interesting and helpful activities that I can utilize in class and as homework.

Reviewed by Zaragoza Maricela, English Adjunct Instructor, California State University, Dominguez Hills on 8/13/20

The text provides key information on Critical Reading, The Writing Process, Rhetoric, Citing Sources, and Grammar with appropriate examples and illustrations. This book is convenient in that it is concise but to the point, which is very convenient... read more

This text provides an unbiased view of the material, especially when it comes to the examples of argumentation. Many textbooks rely on political illustrations to provide examples of the material, but this text doesn't, which is a relief for many instructors who want to shy away from controversial topics.

The material is up-to-date and relevant, which makes the text relatable to both the instructor and the students.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clear and to the point; it does not drag out the material in order to fill pages like many other textbooks. The authors use technical terminology and explain/define each term in a manner that is understandable to students who have not come across this material.

The way in which the textbook is framed is consistent as it follows a consistent format of the introduction of terminology with a clear explanation, followed by an of the illustration of the terminology by way of both textual and visual examples.

The organization of the content is what drew me in since the text is organized by main topics which are then divided into respective smaller topics. Each chapter can be divided into its own sub-sections that are organized in a logical manner because each topic builds upon the information from the previous sections.

The organization of the text is quite logical, except for the arrangement of the chapters on "Rhetorical Analysis" (Chapter 2) and "Argument" (Chapter 30) come before the chapter on "The Writing Process" (Chapter 4) seem a bit off considering that the first chapter focuses on "Critical Reading."

The interface between the user and the textbook is a manageable one, but there might be some issues depending on the platform the user is viewing the text. I downloaded the PDF version of the text in order to have less interference with the text, but if instructors or students are using an online version that is not provided by the Publisher, Pressbooks, the user can face some display issues.

The text contains no grammatical errors and is easy to understand and follow.

For the most part the text stays away from culturally and politically sensitive issues, but it should include examples that are more culturally diverse since most of the examples pertain to American life and culture.

This book is very easy to follow since it is concise and to the point. It makes using instructor's own materials on the subjects covered easy to integrate.

Reviewed by Mandy Geddes, Faculty, Community College of Aurora on 8/10/20

The text covers foundational topics such as writing process and rhetorical analysis really well. There are excellent explanations and visual examples to help students make sense of each of the main ideas. The information about how and why to use sources is a little sparse. I'd like to see more nuance in how to integrate quotations, when to quote, and how/when to paraphrase. The text covers a few basic rhetorical modes (Narrative, Description, Process Analysis, Illustration and Exemplification, Cause and Effect, Comparison and Contrast, Definition, and Classification). It covers Narrative and Description well. The other modes aren't covered as extensively. The handbook information (which word is right and punctuation) are covered thoroughly.

I didn't see errors anywhere. I think the writers took care to edit and to make sure that their information was accurate.

The only place I can see the text needing updating is in the MLA section, and really, who can ever keep up with MLA changes. The links out to sources and videos might be a problem in the future, but I actually think those links are a strength in this text. Rhetoric and the writing process don't change a whole lot, so the information will likely stay relevant.

I really appreciate the visuals that accompany the text. There are lots of infographics, charts, and visual aids to build meaning in non-textual ways. More difficult concepts (such as rhetorical appeals and logical fallacies) are thoroughly explained and have plenty of examples to help students make sense of and apply the ideas.

Again, I think the author's took great care in editing and maintaining accuracy and consistency. There is also consistency in formatting, which is helpful in navigation.

The chapters are LONG and cover a lot of information (for example, all of the rhetorical modes are in one chapter). However, those long chapters are broken into sections and there are links at the beginning of each chapter to "jump" students to the section they want to access. Students cannot use the table of contents to navigate to those sections, though, which makes the use of specific pieces of each module more difficult.

The text begins with foundations (Writing Process and Rhetorical Analysis/Argumentation), then moves to Rhetorical Modes and source use, and then finishes with stylistic/editing issues.

The visual elements are integrated really well. I wish the links to examples (videos and outside readings) were more prominent because those are really some of the strengths of this text. I stated before that the chapters are LONG and the only way to navigate to the separate parts of the chapter are through the links at the top of each chapter. It would be nice to be able to navigate using the table of contents. Overall, though, the user features are logical and intuitive.

I didn't see any errors. The writing is clear and reader friendly.

Cultural Relevance rating: 1

This is a weakness of the text. The images of people (though few) are primarily white. The text examples are also primarily white. There are links out to some more diverse readings (Amy Tan, Sherman Alexie, and Sandra Cisneros), but those are not prominent in the text, nor are they integrated into any textual discussion; they are 'extras'. The text is also focused heavily on white values in writing (there are three chapters on "standard" language usage and only 1 chapter on rhetorical modes, and even that chapter isn't terribly focused on student experience or voice).

I can see using some chapters of this text as part of a more complete collection of OER to teach composition, but I wouldn't use this as a primary text because it isn't Culturally Responsive.

Reviewed by Rachel Hawley, Adjunct Professor, Community College of Aurora on 7/17/20

This book is fairly comprehensive. It includes sections on reading, argument, the writing process, revision and research and citation. It has the most extensive section on logical fallacies I have ever encountered. The only thing missing is really... read more

The book is accurate and through. There were a few typos here and there, but nothing outlandish. Definitely seems to be unbiased.

The content is up-to-date other than the lack of a section devoted to visual argument, which is more and more relevant these days. Text is not likely to become obsolete, but it would be helpful to supplement it.

Text is very accessible. There are a lot of images and graphs to help explain concepts. Most students should be able to comprehend and learn from the information.

This text is very consistent. Each chapter is both iterative and moves the concepts along to deeper consideration.

There are good divisions provided, but some of the chapters are overly long and cover a bit too much. It would certainly be simple enough to assign page numbers, rather than chapters, but the chapter on argument, for example, could really have constituted 3-4 chapters of more easily digestible text that can be broken up in different ways based on the way the class is structured.

The structure is very logical and clear. It moves from reading to analyzing to arguing and finally to revising in a seamless manner.

Interface rating: 5

No noted interface issues.

Grammar is great.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

This is the one area that scores low. While there is nothing overtly offensive, its use of examples are very VERY white. There is diversity in the sense of inclusion of some very gender-conscious writing, but race/ethnicity is rarely represented.

Reviewed by Patrick Lochelt, Adjunct Professor, Middlesex Community College on 6/28/20

This book covers a great amount of information on writing in a small amount of space. It is very comprehensive in getting through a number of different styles and techniques needed for college success as a writer, and would serve as an effective... read more

The content of the book appears to be accurate in regards to current standard practices of writing at the college level. I don't personally believe that all college writing must stem from or revolve around an argument, as the book seems to suggest, but argumentative writing is certainly at the core of most writing assignments, and this book accurately details different techniques to help navigate those prompts.

This book uses both new and tried-and-true techniques that are unlikely to become outdated or irrelevant in any college classroom any time soon. The author is able to take many well-worn types of writing assignments and styles and presents them in ways that make them fresh and interesting for students.

This text is clear all throughout and uses easy to follow and concise wording and instruction for students regarding topics that many can find difficult or simply uninteresting. The language used makes the topics very accessible for students of all writing backgrounds and is effective all throughout.

This text offers a number of different styles and ideas for becoming a better writer, and it consistently builds upon the tasks it sets for students in each chapter. The framework uses consistent infographics and imagery to help make concepts more concrete and understandable.

The book is organized well, moving through conceptual topics into details within each topic and offering examples and accessible specifics. Some sections could be designed a bit better to navigate through, for instance the section on fallacies of argument, which provides great information, but it reads a bit like a wall of text without visual divisions between each of the fallacies. There are a few sections of the book that could do with even some bullet points or visual elements would help with the flow and understanding of the ideas.

The fashion in which the chapters are organized is well thought out, scaffolding ideas and concepts upon each other and building towards more complex writing styles and assignments. A student who reads through this book linearly will receive a fantastic pathway and framework for becoming a much better writer.

As noted in the "Modularity" section, some areas could use some graphic design elements to help separate ideas/topics, but overall, this text reads well and the graphics that are utilized are effective visual representations of the ideas being conveyed.

In reading through the book, I saw no errors in the text, which is especially important considering the textbook's topic and subject.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This text appears evenhanded in its treatment of topics and diversity.

Overall, this book shines as a great modern text to help college students find their way through the trials and tribulations of writing for higher education.

Reviewed by Emily Doherty, Adjunct Faculty, Northern Essex Community College on 5/28/20

Let's Get Writing! offers a comprehensive textbook for teaching introductory college writing. Instructors and students will find chapters containing the main elements in learning composition. Particularly useful is the Argument chapter which explores all aspects of writing effective and thoughtful persuasive essays. Other chapters include Critical Reading and Rhetorical Analysis which will not only be useful in a college composition course but also help students navigate the entirety of their college curriculum. There is a contents page but no index.

The content of this textbook is accurate and applicable for first year college students. Starting with critical reading skills, and moving through citation, punctuation, and grammar, this textbook covers all the basics. In addition, informative links, connecting students to resources, are provided throughout the text.

The text is relevant and up-to-date. The examples provided aim to be universal and can easily be revised as time goes on in order to stay current.

This textbook is clear, concise, and easy to read. Students will appreciate the use of bold face for key words and take aways. Shaded boxes with "Tips" will also help students navigate the text effectively.

The text uses consistent terminology and framework for the subject matter of critical thinking, writing, and researching.

The layout of the text is well-organized and easily divisible into smaller teachable sections.

There are ten chapters in the text. They are presented in a logical and purposeful order. Critical reading comes first while sentence structure, punctuation, and word choice are available at the end. This makes sense as it is important to get students interested and involved in the writing process before reviewing technical aspects of composition.

The interface is free of any noticeable issues. The text is easy to navigate and images and charts are simple and easy to discern.

There are no grammatical errors.

The text successfully represents a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Examples are sensitive and free of stereotypes.

Let's Get Writing! promotes "coherent, cohesive, credible, and correct" writing accessible to instructors and students alike. Informative and colorful charts, resourceful links, and engaging examples all add to this comprehensive textbook which makes Let's Get Writing! an excellent choice for the 21st Century student.

Reviewed by Christopher Chandler, Instructor of English and Literature, NTCC on 4/27/20

Let's Get Writing is a terrific text for teaching introductory college writing. The content is comprehensive and the writing is concise. There are no unclear terms and links are provided for further reading. There is no index, but the table of... read more

There are only a few external links to narratives in Chapter 5 that do not work, but an additional link of scanned text is provided for each. I appreciate the writers' anticipating that links may change and providing alternate links to the readings.

The text is relevant and up to date with MLA standards. The examples provided are up to date and universal.

Jargon is minimized in favor of exact but understandable and relatable language. I appreciate the effort that went into showing the readers, instead of just telling them, and doing so in exact, concise language. Word choice is effective.

Key terms are often reinforced, and the terminology is consistent.

The text is presented in well-organized sections, using easily discernible standard headers and color coded text blocks. Readers should have no problem understanding the difference of topics and subtopics. Key terms and ideas are emphasized by word order in sentences, and ideas are reinforced with consistent color coded sections. As a technical writer, I find the format pleasing.

The topics are arranged in logical order. If I were to use the text, I might change the order of topics from beginning with argument to starting with rhetorical strategies.

The interface is simple, yet effective. There are no instances of image distortions. Images generally represent the ideas well. Only a couple of images might be replaced in instances of unusual photoshopping.

There are no grammatical or mechanical errors.

Cultural varieties are well represented in example texts. No discernible stereotypes or exclusions are noticed.

Lets Get Writing is an effective textbook for teaching introductory college writing. I especially appreciate the acknowledgement by the writers on the importance of teaching students about writing across the curriculum. The effort that was placed on grammar and mechanics is commendable. Reviewing grammar and mechanics for a beginning college student is usually needed, and this textbook provides essential basics for instructor reference and student practice. I like this textbook.

Reviewed by Stephanie Walker, Instructor, Marshall University on 3/12/20

This textbook is very comprehensive and easy to navigate. It provides excellent coverage of the main elements of writing academic essays, and includes chapters on Rhetoric and well as Research. There is no evident index or glossary, which I feel... read more

Not only is the content accurate, error-free, and up-to-date, but it's obvious that the authors make a great effort to be inclusive of all people and maintain an unbiased approach to the lessons and examples.

This text makes it clear that it knows its audience. It discusses the different expectation that students are faced with in high school versus college, and also gives relevant examples using up-to-date mediums, such as Tweets. It also utilizes bullet points and hand-written examples, which will be easy to update over time when these examples are no longer relevant.

This is an easy text for the student to read. It provides context for jargon and gives numerous examples of practice. The exercises are within the chapters (not at the end), which provide additional opportunities to understand the material being presented. “Key Takeaways” at the end of each chapter help sum up the main points for the students to review.

The text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework. The terminology and framework of the text is consistent for the subject matter on writing, researching, and critical thinking.

The layout of the text is well-organized and makes it easy to break into appropriate teaching modules. These could easily be shifted if the instructor wanted to without creating disruption for the readers.

The arrangement of the text is easy to follow. I appreciate the emphasis on rhetoric and research intertwined with the writing process. The "Writing Basics" and "Punctuation" instruction is towards the end of the book, which I think is better than presenting them at the beginning.

No noticeable interface issues. Text is very easy to navigate and no images were distorted or confusing.

Excellent. No issues.

The text is culturally sensitive and is successful in being inclusive to different types of learners. For example, they recognize that students may be either "readers" or "listeners," which is very inclusive of students with learning or hearing disabilities.

What I like most about this text is how clear the writing is. I think students will find this textbook easy to follow, yet challenging enough to help them grasp the rhetorical, research, and writing concepts and processes.

Reviewed by Cheryl McKearin, Lecturer, University of Illinois at Chicago on 1/8/20

This book covers many different writing topics at great depth. For students new to college composition classes, it's a strong primer to college writing. The rhetorical modes chapter (5) is lengthy and well done. This would be an adequate textbook to use if you would like to avoid having students pay for a textbook. I will argue, however, that some chapters and even passages might feel too long for the average composition student.

I found the textbook to be accurate and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

I think that the authors made it a point to try to be relevant - there are many memes and references to social media. Many of the cultural references, however, date back 3-10 years. For some students just starting college and reading about a pop culture reference, they would have been 8 years old at the height of its popularity. I think some of those examples and references would have to be updated every few years.

I really liked how the book breaks down rhetoric - it's a great intro for students who are new to rhetoric. I would consider using that chapter to teach my students.

The book has several authors, so sometimes the depth, the tone, and the examples vary widely across chapters. I felt it took away from the book's cohesiveness, but I don't think students would realize it.

The text can definitely be divided into smaller reading sections. I did, however, find that the text tended to refer to itself many times throughout the book - I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.

I really liked how the book was organized. Well done.

Interface rating: 1

I downloaded the PDF so that I could view the book offline - this creates significant distortion of images, charts, basically all visual aids. All images force a new page to start, so there are many pages that are ¼ to ¾ blank. There are many broken links; some links refer to newspaper articles that need a paid subscription. These definitely should be addressed. Students will most likely want to use the online version.

I found the text to be generally error-free grammatically.

The text is not culturally insensitive, but I didn't think it made a significant effort to be inclusive.

I think the textbook itself is valuable - I was not a fan of all the links to other open sources that have been already removed. I think that detracts from the actual text - perhaps that would be more valuable in a teacher's resource or separate appendix for the instructor. I would recommend using parts of it (chapters and activities) to supplement other readings in your class.

Reviewed by Amanda O'Sullivan, Adjunct Faculty, Community College of Denver on 12/9/19

The content of the text is very applicable to first-semester college students, especially students in need of more guidance. Chapter 1: Critical Reading sets the stage for the text, as it shows students how to approach a text before they start writing about it, which is a skill many first-semester students are lacking. In addition to providing practical strategies, the chapter also shows students what to expect in composition course, highlighting the differences between college-level writing and high school writing. The transparency on college instructors’ expectations can help students more easily transition into the course, and can ultimately help with student success. The section on Critical Reading also does a great job outlining the different types of writing that students may encounter in other college courses, and shows how composition courses help students transfer gained knowledge beyond the realm of academia. After the first chapter, the text becomes more focused on writing in particular genres. The text is centered around the idea that all writing is an argument, and therefore, it focuses heavily on defining rhetoric, examining the rhetorical situation, and creating academic arguments. As with the Critical Reading chapter, Chapter 2: Rhetorical Analysis and Chapter 3: Argument do a great job explaining the WHY to students. These sections show students the value and impact writing of writing and the consequences of not using rhetoric effectively.The chapters on rhetoric and argument provide excellent explanations, pertinent key terms, practical examples, and engaging activities.

Content is accurate and unbiased.

The examples and activities are current and mostly relevant to younger students; for example, one activity asks students to examine and critique tweets posted on social media. Providing activities that are familiar and relevant to students make the material more approachable and comprehensible. In addition to providing examples from outlets the students are likely to engage with, the text also acknowledges that students will primarily researching online, and thus, Chapters 6: Finding and Using Outside Sources and Chapter 7: How and Why to Cite provide useful information on understanding plagiarism, evaluating credibility, and working with sources. While the text as a whole is relevant to a generation that heavily relies on the internet, it could provide more examples and references that are more culturally diverse.

The text is well written and easy to understand.

While the first three chapters are consistent and valuable, Chapter 4: The Writing Process and Chapter 5: Rhetorical Modes are very basic and underwhelming; however, these sections may be a useful base for instructors who want to develop more unique assignments.

Rather than collaborating on each chapter, the authors were responsible for writing different chapters. Because of this there is a slight difference in style and tone, and some chapters are stronger than others.

The first three chapters are organized appropriately. However, I do question the placement of Chapter 4: The Writing Process. It seems like Chapter 4 should be swapped with Chapter 5.

The text is mostly intuitive and easy to follow.

The text is well written.

The text is not culturally insensitive; however, more examples could be used that are inclusive to different races, ethnicity, and backgrounds.

Overall, I found the text to be relevant, useful, clearly written, and void of error.

Reviewed by Travis McDonald, Adjunct Instructor , Colorado State Board of Higher Education on 11/29/19

I thought the textbook was very comprehensive in terms of dealing with all of the pertinent aspects of composition including critical reading, rhetorical analysis, citation, punctuation and much more. It covers all of the basics of the main... read more

Accuracy was good, for the most part. I particularly appreciated the accuracy of the Punctuation section, which was helpful.

It was obvious that the writers wanted this text to feel contemporary. They included examples from social media as well as classic literature which I found to be a very smart move.

Clarity rating: 3

At times, some of the concepts could have been maybe a little easier to comprehend, but mostly I thought it was well-done and accesible.

I found the consistency to be consistent and terms were explained and used throughout the text.

Some sections were a little long, but mostly I thought it could be broken up into easily digestible sections.

I thought the book was clear in its major sections and the information included in the major sections were broken up into sub-sections which was helpful.

I did not notice any interface issues.

I did not notice many, if any, grammatical mistakes.

I did not think there was anything offensive about the content, though maybe they could have done a slightly better job of speaking to more races and backgrounds.

Overall, a successful textbook that I would be happy to implement into the first-year composition classroom. Many of the subjects discussed are ones that I have on a regular basis with my students, and I think the authors did a good job of explaining these concepts in a clear and mostly engaging way.

Reviewed by Neecee Matthews-Bradshaw, CCD Writing Zone Coordinator, Colorado State Board of Higher Education on 11/29/19

Let’s Get Writing offers a great overview of material for the first-year writing student. Many introductory texts for academic writing struggle to cover the breadth and depth of possible scenarios instructors want to present to their classes. This text, however, successfully addresses a wide range of writing contexts for students, grounded in a sense of purposefulness that touches on both academic and workplace scenarios. While the text is searchable, and the table of contents links to each chapter, readers may find it difficult to navigate beyond the layout of the text. There are no subcategories in the TOC, and the index is present but not populated. The lack of indexed categories (or glossary) might also present new users with some difficulty in searching terms beyond using find functions (like CTRL-F). At the same time, there are numerous links within each of the chapters, connecting students to resources like heuristics for critical reading, online samples of genres, and more.

Finally, the PDF version of the text demonstrates some inconsistent spacing between text and figures; in some instances, there are large gaps between the reference to an image and the image itself.

Let’s Get Writing offers accurate content, providing students with a variety of examples of rhetorical elements from modes, to appeals, to an up-to-date listing of logical fallacies. Whether instructors choose to emphasize modes of writing or contexts for rhetoric in the workplace, the authors have done a fine job of providing options for students and teachers alike to delve into what writing looks like in a number of different scenarios. Readers can find one great example in the attention the authors pay to a fourth rhetorical element, one sometimes left out of the composition equation, kairos; however, it would be nice to see a brief discussion on the choice to capitalize kairos while leave the other rhetorical appeals lower-cased.

Let’s Get Writing offers relevant, contemporary content, providing students with a variety of examples of rhetorical elements from modes, to appeals, to an up-to-date listing of logical fallacies. Whether instructors choose to emphasize modes of writing, contexts for rhetoric in the workplace, or a glance at the influence of rhetoric in social media, the authors have done a fine job of providing options for student to explore writing across a number of boundaries.

The text uses a voice to which students will easily relate. It will not leave students frustrated with both their writing assignments and the tools they might use to complete those assignments. For example, when sections of the text cross-reference with other sections that are yet to come or have been reviewed already, the authors provide links to those parts of the text, allowing students to navigate to those related subjects. Another great addition here is that the authors provide one of the clearest discussions of both the Rogerian and Toulmin arguments readers will find in composition textbooks.

The text uses a balance in tone and exploration that is consistent throughout. The attention the authors give to each category of the text will help students successfully navigate the terrain of academic writing. Further, the layout for each chapter presents the elements of the text in a way that readers will come to recognize quickly. The text introduces major categories up front, with each section separated into a set of explanations, scenarios, applications, and key terms to follow.

Each chapter of the text lends itself to a clearly outlined unit of learning in the average composition class. The text seems to integrate into many instructors’ approaches to teaching first-year composition. Within each chapter, the authors address a clearly defined element of writing and then offer ways to practice what the chapter introduces. Furthermore, the clear setup for each chapter makes it easy to move around the text in a more personalized way. Diagrams, writing tips, concise writing, and clearly sub-headed sections provide readers with realistic, user-friendly ways to digest the subjects the text addresses.

The text will easily follow the basic order of the first-year writing course. There is a logical progression of topics, from the basics of critical reading and rhetorical elements, to the process of writing, researching, and polishing one’s writing. Instructors and students both should be able to integrate the text into the work they find themselves doing in the first-year composition classroom.

The online interface and downloadable PDF versions of this text are clear and easy to navigate when moving from chapter to chapter. Navigating within the chapters is a little more complicated in that one cannot navigate to subsections of the text easily without using the bookmarking features of one’s reading platform (a browser or PDF reader, for example).

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Let’s Get Writing presents its content in clear, concise language that students will find easy to read. It provides well-crafted explanations of material that most students will already find new and unfamiliar. Minor issues in capitalization of the “Tip” sections are present only in the PDF version of the text.

This text is culturally relevant in that provides no offensive scenarios that can isolate students from a variety of backgrounds. The authors present a text that diverse students will find both useful and approachable.

Reviewed by Candice Marshall, English Language Learning Instructor, Earlham College on 11/25/19

The book attempts to cover a lot of subjects related to writing, and does so in a sense. However, since degree of comprehensiveness is subjective, it is up to the reader to decide. For my purposes, this book was comprehensive in areas I did not need it to be, and cursory in areas where I thought more detail was needed. More about the actual writing process would have been helpful.

While all of the content is relevant to writing, from the title one would expect a more interactive type of text geared towards actually getting students immersed in the act of writing. It doesn't live up to this expectation. While there are exercises, they occupy a small portion of the text. Some of the content is similar to what I would use, but other parts (the ones I consider most vital) differ significantly from the expectations I have for my students' writing, such that I would not use them (i.e. thesis statements).

The content is somewhat up to date, for a rhetoric text. They haven't quite gone over to the genre-analysis camp yet, for which I am grateful, but their description of rhetorical modes and how to actually write an essay leave something to be desired. They only briefly touch on specific citation styles, but these are the areas where change is most often going to occur and require revision. In this sense, they won't be outdated too quickly since they don't go into specific detail.

This book is somewhat verbose and jargon heavy. While they do provide sections with key vocabulary for each chapter, some chapters are extremely, and somewhat unnecessarily, dense.

For the most part, the book seems consistent in their phrasing and language used to describe concepts. There are links connecting ideas between chapters.

There are headings and subheadings for sections which can be assigned separately, but I feel as though some of the chapters should have been divided into multiple chapters. They tried to do too much at once, especially in chapter 3.

I understand the choice to start the text with the reading chapter, but waiting until chapter 4 to actually discuss the writing process was a poor choice.

PDF version: I was not fond of the size of some of the images that cause huge gaps in spacing between paragraphs. The shifting sizes of highlighted boxes that didn't align with each other was also rather messy looking and hard to navigate in the PDF form. ONLINE version: This format was cleaner and had less spacing issues. The disconnect between the font types and sizes used in the charts, figures, and images was rather inconsistent and looked a bit sloppy at times.

There didn't appear to be any glaring issues with grammar that I detected, although on closer examination these might become apparent. There were some inconsistencies with bolding text in words though (in some cases only part of the word was bolded).

Some of the memes used for logical fallacies, while they are there for a reason, may be considered culturally insensitive for some populations. The text only really acknowledges an American lens of writing, culture, and values.

This text might be suitable for a homogenous, American English composition type of class, but some of the American cultural references would not make sense to writers with other cultural backgrounds. Also, more emphasis on the actual writing process would be helpful.

Reviewed by Patrick Gilligan, Associate Professor, Aims Community College on 7/31/19

While this textbook addresses all the main areas and ideas surrounding an entry-level composition course, I find the different sections to be uneven. For example, Chapter One: Critical Reading, contains a lengthy section on annotation, yet only brief nods to “Why do You Read Critically”? Also, perhaps in a book entitled Let’s get Writing, we should do just that. The Writing Process doesn’t begin until chapter four? There are a number of useful links and practice possibilities, but none were necessarily very novel.

Content is relatively accurate and error free. The problem here is not the accuracy of the information, but rather the delivery. There’s an attempt to cover absolutely everything and, as a result, most of the content is cursory and limited. Difficult concepts are often ignored or explained in a glancing way, such as rules regarding comma usage, whereas alternatively there is an entire section on subject and verb identification.

Content is, again, relatively up to date. Sections like those on Greek rhetorical terms get bogged down with somewhat arcane definitions. ‘Kairotic appeals’ might be a bit much at this stage if we are still concerned with understanding simpler concepts. I am not entirely sure how efficiently this text could seamlessly incorporate relevant updates. The text appears to have one foot in the past, and one in the present, but not an eye toward the future.

Sometimes, it seems as though the authors are writing for students and sometimes for other educators. Some simple terms and concepts are explained (e.g. text, what is a statement?) while other more complex ideas are left mysteriously wanting. A focused approach regarding audience and main objectives might be more effective.

The text is internally consistent, however, the manner in which subjects are discussed is not always very visually appealing or easily accessible. Long lists of bullet points or otherwise choppy sections are somewhat distracting from the main ideas.

Modularity rating: 2

The text contains numerous smaller divisions within each major sub heading but are often counterintuitive or confusing. Finding and Using Outside Sources has a whole section dedicated to topic selection.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

The authors clearly made intentional choices regarding organizational structure, including the introduction of some rudimentary grammar and writing skills. I do not believe, however, that it very effective in its layout and flow for all the previously mentioned reasons. All the parts are there, but it is somewhat like Frankenstein's monster.

All charts appear accurate if somewhat rudimentary and not altogether entirely accessible. They often seem to be rather large and not particularly informative. I experienced no interface issues.

To my eyes, the text is fairly wholly free of grammatical errors. This is largely due to relatively simple sentence construction, which may be more universally understandable, but occasionally falls prey to over simplification.

The text is not overtly insensitive or offensive, nor is it particularly inclusive. There’s been an effort made to have generic examples, but that is about it.

Overall, a lack of focus, general organization and presentation issues, and uneven delivery, plague this very well intentioned, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt of a basic composition textbook. There are numerous other texts, including OTL and OER resources, which tackle this task far more effectively.

Reviewed by Roberto Forns-Broggi, Professor of Spanish, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 7/17/19

This book attempts to cover basically key rhetorical aspects of writing and basic tools as a start point. Each chapter covers a key component in a way that includes basic notions, tips, key takeaways, exercises, assignments, and useful external links to videos and/or readings that expand and motivates writing. Because of this rhetorical focus, instead of using exclusively literature or films references—something that it is common and useful for composition classes—it encourages to build on solid argument, logical assemblage, linguistic clarity with a variety of external links and types of texts. This articulated goal of academic writing is ideal for developing writing skills that are necessary to think. Previous to the study of a particular discipline such as literary studies, the basic themes of the book stimulate the reading habit embodied in a deep desire to go beyond the surface. It is an effective way to build an indivisible and dynamic practice of reading/writing.

Even though the definitions and examples are short, in general the whole book presents a solid coherence around the idea of writing as a way of thinking through contexts and purpose. I appreciate the directness of the whole craft approach. You might miss an artistic perspective in the scope of the chapters in the sense of working with non-instrumentalised lines of thinking that disrupt prevailing norms (if you look for an inclusive creative writing activities). The stress of the collection of chapters goes to a learning process of reading and writing to persuade, to think in order to explain, to learn how to do research to expand and consolidate in the academic life of the college student.

Every chapter is open to incorporate new subjects to illustrate or deepen the involved writing aspects. Most exercises and assignments focus on the writing process, and they are practical and basic. Don’t expect notorious inspirational elements that lie outside the realm of technique and strategy, which is something that I miss throughout this book because I’ve been teaching a Spanish creative writing class for some years now. Since reading is an important component of a writing course, reading for wonder would complement the important driving force of critical thinking skills. Nevertheless I appreciate the way each chapter is organized, because its practicality invites me to consider its use in my Spanish creative writing class. Its concise structure may last many years to come.

All the chapters are concise and in a very ordered disposition. Instead of long paragraphs, the general tone is articulated in short sentences. I like that aspect because it gives the instructor more freedom to accommodate and adapt the exercises and assignments to student’s actual level.

I like the heading, organization, and presentation of each chapter. Always to the point. Because the chapters are written by different authors, you might expect some discrepancies or bigger differences. But each chapter has its own merit and gifts, plus it is always explicitly connected to other chapters of the book with concrete links and suggestions. At the beginning the authors clarify the premise of the whole book: the guiding features are foundations of a discipline, at the same time the driving force of learning to study through writing and reading in any college career. So you can check the core premises of “Let’s Get Writing” in few words: “Every good piece of writing is an argument; every worth reading and writing begins with a specific question; improving skills takes practice, feedback, and re-thinking, redoing, revising.”

I like the way the explanations, exercises and assignments are out lined through interesting key areas of studying: rhetorical approach (Chap. 1 Critical Reading; , Chap. 2 Rhetorical Analysis; Chap. 3 Argument; Chap. 4 The Writing Process; Chap. 5 Rhetorical Modes), research skills (Chap. 6 Finding and Using Outside Sources; chap. 7 How and Why to Cite), and pragmatic language basics (Chap. 8 Writing Basics: What makes a good sentence?; Chap. 9 Punctuation; Chap. 10 working with words: which word is right? Word choice and Vocabulary-building strategies). The proposed work for students is not overwhelmingly extensive or difficult, to the contrary, I would say that the instructor may take as an advantage to substitute or add additional homework.

The way each chapter is design seems very simple, but that could be apparent, because you should keep in mind that the whole book keeps its coherence very well. There are very basic skills in play that are also weave to a complex design that is not so evident. In that sense, the structure of each chapter allows the reader to get advantage of a non-linear approach that encourages an associative way of thinking, which makes reading and writing more dynamic and alive.

Each part is designed to directly practice the main notions of the subject. It carefully uses exercises and links that allow the student to absorb and develop a potential fruitful dialogue between the student and the matter to study. It allows a smooth navigation through its entire length.

I did not locate a single grammatical error. This text looks very professional.

You might find this book in the formalist tradition that establish craft principles based on a disciplinary anxiety use, as you can see clearly and provocatively explained by Janelle Adsit in her book Toward an Inclusive Creative Writing : Threshold Concepts to Guide the Literary Writing Curriculum (Bloomsbury, 2017). But as a teacher of writing, we need to balance this formalist approach with contextualized and inspirational subjects—I would say, it depends on how you expand the key matter of purpose. If you belief that writing is more than a necessary communication skill, more than skillful management of grammar, spelling, and punctuation, probably you need more advanced materials to use in your class. But a shocking reality will be out of your hands and in front of your eyes: the unreadable page, the skipped participation, the unwanted task of writing for your class. For me this book incites me to think in more innovative ways to address the blind spots that we all have in our respective bubbles without silencing student voices. To the contrary, this book makes me to encourage our students to keep going in their academic route with the wonderful and powerful tool of reading and writing.

I like to use this book in my Spanish creative class, but adapting it in a context of profound diverse cultural context. “Let’s Get Writing” gave me more useful ideas to apply in the design of the writing component in my other Spanish classes as well. It can be also useful to complement what you want to develop in your class, because it is very basic. We are missing in our classes the basic tools for creating a space of learning, of personal growth, and of healing. So this open textbook might be in your sight. But I am not sure if I will use it in its entire length because I am interested to develop a sense of discovering the other (to bring up a wide variety of texts that are not included in the book) and to challenge my students in front of diverse contingencies that register cross-cultural awareness and creative zeal. Even though you might find bigger limitations, I like this simplicity and focus of each chapter. You might use it for one of your sub-graduate classes as well.

Chapter 1 - Critical Reading
Chapter 2 - Rhetorical Analysis
Chapter 3 - Argument
Chapter 4 - The Writing Process
Chapter 5 - Rhetorical Modes
Chapter 6 - Finding and Using Outside Sources
Chapter 7 - How and Why to Cite
Chapter 8 - Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?
Chapter 9 - Punctuation
Chapter 10 - Working With Words: Which Word is Right?

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This introduction is designed to exemplify how writers think about and produce text. The guiding features are the following:

Every good piece of writing is an argument.
Everything worth writing and reading begins with a specific question.
Improving skills takes practice, feedback, and re-thinking, redoing, revising.

The layout of our book implies there is a beginning, middle, and end to a writing course, but because writing is both an art and a skill, people will find their own processes for learning, improving, and using these skills. Writing processes differ because we are each looking for a workable schemata that fits our way of thinking. Try out a variety of writing processes and strategies, and find what works for you. If you are not uncomfortable on this journey, you simply are not stretching yet. Learning is prickly, awkward, and risky, so if it does not feel a bit unnerving, push harder and farther.

About the Contributors

Contribute to this page.

Book Title: A Dam Good Argument

Subtitle: Persuasive Writing at Oregon State University

Author: Collected works

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Book Description: Arguments are all around us. Everywhere we look, someone is trying to get our attention, change our minds, or sell us something. Learning about how persuasion works will make you a more thoughtful and skeptical consumer of all that content, so that you can come to your own conclusions and recognize the underlying assumptions that inform those attempts to persuade you. This book is about analyzing others' arguments and crafting your own. The rhetorical choices that you make as a writer–from evidence to structure to tone–impact how your audience will receive your ideas. Using those tools effectively will help your voice be heard. Data dashboard Adoption Form Data dashboard (through 7/31/23)

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Jonathan Haidt, wearing a dark coat over a light shirt and dark pants, stands in a playground, with a bicycle and toys strewn on the ground.

First He Came for Cancel Culture. Now He Wants to Cancel Smartphones

The N.Y.U. professor Jonathan Haidt became a favorite in Silicon Valley for his work on what he called the “coddling” of young people. Now, he has an idea for fixing Gen Z.

Jonathan Haidt’s work can be summed up as a guide to changing yourself. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Supported by

By Emma Goldberg

March 23, 2024

When James Comey became head of the F.B.I. in 2013, he sent reading recommendations to his staff, including “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “ Lean In ” by Sheryl Sandberg and “The Righteous Mind” by a professor at New York University’s business school, Jonathan Haidt.

Stumbling on that last book, a 2012 best seller, felt, Mr. Comey recalled, as if he were consulting a how-to guide on leading a stuck-in-its-ways Washington bureau. The book’s core lesson is simple: Humans make moral decisions based on emotional intuition, not just reason. When you’re trying to change minds, you have to change hearts as well.

Read through all of Mr. Haidt’s canon and it can be summed up as a guide to changing yourself (“The Happiness Hypothesis,” 2006); changing other people’s minds (“The Righteous Mind,” 2012); changing your own mind (“The Coddling of the American Mind,” 2018); and changing your tech-addicted children (“ The Anxious Generation ,” on shelves March 26).

Is all that actually possible? He would like to think so. And his work has drawn acolytes who would like to think so, too — including some of the very people in big tech whose work Mr. Haidt seems to hold responsible for the rising generation’s social ills.

Mr. Haidt’s writings promise these power players something elusive: a scholarly, social scientific explanation of the crises they’re facing, combined with a Silicon Valley founder’s level of confidence about how to fix them. (Mr. Haidt often sounds like what might happen if the doomsayer Cassandra swallowed Dale Carnegie: alarmed by the catastrophes humans have cooked up, but stubbornly chipper about our capacity to undo them.)

Toby Shannan, the former chief operating officer of the e-commerce business Shopify, has called on Mr. Haidt for advice on facing ideological battles in the workplace. He said Mr. Haidt got him through a bumpy period in the lead-up to Donald J. Trump’s election in 2016, when some of his employees were fuming about Shopify hosting online swag shops for right-wing groups like Breitbart News. With Mr. Haidt’s counsel, Shopify determined that users could sell merchandise with political commentary, but none with explicit calls to harm.

“He was sort of the philosopher on dial,” Mr. Shannan said.

It was his work on “The Coddling of the American Mind,” diagnosing what became known as cancel culture, that shot Mr. Haidt to the center of a debate that for years preoccupied opinion writers, blue check accounts on Twitter and everybody’s dad. He rode a wave of concern about the rising generation, and became a voice for people who didn’t want to align with right-wing anti-cancel culture warriors, but also felt alienated by the other side. For his readers, Mr. Haidt gave credence to the left’s irritation with the left — and, inevitably, the right’s irritation with the left, too.

Mr. Haidt has been interviewed by the podcast heavyweights — Ezra Klein, Kara Swisher, Sam Harris, Dax Shepard, Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Tim Ferris. On Bari Weiss’s podcast, he related the current world’s chaos and confusion to what humanity experienced after the Tower of Babel’s destruction: “We may never again be able to understand each other.”

Priscilla Chan, the co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, enjoyed “The Coddling of the American Mind,” so she reached out to Mr. Haidt, he recalled, and they had dinner with her husband, Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Haidt also spent a day giving talks at Meta about social media’s effects on mental health and democracy. Patrick Collison, chief executive of the payments processing start-up Stripe, is also a friend, Mr. Haidt said, and has praised “Coddling.” Bill Gates vouched for “Coddling.” Barack Obama, too, appears to be a reader of Mr. Haidt. He gave a speech in 2015 that mentioned the coddling of college students, and seemed to echo the themes of an Atlantic cover story that Mr. Haidt had written, with a co-author, as a precursor to the book.

For “The Anxious Generation,” the book that will be out this coming week, Mr. Haidt says he believes that he has taken a reprieve from the culture wars. Mr. Haidt has seized on a purpose — save the children — and an intervention — lock up their smartphones — that seem not just righteous, but popular.

“It’s a huge relief,” Mr. Haidt said in an interview. “Everywhere I go, I’m pushing on open doors.”

Riding ‘Coddling’ to Fame

Mr. Haidt, sitting on a concrete border around a bare tree.

Seated on a bench in the Lower Manhattan park that his children used to call the “Giant Playground,” for its sprawling array of climbers and slides, Mr. Haidt, 60, reflected on how, as a social psychologist by training, he fell into the culture wars.

“I don’t understand things unless I seek out the other side,” Mr. Haidt said, adding, as he likes to do, a quote from the 19th century’s anti-cancel culture warrior, John Stuart Mill. “‘He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.’”

Mr. Haidt began his career teaching psychology at the University of Virginia. He studied where morals come from, proposing that morality is like taste, and the human mind has different “taste buds” — care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity and liberty — that help us make decisions.

With the Iraq war raging in 2004, Mr. Haidt, a registered Democrat, took his dog on evening walks around Charlottesville and thought about why his party was waging such a tepid campaign against George W. Bush. He applied his research on morality to America’s political parties, and came to the conclusion that the Democrats seemed to campaign on just three facets of morality: care, fairness and liberty. Republicans, meanwhile, tapped into all of the taste buds he’d identified. In 2012, he published “The Righteous Mind,” which explored the differing moral roots of liberalism and conservatism.

“My original motive was to help the Democrats stop offending American morality so much,” Mr. Haidt said.

But the more widely he read, in an effort to understand Republican messaging on morality, the more he struggled with the limits of his own views, and the narrowness of the two-party system.

“Left and right are like a gas pedal and brake,” Mr. Haidt continued. “If you have a car with just a gas pedal, just progressive, it’s going to crash in a very predictable way. And if you have a car with just a brake, well, you don’t go anywhere.”

In the years after the publication of “The Righteous Mind,” Mr. Haidt became more attuned to what he viewed as a hardening progressive orthodoxy on campuses. It started, in his mind, in 2013 when dozens of students at Brown University protested a speech by Raymond Kelly, the New York police commissioner who had carried out a much-criticized program known as “stop-and-frisk.” The lecture was canceled less than 30 minutes after it started.

Mr. Haidt, along with his co-author, Greg Lukianoff, the head of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, began to translate into magazine-cover theories the concerns about Gen Z swirling among the people who dealt with them: Young people were being insulated from tough questions, they wrote, a reality that would eventually undermine both academic and corporate institutions.

The pair detailed these arguments in “Coddling,” which resonated in particular because it came from Mr. Haidt. “One of the best ways that you can make a big splash in the ideas industry is if you can say, ‘Look I’m from this milieu but I can be a truth teller,” said Daniel Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and author of “The Ideas Industry.” “He can always say, ‘Look I’m a professor, I know of what I speak.’”

As he became the non-Fox News voice of the free speech brigade, Mr. Haidt along with his co-author also attracted critics.

One core critique was that given their identities, these two men didn’t understand the stakes of campus battles over identity politics. “Why are you making such a big deal about identity, Lukianoff and Haidt ask again and again, of people whose identities, fixed to their bodies by centuries of law and bureaucracy and custom, make them vastly more likely to be poor or raped,” the writer Moira Weigel said in a critical Guardian review . Their solutions, she went on, didn’t seem to her to be effective. “Imagine thinking that racism and sexism were just bad ideas that a good debate could conquer!”

Mr. Haidt embraced his new role as a critic of the progressive left. He is part of a social scene of New York’s professed heterodox thinkers — controversial academics, libertarian writers, culture warriors and others who share Mr. Haidt’s anti-cancel culture preoccupations.

Much of it is centered around events planned by Gerry Ohrstrom, an investor on the board of the Reason Foundation, which publishes the libertarian magazine Reason. There are tennis groups on Sundays, which Mr. Haidt attends, as well as parties at Mr. Ohrstrom’s wood-paneled home by Gramercy Park.

“Intellectual life used to be fun,” Mr. Haidt said. “There’s an emergent community, from center left to center right, of people who feel politically homeless and are recognizing that the big division is no longer between left and right, but between people who are on the extremes, who are humorless and aggressive and deluded by their passion and tribalism, versus the middle 70 percent of the country.”

From a Skeptic to an Acolyte

Zofia Fernandini, 21, is a junior at New York University who was voted “most political” at her high school in New Jersey, where she joined the Women’s March and the March for Our Lives against gun violence. When she got to N.Y.U., she heard a rumor that a popular psychology course called “Flourishing” was taught by “the most controversial teacher at N.Y.U.,” Jonathan Haidt. She was intrigued. (Mr. Haidt had in 2011 joined N.Y.U.’s business school, in the “Business and Society” program, where his research bolstered the “and Society” part.)

But during Ms. Fernandini’s time in the class, she found it veered just as much toward self-help as controversy. Mr. Haidt asked the students to turn off notifications for all but five of their phone apps. Over the course of the semester, they resolved to better themselves: Make a new morning routine (no more lounge-and-scroll), ask a crush out (one student got a girlfriend).

Ms. Fernandini found it life-changing. She deleted social media apps from her phone. She sought the class’s advice on her relationship with her long-distance boyfriend and confessed that she worried about their political differences — she’s a liberal and he’s a Republican at the University of Alabama. Mr. Haidt persuaded her that those differences were a virtue, some healthy spice.

“He was very real and not so babying as I feel like a lot of other teachers are,” Ms. Fernandini said. “It was a lot of criticism of Gen Z. It was blatant criticism. But he’s right.”

While Mr. Haidt was conducting his research for “Coddling,” he kept bumping up against a common critique: There’s nothing new about a 50-something decrying “kids these days.” Tom Wolfe described the baby boomers as pathologically self-obsessed in his 1976 indictment of the “Me Decade.” Four decades later, a Time magazine cover about millennials christened them “The Me Me Me Generation.”

Mr. Haidt came to believe, though, that the generation born after 1995, Gen Z, was confronting a novel kind of crisis.

He examined data on Gen Z mental health. He found that young people were experiencing a tidal wave of anxiety, self-harm and suicide. Major depressive episodes have roughly doubled for teenagers since 2010, according to Mr. Haidt’s research.

Parents and teachers sometimes explain this by noting that Gen Z is facing disasters that would make anyone depressed: climate change, school shootings, threats to democracy. But Mr. Haidt argues that young people historically drew a deep sense of purpose when facing thorny challenges, whether World War II or the movement against the war in Vietnam.

The depression Gen Z is experiencing is different, Mr. Haidt concluded. It is connected to smartphone overuse. Mr. Haidt calls it “the great rewiring” of childhood.

Mr. Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation,” comes partly out of years spent on his nonprofit organization Let Grow, which pushes for more childhood independence and play, including by creating school curricula that encourage children to try out new activities on their own. Mr. Haidt co-founded it in 2017 with Lenore Skenazy, 64, a writer who was attacked on cable news in 2008 for her decision to let her 9-year-old find his way home alone from Bloomingdale’s in New York.

Some social scientists are skeptical of the definitive conclusions he draws, noting that much of the research on the impact of social media on society has so far been based on correlation, not causation. “We just have to be careful about blaming social media for the trends that its rise has coincided with,” said Brendan Nyhan, 45, a Dartmouth political scientist whose work has focused on social media and polarization.

With a 14- and a 17-year-old, Mr. Haidt’s household has been something of a laboratory for his smartphone theories. Neither of his children were allowed on social media until well into high school; when Mr. Haidt’s daughter asked to download Snapchat, her father’s N.Y.U. students warned that it was a hotbed for nudes.

Mr. Haidt lays out an ambitious set of interventions in his new book, which include: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16 and no phones in schools. He hopes that legislators, educators, big tech companies and parents can bring these to fruition by — “I should pick a date,” he mused recently over lunch near N.Y.U. “Let’s say by the end of 2025.”

The obvious parallel for this sort of tectonic shift is the campaign against tobacco, which began in the United States in the 1960s, with the first appearances of cautionary labels on cigarette packs warning of health hazards, and by 2015 had cut smoking rates by more than half.

Mr. Haidt has a comparison that’s more ambitious: the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“When you have a system which everyone hates, and then you have a way to escape it, it can change within a year, and that’s what happened in 1989,” Mr. Haidt said. “It’s different from the fall of communism but I expect it to be about as fast as the fall of communism. Because it’s a regime that we all hate.”

Mr. Haidt has a metaphor — one that Mr. Comey loved to cite at the F.B.I. — for the way people make moral choices. Our emotions are like a galumphing elephant, and our conscious reasoning is the rider on top. We may think it’s the rider steering the elephant, but more often it’s the other way around. Our emotions land somewhere, and then we try to rationalize why.

“Almost every social thing I’ve ever tried to do, we had to speak to the elephant, change people’s minds, change their hearts,” Mr. Haidt said. “This is the first time I haven’t had to do that. Almost everybody’s elephant is already leaning my way.”

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18 Russian Textbooks for Self-studying Learners

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A Literary Tour of Moscow

It’s hard to count the exact number of great Russian writers who showed their love for Moscow. The city has attracted and prompted stories for a long time now, inspiring many to express their writing talent. Thus, Moscow’s literary sights are fully deserving of our attention, and this guide gladly presents you six of them, from museums to apartments.

1. nikolay gogol museum.

Library, Museum

2. The State Museum of Mayakovsky

3. Turgenev's Family House

The portrait of Ivan Turgenev by Vasiliy Perov (1872)

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5. The Apartment of Dostoevsky

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6. The Mikhail Bulgakov Museum

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Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, Books a la Carte Edition (10th Edition)

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Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, Books a la Carte Edition (10th Edition) 10th Edition

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Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings [RENTAL EDITION]

0133954706 / 9780133954708 MyWritingLab with Pearson eText - Glue in Access Card
0321964330 / 9780321964335 Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, Books a la Carte Edition
ISBN-10 0321964330
ISBN-13 978-0321964335
Edition 10th
Publisher Pearson
Publication date January 8, 2015
Language English
Dimensions 7.2 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
Print length 608 pages
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Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, Brief Edition, MLA Update Edition (10th Edition)

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pearson; 10th edition (January 8, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Loose Leaf ‏ : ‎ 608 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0321964330
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0321964335
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.8 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.2 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
#1,624 in Creative Writing & Composition
#12,060 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)
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COMMENTS

Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings (10th Edition)
He is the author of Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, 2 nd edition (Jossey-Bass, 2011). He is also the co-author of three widely-used composition textbooks- Writing Arguments, The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing, and Reading Rhetorically. He has published numerous ...
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, 11th edition
Writing Argumentstakes a problem-solving approach to the art of argument. Authors Ramage, Bean and Johnson present you with argument as a process of inquiry and a means of persuasion, not as a pro/con debate with winners and losers. This approach, which has cemented the text's reputation as a leader in argumentation through 10 editions ...
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings
12-month access Revel for Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings + Writer's Handbook, The ISBN-13: 9780135242711 | Published 2018 $54.99 Revel for Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings + Writer's Handbook, The ISBN-13: 9780135242711 | Published 2018
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric With Readings
There are far better books out there for comp classes such as Trimble's "writing with style" which deals with writing arguments in a much more succinct and efficient manner. The only good thing about this book is it broaches a wide variety of arguments and helps show students just how many different kinds of arguments they can make, but the ...
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings
But now, you'll also find a book that promises to increase understanding of the value of argument and help them negotiate the rhetorical divisiveness in today's world. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings , 11th Edition, is also available via Revel™ , an interactive learning environment that enables students to read, practice, and ...
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings 11th Edition
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings 11th Edition is written by John D. Ramage; John C. Bean; June Johnson and published by Pearson. The Digital and eTextbook ISBNs for Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings are 9780134770567, 0134770560 and the print ISBNs are 9780134759746, 0134759745. Save up to 80% versus print by going digital with VitalSource.
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings
Argument through problem solving Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings has sustained its reputation as a leader in argumentation through 10 editions, and that's no coincidence. Authors Ramage, Bean, and Johnson present argument as a process of inquiry and a means of persuasion " not as a pro/con debate with winners and losers.
How Arguments Work
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 ...
How Arguments Work
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 ...
Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research
In Section 3, Rhetorical Modes of Writing discusses narration, description, and exposition which I found out of place in a book on writing arguments. However, these are types of essays often assigned in freshman composition classes. Modularity rating: 5 The text is divided into clear sections on each topic aspect which could easily be assigned.
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric With Readings, 11th Ed. [PDF ...
E-Book Overview. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings has sustained its reputation as a leader in argumentation through 10 editions, and that's no coincidence. Authors Ramage, Bean, and Johnson present argument as a process of inquiry and a means of persuasion — not as a pro/con debate with winners and losers.
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, MLA Update Edition
In addition to the Writing Arguments Dr. Ramage was the co-author of the textbooks Form and Surprise in Composition, and Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing. He was also the lead author for Argument in Composition, and the sole author of Rhetoric: A User's Guide, and Twentieth Century American Success Rhetoric: How to Construct a Suitable Self. ...
Writing Arguments 7th edition
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Argumentation
In the context of writing essays, an argument is the combination of a point you are trying to make and the support you offer in order to make that point. This is sometimes called academic argumentation , especially when the argument is supported by rational explanations, reliable evidence, and similar rhetorical strategies (see the textbook ...
Let's Get Writing!
This introduction is designed to exemplify how writers think about and produce text. The guiding features are the following: Every good piece of writing is an argument. Everything worth writing and reading begins with a specific question. Improving skills takes practice, feedback, and re-thinking, redoing, revising.
A Dam Good Argument
Download this book. Arguments are all around us. Everywhere we look, someone is trying to get our attention, change our minds, or sell us something. Learning about how persuasion works will make you a more thoughtful and skeptical consumer of all that content, so that you can come to your own conclusions and recognize the underlying assumptions ...
PDF Urban Sociology
The book stresses the transition from modern (industrial) to postmodern (postindustrial) eras and its effect on established and developing global cities, and arguments are supported with case studies for each of the main concepts of urban theory and research. Mark Abrahamson analyzes ... geographers have almost seamlessly joined in studying and ...
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings
The market-leading guide to arguments, Writing Arguments,9/e has proven highly successful in teaching readers to read arguments critically and to produce effective arguments of their own. Read more. Continue reading Read less. Previous page. ISBN-10. 020517163X. ISBN-13. 978-0205171637. Edition. 9th. Publisher. Pearson. Publication date.
First He Came for Cancel Culture. Now He Wants to Cancel Smartphones
For "The Anxious Generation," the book that will be out this coming week, Mr. Haidt says he believes that he has taken a reprieve from the culture wars. Mr. Haidt has seized on a purpose ...
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[4K] Walking Streets Moscow. Moscow-City
Walking tour around Moscow-City.Thanks for watching!MY GEAR THAT I USEMinimalist Handheld SetupiPhone 11 128GB https://amzn.to/3zfqbboMic for Street https://...
A Literary Tour Of Moscow
1. Nikolay Gogol Museum. Located in the heart of Moscow, close to the Arbat Square, is this ancient town mansion. This is the only Museum of Nikolay Gogol in Russia dedicated entirely to the life and work of the master writer. Cast iron gates lead into the courtyard, where you can explore the monument to the writer.
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, Books a la Carte Edition
The most thorough theoretical foundation available Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, Tenth Edition integrates four different approaches to argument: the enthymeme as a logical structure, the classical concepts of logos, pathos, and ethos, the Toulmin system, and stasis theory. Focusing on argument as dialogue in search of solutions ...
21 Things to Know Before You Go to Moscow
1: Off-kilter genius at Delicatessen: Brain pâté with kefir butter and young radishes served mezze-style, and the caviar and tartare pizza. Head for Food City. You might think that calling Food City (Фуд Сити), an agriculture depot on the outskirts of Moscow, a "city" would be some kind of hyperbole. It is not.