Smart Arguments: Critical Thinking and Writing for College

by Angelina Misaghi

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This book is designed for English C1001, the critical thinking and writing course at Santa Monica College. It is built from Anna Mill's How Arguments Work, with additional materials added to new chapters such as essay prompts, sample essays, peer review forms, and other handouts.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
Santa Monica College
Subjects
Humanities
Licence
CC BY-SA, as LibreTexts states it
Who can read
Teens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

LibreTexts writes equations in TeX, and here they show as TeX; the PDF has them typeset.

  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. 1: Introduction
  7. 1.1: Why Study Argument?
  8. 1.2: A Closer Look at Fast and Slow Thinking
  9. 1.3: What This Book Offers
  10. 2: Handouts
  11. 2.1: Critical Reading Worksheet
  12. 2.2: Revising and Editing
  13. 3: Artificial Intelligence and College Writing
  14. 3.1: Template Phrases for Reflecting on AI Feedback
  15. 3.2: Template Phrases for Critiquing AI Outputs
  16. 3.3: Acknowledging and Citing Generative AI in Academic Work
  17. 3.4: AI Copies Patterns; It Doesn’t Think
  18. 3.5: Don't Trust AI to Cite Its Sources
  19. 3.6: Student Essay Critiquing a New York Times Article on the Dangers of AI
  20. 4: Reading to Figure out the Argument
  21. 4.1: Overview- Reading to Write
  22. 4.2: Types of Claims to Look out for
  23. 4.3: Making Notes on the Writer’s Claims
  24. 4.4: Deciding Which Is the Main Claim
  25. 4.5: Finding the Reasons
  26. 4.6: Finding the Counterarguments
  27. 4.7: Finding the Responses to the Counterarguments
  28. 4.8: Finding the Limits on the Argument
  29. 4.9: Common Argument Phrases
  30. 5: Writing a Summary of Another Writer’s Argument
  31. 5.1: What Is a Summary?
  32. 5.2: Introducing the Argument and the Main Claim
  33. 5.3: Describing the Reasoning
  34. 5.4: Describing How the Author Treats Counterarguments
  35. 5.5: Describing How the Author Limits the Claim
  36. 5.6: Putting the Summary Together
  37. 5.7: Writing a Short Summary of a Long Argument
  38. 5.8: Sample Summaries
  39. 5.8.1: Sample Summary- "Spread Feminism, Not Germs"
  40. 5.8.2: Sample Summary- "Typography and Identity"
  41. 5.9: Comparing and Contrasting Arguments
  42. 5.10: A Sample Compare-and-Contrast Essay
  43. 5.10.1: Annotated Compare-and-Contrast Essay
  44. 5.11: Common Summary Phrases
  45. 6: Essay Prompts
  46. 6.1: Essay 1 (Rhetorical Analysis, text)
  47. 6.2: Essay 2 (Rhetorical Analysis, Visual)
  48. 6.3: Essay 3 (Self-Analysis)
  49. 7: Sample Essays
  50. 7.1: Sample Rhetorical Analysis, text
  51. 7.2: Sample Rhetorical Analysis, visual
  52. 8: Assessing the Strength of an Argument (Logos)
  53. 8.1: Use a Summary to Launch an Opinion
  54. 8.2: Check If the Meaning Is Clear
  55. 8.3: Look for Exceptions
  56. 8.4: Decide How Strong the Evidence Is
  57. 8.5: Check the Argument's Assumptions
  58. 8.6: Check How Well the Argument Addresses Counterarguments
  59. 8.7: Reflect on an Argument’s Strengths
  60. 8.8: Come up with an Overall Assessment
  61. 8.9: Fallacies List
  62. 8.10: Common Assessment Phrases
  63. 8.11: Sample Assessment Essays
  64. 8.11.1: Sample Assessment- "Spread Feminism, Not Germs"
  65. 8.11.2: Sample Assessment- "Typography and Identity"
  66. 9: How Arguments Appeal to Emotion (Pathos)
  67. 9.1: The Place of Emotion in Argument
  68. 9.2: Word Choice and Connotation
  69. 9.3: Powerful Examples
  70. 9.4: Tone
  71. 9.5: Varying the Emotions
  72. 9.6: Fitting the Emotions to the Audience
  73. 9.7: Legitimate and Illegitimate Emotional Appeals
  74. 10: How Arguments Establish Trust and Connection (Ethos)
  75. 10.1: An Argument Implies a Relationship
  76. 10.2: Authority
  77. 10.3: Distance and Intimacy
  78. 10.4: Shared Sense of Identity
  79. 10.5: Respect and Goodwill
  80. 10.6: Moral Character
  81. 10.7: Combining Different Approaches to Trust and Connection
  82. 10.8: Reaching a Hostile Audience (Rogerian Argument)
  83. 10.9: Faulty Appeals to Trust
  84. 11: Peer Review Forms
  85. 11.1: Peer Review 1
  86. 12: The Research Process
  87. 12.1: The Ultimate Tool for Thinking and Sharing Our Thoughts
  88. 12.2: Approaching a Research Paper Assignment
  89. 12.3: Choosing a Focused Topic
  90. 12.4: Find the Conversation That Interests You
  91. 12.5: Types of Sources
  92. 12.6: Getting Familiar with Academic Journal Articles
  93. 12.7: Searching Databases of Academic Journal Articles
  94. 12.8: Strategies for Each Phase of the Research Process
  95. 12.9: Creating an Annotated Bibliography
  96. 12.10: MLA Essay Format
  97. 12.11: MLA In-Text Citations
  98. 12.12: MLA Works Cited Pages
  99. 13: Forming a Research-Based Argument
  100. 13.1: Deciding the Purpose of a Research-Based Argument
  101. 13.2: Tailoring an Argument to an Audience
  102. 13.3: Definition Arguments
  103. 13.3.1: Annotated Sample Definition Argument
  104. 13.3.2: Sample Definition Outline
  105. 13.4: Evaluation Arguments
  106. 13.4.1: Sample Evaluation Argument Prompt and Outline
  107. 13.4.2: Annotated Sample Evaluation Argument
  108. 13.5: Causal Arguments
  109. 13.5.1: Annotated Sample Causal Argument
  110. 13.6: Proposal Arguments
  111. 13.6.1: Annotated Sample Proposal Argument
  112. 14: Writing Argument Analysis
  113. 14.1: How Argument Analysis Essays are Structured
  114. 14.2: Analyzing an Argument's Situation (Kairos, or the Rhetorical Situation)
  115. 14.3: Generating Ideas for an Argument Analysis Paper
  116. 14.4: Reviewing an Argument Analysis Essay
  117. 14.5: A Brief Sample Argument Analysis
  118. 14.5.1: Annotated Brief Sample Argument Analysis
  119. 14.6: A Longer Sample Argument Analysis
  120. 14.6.1: Annotated Longer Sample Argument Analysis
  121. 14.7: A Sample Visual Argument Analysis
  122. 14.7.1: Annotated Sample Visual Argument Analysis
  123. 15: The Writing Process
  124. 15.1: An Overview of the Writing Process
  125. 15.2: Annotation
  126. 15.3: Brainstorming
  127. 15.4: Outlining
  128. 15.5: Drafting
  129. 15.6: Revision
  130. 15.7: Giving and Receiving Feedback
  131. 16: Essay Organization
  132. 16.1: Developing a Thesis Statement
  133. 16.2: Topic Sentences
  134. 16.3: Showing How a New Idea Fits in (Transitions)
  135. 16.4: Referring Back to Make the Connection (Cohesion)
  136. 16.5: Developing Paragraphs
  137. 16.6: Quoting and Paraphrasing
  138. 16.7: Introductions
  139. 16.8: Conclusions
  140. 17: MLA Conventions
  141. 17.1: General Formatting
  142. 17.2: Titles and Authors
  143. 17.3: In-Text Citations
  144. 17.4: Works Cited Guidelines and Example
  145. 17.5: Creating a Works Cited List
  146. 18: Grammar and Style
  147. 18.1: Correcting Grammar and Punctuation
  148. 18.1.1: Why Spend Time on "Correct" Standard English?
  149. 18.1.2: Proofreading Strategies
  150. 18.1.3: Subject-Verb Agreement
  151. 18.1.4: Fragments
  152. 18.1.5: Run-on Sentences
  153. 18.1.6: Verb Tense
  154. 18.1.7: Pronoun Agreement
  155. 18.1.8: Word Choice
  156. 18.1.9: Prepositions
  157. 18.1.10: Articles with Count and Noncount Nouns
  158. 18.1.11: Capitalization
  159. 18.1.12: Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
  160. 18.1.13: Parallelism
  161. 18.1.14: Using Quotation Marks
  162. 18.1.15: Fitting a Quotation into a Sentence
  163. 18.1.16: Commas
  164. 18.1.17: Semicolons and Colons
  165. 18.1.18: Apostrophes
  166. 18.1.19: Dashes
  167. 18.1.20: Hyphens
  168. 18.1.21: Parentheses
  169. 18.1.22: Additional Resources on Grammar and Mechanics
  170. 18.2: Style- Shaping Our Sentences
  171. 18.2.1: What Defines Good Style in Academic Writing?
  172. 18.2.2: Keeping It Concise
  173. 18.2.3: Making Sentences Clear
  174. 18.2.4: Giving the Reader Pleasure
  175. 18.2.5: Understanding Convoluted Sentences
  176. 18.2.6: Sentence Variety
  177. Back Matter
  178. Index
  179. Glossary
  180. Detailed Licensing