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Everything's an Argument
Tenth Edition©2026 Andrea A. Lunsford; John J. Ruszkiewicz; Keith Walters
ISBN:9781319596507
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ISBN:9781319594572
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ISBN:9781319617134
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Everything’s an Argument helps you break down and respond to the arguments you see every day—online, in class, and in conversations. With real-world examples and simple explanations, the authors show you how to build strong arguments, spot weak ones, and think critically.
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Learn MoreTable of Contents
Preface
PART 1: Reading and Understanding Arguments
1. Understanding Arguments and Reading Them Critically
Everything Is an Argument
Reading Arguments Rhetorically and Critically
Listening to Arguments Rhetorically and Respectfully
Why We Make Arguments
Occasions for Argument
Kinds of Argument
Appealing to Audiences
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Considering What’s "Normal"
2. Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos
Reading Critically for Pathos
Using Emotions to Build Bridges
Using Emotions to Sustain an Argument
Using Humor
Using Arguments Based on Emotion
3. Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
Thinking Critically about Arguments Based on Character
Establishing Trustworthiness and Credibility
Claiming Authority
Examining Motives and Assumptions
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Ethos
4. Arguments Based on Facts and Reason: Logos
Dealing with Fake News and Deep Fakes
Thinking Critically about Facts and Reason
Providing Logical Structures for Argument
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Logos
5. Fallacies of Argument
Fallacies of Emotional Argument
Fallacies of Ethical Argument
Fallacies of Logical Argument
6. Argument Meets AI
Just Exactly What is Generative Artificial Intelligence?
What Can Generative Artificial Intelligence Do?
Prompting Artificial Intelligence
What Can’t Generative Artificial Intelligence Do?
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence
So What’s New about Artificial Intelligence and Argument?
Artificial Intelligence, Argument, and Multimodality
7. Rhetorical Analysis
Composing a Rhetorical Analysis: Reading and Viewing Critically
Understanding the Purpose of Arguments You Are Analyzing
Understanding Who Makes an Argument
Identifying and Appealing to Audiences
Examining Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos
Examining Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
Examining Arguments Based on Facts and Reason: Logos
Examining the Arrangement and Media of Arguments
Looking at Style
Examining a Rhetorical Analysis
Kevin Garcia, Can You Lose a Language You Never Knew?
Marielys Diaz, The Loss of a Language Kevin Garcia Never Knew: A Rhetorical Analysis
Examining an AI Rhetorical Analysis
GUIDE TO WRITING A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
PART 2: Writing Arguments
8. Structuring Arguments
The Classical Oration
Rogerian Argument
A Sample Rogerian Argument
Jeannie Suk Gersen, What if Trigger Warnings Don’t Work?
Invitational Argument
Toulmin Argument
A Toulmin Analysis
Stephen L. Carter, Offensive Speech Is Free Speech. If Only We’d Listen.
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Organization
9. Arguments of Fact
Understanding Arguments of Fact
Characterizing Factual Arguments
Developing a Factual Argument
GUIDE TO WRITING AN ARGUMENT OF FACT
Two Sample Factual Arguments
Ahlan Filstrup, The Negative Influence of Social Media Advertisements on Children’s Nutritional Habits (student essay)
Chris Stokel-Walker, Do Phone Bans Help Students Perform Better in School?
10. Arguments of Definition
Understanding Arguments of Definition
Kinds of Definition
Developing a Definitional Argument
GUIDE TO WRITING AN ARGUMENT OF DEFINITION
Two Sample Definitional Arguments
Natasha Rodriguez, Who Are You Calling Underprivileged? (student essay)
Evgeny Morozov, The Problem with Artificial Intelligence? It’s Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent
11. Evaluations
Understanding Evaluations
Criteria of Evaluation
Characterizing Evaluation
Developing an Evaluative Argument
GUIDE TO WRITING AN EVALUATION
Two Sample Evaluations
Jenny Kim, The Toxicity in Learning (student essay)
Kyle Smith, Barbie Review: Beyond Her Ken
12. Causal Arguments
Understanding Causal Arguments
Characterizing Causal Arguments
Developing Causal Arguments
GUIDE TO WRITING A CAUSAL ARGUMENT
Two Sample Causal Arguments
Laura Tarrant, Forever Alone (and Perfectly Fine) (student essay)
Lauren A. Wright, How Liberal College Campuses Benefit Conservative Students
13. Proposals
Understanding and Categorizing Proposals
Characterizing Proposals
Developing Proposals
GUIDE TO WRITING A PROPOSAL
Two Sample Proposals
Caleb Wong, Addiction to Social Media: How to Overcome It (student essay)
Melissa Nicolas, Eliminate the Required First-Year Writing Course
PART 3: Style and Presentation in Arguments
14. Style in Arguments
Narrative and Argument
Word Choice and Argument
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Pronouns
Sentence Structure and Argument
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: “Standard,” “Formal,” and Other Conventions
Punctuation and Argument
Style and Artificial Intelligence
Special Effects: Figurative Language
15. Visual Rhetoric
The Power of Visual Arguments
Using Visuals in Your Own Arguments
Remember to Check for Copyrighted Material
16. Multimodal Arguments
Class and Public Discussions
Oral-based Presentations
Assess the Rhetorical Situation
Deliver a Good Show
Poster Sessions
Podcasts
Text- and Image-based Presentations
Social Media and Arguments
Blogs and Newsletters
Comics
PART 4: Research and Arguments
17. Academic Arguments
Understanding What Academic Argument Is
Conventions in Academic Argument Are Not Static
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Considering English(es)
Developing an Academic Argument
Two Sample Academic Arguments
Charlotte Geaghan-Breiner, Where the Wild Things Should Be: Healing
Nature Deficit Disorder through the Schoolyard (student essay)Sidra Montgomery, The Emotion Work of “Thank You for Your Service”
18. Finding Evidence
Considering the Rhetorical Situation
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: The Rhetorical Situation
Searching Effectively
SEARCHING ONLINE OR IN DATABASES
Collecting Data on Your Own
Draw Upon Narratives as Evidence
19. Evaluating Sources
Identifying Bias
Assessing Sources
Practicing Crap Detection
CASE STUDY: Lateral Reading
Assessing Field Research
20. Using Sources
Information Overload
Building a Critical Mass
Synthesizing Information
21. Maintaining Academic Integrity and Crediting Sources
CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR ARGUMENT: Intellectual Property and Remix Culture
Crediting Sources
WHAT COPYRIGHT DOESN’T PROTECT
Getting Permission for and Using Copyrighted Internet Sources
Acknowledging Your Sources Accurately and Appropriately
Crediting Collaborators
22. Documenting Sources
MLA Style
APA Style
Glossary
Index
Andrea Lunsford
Andrea Lunsford, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of English emerita and former Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University, joined the Stanford faculty in 2000. Prior to this appointment, she was Distinguished Professor of English at The Ohio State University (1986-2000) and, before that, Associate Professor and Director of Writing at the University of British Columbia (1977-86) and Associate Professor of English at Hillsborough Community College. A frequent member of the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English, Andrea earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Florida and completed her Ph.D. in English at The Ohio State University (1977). She holds honorary degrees from Middlebury College and The University of Ôrebro.
Andrea’s scholarly interests include the contributions of women and people of color to rhetorical history, theory, and practice; collaboration and collaborative writing, comics/graphic narratives; translanguaging and style, and technologies of writing. She has written or coauthored/coedited many books, including Essays on Classical Rhetoric and Modern Discourse; Singular Texts/Plural Authors: Perspectives on Collaborative Writing; Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the History of Rhetoric, and The Norton Anthology of Rhetoric and Writing as well as numerous chapters and articles. For Bedford/St. Martin’s, she is the author of The St. Martins Handbook, The Everyday Writer, and EasyWriter; the co-author (with John Ruszkiewicz) of Everything’s an Argument and (with John Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters) of Everything’s an Argument with Readings; and the co-author (with Lisa Ede) of Writing Together: Collaboration in Theory and Practice.
Andrea has given presentations and workshops on the changing nature and scope of writing and critical language awareness at scores of North American universities, served as Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, as Chair of the Modern Language Association Division on Writing, and as a member of the MLA Executive Council. In her spare time, she serves on the Board of La Casa Roja’s Next Generation Leadership Network, as past Chair of the Kronos Quartet Performing Arts Association--and works diligently if not particularly well in her communal organic garden.
John Ruszkiewicz
John J. Ruszkiewicz is a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin where he taught literature, rhetoric, and writing for forty years. A winner of the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award, he was instrumental in creating the Department of Rhetoric and Writing in 1993 and directed the unit from 2001-05. He has also served as president of the Conference of College Teachers of English (CCTE) of Texas, which gave him its Frances Hernández Teacher—Scholar Award in 2012. For Bedford/St. Martins, he is coauthor, with Andrea Lunsford, of Everything’s an Argument and the author of How to Write Anything. In retirement, he writes the mystery novels under the pen name J.J. Rusz; the most recent, The Mule Ears, published in 2023 on Amazon.
Keith Walters
Keith Walters is professor emeritus at the Portland State University, where he was a member of the Department of Applied Linguistics. He received his BA in English from Furman University (1975), his MA in applied linguistics from the University of South Carolina (1981), and his PhD in linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin (1989).
He served in the Peace Corps in Tunisia (1975-1977), where he taught English as a foreign language. Across his career, he later taught in the Department of English at the University of South Carolina, the Department of Foreign Languages at the Institut Polytechnique Gamel Abdel Nasser (Conakry, Guinea), the Department of English of the Ohio State University, the Linguistics Department at the University of Texas, the Department of Applied Linguistics at Portland State University, and the Department of English at Bethlehem University (Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories), where he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar. He is the recipient of research awards from Fulbright and the Social Science Research Council. Much of his research has focused on topics relating to questions of language and identity in the Arabic-speaking world.
An award-winning teacher, he has taught courses on a range of topics in linguistics, sociolinguistics, and composition including bi-/multilingualism; language, gender, and sexuality; language and the law; African Americans in their speech communities; language ideologies and language planning; language and nationalism in the Middle East; arguing about language; and writing for engineers. He has also served as an expert witness in over a dozen court cases.
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