Written by the authors of such successful composition titles as Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (AWL) and The Craft of Research (Chicago UP), The Craft of Argument with Readings introduces a modified—more acessible, more pragmatic—Toulmin model to help students create incisive arguments.

Combining the rhetorical coverage of The Craft of Argument with an anthology of readings, this rhetoric/reader gives students insight into writing arguments and then inspires them with an intriguing collection of professional essays. “Cases” in each readings chapter bypass the usual argument issues in favor of more thoughtful topics like collective delusions, risk-taking behavior, and truthfulness and deception.

This practical text is a guide to three skills: 1) the critical thinking needed to reach a sound conclusion, 2) the imagination to generate the elements of an argument that would support that conclusion, and 3) the ability to plan, draft, and revise a written argument that readers judge to be persuasive. This text is, in fact, the first guide to seamlessly integrate the principles of critical thinking, argumentation, and the writing process by helping students understand how to use these principles of writing to help them think and argue.