Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader

by Annette T. Rottenberg

When first published in 1985, Elements of Argument changed the way that argument was taught in college composition courses through its pioneering emphasis on the easy-to-teach Toulmin model of argument. The book quickly became the best-seller in its market and has maintained its popularity with a mix of accessible instruction, lively examples, and compelling readings. Thorough but not intimidating, Elements of Argument presents everything students need to learn about, research, and write arguments. A new coauthor, Donna Haisty Winchell, draws on her own experience teaching with Elements of Argument to enhance the writing instruction and bring in a fresh group of readings and topics that will appeal to a new generation of students.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Philosophy, Writing, Textbooks, Academic, School

529 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Ray]

The eighth edition of a text that was used in a persuasive writing class I took years ago. I love this book and consider it a classic. Everyone should be familiar with the fallacies of argument, especially since we're subjected to them every day of our lives.

[Franky]

One of the obvious positives about this book is that it covers a great deal of ground. Not only does it take you through the ins and outs of argument, rhetoric, claims, and the writing process in general, but it also has some worthy, engaging, and applicable topics (gun control, social media, the dangers of sports, childhood obesity, etc.) as basis for what students can expect to both read and write about.

The Elements of Argument is a resource that any college composition student should have (if they can find a copy at a decent price, that is). It starts general, with a chapter on what argument is, and then shifts to being more specific with chapters that give advice on such elements as making a claim, backing up claims with support, researching, debating issues, documenting and research writing, and understanding multiple viewpoints of a topic.

While the topics and the tips are helpful, it would have been more beneficial to simply see more examples in action. There are many writing pieces from various accredited new sources (Los Angeles Times, New York Times, etc), but there are not enough practical examples of student writing in action of the aforementioned elements of writing. Element of Argument does offer some examples, but some are not as helpful as one would hope.

Still, despite this, there are many helpful aspects to this book, and I think it would be a solid resource for any student just starting in college and needing some helpful tips on beginning the writing process.

[Drew]

Read this for a college class about Rhetoric, it was a perfectly fine book and it got the job done! Honestly didn't learn a ton of new information but I enjoyed reading a lot of the essays included in the book since they were often pretty interesting and covered a variety of topics from a bunch of different viewpoints.

[Jessica Zu]

Big, heavy textbook, but, a good one. I'd use it for a composition class if I were ever to teach. But it's really not a fun book to read, so I'd pair it with Writing with Style, just so that my students won't hate me for choose a practical but dense textbook.

[Brenna Gallagher]

not bad for an english book lol