Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, Concise Edition

by John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, June Johnson

The market-leading guide to arguments, Writing Arguments has proven highly successful in teaching readers to read arguments critically and to produce effective arguments of their own.

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Writing

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2000

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the length. This book is relatively short which makes it not only cheaper but much more beneficial. The exercises and example arguments are actual very beneficial which is not always the case with some textbooks. I particularly liked the description of the Rogerian letter and rhetorical analysis. I truly felt like I learned how to write more effective and compassionate arguments through this book.

[Brandon Vaughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the textbook for one of my writing classes. There is a lot of great information in this book, and I am confident that what I have learned will make me a better writer. It will also be a great resource to reference from time to time. However, the authors make it clear that they hold to a moral relativistic Worldview, and reject any sort of absolute truth. This worldview completely obliterates any foundation for meaningful argument and dialogue, or the motivation to win an argument.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this book two stars not so much because it's poor, but because I was using it as part of an online class, and you don't get the full benefit of the book in that environment. In a classroom, where you actually do the suggested exercises and such as a group, I think it would be a really good textbook to use -- the exercises seemed like they'd be very enjoyable.

All in all, it's a good overview of different styles of writing, some of which I'd never used for academic papers before (ethical arguments, for instance). The book is also very readable, which is a definite plus when it comes to textbooks.

[Michael Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a debate-idiot like myself this was great. For help with critical thinking and exploring the other side of an issue (for example, after going back and forth many times fairly deeply on each side of the Legalization of Drugs issue, philosophically I am definitely Pro-legalization now) this book is even better.

[Andrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of this book is excellent. Some of it is a chore. It's worth a read if it's required for a class, that's for sure. I'd say the outstanding virtue of this book is the length - most other English textbooks are near 1,000 pages in length and contain the same information. This one is a third of that and very concise.

[Sally]

This is for me and Tianna!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the clearest, well-written composition textbooks I've had. Great information that really helped my writing.

[Andrew Obrigewitsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informative and educational. I feeling that I learned how to write much more compelling arguments that may actually influence how others feel about things.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book proved very useful for my Eng102 class. It covered many forms of argumentative writing.