Analyzing Arguments

In writing and media of all kinds, language competes for your attention and argues for your agreement. You need to be able to recognize and use argument effectively—and to question your own arguments as well as those put forth by others.

Chapter contents:

Quick Help: Guidelines for analyzing an argument

Thinking critically about argument

Considering cultural contexts

Analyzing emotional appeals in an argument

Analyzing ethical appeals in an argument

Analyzing logical appeals in an argument

Analyzing appeals in a visual argument

Identifying Toulmin’s elements of an argument

Identifying common fallacies