Missy James - Reading Literature and Writing Argument, 6/e

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

James, Missy.

Reading literature and writing argument/Missy P. James, Alan P.

Merickel, Jenny Perkins, Greg Loyd.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 978-0-13-412013-3ISBN 0-13-412013-2

1. English languageRhetoric. 2. Persuasion (Rhetoric) 3. College readers. 4. Report writing. I. Merickel, Alan. II. Perkins, Jenny. III. Loyd, Greg. IV. Title.

PE1408.J36 2015

808'.0427dc23

2015030063

Copyright 2017, 2013, 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise. For information regarding permissions, request forms and the appropriate contacts within the Pearson Education Global Rights & Permissions Department, please visit www.pearsoned.com/permissions/.

10987654321EBM19181716

ISBN 10: 0-134-12013-2

ISBN 13: 978-0-134-12013-3

Reading Literature and Writing Argument springs directly from our classroom experiences as teachers of two college composition courses: Writing Argument and Persuasion and Writing about Literature. We want our students to experience the essence of these two courses. In both courses, students are enriched, as readers and as writers, through their active engagement with ideas in written text. Reading Literature and Writing Argument is based on the premise that writing is valued when it makes readers think. This premise implies, of course, that a person must have ideassomething to sayin order to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. However, the notion that these ideas must have value can be daunting to the individual who is staring at the blank page or screen. Here is where literaturestories, poems, plays, essayscan play a vital role.

Literature liberates thinking, and argument disciplines it. The combined forces of literature and argument are inspiring and empowering. Through their engagement with literature and application of the principles of argument, students practice the skills of analysis and evaluation and, in doing so, develop critical standards for judging ideas. Henry David Thoreaus essay Civil Disobedience, for example, presents an explicit argument. Reading Thoreaus essay, students can examine his assertion that the individuals first responsibility is to maintain his or her own integrity. Similarly, students can examine the implied arguments in a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, or in stories by Louise Erdrich, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Ernest Hemingway.

To borrow from Robert Frosts statement on poetry, Reading Literature and Writing Argument is designed to bring both delight and wisdom to the first-year college students composition experience. We believe that students will enjoy reading the literature pieces, practicing critical thinking skills, and exploring various perspectives on issues related to their own lives. And finally, students will discover that they have a wealth of ideas as well as the critical skills to enable them to compose written arguments that will compel their readers to think. The blank page or computer screen will present a welcome invitation to speak out and to be heard, to make choices, and to make a difference in ones own life and in the lives of others.