To the Point: Reading and Writing Short Arguments

To the Point helps readers construct arguments by thinking about their own experiences, reading brief, current essays, and doing writing assignments.

65 brief, thoughtful readings on fresh but significant topics provide invaluable models for writing arguments as well as dynamic issues for class discussion. Readings cover areas from cell phones to environmentalism, from human rights to love and marriage, from immigration to terrorism, along with five classic arguments from Plato, Jonathan Swift, Virginia Woolf, Rachel Carson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. A series of paired Pro/Con readings (Part 2) look at contemporary issues show that there is not always one right answer to a problem or question. These Pro/Con readings cover the following issues: is rap culture too negative?; equal rights between the sexes in college sports; should animal rights compromise human needs?; limiting immigration; the role affirmative action should play in our lives; and capital punishment. Readings cover areas from cell phones to environmentalism, from human rights to love and marriage, from immigration to terrorism, along with five classic arguments from Plato, Jonathan Swift, Virginia Woolf, Rachel Carson, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Anyone interested in learning how to develop good arguments.