Everything's an Argument

This chapter explores the following questions:

• How can an argument be organized?
• What elements are included in an effective argument?

Western culture tends to organize arguments either through inductive or deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning draws a conclusion based on multiple examples, while deductive reasoning draws a conclusion by situating a specific case within a larger principle. The arguments required of college courses require greater complexity, so Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz present three organizational structures: classical oration, Rogerian and invitational arguments, and the Toulmin argument.

Classical oration follows the same structure used by Greeks and Romans thousands of years ago. It begins with an introduction, or exordium, that gains the audience’s trust and states the topic. Then, it provides a narrative of the case facts, or narratio, before stating the claim and key issues, the partitio. In the confirmation, the argument provides support for the claim, and in the refutation, it considers counterarguments and/or evidence. Finally, in the peroratio, it summarizes the argument and provides a call to action. This approach develops a thorough argument, especially when appealing to ethos in the introduction and concluding with an appeal to