Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation

Show your students how to analyze and build arguments.

Improve the work of every student writer by preparing them to understand and produce persuasive messages. Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation: A Guide for Student Writers provides students with the tools they’ll need to systematically analyze both their own arguments and the arguments they’ll encounter.

This easy-to-use book will help you teach many of the time-tested techniques of classical rhetoric, tailored to the needs of the modern student.

It makes teaching the principles of deductive and inductive reasoning a snap, even if you have no formal training in logic. Plus, it helps students recognize dangerous logical fallacies and avoid them in their writing.

After studying Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation and completing the exercises within, your students will become more purposeful in their approaches to writing and more confident in their ability to use language.

Learn more about teaching with Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation.

What is the purpose of this book?

Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation is designed to improve students’ abilities in critical thinking and reasoning, literary analysis, persuasive communication, debate, and AP Language and Composition* exam performance. It also fulfills many of the requirements of reading and writing in the Common Core State Standards.

Who would benefit the most from this book?

Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation is ideal for AP Language and Composition classes, but it’s also well suited to any advanced class or gifted program in grades 10–12.

The book as a whole could be adapted for some lower-level high school classes, especially the rhetoric section.

Does Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation contain exercises?

Yes! There are exercises after every chapter that range from matching terms and definitions to open-ended analysis questions and short essay prompts.

How is Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation organized?

The book is divided into three sections: Rhetoric in Argumentation, Logic in Argumentation, and Logical Fallacies.

The first section introduces students to the three basic approaches to rhetoric: appeal to ethos (speaker’s credibility), appeal to pathos (audience’s emotions), and appeal to logos (the message’s logic).

The second section discusses the logical approach, detailing several of the cognitive biases that make studying logic necessary, the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning, and methods of analyzing deductive and inductive arguments.

The final section explores 13 of the most common logical fallacies, including red herrings, loaded questions, ad hominem, and hasty generalizations.

Find tips for teaching critical reading skills in your classroom.