Good Reasons: Designing and Writing Effective Arguments, 3rd Edition

by Lester Faigley, Jack Selzer

Engaging and accessible to all readers, Good Reasons is a brief, highly readable introduction to argument by two of the country's foremost rhetoricians.

Engaging and accessible to all students, Good Reasons is a brief, very readable introduction to argument by two of the country's foremost rhetoricians. By stressing the rhetorical situation and audience, this rhetoric avoids complicated schemes and terminology in favor of providing students with the practical means to find "good reasons" for the positions they want to advocate to their audiences. Good Reasons helps students write and understand various types of arguments, including visual as well as verbal arguments. Supporting the authors' instruction are numerous readings by professional and student writers and over 50 photographs. Good Reasons is distinctive in providing the most thorough coverage of rhetorical analysis and visual analysis. It has a new emphasis on visual argument throughout that responds to the need for greater visual literacy in a media-saturated culture. Good Reasons is also distinctive in beginning with why people write arguments.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999