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Writing English arguments is important to the academic， professional， social， and personal life of people who use English to communicate， convince， or persuade their audience about a particular position or idea.Writing English with arguments has long been required of college students in America and is currently being prioritized in Chinese college education.In fact， English argumentative writing has become a mandatory course for undergraduate English majors in many prestigious universities and an important component in many English proficiency tests for both English majors and non-English majors．
This textbook aims to guide English majors and non-English majors in Chinese universities in writing good English arguments.Although there have been a plethora of well-received textbooks in America that offer detailed guidance on how to understand，analyze， and compose good English arguments， the author of this textbook believes that adopting these textbooks directly for the English Argumentative Writing courses for the college students in China is not as beneficial as it is in America.Their target audiences，mostly American college students， think， feel， and learn differently from their Chinese counterparts due to cultural differences.The Chinese college students have different learning habits， different knowledge reserve about American culture discussed in arguments， different pre-knowledge about arguments， different purpose and attitude in writing English arguments.Therefore， with intercultural differences of this nature in mind， this book endeavors to consider the cognitive dimension， the emotional dimension， as well as the value system of Chinese college students．
Such intercultural awareness has largely shaped the writing of this textbook in many aspects.When introducing and elaborating on the theoretical knowledge of arguments，the book is always aware of Chinese college students’ misconceptions about the key theoretical concepts， as well as of their difficulties and challenges in understanding and applying them.When designing practice activities for each chapter， the book poses prompt questions that facilitate their analyzing and writing practices.The last two chapters on the writing process and style endeavor to take care of the major concerns and problems that Chinese college students encounter in their English writing．
By providing detailed illustration of the most important elements of a good English argument—the claim， the type， audience， logical appeal， credibility appeal， emotional，addressing counterarguments， supporting methods， etc．， this book will guide student writers in developing logical thinking， audience awareness， and analytical skills.Through the many questions that guide the analysis of argument readings， this book will also assist the college curriculum in enhancing students’ intercultural awareness．
Beyond its strong awareness of intercultural differences and its appeals to the needs and concerns of Chinese college students， this book has been largely guided by a number of writing theories and pedagogies.To render this book more useful to college teachers and students in China， I will highlight several writing principles that have guided both the content and the structure of this book.These general principles will guide your use of this book， and more importantly， your writing．
1 .Good writers understand the writing process. Most non-native speakers have developed a strong fear and tremendous anxiety about writing in English.Their obsessive fear often drives them to think English writing as the evilest devil to be conquered on earth.This fear is largely due to their lack of systematic knowledge of what the writing process is and how one can survive and thrive in the writing process.Contrary to the common teaching practice that moves students from a topic to an outline to a first draft to a final draft， the writing process is a nonlinear， dynamic， and complex process.Many of the moves we make， such as narrowing down topics， drafting， and revising， are cyclical and repetitive.With this awareness， writers will feel better when they suffer from the writer’s block or when they want to switch to a totally different topic， because they know where they are in the process and how to get out of the obstacles they are stuck in.Guided by this principle， Chapters 2，9， and 10 aim to demystify the writing process， illustrate each stage， and offer strategies for coping with obstacles or challenges．
2 .Good writers know how to make good choices. A common misconception held strongly by beginning writers is that English writing is all about following the rules： the grammatical rules， the punctuation rules， and the writing rules.Admittedly， all writings follow rules， but good writing is also about breaking rules and making the right choice，which is unimaginable to Chinese college students， who feel safer by following the rules strictly and even memorizing a few well-written lines.Making choices is particularly important to writing English arguments because different purpose， different audience，different position all determine how to support your claim， how to structure the argument， what details to provide， and what style to use.These choices—the choice over the type of claim， the choice over positioning your claim， over your audience， over your structure， etc．—are well illustrated in Chapters 3，4，5，6，7 and 8， where factual argument， evaluation argument， causal argument， evaluative argument， and proposal argument are presented and analyzed．
3 .Good readers make good writers. That good writing comes from good reading has become so commonsensical that we can say to college students that writers need to read well before they can write well.However， good reading does not simply mean blind reading of a large number of arguments； it means analytical and critical reading.Students need to learn how to analyze and evaluate arguments before they start writing their own arguments.To guide students in developing such reading skill， Chapters 1 and 2 offer a detailed introduction to the basic elements of good arguments and elaborate on the rhetorical analysis of arguments.Rhetorical reading lays the foundation for writing arguments．
4 .Good writers learn best from examples. As both the western writing theory and the Chinese writing pedagogy recommend， emulating the best examples is a very effective approach to learn writing， especially when students are asked to write arguments in the format that they are not familiar with or on the topics that they are trying to explore．
This book， written under these guiding principles， is divided into four major parts，with each part focusing on one important stage in the process of writing arguments or one important component of arguments.In general， Part I focuses on guiding writers on understanding and analyzing arguments； Part II dwells on strategies used for developing and supporting arguments as well as addressing counterarguments； Part III zooms on specific types of arguments， with a clear intention to guide writers on understanding，developing， and structuring each type of arguments； Part IV covers the fundamental knowledge and strategies in writing arguments， including researching for arguments，introducing and concluding arguments， and formulating arguments in coherent and cohesive paragraphs， appropriate vocabulary， and correct grammar.Also， in line with the guiding principles of writing this book and with the general cognitive habits of writers，each chapter moves from theoretical knowledge about arguments to examples of arguments and to practices on reading， supporting， and writing arguments．
Part I， Chapter 1 and Chapter 2， covers the preparatory stage of the writing process and focuses on proper and productive understanding of arguments.Chapter 1 stresses that before analyzing and writing arguments writers must develop， through debunking their misconceptions， a correct and productive conception of what good argument is；Chapter 2 guides writers on how to critically read and carefully analyze the important elements of a good argument， including the context， audience， claim， rhetorical appeals， and structure．
Moving further in the process， Part Ⅱ introduces the basic theories about making important moves in the process of writing arguments.Chapter 3 guides writers on the earlier stage and introduces strategies on developing， formulating， and positioning a claim and identifying and appealing to different types of audiences.Chapter 4 walks writers through the major methods of supporting arguments， such as using secondary claims， various logical reasoning methods， visuals， etc.Chapter 5 focuses on various effective ways of addressing counterarguments， including various models of dealing with counterarguments， and identifying logical fallacies， ethical fallacies， and pathetic fallacies．
Part Ⅲ guides writers on how to write specific types of arguments by walking them through understanding， developing， supporting， and structuring each type of argument．Chapter 6 addresses the basic knowledge and useful strategies about writing causal arguments and focuses particularly on understanding different types of causes，developing causal claims with the Toulmin model and the Mill model， and structuring causal arguments.Chapter 7 informs writers on how to understand and write definitional argument， categorical argument， and resemblance argument and explains the basic structure of these types of argument.Chapter 8 details on understanding and writing evaluation arguments： it first introduces the importance of identifying evaluative terms and evaluation criteria and using various ways to support evaluation claims； it then informs writers on three major types of evaluation arguments； finally， it guides writers on how to structure evaluation arguments.Chapter 9 covers the fundamental knowledge about writing proposal arguments.From understanding the hybridized nature of， the major components of， and various types of proposal arguments， this chapter guides writers on developing a comprehensive understanding of this type of argument so that they will be able to judge what type to choose for their target audience， according to their purpose and situation.The chapter then introduces various strategies and models on how to develop and structure proposal arguments and explains how each model or strategy works for different writing situations．
Part IV covers the general but essential knowledge about writing research-based arguments.Chapter 10 introduces the basic knowledge about how to find， use， and cite sources for arguments.Chapter 11 highlights various strategies that writers may choose as tools for making introductions and conclusions that are most appropriate to their audience， topic， or situation and explains the most common strategies for paragraphing，revising， and peer responding.Chapter 12， the last chapter， explains to writers how grammar must be understood not simply as rules but also as choices to produce particular rhetorical effects for the target audience of their arguments.It also covers some effective modeling， editing， and proofreading strategies and points out the importance of learning to identify grammatical error patterns．
1 .Meeting the Needs of the Curricular Reform of English majors. As a foundation course within the reformed English curricular system， English Argumentative Writing course， along with English Creative Writing， English Expository Writing， English Academic Research Writing， is becoming an important platform to train English majors in developing and enhancing their abilities in logical thinking， critical thinking， and researching， as well as their awareness of audience， context， and situation， their intercultural knowledge and sensitivity.A wide variety of writing theories are introduced to meet the new learning goals of English majors and English learners in China and presented at the level appropriate to non-native speakers.To this aim， the author has not simply referred to theoretical knowledge from similar books in China and English speaking-countries but also processed， digested， and integrated these sources to meet the cognitive level and need of the English learners in China， who have entertained all kinds of preconceptions， misconceptions， biases， fears， and anxieties about various components of English argumentative writing.The argument examples are carefully selected to further develop students’ knowledge in popular issues， including sports，higher education， health， the virtual world， and the media.These examples do not just serve as examples for writing arguments； as these issues are so importance to the life of college students that these example arguments also help them gain a global and critical view of these important issues， enhance their intercultural sensitivity， and develop a healthy attitude toward life．
2 .Highlighting the Process from Input to Output. This book offers clear guidance on how to apply theoretical knowledge into practice and highlights the importance of increasing input， dwelling on the transferring process， and demanding output in various formats.First， the book is designed to emphasize both the input in English （ the readings， the argumentative essays and articles from various sources and on various topics） and the output in English （writings about various issues and for different types of arguments）.Second， to guide writers from input to output， this book offers writers various rhetorical choices for various purposes， situations， or audiences and designs exercises of a wide variety to help them make choices at various stages of their process．Moreover， the exercises often ask them to read， analyze， and reflect on issues that are of particular interest and importance to their life so as to make argumentative writing theory part of their everyday life.As the input is about the issues most important to the life of college students， the output of this course is not just a few well-structured arguments written in English but also a critical thinking about what they read in other courses， what they read， see， and experience in their everyday life．
1.Learners are strongly encouraged to search online to read both well-written arguments of similar types or on similar issues and authoritative books and articles on the topic or issue that they are reading and writing for this course.The input of knowledge is always many times the output of knowledge.To persuade readers， writers must be adequately knowledgeable about what they are writing about.Also， learners are strongly recommended to find arguments and books/articles in English， which will facilitate the transferring from input in English to output in English．
2.Learners are expected to take good advantage of comments， criticisms， and suggestions from their instructors， peers， and other potential readers of their arguments．As audience awareness is constantly highlighted in almost every chapter of the book，learners who try the drafts of their argumentative essays with different audiences will develop a stronger sensitivity to audience’ s needs， values， and expectations.Students may also use the popular media to publicize their arguments to solicit more diverse feedback on their argumentative essays.They are also encouraged to submit their arguments to those who can improve the issues discussed in the arguments and take on more social responsibility by using writing to change their own life， their school， their community， and the society．
3.Instructors who adopt the book for their English Argumentative Writing course may refer to the sample syllabus in the appendix to get a more detailed picture of how to design the course with this book.Inspired by the sample syllabus， instructors might explore their own ways to design reading， writing， researching， and presenting tasks and to integrate the exercises into their classroom teaching．
4.Instructors may find it more productive to allow students as many chances to revise as possible so that they have enough time to learn， apply， and grow.Thus， the writing pedagogy that emphasizes both theory and practice， both the product and the process complies better with the purpose and design of the book.Complying with this pedagogy， instructors may adopt a wide variety of methods of giving feedback， such as one-one-one， face-to-face feedback，peer response，and general comments in classroom on common mistakes to the whole class， audio feedback on QQ or wechat，classroom poster display of students’ works， public display on wechat moments or on the QQ group set for this course.In addition， instructors may also choose to allot 3-5 credit hours of their class time for researching and writing practice at the lab， where students can get hands-on guide on the researching strategies and the technicality of the writing process．
5.While offering all kinds of feedback on individual assignments， instructors may choose to suspend their grading of individual assignments until the very end of the semester.The book also includes in the appendix a sample course writing portfolio，which briefly describes the grading rubrics for each reading， writing， and presenting activity.It may assist instructors at the end of semester when they need to give an overall evaluation of students’ academic performance in this course．