Nancy Wood’s published her book, Perspective on Argument, in 1995. Throughout the text, Wood refers to a variety of books that help further the reader’s understanding. She cites these sources with footnotes, as they are located at the bottom of each page. She uses small sections of a variety of sources. Also, Wood uses sources published in the 1990’s. This shows that Wood uses sources as recent and accurate as possible to enhance her writing. Throughout the chapter, Wood uses a combination of headings and subheadings to divide the text. She uses headings to break the chapter into three main parts: the introduction, The Toulmin Model, and the conclusion. Within the Toulmin Model section, Wood uses subheadings to explain each part of the Toulmin
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Since she is writing a college handbook of sorts, it can be assumed that, in the past, she has studied the Toulmin Model and worked with similar works. Throughout the text, she mentions Stephen Toulmin, Roberta Borkat, Aristotle, and Ann Berthoff. Wood uses these authors to further her explanation of argument and the Toulmin Model. In addition to using literature, Wood uses a few narratives throughout the chapter. She discusses Aristotle’s past, Toulmin’s history, a story about a television program, the president, and more. Each story is used as a further explanation. For example, she discusses the president’s responsibly for creating jobs when addressing the importance of a warrant (Wood 135). These narratives further explain a point that Wood is trying to …show more content…
However, one of the main goals of the reading is to teach the audience how to use the model in order to create better arguments. It is essential to realize that, “it can be used to help an author come up with the essential parts of an argument in the first place, and later it can be used to check and evaluate the parts of a newly written argument” (Wood 142). By realizing this, the reader can easily use what they learned in the chapter to develop better arguments. The Toulmin Model remains useless unless the reader knows how to actively use it with their writing. Another key concept relates to the idea of what an argument is. Wood says, “argument seeks to establish what is probably true as well as what might be expedient or desirable for the future” (124). This provides emphasis for what the purpose of an argument is. The entire chapter revolves around the idea of an argument, therefore Wood purposely explains what an argument from that. From there, the reader is able to understand that there is no need to argue
Since she is writing a college handbook of sorts, it can be assumed that, in the past, she has studied the Toulmin Model and worked with similar works. Throughout the text, she mentions Stephen Toulmin, Roberta Borkat, Aristotle, and Ann Berthoff. Wood uses these authors to further her explanation of argument and the Toulmin Model. In addition to using literature, Wood uses a few narratives throughout the chapter. She discusses Aristotle’s past, Toulmin’s history, a story about a television program, the president, and more. Each story is used as a further explanation. For example, she discusses the president’s responsibly for creating jobs when addressing the importance of a warrant (Wood 135). These narratives further explain a point that Wood is trying to …show more content…
However, one of the main goals of the reading is to teach the audience how to use the model in order to create better arguments. It is essential to realize that, “it can be used to help an author come up with the essential parts of an argument in the first place, and later it can be used to check and evaluate the parts of a newly written argument” (Wood 142). By realizing this, the reader can easily use what they learned in the chapter to develop better arguments. The Toulmin Model remains useless unless the reader knows how to actively use it with their writing. Another key concept relates to the idea of what an argument is. Wood says, “argument seeks to establish what is probably true as well as what might be expedient or desirable for the future” (124). This provides emphasis for what the purpose of an argument is. The entire chapter revolves around the idea of an argument, therefore Wood purposely explains what an argument from that. From there, the reader is able to understand that there is no need to argue