7. The Rhodes scholarships for the United States will accomplish the objects of its founder.
8. National expositions are a benefit to the country.
CHAPTER V
THE INTRODUCTION—BRIEF-DRAWING
Preceding chapters have dwelt on the essential characteristics of the introduction and have shown what it should be like when completed. No one but an expert writer, however, can hope that his argument, in either introduction, discussion, or conclusion, will attain any considerable completeness and excellence without first passing through a preliminary form known as the brief.
A brief is a special kind of outline: it is an outline that sets forth in specific language all the ideas to be used in that portion of the argument known as conviction, and that shows the exact relation these ideas bear to each other and to the proposition. An outline in narrative, descriptive, or expository composition is invariably made up of general suggestions, which seldom indicate the same ideas to different persons; it is inexact and incomplete. A brief, on the contrary, fails in its purpose unless it conveys accurate information. The material composing it is always in the form of complete sentences; the ideas are expressed in as exact and specific language as the writer is capable of using. A good brief means as much to the one who reads it as to the one who draws it. It is, too, a complete work in itself. It does not deal with persuasion; with this exception, however, it contains in condensed form all the material to be used in the finished argument.
There are many reasons why an arguer should first cast his material in the form of a brief. To begin with, this device enables him to grasp, almost at a glance, all the material used for the purpose of conviction; it keeps constantly before him the points that he must explain, and shows him instantly just how far he has progressed with the proof of each statement. Furthermore, a brief renders the arguer invaluable assistance in preserving the fundamental principles of composition, especially those of Unity, Coherence, Proportion, and Emphasis. It greatly simplifies his task of assorting material and assigning each part its proper place and function. It exhibits so clearly every particle of evidence and every process of reasoning employed that it affords great convenience for testing both the quality and the quantity of the proof. In fact, a good brief is so essential a part of a good argument that a student who neglects to draw the first is bound to meet failure in the second.
The rules governing brief-drawing logically divide themselves into four classes: those which apply to the brief as a whole constitute the first class and are called General Rules; those rules which apply to each of the main divisions of a brief constitute the three remaining classes and are called Rules for the Introduction, Rules for the Discussion, and Rules for the Conclusion.
GENERAL RULES.
In drawing a brief, the student should first divide his material into three groups, corresponding to the three divisions of the complete argument: the Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion. Moreover, since absolute clearness in every particular is the prime requisite for a good brief, he should label each of these parts with its proper name, so that there may never be the slightest doubt or confusion as to where one part ends and another begins. Hence the first rule for brief-drawing is:—