AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
(S.84)
INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN ARGUMENTATION
By FRANCES M. PERRY, Instructor in English in Wellesley College. Price, $1.00
AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN ARGUMENTATION is intended for those who have not previously studied the subject, but while it makes a firm foundation for students who may wish to continue it, the volume is complete in itself. It is adapted for use in the first years of college or in the upper classes of secondary schools.
¶ The subject has been simplified as much as has been possible without lessening its educative value, yet no difficulties have been slighted. The beginner is set to work to exercise his reasoning power on familiar material and without the added difficulty of research. Persuasion has not been considered until conviction is fully understood. The two methods in use in teaching argumentation—the brief-drawing method and the syllogistic method—have been combined, so that the one will help the student to grasp the other.
¶ The volume is planned and proportioned with the expectation that it will be closely followed as a text-book rather than used to supplement an independent method of presentation. To that end each successive step is given explicit exposition and full illustration, and carefully graded exercises are provided to test the student's understanding of an idea, and fix it in his memory.
¶ The course is presented in three divisions; the first relating to finding and formulating the proposition for argument, the second to proving the proposition, and the last, to finding the material to prove the proposition—research.