Contents
The page numbers in curly braces {} correspond to the print edition of this title.
I. Short Arguments: Some General Rules
1. Resolve premises and conclusion
2. Unfold your ideas in a natural order
3. Start from reliable premises
5. Build on substance, not overtone
8. Use representative examples
9. Background rates are often crucial
10. Statistics need a critical eye
11. Reckon with counterexamples
12. Analogies require relevantly similar examples
18. Causal arguments start with correlations
19. Correlations may have alternative explanations
20. Work toward the most likely explanation
28. Deductive arguments in multiple steps
30. Spell out basic ideas as arguments
31. Defend basic premises with arguments of their own
35. Urge a definite claim or proposal
36. Your argument is your outline
37. Detail objections and meet them
43. Hew your visuals to your argument
50. Leave them thinking when you go
Appendix I: Some Common Fallacies
D1. When terms are unclear, get specific
D2. When terms are contested, work from the clear cases
D3. Definitions don’t replace arguments
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