Rhetorical Précis on Good Reasons Chapter 2

      In “Reading Arguments”, Chapter 2 of Lester Faigley and Jack Selzer’s Good Reasons (2012), the writers express that there are certain cardinal practices that can make reading arguments more effective, productive, and personally enlightening, and that these skills are essential to develop when learning to write one’s own arguments. Faigley and Selzer elaborate on these practices by giving advice on how to explore different viewpoints to create a well-rounded view on an issue, evaluate the work thoroughly in order to establish the author’s credibility, and lastly suggest to keep an eye out for logical and emotional fallacies, all while providing easy-to-understand and still relevant textual and visual examples. The authors strive to show the most effective ways to evaluate a written argument in order to better the learning processes students experience while they harness the skills to write arguments themselves. Their intended audience is students enrolled in courses requiring them to read and evaluate arguments about different controversial issues, which requires them to keep a level, unbiased opinion to maintain a scholarly poise.