Review of The Craft of Research by Wayne Booth, Joseph Williams and Gregory Colomb
Just a few points…
The second edition of this volume (2003) has been fine tuned and, in my opinion, improved.
Personally I found it helpful to copy and adapt the diagrams on how to construct arguments, with blank, fill-in boxes for trialling different concepts. Please note, however, that the “acknowledgement and response” (i.e. acknowledgement and response to exceptions to rules, seemingly opposing evidence, etc) part of the “claim, evidence, warrant, reason” diagram should be linked with dual-direction arrows to each other part of the argument. This is the case because an acknowledgement and response may be required for any part of the argument process. The authors make this clear themselves in the text, but it is not so clear in the diagram.
If I can find the original files I used to make these diagrams I’ll post them here.
I found the bibliographical pointers at the back of the book to be relevant, up to date and of great assistance to anyone about to embark on a lengthy and challenging research project.
For those wishing to expand their knowledge on how to construct arguments, Williams and Colomb have also written “The Craft of Argument” which is now also in its second edition (2003). There is some degree of repetition here, but it is well worthwhile learning to firmly ground your arguments.
I particularly liked the tip (in the volume at hand) about placing a warrant first, which a hostile audience is likely to accept. Then moving to specifics which will cause your reader some real cognitive dissonance!
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