With more than 200,000 copies in print, The Craft of Research is the unrivaled resource for researchers at every level, from first-year undergraduates to research reporters at corporations and government offices.
            Now, seasoned researchers and educators Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams present an updated third edition of their classic handbook, whose first and second editions were written in collaboration with the late Wayne C. Booth. The Craft of Research explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, “So what?”
            The third edition includes an expanded discussion of the essential early stages of a research task: planning and drafting a paper. The authors have revised and fully updated their section on electronic research, emphasizing the need to distinguish between trustworthy sources (such as those found in libraries) and less reliable sources found with a quick Web search. A chapter on warrants has also been thoroughly reviewed to make this difficult subject easier for researchers.
            Throughout, the authors have preserved the amiable tone, the reliable voice, and the sense of directness that have made this book indispensable for anyone undertaking a research project.

Preface: The Aims of This Edition
Our Debts

I RESEARCH, RESEARCHERS, AND READERS
PROLOGUE: BECOMING A RESEARCHER

1 Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research, Public and Private

1.1 What Is Research?
1.2 Why Write It Up?
1.3 Why a Formal Report?
1.4 Writing is Thinking
 
2 Connecting with Your Reader: (Re)Creating Yourself and
Your Readers

2.1 Creating Roles for Yourself and Your Readers
2.2 UnderstandingYour Role
2.3 Imagining Your Reader’s Role
      Quick Tip: A Checklist for Understanding Your Readers

II ASKING QUESTIONS, FINDING ANSWERS
PROLOGUE: PLANNING YOUR PROJECT – AN OVERVIEW
      Quick Tip: Creating a Writing Group

3 From Topics to Questions

3.1 From an Interest to a Topic
3.2 From a Broad Topic to a Focused One
3.3 From a Focused Topic to Questions
3.4 From a Question to Its Significance
      Quick Tip: Finding Topics

4 From Questions to a Problem

4.1 Distinguishing Practical and research Problems
4.2 Understanding the Common Structure of Problems
4.3 Finding a Good Research Problem
4.4 Learning to Work with Problems
      Quick Tip: Disagreeing with Your Sources

5 From Problems to Sources

5.1 Knowing How to Use Three Kinds of Sources
5.2 Locating Sources through a Library 
5.3 Locating Sources on the Internet
5.4 Evaluting Sources for Relevance and Reliability
5.5 Following Bibliographic Trails
5.6 Looking beyond Predictable Sources
5.7 Using People as Primary Sources
      Quick Tip: The Ethics of Using People as Sources of Data

6 Engaging Sources

6.1 Knowing What Kind of Evidence to Look For
6.2 Read Complete Bibliographical Data
6.3 Engaging Sources Actively
6.4 Using Secondary Sources to Find a Problem

6.5 Using Secondary Sources to Plan Your Argument
      Quick Tip: Manage Moments of Normal Anxiety

III MAKING A CLAIM AND SUPPORTING IT
PROLOGUE: ASSEMBLING A REASEARCH ARGUMENT

7 Making Good Arguments: An Overview

7.1 Argument as a Conversation with Readers 
7.2 Supporting Your Claim
7.3 Acknowledging and Responding to Anticipated Questions and Objections 
7.4 Warranting the Relevance of Your Reasons
7.5 Building a Complex Argument Out of Simple Ones
7.6 Creating an Ethos by Thickening Your Argument 
      Quick Tip: A Common Mistake – Falling Back on What You Know 

8 Claims

8.1 Determining the Kind of Claim You Should Make 
8.2 Evaluating Your Claim
      Quick Tip: Qualifying Claims to Enhance Your Credibility

9 Reasons and Evidence

9.1 Using Reasons to Plan Your Argument
9.2 Distinguishing Evidence from Reasons
9.3 Distinguishing Evidence from Reportsa of It
9.4 Evaluating Evidence

10 Acknowledgments and Responses

10.1 Questioning Your Argument as Your Readers Will
10.2 Imagining Alternatives to Your Argument
10.3 Deciding What to Acknowledge
10.4 Framing Your Responses as Subordinate Arguments
10.5 The Vocabulary of Acknowledgment and Response
         Quick Tip: Three predicatble Disagreements

11 Warrants

11.1 Warrants in Everyday Reasoning 
11.2 Warrants in Academic Arguments
11.3 Understanding the Logic of Warrants
11.4 Testing Whether a Warrant is Reliable
11.5 Knowing When to State a Warrant
11.6 Challenging Others' Warrants
         Quick Tip: Two Kinds of Arguments

IV PLANNING, DRAFTING, AND REVISING
PROLOGUE: PLANNING AGAIN
         Quick Tip: Outlining and Storyboarding

12 Planning

12.1 Avoid Three Common but Flawed Plans
12.2 Planning Your Report

13 Drafting Your Report

13.1 Draft in a Way That Feels Comfortable
13.2 Use Key Words to Keep Yourself on Track
13.3 Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize Appropriately
13.4 Integrating Direct Quotations into Your Text
13.5 Show Readers How Evidence is Relevant
13.6 Guard against Inadvertent Plaigarism
13.7 The Social Importance of Citing Sources
13.8 Four Common Citation Styles
13.9 Work through Procrastination and Writer's Block
         Quick Tip: Indicating Citations in Your Text

14 revising Your Organization and Argument

14.1 Thinking Like a Reader
14.2 revising the Frame of Your Report
14.3 Revising Your Argument
14.4 Revising the Organization of Your Report
14.5 Check Your Paragraphs
14.6 Let Your Draft Cool, Then Paraphrase It
         Quick Tip: Abstracts

15 Communicating Evidence Visually

15.1 Choosing Visual or Verbal Representations
15.2 Choosing the Most Effective Graphic
15.3 Designing Tables, Charts, and Graphs
15.4 Specific Guidlines for Tables, Bar Charts, and Line Graphs
15.5 Communicating Data Ethically

16 Introductions and Conclusions

16.1 The Common Structure of Introductions
16.2 Step 1: Establish Common Ground
16.3 Step 2: State Your Problem
16.4 Step 3: State Your Response
16.5 Setting the Right Place for Your Introduction
16.6 Writing Your Conclusion
16.7 Finding Your First Few Words
16.8 Finding Your last few Words
         Quick Tip: Titles

17 Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly

17.1 Judging Style
17.2 The First Two Principles of Clear Writing
17.3 A Third Principle: Old before New 
17.4 Choosing between Active and Passive
17.5 A Final Principle: Complexity Last
17.6 Spit and Polish
         Quick Tip: The Quickest Revision Strategy

V SOME LAST CONSIDERATIONS

The Ethics of Research
A Postscript for Teachers
Appendix: Bibliographical Resources
General Sources

Index

Wayne Clayson Booth (1921–2005) was the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. His many books include The Rhetoric of Fiction and For the Love of It: Amateuring and Its Rivals, both published by the University of Chicago Press. Gregory G. Colomb is professor of English language and literature at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Designs on Truth: The Poetics of the Augustan Mock-Epic. Joseph M. Williams (1933–2008) was professor emeritus in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago and the author of Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Together Colomb and Williams wrote The Craft of Argument. Booth, Colomb, and Williams coedited the seventh edition of Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Imprint: University Of Chicago Press
Distributor: Chicago Distribution Center
Publication Date: 04-15-2008
Pages: 336
Measurements: 8.50in X 5.50in