. Do not allow your desire for victory to overcome your desire for truth.
Do not argue for the sake of winning, nor develop the habit of arguing in
season and out. In the school and outside there are persons who, like Will
Carleton's Uncle Sammy, "were born for arguing." They use their own time
in an unprofitable way, and what is worse, they waste the time of others.
They are not seeking for truth, but for controversy. It is quite as bad to
doubt everything you hear as it is to believe everything.

4. Remember that mere statement is not argument. The fact that you believe
a proposition does not make it true. In order to carry weight, a statement
must be based on principles and theories that _the audience_ believes.

5. Remember that exhortation is not argument. Entreaty may persuade one to
action, but in debate you should aim to convince the intellect. Clear,
accurate thinking on your own part, so that you may present sound, logical
arguments, is the first essential.

+Theme XLIV.+--_Prepare a written argument for or against one of the
following propositions:_--

1. Boys who cannot go to college should take a commercial course in the
high school.

2. Novel reading is a waste of time.

3. Asphalt paving is more satisfactory than brick.

4. Foreign skilled labor should be kept out of the United States.

5. Our own town should be lighted by electricity.

6. Athletic contests between high schools should be prohibited.

(Consider your argument with reference to the cautions given in Section
79.)

SUMMARY

1. The purpose of discourse may be to inform or to entertain.

2. The forms of discourse are--
_a._ Description.
_b._ Narration.
_c._ Exposition.
_d._ Argument (Persuasion).

3. Discourse presupposes an audience, and we must select a subject and use
language adapted to that audience.

4. The suitableness of a subject is determined--
_a._ By the writer's knowledge of the subject.
(1) This may be based on experience, or
(2) It may be gained from others through conversation and
reading.
_b._ By the writer's interest in the subject.
(1) This may exist from the first, or
(2) It may be aroused by our search for information.
_c._ By adaptability of the subject to the reader. It should be of
present, vital interest to him.

5. Subjects.
_a._ The sources of s