THE BRIEF I THE ARGUMENTATIVE BRIEF Introductory. The idea of the plan, or outline, is not new to the student of composition. Insistence upon a preliminary draft of the main points as a basis for subsequent elaboration into theme, essay, or oration has become a recognized convention of classroom practice. The practical value of this preliminary outline is hardly to be overestimated. The unsatisfactory results following from failure to prepare a bird's-eye view of the field, especially among public speakers, are familiar to all. A voluble orator, a fluent writer, frequently begins his work with a vague conception of the proposition that he wishes to advance or to defend; by a series of thought-associations he wanders easily from point to point; he unconsciously diverges farther and farther from the original issue; and ultimately he reaches a goal wholly foreign to the theme with which he originally set out. After faithfully listening to an oration or after reading an article of this character, it is by no means an uncommon experience to ask ourselves honestly what it is all about, and, perhaps, to assume blame for want of understanding or lack of attention. The fault, however, may resolve itself into failure on the part of the composer to organize his material into logical order, with the result that unity and coherence have gone by the board. On the other hand, it is generally recognized, especially among masters of homiletic composition, that an effort based on careful preliminary analysis secures a permanence in the mind of the auditor that cannot be secured otherwise. Many a sermon characterized by all the graces of rhetoric and masterly delivery, yet lacking in logical structure, produces seemingly deep effect; but it leaves little permanent impress an hour after the speaker's voice has ceased. On the contrary, a discourse that has been deliberately planned and earnestly presented is likely to remain a lasting memory and become a vital possession to its hearers. There is a rather general prejudice to the effect that the deliberate ordering of material in advance is fatal to the best interests of persuasion or conviction. Speaking of an enthusiastic student in one of our theological seminaries who was disposed to reduce all of his trial-sermons to analytical form, the instructor in homiletics remarked: "E is a good man, but he labors under the illusion that he can brief the love of God." The reply was to the point: "But is there any reason why he should not be able to brief what he has to say about the love of God?" A surprise is in store for one who carefully examines the great masterpieces of forensic and pulpit oratory: the extent to which they reveal careful coördination and systematic ordering of matter is noteworthy. It may be safely asserted that the effectiveness of a writer or a speaker will be greatly increased if he has, in advance, a definite and orderly conception of his thesis and of the successive steps whereby he proposes to establish it, - whether by exposition or by the processes of proof. The Brief defined. The term brief is included within the term outline, but is not synonymous with it. All briefs are, in a sense, outlines; but all outlines are not briefs. The brief possesses certain distinctive properties that differentiate it from the generic term under which it is included. Professor Henry S. Redfield, in his exposition of The |