Sunday, April 25, 2010

Argument, Chapter 9




Summary:

This chapter demonstrates good and poor arguments, and the skills of argument building, analysis and evaluation. An argument must be read/heard without criticism or bias in order to comprehend the material accurately, since they are meant to persuade. Five questions can help you analyze an argument: what is the source?; what is the issue of controversy?; is it an argument or a report?; how is the argument structured in terms of reasons and conclusion?; and what are the strengths and weaknesses? First, you should identify the reasons, and lastly define the conclusion. An argument can leave out important information, a critical thinker looks for what is missing, such as definitions, reasons and conclusions, and facts or information. We should also pay attention to the information provided, searching for discrepancies, contradictions, incongruities, and inconsistencies in order to make sure that what we are reading/hearing is true and concise.


Reflection:

I felt this was a very informative chapter. It broke down arguments and how to distinguish a strong one from a poor one. Defined basis of arguments and reminded the reader to search for missing information that could have been purposely left out to help persuade its point, or just missed which can make it invalid or less persuading. Also reminded you to look a little deeper into the information provided to determine if its true and consistent. I really liked this chapter and will keep this information in mind when dealing with this type of situation.

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