1. 1 WRITING THE ACADEMIC PAPER ——Logic and Argument Tao Yang 2007-11-19

2. 2 Outline  WHAT IS AN ARGUMENT  UNDERSTANDING FORMAL LOGIC  REVIEWING THE ARGUMENT'S EVIDENCE  AVOIDING LOGICAL FALLACIES

3. 3 WHAT IS AN ARGUMENT  The fundamental elements of a good argument  a thesis that declares the writer's position  an acknowledgment of the other points of view;  a set of clearly defined premises  evidence that validates the argument's premises;  a conclusion for a finished argument  More important is that how to sound a argument

4. 4 UNDERSTANDING FORMAL LOGIC  an argument can be logical without necessarily being true  Syllogism: two premises and a conclusion  Examples:  Argument comes from premises  All women are brilliant.  I am a woman.  Therefore, I am brilliant.  Everyone who has been exposed to the E-Boli virus has died.  John Q. has been exposed to the E-Boli virus.  John Q. will die.

5. 5 UNDERSTANDING FORMAL LOGIC  in any syllogism all premises must be true (or considered true) if the argument is to stand  Murder is a terrible crime.  Abortion is murder.  Abortion is a terrible crime.  Deduction: from general to specific  All watchdogs bark at strangers.  When X was murdered, the dogs did not bark.  X was not killed by a stranger.

6. 6 UNDERSTANDING FORMAL LOGIC  inductive reasoning  observe the specific(s) and move to the general  Relationship between reasoning induction and deduction  Induction major premise of syllogism  Induction will fail if observation is wrong

7. 7 REVIEWING THE ARGUMENT'S EVIDENCE  make sure the evidence is fair, objective, and complete  Have we suppressed any facts?  Have we manipulated any facts?  Do we have enough evidence?  Do we have too much evidence?  Is our evidence current? Reputable?

8. 8 AVOIDING LOGICAL FALLACIES  Logical fallacies are mistakes in reasoning.  they undermine the strength of an argument  Hasty Generalization:  little evidence; biased evidence  Either/Or Fallacy:  Only two possibilities when in fact there’re several  Non Sequitur:  conclusion does not follow logically from the premise  Ad Hominem:  Arguing against the man instead of against the issue

9. 9 AVOIDING LOGICAL FALLACIES  Red Herring:  Distracting attention to an irrelevant issue  Circular Reasoning:  Asserting a point that has just been made  False Analogy:  Wrongly assuming that because two things are alike in some ways  Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc:  The mistake of assuming that, because event a is followed by event b, so event a caused event b  Equivocation:  Equates two meanings of the same word falsely