This week, you will write an argumentative essay. As the text points out, this is the apex of Bloom’s taxonomy, in which you now use all of the skills you have learned in creating a logical argument.
· Considering what you have written or where you are in the writing process, analyze and evaluate your own argument:
· Is it inductive, deductive, or a mixture of both?
· Explain the form(s) of inductive or deductive reasoning you have applied.
· Is your resulting argument valid/sound or cogent/strong?
· As you continue to work on your argumentative essay, consider where fallacies might creep into your reading or writing.
· Have you made a hasty generalization?
· Have you mistaken correlation for causation?
· What type of argument might most easily lead you to a slippery slope?
· Has a red herring or a straw man raised his head in your rebuttal to the opposing view?
· The fallacies we visited in the text were fairly obvious. Real life ones – not so much, which is why fallacies live on and thrive in writings and in speech. As the final part of this post, examine fallacies you may have committed in the past and propose strategies to avoid fallacies in your argumentative paper – and in life!