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Week 2 · Module overview

Week 2 — Analyzing Arguments

Critical Thinking Free sample edition

Welcome to your Week 2 Start Here page.

Why this matters

A nursing student checking what a care plan takes for granted and a business major reading a manager's memo about a four-day week both need to see exactly what they are being asked to accept.

In plain language

This week is about writing an argument out so you can see every piece of it. You will learn standard form (a layout with each reason on its own numbered line and the main claim on the last line). You will learn to find an unstated premise (a reason the speaker needs but never says) and write it in, marked so everyone knows you added it. You will practise the principle of charity (reading an argument in its most reasonable form, without adding views the speaker never held). Finally, you will draw an argument map (boxes and arrows that show which reasons work together and which stand alone), and you will always say the map in words too.

  • Already covered: Week 1 taught you to find an argument's conclusion and stated reasons.
  • This week: standard form, supplied premises, charity, and argument maps.
  • How they connect: you lay out the argument you learned to find.
  • Where we're going next: Week 3, Deductive and Inductive Reasoning.

Focus

What exactly does this argument say, step by step, including the step the arguer left out?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • [ ] write an argument in standard form
  • [ ] supply and mark an unstated premise
  • [ ] pick the weakest premise that closes the gap
  • [ ] tell linked from independent premises on a map

To-do

Plan your week

  1. Read Chapter 2 (about 40 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
  2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
  3. Do the Argument Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
  4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: write the running question in five lines with P3 marked supplied, and say in words how its premises connect.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

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