the structure of arguments

Correct & persuasive reasoning involves an argument. In fact, it is the argument that provides the (tangible) form and structure for us to make informed judgments as to the veracity of correct and persuasive reasoning that we encounter in business situations. Thus, it is the analysis of arguments that provides the initial focus of critical thinking. (Machina 2000, p. 37) specifically asserts that we must first understand the purpose and basic elements of an argument in order to "think critically" .

So, what is an argument? An argument is defined as "...any giving of reasons, evidence, or support for the claim that something is true." Importantly. there are two important elements involved in addressing arguments as the foundation of critical thinking in this course. The first element is argument identification, and the second element is argument evaluation. In this section, we will focus on argument identification in the writing of others.

Arguments at their most basic level consist of conclusions and premises.

When someone presents an argument for something, the evidence, reasons or support are directed toward establishing the truth of some conclusion. Thus, "the conclusion of an argument is the point that the rest of the argument is supposed to show to be correct or true. Brown and Keeley (2001) state that one can think of the basic structure of an argument to be, "This because of that." This refers to the conclusion; thatrefers to to the supporting premises. Key indicator words of a conclusion might include:

but	proves that
consequently	shows that
hence	so
indicates that	suggests that
in fact	the most obvious explanation
in short	the point I'm trying to make
it follows that	therefore
it is highly probable that	the truth of the matter is
it should be clear that	thus
points to the conclusion that	we may deduce that

Source: Seech, Zachary (2005).

Let's try an example from an advertisement for Shell Oil: We're all involved in the oil business. Every time we start our cars, turn on our lights, cook a meal, or heat our homes, we're relying on some form of fuel to make it happen.

So, is this an argument? If so, what is the argument? Ok, now let's try one a little longer by clicking here. Please note that the context of an argument is also very important to our understanding.

A final thought concerning conclusions is in order before progressing to a discussion of the supporting premises. Many, if not most, conclusions in business writing are not obviously stated. They must be inferred, i.e., they are derived from reasoning. This is often very difficult for students for at least two reasons. First, they often ignore the title of the article and any subtitle (these often relate the key point(s) the author is trying to make). Second, students tend to approach summarization by a process of word reduction. That is, they start deleting words from the article as a method of summarization. However,  this method is extremely poor when conclusions must be inferred.

Unsupported claims or conclusions are called opinions. Opinions (in a formal sense) are not very useful in business practice. That is, the absence of evidence means that there is no argument, only an opinion. In business, we most often demand conclusions supported by evidence. Each reason, piece of evidence, and each bit of data used in an argument in support of the conclusion is called a premise. Key indicator words of a premise might include:

also	for the reason that
as a result of	in addition
because of the fact that	in view of
first, ..., second	is supported by
for	researchers found that
for example	since the evidence is
for one thing

So, arguments are the mechanism to persuade others to accept our conclusions based on the premises we provide in support of our conclusions. One of the skills we will practice this semester is identifying the arguments, conclusions, and premises of progressively longer and more difficult articles. Please click hereor click here for two excellent (basic and short) primers on recognizing arguments. Please note that this emphasis on critical thinking is also consistent with ISU's pedagogical direction (see ISU's Center for the Advancement for Teaching and ISU's position statement on critical thinking).

The figure above presents an organizing schema for approaching the conclusions that you draw from any particular reading. Most student struggle separating explanations from endorsement conclusions. We strongly encourage readers to consider the framework above when identifying arguments to ensure that they are comfortable with the type of conclusion that they are advocating in their interpretation of an author's writing. Please remember that if you settle for the wrong overall conclusion (i.e., the main point that the author is advocating), then you are assured of evaluating the wrong argument (set of premises) using the critical thinking tools that you will be introduced to in this course (see Argument Evaluation).

It is also important to understand that arguments can vary in complexity. capturing argument complexity is really an exercise is thought organization. The figure above provides a framework through which to understand argument complexity. The essential point to understand is that premises, sub-conclusions, and conclusions should all represent singular and unique thoughts. I find it very useful to try to reduce potential premises, and (sub)conclusions to a few words capturing the key thought, and then to look for redundancy among the potential premises, and (sub)conclusions. Once the key thoughts are recognized, then they can be organized into a charitable interpretation of writing that also captures the "flow" (i.e., logic) of the writer.

By: Hanisah Abramsah

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