The Science Of Scientific Writing Set 6 Set 6-Assessing • Second page • Third page • Fourth page • Example • Exercise 1 • Exercise 2 • Exercise 3 • Exercise 4 • Exercise 5 • Exercise 6 • Final Page Set 6.
OVERVIEW: The way to well-written science
PART I: Paragraphs and Sentences...
SET 1: The Parts of Arguments
SET 2: Indicator Words
SET 3: Refining Claims
SET 4: Locating Arguments in Prose
SET 5: Rationale's Essay Planner
SET 6: Assessing
SET 7 : More on Assessing
Consider this argument:
'That NASA is an equal opportunity employer is apparent from the fact that they employ female astronauts like Roberta Bondar and Mae Jemison'
Here's the map:
Let's think about
the quality of the reasoning, rather than the
structure. Here's the evaluated map, which uses color coding and icons
to show the evaluation:
This evaluation indicates that the basis gives good support to the reason, but the reason provides only weak support for the position - so we'll take no stand on the position.
Why did we evaluate it this way? Basically the problem is that even though NASA has hired these two women, this argument doesn't tell us whether NASA has hired more than two women, or whether NASA hires people from all races (which an 'equal opportunity employer' would do). To see the step-by-step process of this evaluation click here.
Content of this page drawn in whole or part from the Austhink Rationale Exercises with permission from Austhink.