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Three things I’ve learnt from or with my students this past week
- Even though sometimes we can feel or sense the logical fallacies in an argument we’re reading or listening to, it can be much harder to articulate why an argument is invalid.
When we discuss logical fallacies in our Six-month Writing Course here at T&e we talk through how taking a moment to go through the logical fallacies you know and seeing if any are applicable can be helpful here.
Logical fallacies common in the media at the moment include:
- Strawman - when you misrepresent the counterargument in their own words and argue that instead of the actual issue at hand.
- Invalid Slippery Slope - when someone argues there are no logical stopping points between the argued event and the extreme version of what that event cound lead to, when in fact there are many points between the two events which could change the outcome.
- Golden Mean - assuming that the middle ground between two arguments is most correct because it’s in the middle.
- Often writing out of order is helpful.
With an English student last week we took an approach where he wrote out the main arguments first, then came back to the introduction. Once they had finished the introduction they looked back at the arguments and saw they didn’t match. So they rewrote the introduction again to line up with the arguments.
- At some points in improving writing, increasing the quality helps. At other points, focus moves to quality.
Working with an ESL student recently, we increased the amount of words they write for homework by 50 words each week. Now they are writing 500-700 words weekly pretty regularly. Next, we’ve moved our focus each week to improving one element of the grammar, the sentence structure or the complexity of the vocabulary.
Two quotes about writing
“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
― Mark Twain
"I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."
― Markus Zusak
One suggestion
Next time you write a draft of something, try writing the arguments, then go back and write the introduction. First, check they aren’t directly contradicting each other. Then check they line up.
Happy writing,
Jaye Sergeant
Founder & Lead Tutor of Turtle and elephant
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