Welcome to the Unit 3 Seminar

Today, we’ll discuss:

• Finding references

• Incorporating information into our writing

• The Unit 4 project

• Logical fallacies

Finding resources:

Very important that sources offer reliable information. Things to look for:

• Author’s name and credentials. Can you trace the writer? Is he/she an expert in the subject matter?

• Peer-review: Many professional publications require that experts review the material first.

• Professional, objective tone: Sarcasm, name-calling, and negativity are clues to unreliability.

• Documentation: Does the article/book tell you where the information came from, so you can check it yourself?

Finding source material

• Be alert for bias

• Where to search for information

• Reading sources

• Using research to support your position

Spotting bias:

Bias, by itself, is not necessarily dangerous, and in fact can be almost impossible to avoid. But if you’re not alert for it, you can’t compensate for it.

• Websites, for instance: – .org: may have an agenda. For instance, norml.org

promotes marijuana legalization. us-english.org promotes making English the official language of the US.

– .gov: reasonably likely to be reliable. – .com: you’re in the wilderness here: keep your eyes open.

• Look at both sides: NORML has some great ideas and info. But you’re only going to see one side of the issue. Look elsewhere for the opposing view.

Places to look for info:

The KU Library subscribes to several excellent databases. Some examples:

• Academic Source Premier: Multi-disciplinary database of peer-reviewed publications.

• Business Source Premier: Like ASP, but focused on business and economics.

• ERIC: Focuses on education-related materials. • Newspaper Source: Full text for 230+ newspapers.• Also useful: GoogleScholar.com, an Internet search

engine restricted to peer-reviewed sources.

Reading source material:

Be an active, alert reader:• Read twice: Complex arguments may be hard to

understand fully the first time through. • Ask questions: What can I learn from this source?

Why was it written? What is its agenda? • Take notes: If you find interesting info, underline it,

highlight it, or make a note. • Keep track of sources: YOU are responsible for

crediting your sources. You should note down the source of every fact, idea, or statistic you use in your own paper so you can cite it--no exceptions.

Use research to support your points

• Remember that you are the author of your paper.

• That means that the information you use should illustrate your points, not vice-versa.

• Make your point, then use a quotation or key fact to support it.

• The reader should never be left to wonder why some particular fact or quotation has been included.

An example passage:

In the following passage, note that:• The topic sentence presents a general claim. • This claim is followed by more specific claims, all

made by the author of the paper. • These claims are backed up by supporting

information from references, including quotations. • Supporting information invariably follows a claim

made by the paper’s author. • Quotations do not introduce the point, but rather

illustrate it.

The topic sentence is very general:

Society must shoulder some of the blame as well. We live in a culture that places a great deal of significance on physical attributes. It is all about a more youthful, more attractive appearance and plastic surgery can often be seen as a quick fix solution. Plastic surgeons Mary H. McGrath, MD, MPH and Sanjay Mukerji, MD describe plastic surgery "as a way to gain a competitive edge” (Mann, 2001). Society is sending a message that more value is placed on women who are thinner and younger looking. Ann Kearney-Cooke, psychologist, stated, “the increase in cosmetic surgery among adolescents reflects a pernicious trend that pervades popular culture: the glorification of rail-thin, large breasted women … an unnatural body type rarely achievable without surgery” (Boodman, 2004). In fact, plastic surgery has become so acceptable that many girls are receiving breast implants and liposuction as birthday presents or graduation gifts. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) reported that from 2002 to 2003, the number of girls who got breast implants, aged 18 and younger, almost tripled from 3,872 to 11,326 (Boodman, 2004).

More specific claims follow:

Society must shoulder some of the blame as well. We live in a culture that places a great deal of significance on physical attributes. It is all about a more youthful, more attractive appearance and plastic surgery can often be seen as a quick fix solution. Plastic surgeons Mary H. McGrath, MD, MPH and Sanjay Mukerji, MD describe plastic surgery "as a way to gain a competitive edge” (Mann, 2001). Society is sending a message that more value is placed on women who are thinner and younger looking. Ann Kearney-Cooke, psychologist, stated, “the increase in cosmetic surgery among adolescents reflects a pernicious trend that pervades popular culture: the glorification of rail-thin, large breasted women … an unnatural body type rarely achievable without surgery” (Boodman, 2004). In fact, plastic surgery has become so acceptable that many girls are receiving breast implants and liposuction as birthday presents or graduation gifts. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) reported that from 2002 to 2003, the number of girls who got breast implants, aged 18 and younger, almost tripled from 3,872 to 11,326 (Boodman, 2004).

Quotations and statistics support those claims:

Society must shoulder some of the blame as well. We live in a culture that places a great deal of significance on physical attributes. It is all about a more youthful, more attractive appearance and plastic surgery can often be seen as a quick fix solution. Plastic surgeons Mary H. McGrath, MD, MPH and Sanjay Mukerji, MD describe plastic surgery "as a way to gain a competitive edge” (Mann, 2001). Society is sending a message that more value is placed on women who are thinner and younger looking. Ann Kearney-Cooke, psychologist, stated, “the increase in cosmetic surgery among adolescents reflects a pernicious trend that pervades popular culture: the glorification of rail-thin, large breasted women … an unnatural body type rarely achievable without surgery” (Boodman, 2004). In fact, plastic surgery has become so acceptable that many girls are receiving breast implants and liposuction as birthday presents or graduation gifts. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) reported that from 2002 to 2003, the number of girls who got breast implants, aged 18 and younger, almost tripled from 3,872 to 11,326 (Boodman, 2004).

Unit 4 project

• Fully developed thesis statement

• 3 specific claims or main points that support the TS

• How is your position challenged by the opposing position?

• 2 references: APA-formatted, annotated

An annotated reference tells the reader a little about the content of the source and how it’s relevant to your research. For example:

Deschamps, J., Roux, F., Sai, P., & Gouin, E. (2005). History of xenotransplantation. Xenotransplantation, 12 (2), 91-109.

This appears to be a strong source that explains how xenotransplantation came about and how it works. It should fit right in to my paper when I discuss some of the alternatives to our current system of organ donations. This is not a perfect solution and one thing the article points out is that there are some real technological hurdles to overcome before it can work.

SpottingLogical Fallacies

PROBLEM 1:

• Given: A certain executive directs his/her company in such a way that it earns an 11% annual return on its investments for FY 2010.

• Conclusion: This executive is very valuable.

• What unstated assumption must be true for the conclusion to be valid?

PROBLEM 2: • A woman’s career threatens a marriage because it makes the

woman financially independent of her husband. When a married woman depends on her husband for support, she is strongly motivated to stay with him. She knows that divorce would probably lead to a sharp reduction in her allowance and style of living, that she might have to move into smaller quarters, and give up many of the comforts and privileges she enjoyed while married. But if she has her own career, she can comfortably support herself, so she has no need for her husband. A two-career marriage, therefore, is far more likely to end in divorce than a marriage in which only the husband works.

• This argument depends on an unstated assumption. What is that assumption?

• What happens to the argument if the assumption is false?

PROBLEM 3:• You can’t trust any of Senator Whiffle’s criticisms

of the government, because he used to be a member of the Communist Party.

• Is there a problem with this argument? • What underlying assumption does it depend on? Is

this assumption sound?• This is an example of an “ad hominem” fallacy:

the criticism is directed at the speaker, not his argument.

PROBLEM 3:

• You can’t trust any of Senator Whiffle’s criticisms of the government, because he used to be a member of the Communist Party.

• Is there a problem with this argument? • What underlying assumption does it depend on? Is

this assumption sound?• This is an example of an “ad hominem” fallacy:

the critic attempts to discredit the argument by discrediting the person making it instead.

PROBLEM 4: • Given the large number of immigrants who

fail to learn English, it is high time we pass a constitutional amendment making English the official language of the US. If we fail to act, the diversity of languages will divide the country.

• What assumption(s) underlie the conclusion? Do you think this is a sound argument? Why/why not?

PROBLEM 4: • Given the large number of immigrants who fail to

learn English, it is high time we pass a constitutional amendment making English the official language of the US. If we fail to act, the diversity of languages will divide the country.

• What assumption(s) underlie the conclusion? Do you think this is a sound argument? Why/why not?

• This is a classic “false choice” fallacy. There are other solutions than the one presented which may actually solve the problem better.

PROBLEM 4: • Given the large number of immigrants who fail to

learn English, it is high time we pass a constitutional amendment making English the official language of the US. If we fail to act, the diversity of languages will divide the country.

• What assumption(s) underlie the conclusion? Do you think this is a sound argument? Why/why not?

• This is also a “slippery slope” argument: it is assumed without proof that a minor problem will lead inevitably to a much more severe problem.

PROBLEM 5:

• State College shouldn’t have fired Professor Waffle. He was enormously popular! Firing him is like throwing a popular politician out of office: it’s undemocratic.

• Problem?• A “false analogy”: professors aren’t employed

under the same conditions as elected officials.

PROBLEM 5:

• State College shouldn’t have fired Professor Waffle. He was enormously popular! Firing him is like throwing a popular politician out of office: it’s undemocratic.

• Problem?• A “false analogy”: The hiring of professors is not

a democratic process.

PROBLEM 6:

• Person A: We should adopt a single-payer medical system, because it will cost our taxpayers less money than our current system.

• Person B: Person A wants to let socialists take over the country. This is wrong for America.

• What just happened? • Person B distorted A’s position, then argued

against the distortion, not the original position. This is a “straw man” logical fallacy.

PROBLEM 6:

• Person A: We should adopt a single-payer medical system, because it will cost our taxpayers less money than our current system.

• Person B: Person A wants to let socialists take over the country. This is wrong for America.

• What just happened? • Person B distorted A’s position, then argued

against the distortion, not the original position. This is a “straw man” logical fallacy. “straw man” logical fallacy.

PROBLEM 6:

• Person A: We should adopt a single-payer medical system, because it will cost our taxpayers less money than our current system.

• Person B: Person A wants to let socialists take over the country. This is wrong for America.

• What just happened? • Also an example of “poisoning the well”: Person

A’s suggestion has been given a powerfully negative label. This makes objective discussion of the suggestion very difficult.“straw man” logical fallacy.

PROBLEM 7:• In the ancient but little-known European country Xonia,

members of the philosophical group the Plebes hold that certain things are bad because these things are against the philosophy of the group's founder. Other things, according to the Plebes, are good, because their founder approved of them. The Plebes condemn anyone, Plebe or not, who does things the Plebe founder disapproved of.

• What assumption(s) underlie the Plebe view?

• Do the Plebes have a logically sound basis for judging good and bad?

PROBLEM 7:• In the ancient but little-known European country Xonia,

members of the philosophical group the Plebes hold that certain things are bad because these things are against the philosophy of the group's founder. Other things, according to the Plebes, are good, because their founder approved of them. The Plebes condemn anyone, Plebe or not, who does things the Plebe founder disapproved of.

• Do the Plebes have a logically sound basis for judging good and bad?

• No: their condemnation depends on arbitrary assumptions held only by the Plebes, which are irrelevant to those with different assumptions (which of course may be equally arbitrary).