Student's Question of the Week
Q: How do I find arguments in my reading assignments?
A: You notice as a student that it is important to be able to follow the line of thought when reading, and to be able to express in class discussion and in essays the argument or conclusions put forth by authors. This skill grows upon the ability to find main ideas and notice the relationships between them.
This link to Gyrus's Learning Skills section on Critical Thinking helps you to do that very thing: find arguments in readings. Once you have found the structure of an argument, then you are in a position to analyze and evaluate whether it is a good argument or not. Ask your teachers for other tips they may have for identifying and evaluating arguments or conclusions in their subject areas.
Sources:
Copi, Irving and Carl Cohen. Introduction to Logic. New York: Macmillan, 1990.
Damer, Edward. Attacking Faulty Reasoning. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1992.
Ferrer, Mark, Doug Hector, Lee Anne Kryder, Gerry Lewin, George Michaels, Stan Nicholson, Jerry Pike, and Shirley Ronkowski. Gyrus: Rapid Online Course Development System. Angular Gyrus, Inc.: 1999-2001.