|
Logic: Introduction and Some
Advice
"I know what I meant to say, but I can't
make my words say it." If you have ever heard yourself saying that, you
may have had problems with logic: the way your paper conducts thought through
language.
For purposes of this handbook, logic is not a
formal philosophical study, but simply a writer's clear reasoning. A logical
paper isn't a narrow and linear argument, but a consistent instruction in its
idea. When you write, try to think of yourself as teaching your ideas to a
group of peers who have read the same sources and heard the same lectures as
yourself. This imaginary teaching role may help you bring ideas across and
avoid sloppy thinking.
We all indulge in sloppy thinking on occasion:
it simplifies the world, it takes shortcuts through laborious reasoning, it
relieves us of the burden of evidence. But in writing papers you will argue
more effectively, both for your ideas and against those you reject, if you
recognize how bad thinking works. In the following examples of illogic, the
writer has failed to make true connections between the part (evidence,
statistics, analogies) and the whole (idea, argument, conclusion).
Misuse
Of Evidence
Generalizations
|
