Page 140 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

PLANNING AND CREATING YOUR REASONING 12 7

• Is the relevance of each premise clear?
• Do they provide sufficient support to satisfy the burden of proof?
• Are all the claims well founded (either self-evidently, or with authority, or with
reasoning)?
• Are the claims clear and understandable?
• Is there coherence between the scope and certainty of premises and conclusions?
• What issues are not covered by the argument as it stands? (And should they
be included?)
• Is it clear why some reasons are not being considered?
• Are the value judgments in this reasoning clearly outlined and argued for?

Exercise 9.2

Using the same issue that you worked on in exercise 9.1, write down a series of
questions that will help you to establish the internal dimensions of your topic
(how premises relate to one another and to the conclusion; how further claims
relate to the premise; and so on).

Using the analytical structure for planning

Different sorts of plans
Usually, when we are told to plan our arguments and explanations, we are given
advice about how to create a good narrative flow or sequence. For example, many
excellent books on writing discuss the need to plan written work so that we move
from the introduction through each of the main points to the conclusion. For each
stage of the work, these books give advice about what is required to make the
resulting essay or report readable and effective. These books also refer to the idea of
'mind-mapping', in which, rather than trying to write down our thoughts and ideas
in a linear sequence (as they will appear in final written form), we should begin by
'mapping' them all over a piece of paper, drawing lines to connect them together
and adding new ideas that expand on what is already there.
Both planning methods have their advantages but only if we use them at the right
time, with a clear understanding of their purpose, and knowing what each represents.
They share one important feature: by externalising thoughts, that is, putting them on
paper, they enable us to reflect and think through what it is we are doing. A written
sequence plan should be developed last, just before we commence writing. The
purpose is similar, really, to the table of contents in this book. The narrative plan guides
us and reminds us what, in turn, we need to write about within the narrative sequence.
It represents, in summary form, the order in which we are going to write our narrative.
A mind-map should be used first, before we have really begun to think about what
exactly we want to argue or explain. Its purpose is to aid us in 'brainstorming' the
jumbled mass of ideas and possible connections—to get them down on paper so we
can think more clearly about them. It represents the initial 'pool' of knowledge in our