Page 158 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: NARRATIVE AND STRUCTURE 145

The most difficult paragraph in the text. First of all, the two sentences which I
have combined as claim 26 might appear to be two claims. Since they are stating
'two sides of the coin', we might better represent them as one claim, even though
the words are split over two sentences. Claim 25 shows a similar 'they are not—
they are' pairing which is, effectively in this case, one claim.
What this example demonstrates is the lack of clarity of casting: it is an
inexact science, in many cases depending on the way that a particular reader
interprets the passage, rather than on all readers agreeing with a single inter-
pretation. While we might use casting as an exercise to understand better analyt-
ical structure and logic, we should not confuse the exercise with practice. If the
specific goal of the exercise of casting is to decide on the claims and their
structure, its more general goal is to improve your understanding so that the 'real'
goal—better critical thinking in your own writing—is more obtainable. Here are
two interesting features:
k. I have indicated earlier in this book that questions can be thought of as
'claims-in-prospect' or, more fully, that a question is the way we propose a
claim so as to then find the answers we need (the reasons) that will either
support or reject that proposed claim. This question demonstrates the
point. It says 'But what makes it hard for some students to grasp the essen-
tial elements of this relatively simple argument as to why they must refer-
ence, even as they dutifully follow out the instructions to 'reference
correctly' laid out for them by teachers?', which in fact helps us to under-
stand what the paragraph is attempting to do. It is not arguing that students
do find it hard ... it is seeking to explore the reasons, the 'what makes it
hard'.
1. Be careful! In this special case 'because' is part of the claim. The claim is
claiming a link between the effect (ignoring referencing) and the cause (not
failure to grasp, but failure to see them as relevant). Hence, in this case,
because does not signal two separate claims.

The difficulty with the next paragraph (and, indeed, the previous one) is
that it relies on many assumptions and already-established ideas from the rest
of the text. Moreover, the paragraph combines explanation (explaining why
something happens) and argument, in that it argues for one explanation over
another.
[Students in general then fail to understand the need to reference.]32
because [they do not see how the very sensible arguments in favour
of referencing apply to them]33. Thus, in terms of the cultural under-
standing of student identity—of 'who students believe themselves to
be'—we can see that [students probably fail to reference effectively
because they are not motivated by genuine self-interest as writers,
but instead by the dubious and failure-prone motivation of obedi-
ence.]34