Page 205 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

192 GUIDE TO IMPORTANT SKILLS

Specific questions

How do I use analogies?
By comparing items and drawing conclusions based on their similarities. (See
pp 99-100.)

How do I avoid making assumptions in my essays, presentations, and
reports?
Do not take the truth of a claim—or its relationship with other claims—for
granted; stop and think about what your audiences expect you to do and what they
already know. (See pp 7, 11-12, 73-4, 122-7.)

How can I begin to understand the audiences of my arguments and
explanations?
Regard your audiences as having certain expectations about what you should say to
them and how you should say it, as well as certain background knowledge that
directly affects your reasoning. (See pp 63-4, 73-4, 81-6, 122-7.)

What is casting?
Casting is a process of recovering the analytical structure from another author's
narrative. (See pp 32-4, 135-49.)

How do I write about causes and effects?
Reasoning from cause requires you to use premises that state the cause(s) of an
effect that is expressed in the conclusion. (See pp 95—6, 110.)

What do I need to know about claims in order to use them effectively in
planning my reports, essays, and presentations?
You must attend to their key properties and express them precisely. (See pp 11-14,
57-61, 86-7.)

How do I plan complex argument structures?
A complex argument structure is just a series of overlapping, intertwined simple
arguments. (See pp 36-8, 53-4, 65-8, 71-4.)

Why is context so important in reasoning effectively?
No argument or explanation (text) is ever written or read in isolation: background
(or context)—which includes the expectations, assumptions, and implied
concepts of both author and audience—always affects the text. (See pp 11-12,
81-6, 122-4.)

How do I go about using definitions in my work?
Make sure that your definitions are clear and are integrated in the main structure
of your reasoning. (See pp 47-8, 57-8, 100.)