本帖最后由 KiKi~淇水滺滺 于 2009-10-8 15:12 编辑
ets introduction 摘抄
You will be given a choice between two Issue topics. Each states an opinion on an issue of broad interest and asks you to discuss the issue from any perspective(s) you wish, so long as you provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support your views.
You will not have a choice of Argument topics. The Argument task presents a different challenge from that of the Issue task: it requires you to critique a given argument by discussing how well reasoned you find it. You will need to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than to agree or disagree with the position it presents.
Your task is to present a compelling case for your own position on the issue. Be sure to read the claim carefully and think about it from several points of view, considering the complexity of ideas associated with those perspectives.
Although it is important that you address the central issue, you are free to take any approach you wish. For example, you might
• agree absolutely with the claim, disagree completely, or agree with some parts and not others
• question the assumptions the statement seems to be making
• qualify any of its terms, especially if the way you define or apply a term is important to developing your perspective on the issue
• point out why the claim is valid in some situations but not in others
• evaluate points of view that contrast with your own perspective
• develop your position with reasons that are supported by several relevant examples or by a single extended example
you should be able to use reasons, evidence, and examples to support your position on an issue.
if you are in favor of government funding for art museums only under certain conditions, you might focus on the artistic criteria, cultural concerns, or political conditions that you think should determine how—or whether—art museums receive government funds.
• carefully read the claim made in the topic and make sure you understand the issue involved; if it seems unclear, discuss it with a friend or teacher
• think about the issue in relation to your own ideas and experiences, to events you have read about or observed, and to people you have known; this is the knowledge base from which you will develop compelling reasons and examples in your argument that reinforce, negate, or qualify the claim in some way
• decide what position on the issue you want to take and defend—remember you are free to agree or disagree completely or to agree with some parts or some applications but not others
• decide what compelling evidence (reasons and examples) you can use to support your position
The questions you can ask to find the claim
• What, precisely, is the central issue?
• Do I agree with all or with any part of the claim? Why or why not?
• Does the claim make certain assumptions? If so, are they reasonable?
• Is the claim valid only under certain conditions? If so, what are they?
• Do I need to explain how I interpret certain terms or concepts used in the claim?
• If I take a certain position on the issue, what reasons support my position?
• What examples—either real or hypothetical—could I use to illustrate those reasons and advance my point of view? Which examples are most compelling?
They will see others that lead into the writer's position by making a prediction, asking a series of questions, describing a scenario, or defining critical terms in the quotation. The readers know that a writer can earn a high score by giving multiple examples or by presenting a single, extended example.
The important thing is the cogency of your ideas about the issue and the clarity and skill with which you communicate those ideas to academic readers.
To analyze it, consider questions such as these:
• What are the main differences between specialists and generalists? What are the strong points of each?
• Do these differences always hold in various professions or situations? Could there be some specialists, for example, who also need to have very broad knowledge and general abilities to perform their work well?
• How do generalists and specialists function in your field?
• What value do you think society places on specialists and generalists? Are specialists overvalued in some situations, and not in others?
• Does society really need more generalists than it has? If so, what needs would they serve?
If you find one view clearly more persuasive than the other, consider developing an argument from that perspective. As you build your argument, keep in mind the other points, which you could argue against.
In reading the argument, you should pay special attention to
• what is offered as evidence, support, or proof
• what is explicitly stated, claimed, or concluded
• what is assumed or supposed, perhaps without justification or proof
• what is not stated, but necessarily follows from what is stated
In addition, you should consider the structure of the argument—the way in which these elements are linked together to form a line of reasoning
you are being asked whether conclusions and inferences are validly drawn from the statements.
you are being asked to comment on the thinking that underlies the position stated.
you are being asked to evaluate the logical soundness of an argument of another writer
Argument
certain key concepts, including the following:
• alternative explanation—a possible competing version of what might have caused the events in question; an alternative explanation undercuts or qualifies the original explanation because it too can account for the observed facts
• analysis—the process of breaking something (e.g., an argument) down into its component parts in order to understand how they work together to make up the whole; also a presentation, usually in writing, of the results of this process
• argument—a claim or a set of claims with reasons and evidence offered as support; a line of reasoning meant to demonstrate the truth or falsehood of something
• assumption—a belief, often unstated or unexamined, that someone must hold in order to maintain a particular position; something that is taken for granted but that must be true in order for the conclusion to be true
• conclusion—the end point reached by a line of reasoning, valid if the reasoning is sound; the resulting assertion
• counterexample—an example, real or hypothetical, that refutes or disproves a statement in the argument
It is important to remember that you are not being asked to do a mathematical task with the numbers, percentages, or statistics. Instead you should evaluate these as evidence that is intended to support the conclusion. In the example above, the conclusion is that a community event has become less popular. You should ask yourself: does the difference between 100 people and 150 people support that conclusion? Note that, in this case, there are other possible explanations; for example, the weather might have been much worse this year, this year's event might have been held at an inconvenient time, the cost of the event might have gone up this year, or there might have been another popular event this year at the same time. Each of these could explain the difference in attendance, and thus would weaken the conclusion that the event was "less popular."
Consider the claim that the drama club at a school deserves more funding because its membership has increased by 100 percent. This 100 percent increase could be significant if there had been 100 members and now there are 200 members, whereas the increase would be much less significant if there had been 5 members and now there are 10. Remember that any numbers, percentages, or statistics in Argument topics are used only as evidence in support of a conclusion, and you should always consider whether they actually support the conclusion.
This argument cites a particular hospital statistic to support the general conclusion that “investing in high quality protective gear and reflective equipment” will reduce the risk of being severely injured in a roller skating accident.
In developing your analysis, you should ask yourself whether the hospital statistic actually supports the conclusion. You might want to ask yourself such questions as:
• What percentage of all roller skaters goes to the emergency room after roller skating accidents?
• Are the people who go to the emergency room after roller skating accidents representative of roller skaters in general?
• Are there people who are injured in roller skating accidents who do not go to the emergency room?
• Were the roller skaters who went to the emergency room severely injured?
• Were the 25 percent of roller skaters who were wearing protective gear injured just as severely as the 75 percent who were not wearing the gear?
• Are streets and parking lots inherently more dangerous for roller skating than other places?
• Would mid-quality gear and equipment be just as effective as high-quality gear and equipment in reducing the risk of severe injury while roller skating?
• Are there factors other than gear and equipment—e.g., weather conditions, visibility, skill of the skaters—that might be more closely correlated with the risk of roller skating injuries? | 
楼主: KiKi~淇水滺滺
发表于 2009-9-30 23:16:51
发表于 2009-11-5 07:29:57
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