. that Palomas instructor should allow Paloma to make up for the missed . given a make-up. . we also indicate that 5 ("Paloma should be given a make-up"), rather than 3, . | COMPLEX ARGUMENTS Well-Crafted Arguments The first step in analyzing and evaluating an argument is to indicate which statements in a passage are premises and which is the conclusion of the argument. For simple arguments, we can distinguish the premises from the conclusion by underlining premises, double underlining the conclusion, and ignoring any statements that are not part of the argument. (Using LogicWorks, we made the distinction by dragging premises and conclusions to different boxes.) Another technique is to construct what is sometimes called a “well-crafted version” of the argument. This technique has the advantage of working for arguments that are more complex than those we have considered so far. In constructing a well-crafted version of an argument, we will always: a. Write each premise and the conclusion on a separate line, with the conclusion coming last. b. Write the word “so” in front of the conclusion. (This will mean that any statement without “so” in front of it will be understood to be a premise. It will also mean that we will not need to use any other premise-indicators or conclusion-indicators.) c. Number each statement in the argument (whether premise or conclusion). d. Following the conclusion (and on the same line), place in parentheses the numbers of the statements that are premises for the conclusion. For an easy example, let’s apply these rules to a simple argumentative passage: (A) Paloma has a very high fever. No one with a very high fever can take an exam. Consequently, Paloma cannot take today’s exam. A well-crafted version of (A) will look like this: 1. Paloma has a very high fever. 2. No one with a very high fever can take an exam. So, 3. Paloma cannot take today’s exam. (1, 2) The numbers in parentheses – (1, 2) – following the conclusion mean that statements 1 and 2 are premises for the conclusion 3. We have seen many examples of passages that look very different in English but are in fact just different ways of expressing the .
