Elements of Reasoning

W6 Assignment “Elements of Reasoning and Intellectual Standards”

Strategies for Decision Making

Elements of Reasoning and Intellectual Standards

For our assignment this week, you may choose either Option A or Option B. Regardless of the option you choose, be sure to read through the entire assignment directions before crafting your essay.

Additionally, use the Week Six Assignment Organization Guide to help you organize your paper.

HU260 W6 Assignment Organization Guide (attached)

OPTION A

Using the Eight Elements of Reasoning that were outlined in week two (purpose, problem, information, concepts, assumptions, inferences, points of view, implications, or consequences) choose a news article and break it down according to those elements. Make sure you address each of these elements. If one of these elements does not apply to your article (rare), address that in your essay and explain how the article could have been improved by including it or how the author is justified in leaving it out.

Option B

Describe how each of the Eight Intellectual Standards (clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness) were used or not used in the article, supported by an example. If one of these standards does not apply to your article (rare), address that in your essay and explain how the article could have been improved by including it or how the author is justified in leaving it out.

For either option you choose:

Write an introduction identifying the reasons for choosing either Option A or Option B and justify your reasoning.

In the conclusion of your essay, describe how you feel the article is biased.

Keep in mind, for either option you are being asked to analyze the article/author itself/himself/herself, NOT the topic discussed. Do not include your own opinion/position on the topic being addressed.

Your completed assignment should be 500- words in length. If you use sources in your writing, be sure to identify them. If you use any direct language from a source, be sure to place those words in quotation marks.

Answer preview……..

The article, “Turning the tide against cholera,” by D. McNeil for The New York Times, is about the latest renewed efforts to end the disease of cholera. The author reports that scientists may have found a way to stop the cholera pandemic that emerged from the deep mangrove swamps of Sundarbans, India. The author wrote the article because it concerns a subject that “garners panicky headlines when it strikes unexpectedly in places like Ethiopia or Haiti” (McNeil, 2017). Cholera is an ongoing threat in many countries in the world and over a billion people are at risk. The central question he is addressing is how the new scientific developments are going to be used to end the disease. The article uses the eight elements of reasoning to convey its message effectively……

APA 581 words