Reading 2: Asking the right questions

Chapter 2- What’s the issue and what’s the conclusion?

1. What’s an issue? Complete the following statement with suitable words.

An issue is a question or controversy responsible for the conversation or discussion. It is the
stimulus for what is being said.
2. What’s an example of an issue?
a. Technology industry
b. Should guns be illegal in the US?- prescriptive issue
c. Should we take the fourth Covid vaccine? – prescriptive issue
d. Vietnamese women in the new age
e. How can we improve graduate employability?- prescriptive issue
3. Which of the followings are examples of Prescriptive issues?
a. What ought to be done about the unemployment in North America?
b. Do couples who have separate friends argue less with one another?
c. What causes diabetes?
d. Must we increase border security in order to prevent terrorism?
e. Should the United States and its allies pull out of the Middle East?
f. How much will a new house cost in 2025?
4. Fill in the blanks with suitable words
A conclusion is the message that the speaker or writer wishes you to accept
A conclusion is derived from reasoning. Conclusions are ideas that require other ideas to support
them.
5. Identify the conclusion in the following paragraph.
Some paleontologists/ˌpæliɒnˈtɒlədʒɪst/ have suggested that Apatosaurus /əˌpætəˈsɔːrəs/, a huge
dinosaur, was able to gallop. This, however, is unlikely (indicator words), because galloping
would probably have broken Apatosaurus’s legs. Experiments with modern bones show how
much strain they can withstand before breaking. By taking into account the diameter and density
of Apatosaurus leg bones, it is possible to calculate that those bones could not have withstood the
strains of galloping.
(A) Galloping would probably have broken the legs of Apatosaurus.
(B) It is possible to calculate that Apatosaurus leg bones could not have withstood the strain of
galloping.
(C) The claim of paleontologists that Apatosaurus was able to gallop is likely to be incorrect.
(D) If galloping would have broken the legs of Apatosaurus, then Apatosaurus was probably
unable to gallop.
(E) Modern bones are quite similar in structure and physical properties to the bones of
Apatosaurus.
*paleontologists/ˌpæliɒnˈtɒlədʒɪst/: a person who studies fossils

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Reading 2: Asking the right questions

6. Identify the issue in the following examples

a. The question I want to raise is not "What is Art?", but a more manageable variant: "How do
we tell when something is or is not an artwork?"

b. Just as many people once thought marriage between blacks and whites should be illegal, now
a majority think same-sex marriage should be illegal. Gay and lesbian couples can love each just
as devotedly as heterosexual couples.

c. As an actor I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems.
I believe mankind has looked at climate change in that same way: as if it were a fiction, as if
pretending that climate change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away. But I think we
know better than that. Every week we’re seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence
that accelerated climate change is here right now. Droughts are intensifying, our oceans are
acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather
events, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice-sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades
ahead of scientific projections. None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The
scientific community knows it, industry knows it, governments know it, even the United States
military knows it. The Chief of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear,
recently said that climate change is our single greatest security threat.

 Issue: Should we look at climate change as if it were a fiction and not real in the hope of
making it go away someday?

The question should be more straightforward: Is climate change real?

7. Read the following passages and locate the issue and conclusion.

a. How can anyone with the right mind criticize the state police for the speed trap? If you’re not
speeding, you don’t have to worry about it. It could save your life if some other speeders are
stopped.

 Conclusion: No one in his right mindWe should not would criticize the state police for the
speed trap.

Issue: Should we criticize the state police for the speed trap?

b. Corporate managers are always interested in techniques for increasing the productivity of their
workers. One interesting suggestion made by productivity consultants is to pipe music into the
work area. Several recent studies have explored the extent to which different types of music
affect workers output. The primary hypothesis examined in the studies was that soft-rock music
would prove the greatest aid to productivity. The research has found almost universally that
country and western music is the greatest inducement to efficiency. Therefore, corporate officials

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Reading 2: Asking the right questions

should seriously consider playing country and western music as a stimulus to worker
productivity.

 Issue: Should managers consider playing country and western music to consider music as an
efficient means of increasing increase the productivity in the workplace?

 Conclusion: Therefore, corporate officials should seriously consider playing country and
western music as a stimulus to worker productivity.

c. Getting in your run early certainly has its advantages. Those who develop the first-thing-in-
the-morning routine tend to be more consistent in their training…. Morning runs also avoid the
heat and peak air pollution. You can enjoy your run without carrying along all the stress that
builds up during the day. Early-morning runs . . . save time too by combining your morning and
postrun shower.

 Conclusion: Getting in your run early certainly has its advantages.

Issue?

d. Shop at the farmer’s market. You’ll begin to eat food in season, when they are at the peak of
their nutritional value and flavor, and you’ll cook, because you won’t find anything processed or
microwavable. You’ll also be supporting farmers in your community, helping defend the
countryside from sprawl, saving oil by eating food produced nearby, and teaching your children
that a carrot is a root, not a machine-lathed orange bullet that comes in a plastic bag.

 Conclusion: Once you start shopping at the farmer’s market, you will no longer go for any
food that has been processed or microwavable but begin to eat seasonal products and cook
yourself.

e. Thinking instruction in elementary and secondary education should not be limited to the
honors program. Everyone needs thinking skills to meet the demands of career and citizenship.
More important, everyone needs such skills to realize his or her potential as a human being. The
highest of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, self-actualization, is unachievable
without the ability to think productively. Thus, to deny meaningful instruction in thinking to
students below a certain IQ or proficiency level is to deny them an essential part of their
humanity. Similarly, the constitutional guarantees of freedom to speak, to choose one’s own
religion, and so on, lose much of their meaning when only some individuals are trained to
evaluate and choose among competing views.

 Conclusion: Thinking instruction in elementary and secondary education should not be

limited to the honors program.

Issue?

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Reading 2: Asking the right questions

f. School tests should be abolished. Tests introduce competition where it does not belong. They
deny the individuality of students’ talents and interests. They degrade education by encouraging
passivity, mindlessness, and triviality. Finally, they send the wrong messages about what is
valuable in education and in life.

 Conclusion: School tests should be abolished.

Issue?

g. The rule of equal incomes is socially impracticable. It would deter the great majority of the
more efficient from putting forth their best efforts and turning out their maximum product. As a
consequence, the total volume of product would be so diminished as to render the share of the
great majority of persons smaller than it would have been under a rational plan of unequal
distribution.

 Conclusion: The rule of equal incomes is socially impracticable.

Issue?

h. True/false and multiple-choice tests have well-known limits. No matter how carefully
questions are worded, some ambiguities will remain. The format of the questions prohibits in-
depth testing of important analytic skills. Students can become so “test savvy” that objective
tests measure test-taking skill as much as subject-matter content.

 Conclusion: True/false and multiple-choice tests have well-known limits.

Issue?

Chapter 3- What are the reasons?

1. Fill in the blank with suitable words

Reasons are explanations or rationales for why we should believe a particular conclusion
and other statements offered to support or justify conclusions.
2. Determine whether the following statements are true or false.
a. A reason answers the question “Why does the speaker/writer believe that?”  T
b. Any idea that seem to be used to support the conclusion should be considered a reason.  T

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Reading 2: Asking the right questions

c. An argument is the combination of the issue and the conclusion.  F

d. An argument can contain a single reason.  F Not correct
e. All arguments have a conclusion, though the conclusion may not be explicitly stated.  T
f. An argument has to be persuasive in order to be called an argument.  F Not correct ( The
quality of arguments varies. Some arguments can be stronger than some others.
g. All attempts to persuade others are called arguments.  T (not correct)

3. When someone selects certain reasons to support a conclusion he already has, this kind
of reasoning is called
a. Backward reasoning
b. Strong- sense critical thinking
c. Managed reasoning
d. Reverse logic
Three correct answers: A, C, D

4. Determine which of the following passages contain arguments. For any that do,
identify the argument’s conclusion and reasons.
a. Mandatory school uniforms are a good idea because they keep students’ mind focus on their
schoolwork rather than on what the kid sitting next to them is wearing.

 Conclusion: Mandatory school uniforms are a good idea

 Reason: they keep students’ mind focus on their schoolwork rather than on what the kid
sitting next to them is wearing

b. Computers will never be able to converse intelligently through speech. A simple example
proves this. The sentences “How do you recognize speech?” and “How do you wreck a nice
beach?” have different meanings, but they sound similar enough that a computer could not
distinguish between the two.

 Conclusion: Computers will never be able to converse intelligently through speech

[c.]  Reason: pop up the conclusion above by an example on the ability of computers to
distinguish among sentences that sound similar but convey meanings. The sentences “How
do you recognize speech?” and “How do you wreck a nice beach?” have different meanings,
but they sound similar enough that a computer could not distinguish between the two.

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Reading 2: Asking the right questions

Unless people invest in computers for their home, they are going to be left behind in the huge
technological changes affecting our lives. Computers have become so much cheaper than they
used to be. Most children feel entirely comfortable with them.

Not an argument

c.[d.] Children will be able to do their school work much better if they have access to a computer
at home. The price of home computers has fallen considerably over the past few years. So
parents should buy a computer for their children to use at home.
An argument
d.[e.] The ship comes into port at 7.30. Passengers disembark 30 minutes later. Therefore, the
customs officers will be on duty by 7.55

 Conclusion: the customs officers will be on duty by 7.55

 Reasons: the ship comes into port 7.30; passengers disembark 30 mins later

Not an argument

e. The forest fire was caused by some campers cooking on a barbecue and leaving the still-hot
remains on the ground. If we are to reduce the risk of such a fire happening again, we must
forbid camping in the forest.

 Conclusion: we must forbid camping in the forest if we want to reduce the risks of campfire

 Reason: some campers cooking on a barbecue and leaving the still-hot remains on the
ground

5. For each passage in this exercise, identify the reasoning structure (if any)
a. Let me tell you why Hank ought not to take that math course. First, it’s too hard, and he’ll
probably flunk it. Second, he’s going to spend the whole term in a state of frustration. Third,
he’ll probably get depressed and do poorly in all the rest of his courses.
- Conclusion: Hank ought not to take that math course
- Reasons:
+ it’s too hard, and he’ll probably flunk it
+ he’s going to spend the whole term in a state of frustration
+ he’ll probably get depressed and do poorly in all the rest of his courses

b. Pollution of the waters of the Everglades and of Florida Bay is due to multiple causes. These
include cattle farming, dairy farming, industry, tourism, and urban development. So it is simply
not so that the sugar industry is completely responsible for the pollution of these waters.
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Reading 2: Asking the right questions

- Conclusion: the sugar industry is not solely responsible for the pollution of the waters of
the Everglades and Florida Bay
- Reasons: cattle farming, dairy farming, industry, tourism, and urban development.

c. It’s clear that the mainstream media have lost interest in classical music. For example, the
NBC network used to have its own classical orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini, but no
such orchestra exists now. One newspaper, the no-longer-existent Washington Star, used to have
thirteen classical music reviewers—that’s more than twice as many as the New York Times has
now. H. L. Mencken and other columnists used to devote considerable space to classical music;
nowadays, you almost never see it mentioned in a major column.
- Conclusion: the mainstream media have lost interest in classical music.
- Reasons: give specific examples
+ NBC network has lost it classical orchestra that its once had.
+ The demise of a newspaper called Washington Star which used to have 13 classical
music reviewers (the writer also made a comparison with another present newspaper like
NYT)
+ One more reason

d. The United States puts a greater percentage of its population in prison than any other
developed country in the world. We persist in locking more and more people up despite the
obvious fact that it doesn’t work. Even as we build more prisons and stuff them ever more
tightly, the crime rate goes up and up. But we respond, ‘Since it isn’t working, let’s do more of
it’! It’s about time we learned that fighting criminals is not the same thing as fighting crime.
- Conclusion: locking more and more people up does not work in terms of fighting crime
- Reasons: even as we build more prisons to stuff the criminals, the illegal-act ratio keeps
climbing up

e. In 2007, the Dominican Republic banned the sale of two brands of Chinese toothpaste
because they contained a toxic chemical responsible for dozens of poisoning deaths in
Panama last year. The company that exported the toothpaste, the Danyang Household
Chemical Company, defended its product. “Toothpaste is not something you’d swallow,
but spit out, and so it’s totally different from something you would eat,” one company
manager said.
Identify the reasoning structure of the manager’s speech*
No argument- There is an argument.

f. Letting your children surf the Net is like dropping them off downtown to spend the day doing
whatever they want. They’ll get in trouble.
No argument There is an argument.

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f. Bilingualism and multilingualism confers many benefits. Speakers of more than one
language have a better understanding of how languages are structured because they can
compare across two different systems. People who speak only one language lack this
essential point of reference. In many cases, a second language can help people to have a
better understanding and appreciation of their first language.
- Conclusion: Bilingualism and multilingualism confers many benefits
- Reasons:
+ have a better understanding of how languages are structured because they can
compare across two different systems/ contrast to the monolinguals
+ better understanding and appreciation of their first language

g. I cannot agree with people who say that smacking children does them no harm. Of
course, it harms them, both physically and emotionally. Hitting another person is assault
and it would not be tolerated against an adult. Many adults have no sense of cruelty of
smacking precisely because they were smacked themselves as children and erroneously
regard this as normal. They then go on to assault other vulnerable people, perpetuating a
vicious cycle.
No argument There is an argument.

h. It was found that many drivers become drowsy when travelling and that long hours at the
wheel were a major cause of accidents. As a result, more stopping places were set up
along motorways to enable drivers to take a break.
- Conclusion: stopping places setting up along motorways to enable drives to take a break
- Reason: long-hours drive makes drivers become drowsy and cause accidents unwantedly
- No argument