What are the Issue and the Conclusion?

UI100 13&76

Issue & Conclusion

What are the issue and the conclusion of someone’s argument?

Before we can evaluate someone’s reasoning, we have to first figure out the issue and the conclusion.

Issue & Conclusion

Turn to page 13 in your text

Issue & Conclusion

Does the person who wrote these paragraphs want you to believe something?

What does that person want you to believe?

Issue & Conclusion

If a person writes an editorial, magazine article, or book – that person is doing so because he/she want you to believe something.

Issue & Conclusion

Your job as a critical thinker is to discover what that is – that something that they want you to believe.

Issue & Conclusion

When looking at a situation that you may be trying to break down – there are two kinds of issues that you will typically encounter.

kinds of issues

Issue & Conclusion

Descriptive Issues: Those that raise questions about the accuracy of descriptions of the past, present, or future.

Examples:– What causes AIDS?– Do obese people have more emotional

problems that non-obese people?– Who won the presidential debate?– How much will college cost in the year 2010?– Can a child’s IQ be raised by a stimulating

environment?

Issue & Conclusion

Issue & Conclusion

These issues are all around you and they reflect our curiosity about patterns in the world.

Issue & Conclusion

Prescriptive issues: Those that raise questions about what we should do or what is right or wrong, good or bad.

Examples:– Should capital punishment be abolished?– Is it desirable to fluoridate drinking water?– What ought to be done about unemployment?– Should people be required to retire at a certain

age?

Issue & Conclusion

These kinds of questions demand answers that suggest the way the world ought to be. These issues are moral or ethical issues.

Issue & Conclusion

Issue & Conclusion

Social controversies are usually prescriptive issues such as “should marijuana be legal?” or “does everyone have the right to own a gun?”

Issue & Conclusion

How do you determine the issue in an argument?

Sometimes the writer/speaker will tell you the issue.

For example:– The question I am raising is whether taxes are

too high in our country.– Should sex education be taught in the school?– Why isn’t our present educational system

working?

Issue & Conclusion

If the question is not explicitly stated, the first step is to find the conclusions – which can be difficult to do.

You must ask yourself, “What is the writer/speaker trying to prove?”

Issue & Conclusion

Issue & Conclusion

Turn to page 16 in your text

Issue & Conclusion

How to find the conclusion:– Ask what the issue is– Look for indicator words

Turn to page 17 in your text

Issue & Conclusion

Turn to page 18 in your text

Issue & Conclusion

Issue & Conclusion

Always remember to – Look in likely locations– Remember what a conclusion is NOT

Always help your readers and listeners out by giving them your conclusion.

Require yourself to declare a thesis.

Issue & Conclusion

Issue & Conclusion