Lesson: Analytic Writing Asessment - 02

Argument Analysis: Key points

In "Analysis of an Argument," you're given an author's conclusion and the evidence s/he uses to support it. Test wants to see whether you can:

• sum up the argument's structure;
• point out the argument's weaknesses; and
• identify ways of improving the logic.

Argument

In day to day life, people often use "argument" to mean a quarrel between people. But in logic and critical thinking, an argument is a list of statements, one of which is the conclusion and the others are the premises or assumptions of the argument.

Sound a lot like the skills you've been developing for Critical Reasoning questions? You bet it is! All of that work you've been doing - on identifying evidence, conclusion, and assumptions, and strengthening and weakening arguments - will have a positive impact on your Essay grade, as well as your Verbal sub score and overall test score.

What Test Maker Want?

Take care of the basic question "what the test maker want from you to explore and express?" If you are clear about the contents and theme of the given question statement along with the question prompt, you will be able to write what he wants.

Next to display next topic in the chapter.

A good rule of thumb is that your reader should be able to get the gist of your entire argument just by skimming the first sentence of each paragraph. Remember, your reader is probably going to devote no more than 3 to 5 minutes to your essay. Take a few minutes at the beginning of your AWA to outline the five sentences that will begin your paragraphs; this strategy can make your reader’s job far easier, and a happy reader is probably more apt to make those tricky 4/5 line calls in your favor. Similarly, the e-reader is programmed to assess organization, and well-written topic sentences that use transition words and clearly state the point of each paragraph are a big help in creating the kind of organizational structure that earns you points on test day.