In the spirit of election day, here is a post about arguments and fallacies.
As you are looking to get started on doing some of those end-of-the-semester research projects, it is important to not only understand the arguments that are being presented in the books and articles that you find, but to also to be able to analyze your own arguments. Doing so will help you construct stronger arguments, and ultimately create a better research paper. PBS has created a series of videos covering 5 major fallacies, that will be helpful to analyze arguments not just for your research paper, but in your general intake of daily information, on the internet or otherwise.
So, when you’ve found those resources for your paper, (If you still need help with that, contact us!) think about the paper’s arguments in terms of these concepts. You may find that the resource’s arguments don’t stand up to the tests of these fallacies! If so, you should try to find something that makes a better argument, so your research is based on a solid founding.
Check out the videos for this series on fallacies below!