November 6, 2007 Archives

This is the assignment I asked you to draft on Google Docs. When you have finished, upload your final version to Turnitin.com as usual.

Assignment: Use facts, logic, or your own personal experiences to disagree with a statement of fact or opinion. Avoid trading bumper sticker slogans here -- nothing on abortion or similar hot-button issues, because no 200-word paragraph is likely to end decades or centuries of debate. Stick to something of a more modest scale. You must also cite the source of the claim you feel is a misconception. "Some people say" is not a citation -- it's far too vague.

On Sept. 23, Jay Leno opened his monologue with yet another joke about Britney Spears. When he said, "[This example is hypothetical, so I'm going to leave the joke part blank,]" he promoted a common stereotype about blond women, who seem to have to choose between being physically attractive and having more brain cells than a houseplant.

For decades, my aging Cousin Gertrude lived alone, brushing off her suitors by saying "Look before you leap." At her funeral last week, a man who had proposed to her unsuccessfully about once every ten years said, "She who hesitated, is lost."

• Falling numbers of pirates, rising global temperature
• Correlation vs. Causation
• Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

Selected Logical Fallacies

• False Dichotomy
• Ad Hominem
• Non Sequitur
• Hasty Generalization
• Circular Reasoning
• Red Herring
• Loading the Question
• Slippery Slope
• Post Hoc (Ergo Proper Hoc)