[原创]AWA 6 分

其实都是站在NN 和 其他CDers的肩膀上。 但是最有感受的是一CDer说的思路. I am slow in typing Chinese. Please allow me to write in non-native language. That CDer说的思路 is that the body paragraph should include FOUR elements: the author's logical flaw, why so, counter-example or other reasons, and reiterating the flaws. In this way, even if you forget the exact wording of prepared template, the struture of the paragraph is perfect.

Also, my experience is that three body paragraphs are better than only two. And I would like to note that AWA has nothing to do with your writing skill. I got 4.0 three months ago even though I have 4-year undergraduate study in U.S.

It is helpful to go over all the AA topics and get a rough idea of the logical flaws by analysis.

The following is the template I used for AA. I don't have a template for AI. [ the boldfaced is what I used on the test date, plus causual oversimplication]

In this argument, the author concludes(recommends) that…… The conclusion(recommendation) is based on the evidence(result of the survey/study) that…. In addition, the author assumes….. This argument, appearing to be reasonable at the first glance, suffers some critical flaws that seriously undermine the conclusion(recommendation) upon a close scrutiny, and accordingly is not well-reasoned. The logical flaws of the argument will be discussed respectively.

In the first place, the author relies on the gratuitous assumption that reason .... However, no evidence is provided in the argument to support/bolster/corroborate/ this assumption. There are many other factors that may have caused or contributed to the result of .... It is possible that ...It is equally possible that ...Any of these scenarios, if true, would prove/show/demonstrate that ….Therefore, without ruling out other factors or presenting corroborative evidence, the author’s assumption is unwarranted /The author cannot conclusively asserts that…. [this para. is also applicable to "causal oversimplication"]

In the second place, the author commits the fallacy of “After This, Therefore, Because of This”. The line of reasoning of this argument is that because ...occurs Before ...., the former is responsible/causes the later. Without further evidence to support it, the causal claim based on the correlation is premature. For example, probably ...is the cause of these events or ...is caused by D. While ...may have been a causal factor in ...., to argue that it is the cause without additional information and auxiliary hypothesis that make a causal connection plausible is to commit the of “After This, Therefore, Because of This” fallacy.

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In the third place, the validity of the survey/poll on which the argument relies is doubtful in itself because the survey/poll cited by the author is too vague to be informative. As far as the procedure of the survey/poll is concerned, the author neither mentions when and how the survey is conducted, nor indicates what the sample size is and how the sample is selected [the other relevant circumstance involved in the survey]. For example, if 200 persons were surveyed but only 2 responded, the conclusion that….would be highly questionable. Until these questions are answered, the result of this survey is worthless as evidence to corroborate the conclusion.

In addition, the author unfairly assumes that there is no other alternative besides ….. and ….., However, the arguer fails to provide justification to guarantee that those two are indeed mutually exclusive alternatives and that there is no room for a middle ground.

Furthermore, The author commits the fallacy of “all things are equal” and unfairly assumes that A will remain unchanged over a long period of time. However, in this argument, it is not clear whether the current conditions at….are the same as they used to be 10 years ago. Relying on the limited evidence of the comparison/ conclusion, the author can hardly convince us that…..

The author commits the fallacy of Faulty Analogy. This argument rests on the assumption that A is analogous to B in all respects. Although there are points of comparison between A and B, the two have dissimilarity as well. For example, … Thus it is unscrupulous to declare that ….

[insufficient sample, or biased sample(sample that is not representative of the  population under consideration) Finally, the evidence the author provides is insufficient to support the conclusion draws from it. One or two example is not logically sound to establish a general conclusion. The statistical data/inference drawn from a few recent years are not necessarily a good indicator of future trends, unless it can be shown that A is representative of all…, It is possible that….. . Based on the limited evidence, the conclusion that…. Is unwarranted.

In conclusion, the author fails to substantiate that claim that …[COPY/PASTE conclusion in 1^st paragraph]. Therefore, it is not acceptable nor persuasive as it stands. To make this argument logically sound, the author would have to provide more evidence to justify that A is the cause of B,./to rule out other possibility that…