Week 16: D3

I think that the topics of number could use more discussion because I found it quite interesting and none of us really talked about it. To me I always thought adding a number statistics to a statement or argument can make it stronger and valid, but apparently it does not work like that all the time. Often times it makes the claim misleading, even though it sounds so strong in the claim one is making. The concept of percentages was interesting because I see and hear it all the time. My high school claims that 100% of their graduates go to college. Even though it sounds like a very good number, we only have 50-60 people graduating every year. Compare that to a bigger high school, 50-60 people is nothing, because they can 1000 people graduating and 400 people going to college. Their stats will look better because 400 people are going instead of that 60. But no one will know the exact number unless they look into the school population. As numbers seem to be a nice factor in a claim because it sounds like there is a proof to back it up, most of the time it causes the claim to be weak.

Week 16: D2

I love how flexible this class is. I like how I am given a schedule of when things were due for the whole semester and I get to do it on my own time. It also helped me figure out my schedule and mange my time better. I also like how we have a week to take our quizzes and test. It gave people time to figure out when they will be ready to take the quiz or test.

I think the least favorite thing about this class was the group projects. Since it was an online class I found it hard to meet up with people to work on the projects. The idea of an online class is so that we can fit school in our busy lives and it was hard to adjust everyone’s life so that we can meet up for an hour or so for the project.

I cannot find anything that this class needs to improve on because it was a pretty good class. Wait, maybe one thing can be change...final exam online instead of a real meeting final at 8PM would have been nice. :)

Week 16: D1

I have learned what a good and strong argument should be like. I always thought a strong argument is an argument that makes a good point but really it is not. For example I learned what a criteria for a valid argument is. It means that an argument is valid if there is no possible way for its premises to be true and its conclusion false at the same time. Before this class I would make a lot of arguments that seems to be good, but really they were not. I would say things like “I should not do homework right now because I am hungry.” It was an excuse for me to not do my homework but really this is not a strong argument because my homework and hunger does not link together. This argument can be good if I added more premise to it, like when I am hungry I get easily distracted. I learn to add more specific details to my argument so it can be strong and valid, making it hard for someone else to break it down.

Week 13: D3

Chapter 15 discusses about cause and effect, which was an interesting chapter. The concept that I found useful from this chapter was the criteria for cause and effect.

The Necessary Criteria for cause and effect:
-The cause happened (the claim describing it is true)
-The effect happened (the claim describing it is true)
-The cause precedes the effect
-It is (nearly) impossible for the cause to happen (be true) and the effect not to happen (be false), given the normal conditions
-The cause makes a difference- if the cause had not happened (been true), the effect would not have happened (been true)
-There is no common cause

I thought that this was helpful because it a simple layout on what the criteria an argument to be considering a cause and effect. Out of these criteria’s I thought that the cause precedes effect was an interesting thought. This meant that the claim describing the cause has to come before the claim describing the effect becomes true.

For example, he was driving over the speed limit is consider a true statement which means that he got a speeding ticket is consider a true statement as well.

Week 13: D2

It was useful because there were a lot of links that click to learn more about a certain topic or work on exercises. It is easy to click on the links to get what you are looking for compare to searching for the topic in the book. The exercises got me to think about what I read and apply it by answering the questions. But the questions can get a little cheesy at times though. It covers a lot of the material that I already read about or learn through this class.

I am pretty sure it is just me, but I do not like the look of the website. It just does not look appealing for me to read the information on it so I would not have incentive to read it on my own. The website does explain the information very well. Even though it does explain a lot of material, I feel like the textbook is better than the website for the most part.

Week 13: D1

This website was helpful and useful because it explained the concept clearly. I also know now that cause and effect arguments are generally used in court cases because it is very effective. It gives a good picture at what is happening, which makes the argument stronger. I like how the website uses a very good example to explain the concept. It was a very relatable scenario because accidents like that happen all the time.

It also outlines what the strength of a causal argument is, which can be helpful when analyzing an argument.

1.How acceptable or demonstrable the implied comparison is.
2.How likely the case for causation seems to be.
3.How credible the “only significant difference” or “only significant commonality” claim it is.

The exercises were interesting as well. It makes me think about the strengths of the casual argument a little more. By having something to work with at the end, helps my understanding of the concept.

Week 12: D3

I thought that causal reasoning was a pretty interesting topic. Causal reasoning is when an event occur causes another event to happen. I also find that I do this type of reasoning almost everyday. For example when I discuss my schedule with people, it is hard to squeeze things to do when I have a lot of homework. I would say, I can’t hang out with you because that will take time. Which means that is the time I have for homework. I will either do the assignment poorly because I will rush it or I will not do it at all. This means I will fail the assignment. If I fail the assignment, my overall grade will drop. This also means I will have a lower GPA. Normally this guilt trip my friends and they will stop asking me to go do something with them when I have tons of homework to do. I also think that this reasoning is very effective because it is a chain event, which looks like one thing can cause many things to happen.