Evaluation - FIVE W’S OF WEB SITE EVALUATION

WHO
Who wrote the pages and are they an expert?
Is a biography of the author included?
How can I find out more about the author?

WHAT
What does the author say is the purpose of the site?
What else might the author have in mind for the site?
What makes the site easy to use?
What information is included and does this
information differ from other sites?

WHEN
When was the site created?
When was the site last updated?

WHERE
Where does the information come from?
Where can I look to find out more about
the sponsor of the site?

WHY
Why is this information useful for my purpose?
Why should I use this information?
Why is this page better than another?

©2001-2009. Kathy Schrock. All rights reserved. Page may be reproduced for classroom use.

Categorical Syllogisms: Testing Categorical Syllogisms for Validity

Testing Categorical Syllogisms for Validity

There are several methods for testing for validity. A popular method is that of Venn diagrams. Another makes use of rules that depend on the notion of distribution.
The method we will use is that of refutation by logical analogy. We do so because it makes use of the central concept of deductive logic--validity. An argument is said to be valid if it is impossible to have true premises and a false conclusion. In other words, if there is any argument that has true premises and a false conclusion, then one knows that the form is invalid.
Identifying examples of argument patterns that show invalidity is to make use of a counter example procedure. By identifying a single instance in which a particular syllogistic pattern produces a false conclusion from true premises, the method of refutation by logical analogy shows that a syllogism is unreliable or invalid. It cannot be counted on 100 percent. It will sometimes yield a false conclusion.
It is not the case that every argument with an invalid form will have only the combination of true premises and a false conclusion. There can be several possibilites:

	true major premise, false minor premise and true conclusion
	false major premise, false minor premise and false conclusion
	true major premise, true minor premise and true conclusion

These are just some of the possibilities. There is only one impossible situation: valid argument pattern, true premises and a false conclusion. If one finds a particular argument form that has true premises and a false conclusion--even if sometimes this same form has some other combination of true and false premises and conclusion--then one knows that this form is invalid. It just takes one occurrence of true premises and a false conclusion to show that an argument pattern is invalid. Here is how it works. Say we have the following pattern:

	No plates are dogs.
	No rooms are plates.
	Therefore no rooms are dogs.

Each of the statements is true. Perhaps the syllogism is valid. But, then, upon experimentation we produce the following analogous syllogism. It has exactly the same form, EEE-1, but we use different terms:

	No kangaroos are cows.
	No Jerseys are kangaroos.
	Thus no Jerseys are cows.

Here we have true premises, but a false conclusion! It is not the case that "No Jerseys are cows."
So our analogous syllogism has produced a counter example. The EEE-1 form has produced a false conclusion from true premises. It is not just this syllogism that is the problem; the form itself is unreliable.
The promise of a deductive argument is that one can trust that if one has true premises then one will get a true conclusion. But, as this instance shows, the form EEE-1 has failed! It only takes one counter example to show a form to be invalid. Remember we said we expected 100 percent reliability. So if fails a single time, then it is invalid--even though it may work many, if not most of the, times.

Limitations of the Method

Given enough imagination and patience one could work through all 256 possible categorical syllogisms, discovering those that are invalid. The remaining ones would be valid. But this is the method's limitation. It often requires exceeding imagination and persistence to discover that a syllogism is invalid. One might think of a counter example right away, but often one has to do considerable experimenting to discover one.
Accordingly, other, more mechanical methods have been devised, such as the traditional rules (the middle term must be distributed at least once, if a term is distributed in the conclusion it must be distributed in the premise, etc.) and Venn diagrams.
But to learn these rules requires one to invest more effort than what I think useful in this course. I would prefer us to build on the notion of validity presented thus far and proceed to the propositional calculus, which is one part of modern, symbolic logic.
But before doing so we will spend some time practicing the method of refutation by logical analogy.

Categorical Syllogisms Standard Form

Standard Form Categorical Syllogisms

A syllogism is composed of two statements, from which a third one, the conclusion, is inferred. Categorical syllogisms are syllogisms made up of three categorical propositions. They are a type of deductive argument, that is, the conclusion (provided the argument form is valid) follows with necessity from the premises. Here are two examples:

	(1)	All Greeks are mortal.

		All Athenians are Greeks.

		Therefore all Athenians are mortal.


	(2)	All mammals are animals.

		All humans are mammals.

		Therefore all humans are animals.

Such arguments were formulated by ancient Greek logicians and have been used by logicians ever since. Hence the trite examples. Both of these categorical syllogisms have the same form. Each one has two premises and a conclusion. The first premise in a standard form categorical proposition is the major premise; the second is the minor premise. The two premises share a common term, called the middle term. In the first example, the middle term is "Greeks"; in the second, "mammals". Since each one has the middle term in common, we cannot distinguish between the premises by means of the middle term. What indicates that the first premise is the major premise is the presence of the predicate term of the conclusion: "mortal" in the first example; "animals" in the second. Similarly, the minor premise contains the subject term of the conclusion--"Athenians" and "humans" respectively. The form of these two syllogisms--and of every other Figure 1 (figure will be explained below) standard form categorical syllogism--can be easily displayed:

	Major Premise:		Middle Term		Predicate Term

	Minor Premise:		Subject Term		Middle Term

	Conclusion:		Subject Term		Predicate Term

Moreover, each of the three propositions in each example is an A proposition: All S are P. Thus we can display the form again, calling attention not only to the position of the terms, but also to the kind of propositions used:

		Major Premise:		All M are P.

		Minor Premise:		All S are M.

		Conclusion:		All S are P.

http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/logic/

Categorical Propositions

Categorical Propositions

Categorical propositions are assertions about members of categories or classes. Every categorical proposition is a statement about the members of two classes and their relationship to one another. For example,

No bachelors are married.Some Volkswagons are not made in Germany.

These sort of subject-predicate statements are the kind found in a form of logic, known as Aristotelian, traditional or categorical syllogistic.Aristotle (384-322 BCE) was the first to study ways of arguing and formulate logic as a discipline. The form of argument that he identified and systematized used subject-predicate statements in a syllogism (two premises and a conclusion). Because this was the form of logic that, for all practical purposes, was used until the nineteenth century, it is known as traditional logic. Because it was first worked out by Aristotle, it is also known as Aristotelian logic. And, finally, because it deals with categorical statements in a syllogistic form, it is known as the logic of the categorical syllogism. Because we will study a modern form of this traditional or Aristotelian logic, we will refer to it as the categorical syllogistic.
Although modern logic has modified this traditional logic and indeed gone beyond it, the categorical syllogistic is worthy of study for two reasons. One, traditional logic has played a major role in the history of western thought. Indeed, it is the logic most people recognize as logic. Two, the categorical syllogism is a relatively accessible deductive system. It employs a limited number of propositional forms and its syllogisms can be tested for validity without too much technical difficulty. Moreover, one encounters categorical syllogisms in ordinary language. So, we will begin our study of deductive logic with an up-dated version of the traditional syllogism. But to do this, we need to study the categorical proposition more closely.

The Four Kinds of Categorical Propositions

As noted earlier, a categorical proposition is a statement that relates two classes, or categories. The two classes in any given categorical proposition are placed in a subject-predicate relationship. Something is predicated, or said about, some subject. What is said is that a class (indicated by the subject term) is either included in or excluded from the class indicated by the predicate term. Thus, to refer to one of the examples above, "No bachelor is married" states that the class indicated by the subject term (bachelors) is not found at all in the class indicated by the predicate term (married persons). Similarly, to say that all Catholic priests are male is to observe that everyone who is a Catholic priest (the subject term) is included in the male-class (the predicate term).
There are four kinds of categorical propositions. Using "S" and "P" as symbols (to stand for "subject" and "predicate"), they are

Universal affirmative:     All S are P.            

Universal negative:         No S are P.

Particular affirmative:     Some S are P.

Particular negative:         Some S are not P.

The words "all" and "some" are called "quantifiers" because they indicate the quantity of the subject. That is, they specify how much of the subject class is included in the predicate class. ("No" indicates that zero members are included.) The verb in a properly expressed categorical proposition is always some form of the verb "to be", and is known as the "copula". Thus we get the following schema:

quantifier:    all (every), no, somesubject:        the class which is included in or excluded from the predicate
copula:         is, are, was, were
predicate:     the class of which the subject is or is not a part

This analysis does not, however, clearly indicate whether a proposition is affirmative or negative in quality. An affirmative proposition is one that states that the subject is included in the predicate class; a negative one that the subject is excluded from the predicate. Thus, a
more complete scheme would add:

negative qualifier:     no, not

Since the four basic categorical propositions have a subject and predicate term and a copula, one way to distinguish them is by their quantity and quality. Each proposition will be universal or particular (distinguished by quantity) and affirmative or negative (distinguished according to quality). Thus, above, we were able to distinguish them as follows:

Universal affirmative:     All S are P.Universal negative:         No S are P.
Particular affirmative:    Some S are P.
Particular negative:         Some S are not P.

The Square of Opposition

There is another way to distinguish these four propositions. We can arrange them in a square of opposition. This indicates that the universal affirmative and particular negative are contradictories and that the universal negative and particular affirmative are contradictories. That is, if one contradictory is true, the other must be false. Here is a table sorting the four propositions according to quantity and quality:

	Affirmative	Negative
Universal	All S are P	No S are P
Particular	Some S are P	Some S are not P

Traditionally, the universal affirmative proposition was called "the A proposition and the particular afirmative was called "the I proposition." (The letters "A" and "I" come from the first two vowels in the Latin word, affirmo, "I affirm.") The universal negative proposition was called "the E proposition" and the particular negative was called "the O proposition" (so called, from the vowels in the Latin word, nego, "I deny"). We will follow this use, referring to the propositions as "A, E, I and O propostions." So this gives us a chart that looks like this:

	Affirmative	Negative
Universal	A	E
Particular	I	O

http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/logic/

Logic Glossary

Logic Glossary

from http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/logic/logiglos.html

Affirming the consequent

Like denying the antecedent, affirming the consequent is a formal fallacy. The fallacy lies solely in the form itself. It has the following pattern: if p then q, q, therefore p. Any argument that fits this pattern is invalid, that is, even if the premises are true, the conclusion that follows from these premises may not be true. Whereas, a valid form guarantees that, if the premises are true, the conclusion will be true. Indeed, if an argument has a valid form and true premises, then it is impossible for the conclusion to be false.

Argument

An argument is a piece of reasoning with one or more premises and a conclusion. Arguments are usually divided into two kinds, deductive and inductive. So defined, an argument is to be distinguished from a disagreement. One may use an argument, in the logician's sense, in order to win an argument, in the everyday sense of a dispute. Clearly the logician's "argument" is not as dramatic as a verbal fight. For an example of an inductive argument see argument from analogy; for an example of a deductive argument see hard determinism.

Argument from analogy

An argument from analogy is an argument that has the form:

All P are like Q
Q has such-and-such characteristic.
Thus P has such-and-such characteristic.

Thus, for example, a few years ago one Republican congressman, who had been a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, argued in a caucus prior to the election of the Speaker of the House:

Not voting to re-elect Newt Gingrich would be like abandoning your wingman.
Abandoning your wingman is wrong.
So not voting to re-elect Newt would be wrong.

One evaluates such an argument by examining the analogy. It is a weak analogy, and thus fallacious, if there are not many similarities. For instance, in this example there is some similarity between the two situations. The Congressman no doubt felt that with Speaker Gingrich having been charged with ethics violations that he was under attack as a fighter pilot's wingman could be. But there are also dissimilarities. Voting for Speaker of the House is not a life-or-death situation. Moreover, n combat, one neither gets to choose one's wingman nor one's mission. Yet it is the obligation of a congressman to vote for the officers of the House of Representatives as s/he sees fit.
Here's a stronger analogy:

Premise: Learning logic is like learning a foreign language.
Premise: You can't learn a language by cramming; you have to study it regularly.
Conclusion: You can't learn logic by cramming; you have to study it regularly.

Notice the form is the same for a weak or a strong analogy. What makes a weak analogy fallacious is not the pattern of reasoning but a lack of compelling similarities to warrant the alleged one.

Conclusion

A conclusion is the supported claim that is being made. In an argument one expects that a claim will be supported with reasons or premises. Moreover, these premises will be true and will, in fact, lead to the conclusion. Hence arguments can be evaluated as to how well they do this: Are the premises true? Is the reasoning good?

Conditional

A conditional statement is an if-then statement and consists of two parts, an antecedent and a consequent. The antecedent, or that which goes before, is preceded by the "if"; the consequent, or that which comes after, may be preceded by a "then". English sentences sometimes reverse the order: John studies hard if he thinks that he will do well in a class. But the logic of this sentence is: If John thinks that he will do well in a class, then he studies hard. Here the antecedent is "John thinks that he will do well in a class" and the consequent is "he studies hard".

Consistency

Consistency is much prized in reasoning. Ideally, one would like for one's beliefs to fit together without any contradictions. Consistency is the intuitive notion that is the basis for the understanding of validity: we expect true premises to lead to a true conclusion. When we find that we have true premises and a false conclusion we lack consistency between premises and conclusion and know that the argument form is invalid.

Contradiction

A contradiction occurs when one asserts two mutually exclusive propositions, such as, "Abortion is wrong and abortion is not wrong." Since a claim and its contradictory cannot both be true, one of them must be false. Few people will assert an outright contradiction, but one may fall into an inconsistency.

Counterexample

A counterexample is an example that runs counter to (opposes) a generalization, thus falsifying it. A TV newscast that limited its coverage of "mayhem and misery" (in Bob Inman's phrase) would falsify a claim that all local TV newscasts focused on crime and disasters. Consequently, careful thinkers avoid rash generalizations (see hasty generalization) by qualifying their generalizations. If there are local TV newscasts that do not focus on "mayhem and misery," one could say, "Most local TV newscasts focus on "mayhem and misery."

Deductive

A deductive argument is one that derives the truth of the conclusion from the truth of the premises. If the argument form, or structure of the argument, is valid, then the conclusion will always follow from the premises. The hard determinism argument below is an example of a deductive argument that makes use of two modus ponens arguments in which the conclusion of the first serves as the premise of the second, or so it appears.

Denying the antecedent

Denying the antecedent, like affirming the consequent, is a formal fallacy. Denying the antecedent has the following form, or pattern: if p then q, not-p, therefore not-q, or

if p then q
not-p
------------
not-q

Both formal fallacies are easily confused with two valid argument forms: modus ponens and modus tollens. Here is an analysis of the four forms according to affirmation-denial and antecedent-consequent:

	antecedent	consequent
affirm	(1)modus ponens	(2)affirm the consequent
deny	(3)deny the antecedent	(4)modus tollens

(1) and (4) are valid argument forms; (2) and (3) are invalid.

Dilemma

In popular use a dilemma can be almost any sort of difficult choice, but in logic a dilemma is a choice in which there are only two options, attractive or not. One can refute a dilemma, that is, show that is not a real dilemma, by finding a third possibility.

Disjunctive Syllogism

If there are only two possibilities, one of which is true, and then, if one is eliminated, the remaining one is true. Hence the following argument form:

Either X or Y
Not X
Therefore Y

This form of argument is a disjunctive syllogism. It is a syllogism, that is, an argument with two premises, and one of the premises is a disjunction. Here is an ordinary language example:

Either you pass logic or you do not graduate.
You will not pass logic.
Therefore you will not graduate.

Fortunately, the first premise is not true. Hence the argument, while valid is not sound.

Empirical

From a Greek word meaning "to experiment," it is used by philosophers to mean that which has to do with sense experience.

Empirical generalization

Empirical (or inductive) generalizations are general statements based upon experience.

Most student desks in older classroom buildings at UNC Charlotte have gum stuck underneath the desk tops.

A good generalization will be developed from a large number of varied experiences. For instance, one could offer as a justification for the previous generalization:

I've looked underneath several desks in several classrooms.

Generalizations drawn from a small number of instances or from anecdotal evidence are said to be hasty generalizations.

Explanation

An explanation identifies the cause of an event, thus answering the question why something is what it is or why it occurs. Historical explanations show how something came to be what it is. For instance, Old Shell Road in Mobile got its name because at one time the street was paved with shells dredged from Mobile Bay. A scientific explanation identifies the conditions that must be present for something to occur. For instance, an explanation of why matches light would identify, among other things, the presence of oxygen, a phospherous tip, a wooden stick and friction.The following example, contributed by Lee-Marie Davis, a student in one of my critical thinking classes, explains why a particular explanation is an explanation:

Explanations identify causal relationships. They tell why or how something happens. The following is an example of an explanation:My father was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago. Of course, one of the very first questions out of his mouth was, "Why did this happen?" The doctor explained to my dad that he fit into three categories of risk factors that contribute to the onset of cancer in some patients. The first category that the doctor said my did fit into was that he had a history of cancer in his family. The second category was that my dad had smoked for almost 30 years, and the third category was that my dad had gone through a period of high stress.
This is an explanation because the doctor tells my dad why he had cancer. The doctor gives him three reasons that had put my dad at risk for lung cancer. He told him that he fit into the risk categories of family history, high stress and was a smoker. The explanation of the doctor helped my dad better understand why he had the cancer by telling him the cause of the cancer.

Fallacy

A fallacy is an attractive but unreliable piece of reasoning, or affirming the consequent and denying the antecedent. Informal fallacies include begging the question, composition, division, equivocation, false cause, false dichtomy, hasty generalization, personal attack, red herring, slippery slope, straw man, weak analogy. There are many other examples of bad reasoning that have been identified by logicians, but these are enough to illustrate the idea of a fallacy.

Form

Arguments often exhibit one or more reasoning patterns. These patterns, such as modus ponens or an argument from analogy, are called forms and are to be distinguished from the content of the actual argument. Just as a coffee cup or mug has a distinctive shape and is distinguishable from what you put it (the coffee or content), so argument forms are identifiable and not to be confused with the actual premises and conclusions used.

Hard determinism

Determinism is the view that all events are caused. One form of determinism, one that pushes the notion of universal causation to unacceptable consequences, is hard determinism. Here, in summary form, is an argument for this extreme view. I offer it as an example of a flawed deductive argument:

1. All events are caused.2. If all events are caused, then there are no free actions.
3. There are no free actions (from 2 and 1 by modus ponens).
4. If there are no free actions, then there is no personal responsibility.
5. There is no personal responsibility (from 4 and 3, once again, by modus ponens).

There is nothing apparently wrong with the form of this argument, for modus ponens is a valid argument form. Unless one is prepared to accept the consequences that we lack both freedom and responsibility, then one must find some other error.

Hasty Generalization

A generalization based on too little or unrepresentative data. The relevant rule that it violates is: Generalizations should be based on a large number of various representative examples. Here is a note I once received from a student (the names have been changed):

Mr. Eldridge, As you notice, I was not in class Thursday, due to the flu. I gave my paper to Justin because he was going to class. On Sunday, I found out he did not attend class. Here is my revised paper. Let's hope this will work! Now, I've learned not to trust other people. Laura Walker

Hasty generalizations should not be confused with the fallacy of composition. In a hasty generalization one infers a general statement on the basis of an atypical instance; whereas in the fallacy of composition you take something that is true of each of the parts and attribute to the whole. Composition, like division, confuses distribution and collectivity (whether something is considered individually or as a whole); hasty generalizations infer something to be true generally on the basis of a limited number of unrepresentative instances.

Inconsistency

Inconsistency is to be avoided, for it indicates error. It is an implicit contradiction. An inconsistent set of statements will not be an outright contradiction but will lead to one. For example, if one declares:

All UNC Charlotte students are hardworking.
Jim Schwartz is a UNC Charlotte student, and
Jim Schwartz is lazy,

then s/he is being inconsistent. There is no contradiction here, such as,

Jim Schwartz is hardworking and Jim Schwartz is lazy,

but, clearly, there is an inconsistency. For if all UNC Charlotte students are hardworking, then it is impossible for Schwartz to be a UNC Charlotte student and not be hard-working. It is implicitly contradictory to say that Schwartz is UNC Charlotte student (and thus hard-working) and to claim that he is lazy, that is, not hard-working. See consistency.

Inductive

Unlike deductive arguments, inductive ones promise only probability, not certainty. Thus, if one argues that having watched several different newscasts in several different cities on many different nights one may infer that newscasts emphasize, in Bob Inman's phrase, "mayhem and misery", then one is making an inductive argument. (In this case, an inductive (or empirical) generalization. Another kind of inductive argument is an argument from analogy. Inductive arguments are judged by their reliability, where one expects only a high degree of probability, not one hundred percent reliability as with deduction.

Logic

Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It both describes and evaluates the way in which we draw inferences. Inferences are formulated as arguments and then evaluated as to their validity and soundness. The aim is to find generally reliable (see inductive) or always reliable (see deductive) arguments. Although logicians describe our reasoning patterns, this task is more properly the work of psychologists. The logician's primary concern is normative--how we should reason. The value of this ancient enterprise, which can be traced back to Aristotle and his predecessors, notably Zeno of Elea, is well expressed by the British philosopher, Patrick Shaw, in the preface to Logic and Its Limits (Oxford University Press, 1997):

         Most of the time, the ordinary person does think straight. In countless ways social life depends on doing so. Balancing the housekeeping money, locating a fault in a wiring system, planning a day out--all involve, tacitly or otherwise, working out what is compatible with what. I cannot spend this pound and save it; if the bulb works in another socket then the fault does not lie in the bulb; either we catch the five o'clock train or we will not be able to get to the concert. These are the kind of commonplaces that underpin any sort of planned, purposive behaviour. They are largely taken for granted, and any mistakes in reasoning quickly run up against the harsh corrective of experience.         Problems arise when the test of experience is neither so immediate nor overwhelming. People speculate on what the facts might be when the facts are not obvious; and they disagree in their speculations. Also people pronounce upon, and disagree about, what ought to be the case, or whether one thing is better than another. They are not disagreeing about what is the case, so they cannot appeal straightforwardly to experience.
         When these kinds of disagreement occur, when the competing claims cannot be easily and obviously tested, attention is bound to turn to the route by which a cotnroversial conclusion was reached. We are forced to become self-conscious about the reasoning process. How far reasoning will take us remains to be seen, but so far as it leads we must be sure that it is sound.

Modus ponens

A valid argument form, not to be confused with affirming the consequent, modus ponens consists of a conditional statement and one other premise. The second premise affirms the antecedent of the conditional, yielding the consequent as the conclusion:

if p then q
p
-----------
q

Modus Tollens

A valid argument form, modus tollens is not to be confused with denying the antecedent. Modus tollens consists of a conditional statement and one other premise. The second premise denies the consequent of the conditional, yielding the denied antecedent as the conclusion:

If p then q
not-q
-----------
not-p

Necessary and sufficient conditions

If event A must occur for event B to occur, then we say that A is necessary for B. If event A may cause B but there could be some other cause as well, then we say that A is sufficient to cause B.

Premises

Statements offered as reasons to support a conclusion are premises. Logicians generally pay more attention to the reasoning, that is, the relationship between premises and conclusion. They rely on scientists to determine the accuracy of the premises.

Salva Veritate

A Latin phrase which literally mean "saving truth"; salva veritate is used by logicians to express the concept of truth preservation, which is the test of a valid deductive argument. If a deductive argument does not preserve the truth of the premises (assuming they are in fact true), then it has an invalid argument form. Salva veritate is the necessary and sufficient condition for a valid argument form.

Soundness

A deductive argument is said to be sound if it meets two conditions: valid argument form and true premises. (Notice that validity and true premises constitute necessary and sufficient conditions for soundness.)

Truth-value

Every proposition is either true or false. This status is called "truth-value".

Unstated premises

Not every argument is fully expressed. Sometimes premises or even conclusions are left unexpressed. If one argues that Rover is smart because all dogs are smart, he is leaving unstated that Rover is a dog. Here the unstated premise is no problem; indeed it would probably be obvious in context. But sometimes unstated premises are problematic, particularly if two parties in a discussion are making differing assumptions. If one person thinks violence depicted in the media encourages violent behavior and another does not, then an argument that proceeds as follows will be evaluated differently by the two parties:

There's too much violence on TV.
No wonder we have so much violence among kids these days.

What will appear obvious to the person making these statements will not be so clear to the person who may be wondering what is the connection between the premise--there's too much violence on TV--and the conclusion--no wonder we have so much violence among kids these days. Hence the need for critical awareness. One function of critical thinking is to make the reasoning under discussion explicit.

Valid

Validity is a characteristic of good deductive argument forms, those patterns which are one hundred percent reliable. It is impossible for a valid deductive argument with true premises to have a false conclusion. See soundness.

Venn diagrams

Diagrams developed by John Venn, an English logician, in 1881 to represent categorical propositions and categorical syllogisms. They consist of two (for propositions) or three (for syllogisms) overlapping circles and are commonly used in introductory logic courses to represent and test the validity of categorical syllogisms.

Weak Analogy

An argument that infers that because two objects or situations are alike, then what is true of the one is true of the other, yet fails to notice a telling difference between the two objects or situations.

No one objects to a physician looking up a difficult case in medical books. So no one should object to nursing students, when taking a logic exam, being permitted to use their reference materials.

A weak analogy is anargument from analogy; it is just not a very good one.

CRCB Web Links

Learning Style Inventories
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
Fill out this questionnaire, submit responses and receive feedback. This site can be used to help confirm your learning style preference.
http://www.chelt.ac.uk/gdn/discuss/kolb1.htm
Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (for faculty)
http://www.ntlf.com/html/pi/9511/article1.htm
McKeachie's article on learning styles (for faculty)
http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/LS-Prism.htm
Matters of Learning Styles (for Faculty)
http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Secondtier.html
Learning Styles in Science
Concentration
http://adulted.about.com/library/weekly/aa091601a.htm
Study Time! How to Make the Most of It
Test Taking Strategies
http://www.bucks.edu/~specpop/tests.htm
The Basics of Effective Test Taking
Memory
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
Strategies for Improving Concentration and Memory
http://www.mtsu.edu/~studskl/mem.html
Memory Principles
Time Management Tips
http://www.bucks.edu/~specpop/time-manage.htm
Managing Your Reading Time
http://www.rio.maricopa.edu/distance_learning/tutorials/study/time.shtml
http://www.d.umn.edu/student/loon/acad/strat/time_manage.html
Time Management Tips
http://www.usu.edu/arc/idea_sheets/time.htm
Utah State Time Management System
http://www.mheso.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=688
Managing your Time
Speed Reading
http://www.brainquicken.com/px_project_article.asp
Brain Quicken - Speed Reading Technique
Will it work for you?
http://www.readingsoft.com/quiz.html
Speed Reading Quizzes
Main Ideas
http://www.ccis.edu/departments/cae/studyskills/mainidea.html
Reading for the Main Ideas
http://users.dhp.com/~laflemm/reso/mainIdea.htm
Main Idea Exercises
http://vclass.mtsac.edu:920/readroom/Mainidea.htm
Main Idea Exercises
http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/topic.html
Finding Main Ideas in Paragraphs
Finding Details
http://vclass.mtsac.edu/amla-51/Supporting%20Details/details.htm
Supporting Details
Textbook Reading Systems
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/sq3r.html
SQ3R -- A Reading System
http://www.arc.sbc.edu/sq3r.html
Reading Methods
http://www.mindtools.com/sq3r.html
Mind Tools -- Increasing Your Retention of Written Information
Textbook Marking
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
Study Skills Self-Help -- Textbook Marking
Using Visuals
http://www.mindtools.com/mindmaps.html
Mind Tools
http://www.brazosport.cc.tx.us/~lac/mindmap.htm
Mind Mapping
http://www.ourtimelines.com/
Create Your Own Family Time Line
http://www.lionden.com/using_outlines.htm
Using Outlines
Arguments
http://www.mccallie.org/wrt_ctr/What%20Should%20Students%20Know%20to%20Succeed%20in%20College.doc
What Should Students Know to Succeed in College
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
Fallacies
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/main.html
Mission Critical -- a full-scale tutorial for critical thinking
Advanced Critical Reading
http://www.le.ac.uk/castle/resources/mcqman/mcqappc.html
Helpful review and practice of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Evaluating Websites
http://www.google.com/help/features.html
Tips on Mastering a Google Search
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/index.htm
Evaluating Sites
http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/skill26.htm
Critically Analyzing Information Sources
Online Reading Test
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwrtp/pracread.htm
Web Regents Reading Test, (a 30 minute timed reading test, 5 Passages, reader submits answers for feedback from the Univ. of Georgia)
Video Tutorials
http://mashable.com/2007/05/14/video-howtos/
10 best places to find video tutorials at
Chapter 1: Reading in College (Concentration)
http://www.learningcommons.uoguelph.ca/LearningServices/Fastfacts-Concentration.html
Concentration
http://www.vcsa.uic.edu/MainSite/departments/ace/home/concentration.htm
Improving Concentration
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/lynch/ImprovConcentration.htm
Strategies for Improving Concentration and Memory (tutorial)
http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/AS/311.HTM
Techniques for Concentrating and Remembering
Chapter 3: Remembering What You Read
http://www.vcsa.uic.edu/NR/exeres/899EAD01-DEF5-4BB7-B912-3F3ACC28EB5A,frameless.htm?NRMODE=Published
Improving Memory
http://www.helpguide.org/life/improving_memory.htm
Improving your Memory (tips)
http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/ACCDitg/SSMT.htm
Memory Techniques
http://www.mtsu.edu/~studskl/mem.html
Study Skills Memory principles
Chapter 7: Using Inference to Identify Implied Main Ideas
http://mcckc.edu/longview/ctac/psych1.htm
Inference vs Observation exercise
http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/AS/309.HTM
Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/mjc/misc/textinference.html
Textual Inference Reading list
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/advising/esl/american_culture/american_culture.html
Reading exercises including making Inferences, from RPI
Chapter 10: Textbook marking
http://www.studygs.net/
Study Guides and Strategies
http://www.trcc.commnet.edu/ed_resources/tasc/Training/Study_Skills.htm
Study Skills Textbook Marking
http://ccc.byu.edu/learning/txt-mkg.php
Textbook Marking
http://www.owensboro.kctcs.edu/tlc/LEARNING/Learning/TEXTBOOKMARKING.HTML
Textbook Marking
Chapter 11: Reading, Understanding and Creating Visuals
http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/AS/312.HTM
Converting Words into Pictures
http://www.ascd.org/video_guides/reading02/resources/rakes.html
Using Visuals to Enhance Secondary Students Reading Comprehension
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=reading+%22creating+visuals%22+site%3A.edu&btnG=Search
Google Search Reading "creating visuals" site: .edu
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=reading+%22creating+visuals%22+site%3A.org
Google Search Reading "creating visuals" site: .org
Chapter 12: Identifying and Evaluating Arguments
http://www.csuchico.edu/~egampel/students/evaluating.html
Evaluating Arguments
http://mcckc.edu/longview/ctac/flowpt1.htm
Flow Chart for Evaluating Arguments
http://www.etsu.edu/criticalthinking/understanding.asp
Understanding and Evaluating Arguments
Chapter 13: Reading Beyond the Words
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm
Applying Bloom's Taxonomy
http://www.coe.uga.edu/epltt/bloom.htm
Bloom's Taxonomy E-Book
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/research/Blooms_Taxonomy.shtml
Blooms Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives
http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/bloom.htm
Blooms Taxonomy Questioning
http://www.lc.capellauniversity.edu/~149062/bloom.html
Blooms Taxonomy quick guide (interactive)
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic69.htm
Critical & Creative Thinking, Bloom's Taxonomy
http://www.umuc.edu/ugp/ewp/bloomtax.html
Using Bloom's Taxonomy in Assignment Design
Additional Practice
http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/AS/300INDEX.HTM
Cuesta College Reading Comprehension Guide
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/490/wchild/index.htm
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/
Other reading exercises from the same guys at the University of Victoria Canada
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/reading/index.htm
Reading comprehension exercises from the Univ. of Victoria
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/200/reading/index.htm
More reading comprehension exercises from the Univ of Victoria
http://www3.sympatico.ca/jacek_s/magdak/Reading.html
**Interactive reading exercises computer checked
http://cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/sites/academic.htm
Free online academic reading and writing exercises
http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/exercises/main/reading.html
Gallaudet Univ. Reading Exercises
http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/nursetech/abridged/abridged.html
Learning Resources, Nurse Tracking Technology (a selected reading)
http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html
Learning Resources, Story Archives of readings

Visualizing Data - Ted Talk - David McCandless

Note:

www.davidmccandless.com/

David McCandless is a London-based author, data journalist and information designer. All; infographics; information design; art & exhibitions; data visualization;

Eight Principles of Data Visualization

from http://www.information-management.com/news/Eight-Principles-of-Data-Visualization-10023032-1.html?zkPrintable=1&nopagination=1

Get the Fundamentals Right

The first step is to back up and focus on the basics. If you have ever played a team sport with a good coach, you may recall that he or she spent a lot of time working on fundamentals. Trick plays or advanced moves don’t win a game without solid fundamentals supporting them, and data visualization is no different. The most complex, data-rich graphic is useless unless it follows basic principles of good visualization:

1. Understand the problem domain. If you are producing visualization for your own use or that of your department, chances are good you already understand the area you will be working in. But if, as in our scenario with Joe, the visualization is for another department, or even an external stakeholder such as a customer or partner, you may need to ask questions and do more research to understand what is involved. In this case, you should investigate when these initiatives started, whether any others are in progress at the same time and what metrics the executive team will use to determine success.

2. Get sound data. This may seem obvious, but good data is at the heart of any effective visualization. Make sure the data you select is as accurate as possible, and that you have a sense of how it was gathered and what errors or inadequacies  may exist. For example, maybe our store sales data for Joe is only current as of the last close of business, thanks to an older cash register system. Make sure you get relevant data and enough of it. We probably want not only sales data after these changes, but also the month or quarter before and even the same period in past years for comparison purposes. Above all, to create an effective visualization, you need to understand the meaning of the data you are working with. This can be a challenge if it has been stored as raw numbers. In this case, we may need to determine the store visitor counting method  being used to know what those numeric tallies mean.

3. Show the data and show comparisons. Picking the best type of visualization is an art and science; however, the basic rule of thumb is to choose a spatial metaphor that will show your data and the relationships within it, with minimum distractions or effort on the part of the viewer. As Eddie Breidenbach explains, most graphic arrangements fall into one of four categories or metaphors (seeFigure 3, at left):

• Network - to show connections, sometimes in a radial layout.
• Linear - to show how something varies over time or in relation to another factor, often on an X/Y space.
• Hierarchical - to show groupings and importance; these can come in many different layouts.
• Parallel - to show reach, frequency or shares of a whole; these can come in many different layouts.

For Joe's chart, we can start with a well-labeled, linear line graph since we want to see how sales have been affected since introducing these new initiatives. (See Figure 4, at left.)

4. Incorporate visual design principles. Using sound visual design elements, like line, form, shape, value and color, with principles like balance and variety, make a visualization both more inviting and easier to read for trends and comparisons. (See Figure 5, at left.) This will become particularly important as we take our linear metaphor visualization to the next level.

Bring in More Dimensions

Once we have good data and a sound underlying spatial metaphor (in this case, a linear metaphor), it is time to take account of the complexity at play. Though it might seem like we have satisfied the initial question at face value (“Sales are up since changing the store layout and starting the new promo”), this answer is likely to spur more questions.

Based on our knowledge and research into the problem domain, we can come up with  initial follow-up questions after looking at the simple linear metaphor visualization:

1. We started both of these initiatives right before a holiday weekend. How do we know that this uptick in sales is not just a seasonal trend?
2. Total sales are up, but has the new store layout succeeded in improving the performance of some departments that were struggling before?
3. Are we succeeding in getting more customers into the store and not just selling more to existing ones?
4. Are customers shopping more departments and buying a more diverse mix of items?

Asking these kinds of questions is a great exercise to begin taking a visualization to the next level because they prompt us to add more dimensions that allow viewers to explore and understand the subject from additional angles and in more detail. There are a variety of solid techniques that can help achieve this additional dimensionality. Below are the answers to these questions:

5. Add small multiples. As described by author Edward Tufte, small repeated variations of a graphic side-by-side allow for quick visual comparison. Whenever possible, scales should be kept the same and the axis of comparison, aligned. Adding some small, stacked thumbnails of our chart next to the main one allows a comparison of sales trends for the same period last year, and the one before that. (See Figure 6, at left.) This answers our first question: sales do normally go up this time of year, but the increase seems to be quite a bit bigger this time, so it is probably not just the normal seasonal cycle.

6. Add layers. Adding extra levels of information, while preserving the high-level summary data, can make a graphic more flexible and useful. Next, we are going to break down the "top line" of total sales into departments. (See Figure 7, at left.)The resulting stacked area chart answers our second question, showing that sales from the appliances department have increased as a proportion of the whole, but media department sales have not improved much.

7. Add axes or coding patterns. Another way to get more dimensions in a graphic is to add additional patterns for coding information, such as varying the shape or color of points on a plot based on a variable. In some cases, an extra axis in space, alongside an existing one or in a new direction (for a 3D chart), can also be useful for showing new variables. It's important to be careful with this approach, as it can add clutter, but when used sparingly and with good design principles it can increase a graphic's usefulness. In Figure 8 (at left) we added an additional vertical axis on the right to show daily foot traffic into the store, with its scale overlaid carefully to be comparable but distinct. To answer question number three, “Yes; we have increased foot traffic, but only after the sales promotion.”

8. Combine metaphors. So far, we have used a linear metaphor for our visualization. However, to answer our last question, we want to add a network metaphor to show connections between product categories in purchases. A pair of circular relationship (chord) diagrams showing snapshots at the beginning and end of the time period under consideration can help compare these connections. Like a pie chart, each product category is assigned a section of the circle, by percentage of total sales, but the center of the circle is hollow. If a majority of purchases containing items in one category also included items in a second category, a line is drawn to that second category; line width is based on the average proportion of both categories in the mixed purchases. As shown in Figure 9 (at left), the increase in these chord lines from the first to second diagram suggests there are indeed more purchases that cross departments since our initiatives went into place. 

This relationship data would be even better if we could see it at any chosen point in time (for example, to see what effect, if any, the layout change alone had, before the promotion started). A zoomed-in view of the chord diagrams for detailed study might be useful, too. Clearly, some presentation media lend themselves to these opportunities more than others. As our graphics increase in complexity and sophistication, we need to think more carefully about how to deliver them.

Consider New (and Old) Delivery Methods

The point of any visualization is to be viewed by the right people, in the right context. Unfortunately, many business visualizations have a fleeting life on a slide, up one minute on a low-resolution projector to be scanned from across the room, and nothing but a vague memory the next.

What if, instead of a “flash on a slide” with all of these limitations, Joe's final visualization was printed in high-resolution color on a handout? Everyone could refer back to it as a touchstone during the whole presentation, seeing how the data backs up Joe's conclusions. Afterward, they could tack it up on a whiteboard for further study and follow-up.

On the other hand, maybe Joe needs people at a remote site to see this graphic or he would just prefer not to kill so many trees. He might consider putting a high-resolution version on the Web (or corporate intranet) for viewing on a PC or tablet. This could be as simple as a static graphic like the paper copy, but it also opens all kinds of possibilities for interactivity. To give just a few examples, we could enable scrubbing through time (great for seeing more network metaphors), drilling down and zooming out for a bird's eye view, seeing new data live as it becomes available or even manipulating future variables to watch different scenarios play out.

For more ideas of what's possible, and a great tool for building these using HTML standards that will work on the boss’s iPad, the Data Driven Documents JavaScript library is a great place to start.

Toward the Future

As visualization moves toward delivery via electronic medium, complex data visualization is increasingly blending into the discipline of user experience design and programming. Business analysts, IT staff and knowledge workers  will need more skills designing, building and using fluid, interactive, dynamic visualizations. Fortunately, there are great tools  and great groups of people focused on user experience, The potential payoff for the investment is huge: visualizations invite us to explore, understand and decide, not as one-off disposable products, but rather as robust, enduring touchstones that customers and leaders return to for insight, conversation and connection.

Note: For more on visualization fundamentals, a good place to start is Edward Tufte's excellent series beginning with “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.” Also see “Visual Design Fundamentals: A Digital Approach” by Alan Hashimoto.

Ryan Bell is a user interface developer for EffectiveUI, where he gets to employ his passion for building great user experiences and indulge his inner information-design enthusiast.

Arguments Part 3 -- Student SlideShare

Arguments (Part 3) from Zaid Alsagoff

Arguments Part 2 - Student SlideShare

Arguments (Part 2) from Zaid Alsagoff

Arguments Part 1 - Student SlideShare

Arguments (Part 1) from Zaid Alsagoff

Word Draw

Liar

Created by Paul Agule in 1987

This man is clearly a liar. If you look at his face sideways, so that his nose is facing down, you can literally read it on his face. His nose is L and I, his mouth is A and his neck is R.

Stars: 4 - Votes: 14 - Views: 13168

Big Fun

Created by John Langdon

This man is having big fun, you can read it on his face.

Stars: 5 - Votes: 10 - Views: 11052

Cycle Center

Center Parc's commercial people have succeeded in making an original logo for their bike rental service. The word CYCLE really looks like a bicycle.

Stars: 4 - Votes: 8 - Views: 8675

Personality - Bush

Created by Veja Magazine in 2005

The face of George W. Bush, made from the words PEACE and WAR. I guess the words "weapons of mass destruction" were just too long. (I wonder if the NSA will scan this page now it contains the words Bin Laden, Bush and weapons. And NSA, twice).

Stars: 5 - Votes: 6 - Views: 8811

Gold -- What's Wrong --- Some Answers

1. The curtains in front of the closed window are blowing in the wind, while those in front of the open window are hanging straight.

2. The horizon visible through the left window is higher than that visible through the right one.

3. The waves visible through the left window cannot be seen through the right one.

4. The door frame is not square. The top piece extends too far to the left.

5. The legs on the chair next to the door are not touching the floor.

6. The cord leading from the electric guitar on the floor runs to the telephone instead of a wall jack.

7. The wine glass contains red wine, while the wine bottle contains white wine. 

8. The left front leg of the guitarist's chair doesn't touch the floor.

9. The open window sashes are upside down.

10.The walls of the room appear to be covered with exterior rather than interior plaster.

....

23.The palm-like plant to the left of the "wine" table does not appear to be planted in the pot beneath it.

24.The "shade" on the floor lamp in front of the open window appears to either be upside down or a bowl.

25.There appear to be odd things on top of the stereo receiver.

26.The antenna sitting on top of the TV does not appear to be connected to the antenna wire attached to the upper left back corner of the TV set. That wire appears to lead into a leaf on the plant.
27.A filtered cigarette is sticking out of the crumpled pack of Camel unfiltered cigarettes lying next to the wine bottle.

28.There does not appear to be a door knob on the door. The top hinge is visible on its left side, so a door knob should be just to the left and below the spot where the doorbell is shown.

29.Given the apparent lighting in the room, the shadow of the chair next to the door may not be right.

30.The floor looks to be sub flooring that should be covered with carpet or hardwood strips.

31.I'm not sure why there is a double-barreled shotgun propped up in the corner between the door and the mirror.

32.The apparent deck of cards sitting next to the TV set might have a problem.

33.The photo on the cover of Andrew Gold's previous album (visible on the floor leaning against the music bench) might not look as it actually did when sold in stores. Ditto for the cover on the issue of People Magazine that is lying on the floor beneath the TV set. In fact, I'm not sure that Andrew Gold ever appeared on a People Magazine cover.