What are the Issue and the Conclusion

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What are the Issue and the Conclusion?

• UI100 1376

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Issue Conclusion

• What are the issue and the conclusion of
  someones argument?
• Before we can evaluate someones reasoning, we
  have to first figure out the issue and the
  conclusion.

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Issue Conclusion

• Turn to page 13 in your text

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Issue Conclusion

• Does the person who wrote these paragraphs want
  you to believe something?
• What does that person want you to believe?

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Issue Conclusion

• If a person writes an editorial, magazine
  article, or book that person is doing so
  because he/she want you to believe something.

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Issue Conclusion

• Your job as a critical thinker is to discover
  what that is that something that they want you
  to believe.

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Issue Conclusion

• When looking at a situation that you may be
  trying to break down there are two kinds of
  issues that you will typically encounter.

kinds of issues
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Issue Conclusion

• Descriptive Issues Those that raise questions
  about the accuracy of descriptions of the past,
  present, or future.

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Issue Conclusion

• Examples
• What causes AIDS?
• Do obese people have more emotional problems that
  non-obese people?
• Who won the presidential debate?
• How much will college cost in the year 2010?
• Can a childs IQ be raised by a stimulating
  environment?

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Issue Conclusion

• These issues are all around you and they reflect
  our curiosity about patterns in the world.

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Issue Conclusion

• Prescriptive issues Those that raise questions
  about what we should do or what is right or
  wrong, good or bad.

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Issue Conclusion

• Examples
• Should capital punishment be abolished?
• Is it desirable to fluoridate drinking water?
• What ought to be done about unemployment?
• Should people be required to retire at a certain
  age?

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Issue Conclusion

• These kinds of questions demand answers that
  suggest the way the world ought to be. These
  issues are moral or ethical issues.

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Issue Conclusion

• Social controversies are usually prescriptive
  issues such as should marijuana be legal? or
  does everyone have the right to own a gun?

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Issue Conclusion

• How do you determine the issue in an argument?

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Issue Conclusion

• Sometimes the writer/speaker will tell you the
  issue.
• For example
• The question I am raising is whether taxes are
  too high in our country.
• Should sex education be taught in the school?
• Why isnt our present educational system working?

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Issue Conclusion

• If the question is not explicitly stated, the
  first step is to find the conclusions which can
  be difficult to do.
• You must ask yourself, What is the
  writer/speaker trying to prove?

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Issue Conclusion

• Turn to page 16 in your text

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Issue Conclusion

• How to find the conclusion
• Ask what the issue is
• Look for indicator words

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Issue Conclusion

• Turn to page 17 in your text

Indicator Words
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Issue Conclusion

• Turn to page 18 in your text

Practice!
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Issue Conclusion

• Always remember to
• Look in likely locations
• Remember what a conclusion is NOT

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Issue Conclusion

• Always help your readers and listeners out by
  giving them your conclusion.
• Require yourself to declare a thesis.

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Issue Conclusion
Practice Questions
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