English for Academic

and
Professional Purposes

Quarter 2 - Module 2:
Defends a stand on an issue by presenting reasonable arguments
supported by properly cited factual evidences
OBJECTIVES
● Determine different kinds of logical fallacy;
● Identify factors on authenticity and validity of evidences/information; an
●Present reasonable arguments and factual evidences to defend a stand
 VOCABULARY LIST
Let’s enrich your vocabulary with these terms that you
will encounter throughout this lesson.

● Stand – viewpoint
● Claims - these are statements that support the author’s stand; ARGUMENT
● Evidences - these are proofs or evidences to strengthen the author’s claim
● Fallacy - an error in reasoning which weakens an argument
● Counterclaims – arguments opposing a stand
A. LOGICAL FALLACIES
What are these logical fallacies? Why is there a need for you to be familiar with it? LOGICAL
FALLACIES are ERRORS IN REASONING that INVALIDATE AN ARGUMENT. As a critical thinker
you have to identify and examine fallacies and manipulative language. It is therefore important that you
know some of the common fallacies.

Study the types of fallacy and its example:

FALLACY DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

False Dilemma Occurs when an arguer presents his/her Either you fully devote yourself to
argument as one of only two options company or you quit.
despite the presence of multiple
possibilities.
Appeal to Ignorance Occurs when something is instantly The writer does not talk about the
concluded to be true just because it is connection between the victim’s killer
not proven to be false, and vice versa and his sister, so there must be none
Slippery Slope Occurs when a series of increasingly If we ban computer shops, then students
superficial and unacceptable will not be able to do research. And if
consequences is drawn they do not have tools for research, these
students will fail their subjects.

Complex Question Occurs when two or more points are “Have you stopped cheating on exams?”
rolled into one and the reader is expected
to accept or reject both at the same time,
when one point may be satisfactory
while the other is not

Appeal to Force Occurs when a threat, instead of If you do not admit that evolution is not
reasoning is used to argue real, we will isolate you from the group.
Appeal to Pity Occurs when the element of pity is used Please do not fire me for being absent all
instead of logical reasoning month; I have a sick mother and a
special child to support.
Appeal to Consequences Occurs when unpleasant consequences You can’t believe that colonialism is
of believing something are pointed out to bad, because if it were, then we would
show that the belief is false not be civilized.
Bandwagon Occurs when an argument is considered Most Filipinas want to have fair skin
to be valid because it is what the because they think they look beautiful.
majority thinks Therefore, having fair skin must be the
real standard of beauty.
Attacking the Person Occurs when someone tries to refute an I cannot accept your argument because,
argument by attacking the character of a unlike me, you were not educated at
person instead of attacking the ideas of Harvard University.
the argument
Appeal to Authority Occurs when the argument quotes an Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft,
expert who’s not qualified in the recommends the effective fabric
particular subject matter softening properties of Downy fabric
softener.
Anonymous Authority The authority in question is not Experts claim that eating peanuts causes
mentioned or named pimples.

Hasty Generalization Occurs when a sample is not significant Martha, the foreigner from France is
enough to support a generalization about very impolite. French people are mean
a population and rude.

False Analogy Occurs when a writer assumes that two Drugs are like massages: they make you
concepts that are similar in some ways feel good.
are also similar in other ways

Accident Occurs when a general rule is applied to Jaywalking is not allowed, so you should
a situation, even when it should be an not have done that even when you were
exception being chased by terrorists.
Post Hoc It is an informal fallacy that states: Dina saw cat when they went home.
“Since event A followed event B, event A Along the way, they crashed into a tree.
must have been caused by event B.” The black cat must be the reason why
they met an accident.
Wrong Direction Occurs when the direction between cause Liver damage leads to alcoholism.
and effect is reversed

Complex Cause Occurs when the explanation for an We were not able to solve the problem
event is reduced to one thing when there because of limited time, even if all the
are other factors which also contributed other groups were able to do so.
to the event
Irrelevant Conclusion Occurs when an argument which is We must support the fight for gender
supposed to prove something concludes equality between men and women.
something else instead Women have suffered enough violence at
home. Violence against women must be
stopped.

Straw Man Occurs when the position of the Opponent: We should relax the law
opposition is twisted so that it is easier to governing the allowed smoking areas in
refute the city. Fallacy: We should not do so,
because the number of smokers might
increase.
Affirming the Consequent Any argument of the form: If A is true If you are drinking wine, you have a
then B is true; If B is true therefore A is problem. Therefore, if you have a
true problem, you are drinking wine.

Denying the Antecedent Any argument of the form: If A is true If you are drinking wine, you have a
then B id true; If A is not true then B is problem. Therefore, if you are not
not true drinking wine, you do not have a
problem.
Inconsistency Occurs when arguments contradict one Frank is older than Jake, Jake is older
another than Noli and Noli is older than Frank.

Warning: Do not use these kinds of logical

fallacies when you defend your stand. It
weakens your arguments.
 FACTORS ON AUTHENTICITY
AND VALIDITY OF
EVIDENCES/INFORMATION
While there is a wealth of information found in various sources electronically or
nonelectronically, you should also keep in mind that not all of these pieces of information
are accurate, relevant, valid or credible. Hence, it is important to evaluate sources of
information that you plan to include in your academic writing venture.
 The following are some of the criteria assessing whether the source is suitable to use for academic purposes. The criteria
include relevance, authority, currency, contents and location of sources.

1. Relevance of the Source

● How well does the source support your stand?
● You can check the title, table of contents, summary, introduction or headings of the text
to have a sense of its content.

2. Authority/Author’s Qualifications
● Is the author’s name identified?
● Is the author’s background, education or training related to the topic?
● If the source does not have an author, think twice before using it.
● Legitimate academic texts must include citations. Citations demonstrate that the writer
has thoroughly researched the topic and is not plagiarizing the material.

3. Currency/Date of Publication
● What is the date of the publication?
● In most fields, the data from the older publications may no longer be valid. As much as
possible, the date pf publication should be at most five years earlier.
4. Contents/Accuracy of Information
● Does the author have a lot of citations in his or her text and/or bibliography or works
cited section?
● You do not want to use source that is disputable, so make sure to verify your findings
with multiple sources.

5. Location of Sources
● Where was the source published? Was it published digitally or in print?
● Is it a book, an academic journal or a reputable news source as www.nytimes.com or
www.economist.com?
● Does it provide complete publication information such as author/s, editor/s, title, date of
publication and publisher?
● What is the URL of the website?
● Avoid using blogs or personal homepage and wiki sites (Wikipedia, Wiktionary,
Wikiquotes)
● If the URL includes the top-level domain .edu, then that means that it has been published
by an academic institution such as university
 ● Common URLs include .gov (government), .org (organizations), .com (commercial sites)
and .net (network infrastructures). In academic writing, reputable sites are those
with .edu, .gov, .net and .org in URL. Source: Barrot, J, T. & Sipacio P.J (2016).
Communicative Today English for Academic and Professional Purposes for Senior High
School. C&E Publishing, Inc. www.shsph.blogspot.com 8

Guidelines in presentation of reasonable arguments and factual evidences to defend a

stand:
● C - ontains a clear proposition or statement that must be defended
● A - ssesses conflicting opinions or opposing views on the issue
● T - akes a firm stand on the issue
● L - ists arguments in an organized manner to defend the stand
● C -onsider your audience/reader
PERFORMANCE TASK 2 (20 PTS) ARGUMENTS