Final exam review

focus group

A small group of individuals who are led in discussion by a professional consultant in order to gather opinions on and responses to candidates and issues.

proposal

a formal plan that outlines your objectives for conducting a research project, specifies the methods you intend to use, and describes the implications of your work.

logos

appeals to reason

Peer review

articles in scholarly journals that get carefully evaluated by the author's peers

fallacy of the middle ground

assumes that the middle position between two extreme positions must be correct

Either/or Fallacy

at times, an author will take two extreme positions to force readers to make a choice between two seemingly contradictory positions

Logical Fallacies

flaws in the chain of reasoning that lead to a conclusion that does not necessarily follow from the premises, or evidence

the straw man argument

makes a generalization about what a group believes without actually citing a specific writer or work

Appeal to fear

makes an appeal to readers' irrational fears and prejudices, preventing them from dealing squarely with a given issue

ad hominem

focuses on the person making a claim instead of on the claim itself

Popular source

written for a general audience

fallacy of division

a fallacy of division suggests that what is true of the whole must also be true of its parts

Primary source

a firsthand, or eyewitness, account

annotated bibliography

a list of sources (arranged alphabetically by author) that you plan to consult and use in your research paper.

index

an alphabetical list of the important and recurring concepts in a book, and the page numbers on which they appear.

Secondary source

an analysis of information reported in a primary source

deductive argument

an argument in which the premises support (or appear to support) the conclusion.

inductive argument

an argument in which the premises support (or appear to support) the conclusion.

Premise

an assumption that you expect your readers to agree with.

Erroneous Appeal to Authority

an author who claims to be an authority but is not, or someone an author cites as an authority who is not

context

the process of establishing a background for understanding an issue

Pathos

Appeal to emotion

false analogy

Authors (and others) often try to persuade us that something is true by using a comparison

Ethos

appeals from character

shifting the issue

occurs when an author draws attention away from the issue instead of offering evidece

sarcasm

the use of heavy-handed irony to ridicule or attack someone or something.

irony

the use of language to say one thing while meaning quite another.

Original research

the use of primary resources of evidence you gather yourself

begging the question

this fallacy entails advancing a circular argument that asks readers to accept a premise that is also the conclusion readers are expected to draw

Modifying what others have said model

this model assumes that mutual understanding is possible

Hypothesis testing model

this model begins with the assumption that writers may have good reasons for supporting their arguments, but that there are also a number of legitimate reasons that explain why something is, or is not, the case.

Correcting-Misinterpretations Model

this model is used to correct writers whose arguments you believe have misconstrued one or more important aspects of an issue.

Filling the gap model

this model points to what other writers may have overlooked or ignored in discussing a given issue

idea sheet

used to help you explore not just what you might want to learn by conducting research but why you are interested in a particular topic, issue, or problem.

rhetorical triangle

visually represents the interrelationship among ethos, pathos, and lagos.

hasty generalization

when a person draws a conclusion about a group based on a sample too small to representatives

sweeping generalization

when an author attempts to draw a conclusion without providing sufficient evidence to support the conclusion or examining possible counterarguments

Bandwagon

when an author urges readers to accept an idea because a significant number of people support it

Scholarly sources

written for experts in a particular field

Working thesis

your first attempt at an assertion of your position