...Zahraa Rahal Mrs. Nina Shalhoub English 204 1 October 2015 A Critique of “The common App Fallacy” by Damon Beres Damon Beres, a columnist for New York University’s Washington Square News, professes his point view on the Common College Application and lists what he believes to be wrong with it. Beres presents the main bulk of his argument in a conversational tone, which has emphasis over conciseness and logic rather than fact. It is clear from the beginning that Beres’ target audience is: college students, roughly his age, who read the NYU school journal. In his article “The Common App Fallacy,” Damon Beres blasts the Common College Application, citing how the one-size-fits-all application is ruining the college application process. With students just pointing, clicking and applying, colleges are reaping in a new application tithe, leading Beres to postulate that, “it’s a cheap, money making scheme that homogenizes applicants and schools alike.” This rapid fire, mass spamming of applications is what he believes to be pauperizing the college application process. By not engaging in a personalized search for the right college, Beres reflects that students are misappropriating collegiate stock and saturating colleges’ application slots, preventing more invested students from making the cut--shockingly to him, something Beres reasons that the College Board and colleges are indisputably extorting. Beres’ article is most certainly intriguing, if not informative. He illustrates...
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...According to Damon Beres in “The Common App Fallacy” "Truth is college applications are crapshoot in this day and age" (Beres 79). he is telling us the process to enter to a University and to a college, and what they check to see if you can get into that specific school. For example, they would look at your GPA and most of the student's would have to do an SAT to check what classes does he or she needs for the career that the student is looking for. Beres tells us his experience, he was one out of 11,000 out of 34,000 students to join the New York University freshman class (79). That means that they would accept people that are smarter than others. His friend didn’t had a good GPA so he seems to be a lazy student.It is hard to apply now a...
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...Book Review of Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking by D.Q. McInerny is an introduction to the science and art of thinking and living logically. The paperback version includes a preface and 137-pages that was published in 2005 by Random House in New Work and has a price tag of $12.95. The author, D.Q. McInerny, is a professor of philosophy and has taught logic at several institutes of higher learning before ending up at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Lincoln, Nebraska. He has written works on religious philosophy and has collaborated on three text books concerning philosophy and logic. McInerny has written with conviction but believes that logic must be exercised in the educational process (McInerny, 2005). In this particular work, McInerny attempts to make his readers understand logic by seeing their surroundings and environments in an objective and critical manner (McInerny, 2005). He is able to do so in lay-man’s terms that almost any reader would be able to comprehend. This piece was written as a handbook for presenting the very basic values of logic to people who have never had the chance to practice it before. Those that have been well versed in logic before may easily lose interest in a work this simplified. Summary Being Logical is organized into five parts: 1) Preparing the Mind for Logic; 2) The Basic Principles of Logic; 3) Argument: The Language of Logic; 4) The Sources of Illogical Thinking; and 5) The...
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...Economic fallacies seem to surround us in the media, but few people take notice. The reason I believe this type of stray thinking is so common is that the media is often written not by economists by training, but by those who did not concentrate in business or finance in their studies. I want to focus on one of the most important and far-reaching economic fallacies - the Fallacy of Composition. Before knowing that there was a name for such an error in economic reasoning, I had considered the possibility that there are probably numerous examples of errors of part to whole relationships since samples taken are often not representative of the studied population. I will discuss two examples in finance to support why it is a problem. The Fallacy of Composition assumes that what is true and valid for an individual or segment of the population would necessarily be true for the larger group or whole (McConnell 16). There are ample examples of this problem in economics and finance. I have worked in the finance industry for three years now and as a perfect example, investment firms of various sizes want to make equity sales in the market. If a larger firm only wants to sell 1000 shares of a relatively liquid investment, they would have no problem and the price of each of those shares remains rather consistent. However, the same would no longer be true if that same firm wants to completely exit one of their existing positions by liquidating all of their 10 million shares, they...
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...• On a separate sheet (not part of the paper), identify the premises and conclusion of each of the arguments in your paper. Most papers will have one overriding argument and then several smaller arguments, which “prove” the truth of the premises you are making in the larger argument. • Look at each of the arguments you have located in your paper. Carefully study them to see if there are any informal fallacies. If there are any fallacies, note the name of the fallacy beneath your identified arguments. Explain why each is a fallacy. • Carefully examine each of your arguments again. Even if there isn’t an informal fallacy present, is each of the individual arguments valid? Do the premises provide enough evidence to support the conclusion? If you are not sure, try rewriting each argument as categorical syllogism and then test for validity. Under each argument, identify whether it is valid or invalid. • Explain to your instructor how you intend to change these arguments in your paper in order to be certain that they are free from fallacies and are perfectly valid. • Once you have completed these tasks, continue editing and revising your paper in order to eliminate the problems that you have just noted and to make it more persuasive. - Revise/edit for grammar and spelling - What position that is different from yours might cause your audience not to accept your position? - What “evidence” have you offered to support your claim/position? Main Argument: People are becoming...
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...October 11, 2015 Ad hominem attacks on Politics Over the years, ad hominem has been very prevalent among politicians. It is a logical fallacy that occurs when one attacks the person making an argument rather than the argument itself. The use of Ad Hominem is something that practically rules the political scene. Politicians thrive off of it when the population believes the fallacy. An ugly picture is painted of the opponent causing voters to doubt the quality of the opponent's arguments. I, personally, think that when it comes to politics “anything should not go”. Personal attacks should not be allowed. It takes attention away from the many issues that are facing a country. Citizens need to understand that attacks on the personal lives of our public leaders are petty and counterproductive. No work is getting done, since we are busy attacking each other. Because politician have right to separate their private life from political life.And its private life is not the right way to judge the politician because if politicians behavior is good with his wife but we donot know it Some may say that we need to see what type of person the politician is and we need to know about them however why should their private lives affect their jobs? What goes on in their lives doesn't change how capable or incapable one is with their job. They are still human whether they are politicians or not. They still have rights. One's job or position should not preclude them from having a private life...
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...question where does the word Philosophy derive from. The word Philosophy derives from the Greek. Its meaning is from two Greek words Philein, which means to love and Sophia, which means knowledge or wisdom. Philosophy was invented by the Greeks, they believed that any person who seeks knowledge; is a philosopher. We become engaged in philosophy every day, whether knowingly, or unknowingly. When someone asks us “what do we want for dinner? Or who do we think will win tonight’s game?” we are becoming engaged in philosophy. Throughout life we have all thought long and hard about a decision we made, in doing so we have thought philosophically. It is said that a philosophical question cannot be answered in any straightforward manner; this is a common misconception. Many other misconceptions exist, such as that philosophy never makes any progress. Progress can come in any form of a question not just in the answer like, partial answers, questions unanswered and question clarified and subdivided these are all progress. There are also misconceptions in which one opinion is as good as the next or that truth is relative. To comprehend philosophy one has to read and think immensely in order to fully grasp the understanding. When asking a question; we give an answer, like for example, “what color are your socks?” this is a factual question because we do not have to think about it and philosophize, so therefore we answer it straightforward. When asked a question, such as where do we see ourselves...
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...MDIA2002: Views Journalism Notes 3 Question and analysis tasks are to be found inserted at several points in the following notes. Again, this work is compulsory and must be submitted to Moodle at least 24 hours in advance of your tutorial. When providing answers, ensure that you use full, grammatical and well-expressed sentences. Ensure you bring along a copy of your answers with you to the tutorial. The final task in this week’s work may be quite time consuming, and possibly quite challenging. Rest assured that the tute preparation load will be significantly lighter once we get to tutorial 5 (or soon after that if you are in a smaller tutorial group) and the tutorial presentations. Until then it’s necessary to do a bit of front loading, so to speak, to get you up and running with the text analysis methodologies which will stand you in good stead later in the semester. Once you have mastered these methodologies there will be significantly less theory and much more of an emphasis on actual journalistic coverage of events, people, issues and trends. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A guide to analysing views journalism Part 1 – characterising arguments by reference to the how they are justified and supported In the first section of these notes we are going to look in a bit more detail at how supporting argumentation (justifications) works to justify primary claims. This material was dealt with in...
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...Student’s name: Student’s ID: Lecture’s name: Subject number: Submit date: Introduction Dr Dominic Wilkinson, who is a pediatrician and bioethicist, is from University of Oxford, which published an article at The Age regarding issue about “doctors judge teens’ best interests on healthy issues”. Dr Wilkinson provided few examples about whether we should respect teenagers and adolescents medical decisions against their best interest. He also provided few steps to help parents if their children making improperly medical decisions that would threaten their best interest. In the following critical thinking essay, it will analysis the major topic that Dr Wilkinson mentioned and provided two sides evaluations, including strengths and fallacies in the article. Analysis Main arguments Based on analyzing the major topic about “Healthy case for letting doctors judge teen’s best interests”, Dr Wilkinson believed that we should respect adolescents’ medical decisions if it towards to their best interests. On the contrast, if their final decision is deemed as wrong, then the parents should decide what is the best for their child or teenager for long-term wellbeing. Therefore, the paternalism still exists in medicine and we should resist the trend to allow them control over medical decisions if their children made wrong decisions that put threats to their healthy issues (Wilkinson, 2008). To conclusion, the main argument from Dr Wilkinson’s topic is to respect younger patients’ opinions...
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...Types of Fallacies 1. Appeal to Ignorance Appeal to ignorance happens when one individual utilizes another individual’s lack of information on a specific subject as proof that his or her own particular argument is right. She didn't say that I couldn't borrow her car, so I figured it was just fine if I borrowed it for the weekend. 2. Appeal to Authority This sort of error is also known as “Argumentum Verecundia” (argument from modesty). Instead of concentrating on the benefits of an argument, the arguer will attempt to append their argument to an individual of power or authority in an effort to give trustworthiness to their argument. No philosopher has ever successfully resolved the problem of evil. 3. Appeal to Popular Opinion This sort of appeal is when somebody asserts that a thought or conviction is correct since it is the thing that the general population accept. Mormonism is one of the fastest growing sects of Christianity today so that whole story about Joseph Smith getting the golden plates that, unfortunately, disappeared back into heaven, must be true! 4. Association Fallacy Sometimes called “guilt by affiliation,” this happens when somebody connects a particular thought or drill to something or somebody negative so as to infer blame on another individual. Having a lot of friends who speak out in a prejudiced way and not distancing yourself from their statements...
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...Critical Thinking Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. A well cultivated critical thinker: * Will frame different questions and predicts the problems in the long run process, formulating them clearly and precisely; * collects and analyze relevant information, using abstract thoughts to illuminate it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant situations, basic scenarios and standards; * thinks open-mindedly and thinks about the other systems, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, suggestions, and practical results; and * Interacts and communicates effectively with team members in work, fellow students in school or college or within the family etc. in figuring out solutions to complex problems. Benefits of Critical Thinking At Work: Critical thinking makes employees and managers to look at a situation and analyze all possible solutions before taking a final decision. It can be a long process that requires ideas from different experienced people within the business organization. The benefits to critical thinking make it a valuable practice for any small business. * Produces New Ideas * Promote the development of Teamwork * Promotes Options * Uncovering...
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...The Manager as a critical thinker Amos Agatovure University of Maryland University College Section 9047 October 16, 2015. Professor Martha Young Introduction Critical thinking is a term used most often by people and sometimes really don’t think about it what means and why questions are asked in a setting ways or why setting phrases are asked how and why? According to the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Crit-Think-Audio, critical thinking model helps in the analyzation and finding solution to complex organizational problems that affect decision making ability of managers. By definition, critical thinking means making reasoned judgement that are logical and well thought-out. That is, a way of thinking that you don’t just accept all argument and conclusions, but rather you have an attitude by questioning every notion which raises the question of how and why? According to the UMUC Crit-Think-Audio, people who asked questions on how get a job and the people that ask question why be there bosses. However, this paper is for the analyzation of the Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa (CHCM) Memo, and also, using the critical thinking model as described in the textbook, asking the right questions and applying the several steps as reveled by Browne and Keeley (Browne & Keeley, 2015, to measure up the argument described in the CHCM memo. The critical thinking model was prepared and applied in a memo by CHCM...
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...“Our total sales have increased this year by 20 percent since we added a pharmacy section to our grocery store. Clearly, the customer’s main concern is the convenience afforded by one-stop shopping. // The surest way to increase our profits over the next couple of years, therefore, is to add a clothing department along with an automotive supplies and repair shop. We should also plan to continue adding new departments and services, such as a restaurant and a garden shop, in subsequent years. // 时地全等 Being the only store in the area that offers such a range of services will give us a competitive advantage over other local stores.” // 结论无据 The author commits a fallacy of causal oversimplification. The line of the reasoning is that because A occurred before B, the former event is responsible for the latter. (The author uses the positive correlation between A and B to establish causality. However, the fact that A coincides with B does not necessarily prove that A caused B.) But this is fallacious reasoning unless other possible causal explanations have been considered and ruled out. For example, perhaps C is the cause of these events or perhaps B is caused by D. Insufficient-sample The evidence the author provides is insufficient to support the conclusion drawn from it. One example is logically unsounded to establish a general conclusion (The statistics from only a few recent years are not necessarily a good indicator of future trends), unless it can be shown that A1...
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...Unit 4 Exercise 1: 1. The basic format for a proposal includes the following steps: Introduction Problem Analysis; major causes, Evidence and Effects of the probem. Plan for solving the problem: Major steps, Support and Deliverables. Benefits of the Plan: Costs-benefits analysis Conclusion 2. Proposals are used in college, in the workplace and anywhere you want to pitch a proposal or new project idea including grant writing. 3. The steps for inventing your proposal’s content are defining the problem, analyzing the problem, researching, inquiring, and finding similar projects. 4. The three primary sources of information for proposal writing are online, print, and empirical sources. 5. The steps to planning to solve the problem are map out the plan, explore each major step, figure out costs and benefits, and finding similar projects. 6. Costs and benefits should be listed to prove to the readers that the benefits of their investment are worth the risks. 7. In choosing an appropriate style, the steps are creating an Authoritative Tone, use metaphors and similes, pay attention to Sentence Length, and minimize the jargon. 8. Three tips for designing the proposal are creating a look, create white space and use meaningful headings. 9. The four steps in revising and editing a proposal are looking for inconsistencies in content, getting rid of extra stuff, tweaking the design and proof reading. 10. Five major problems listed are students...
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...the characteristics of another person or group of people. I have stereotyped against other people and have been stereotyped by others. Stereotypes are created about people of specific cultures, races, gender or sexual orientation. A professor from the University of Toronto, Scarborough, Dr. Michael Inzlicht, indicated that “past studies have shown that people perform poorly in situations where they feel they are being stereotyped” (Kemick, 2010, para. 2). The first stereotype I will discuss is about African Americans. They have many stereotypes. The first common stereotype is that they’re all athletic. The argument for this stereotype could be: Michael Jordan was a talented basketball player Jerry Rice was one of the best wide receivers in the NFL Joe is African American, therefore, he must be a talented athlete The fallacy we see in this argument is hasty generalization. Our text states that the “fallacy of hasty generalization is committed when the conclusion is based on insufficient information: a generalization is made too quickly” (Mosser, 2011, p. 4.2). The assumption that Joe is a talented athlete just because of his racial background and color does not provide enough evidence to substantiate and prove the claim. Joe may not be athletic whatsoever, and may be more of a bookworm or be involved in activities other than sports. One cannot assume that just because Joe is black that he is an athlete or any other stereotype related to African American people....
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