Analytical Writing Notes

Question 1

What is our opinion of the argument, in one word, most likely going to be?

Answer 1

The GMAT provides su with arguments that are worded so that they are open to criticism. Therefore, they tend to leave enough room for contradicting explanations because of lack of proper evidence, flawed logic, or poor use of teminology.

So, before even reading the argument we can take on the opinion of - unconvinced!

Question 2

What can be wrong with an argument?

Answer 2

1. Lack of supporting evidence
2. Making unproven assumptions or presuppositions
3. Leap of Logic
4. Logical flaw
   
   1. “Most New Yorkers eat hamgurgers, most of the world’s meat comes from New Zealand, thus most New Yorkers eat imported meat.” - the logic is flawed.
5. Using irrelevant evidence
   
   1. Wrong to claim price of apples is going to rise, just because
6. Poor use of terminology
   
   1. e.g. “With income expected to double each year, this company is a great investment.”
   2. It is not the income, but instead the profit that makes a company a great investment.
   3. So be critical of the word choice as well.
7. Overlooking alternative explanations / contradicting examples.
   
   1. “The is the cause for the increase in the stock market, since all stock market increases happen during the day”
      
      1. Alternative explanation: stock market is only open during the day.
         8.

Question 3

Can you make up evidence in the essay?

Answer 3

We should never make up evidence to support our argument. We should either use common sense for suport or just point out that some other evidence should be examined, as it might undermine the arguments conclusion.

Question 4

What are some of our own flaws we can make when responding to the argument?

Answer 4

1. Ad hominem - attacking the opponent, rather than their argument.
2. Claiming that an argument is correct because it has not been proven false (or the other way around, claiming an argument is false buecause it hasn’t been proven correct)
3. Appeal to emotion rather than dealing with the argument.
4. Appeal to authority
   
   1. an argument is not correct just because it was asserted by a person of authority
5. Appeal to widespread belief
   
   1. everyone at one point believed the earth was flat, that didn’t make it correct.
6. Appeal to probability
   
   1. Assessing that the argument has a greater chance of being correct than incorrect does not make it correct.

Question 5

What should the structure of the essay be?

Answer 5

1. Essay Outline
   
   1. Intro
   2. Best Argument
   3. Second Best Argument
   4. Different Argument
   5. Conclusion
2. 5 paragraphs (or 4 if you have 2, but strong, arguments)
3. 3-5 sentences per paragraph
4. Definite opinion
5. Clear writing

Question 6

How should the introduction be written?

Answer 6

Start with a short restatment of the argument. This is not repetition, this is to show that we understand the argument before we show why it’s wrong. We then express our (negative) opinion clearly and confidently and introduce the reader with a general description of the faults we’ve found and state our position - the argument is weak / unconvincing / flawed.

Think of the introduction as a gap waiting to be filled: there is a flawed argument, here are some brief reason why I think so, and I will later show you how this leads to a possibly different conclusion / what is required to correct it.

We shouldn’t write everything in the introduction and find ourselves writing just more to of the same.

We can write, for example, that “as will be shown, the argument is based on unproven assumptions, makes a poor use of facts and terminology and overlooks a simple alternative explanation.

Question 7

How should the first paragraph of the body be written?

Answer 7

There is where you attack the main fault of the argument in question with a short and clear topic sentence.

Similar to the introduction, this topic sentence is also a gap waiting to be filled. The following sentences explain your topic sentence with logcal evidence where possible.

Afterwards we might add an example or offer a way to correct the fault (by proving that the assumption is a true fact or providing some missing evidence).

Question 8

What should we remember about the second body paragraph be written (second best argument)?

Answer 8

We must make sure the argument is very different from the previous one.

Question 9

What should the 3rd body paragraph contain?

Answer 9

This is where you outline your third argument, preferablly taking the agument that is being questioned from a different angle.

If there is a strong third argument, that can still be used, it doesn’t have to be a counter argument. However, if there isn’t, we can show that we are aware of counter-opinions and attack it from a different angle compared to the previous paragraphs.

Question 10

How should the conclusion be written?

Answer 10

The conclusion should summarise what we’ve written in the other paragraphs, but not by repeating ourselves.

It should go over what the weaknesses of the original argument are, how they can be corrected (if possible) and what our broader view of the subject is.

Question 11

What should you remember about the style of the essay?

Answer 11

Has to be clear and simple.

No use of overly sophisticated words e.g. from latin or a professional context.

No exclamation marks, rhetorical questions and ‘high volume’ words such as ‘very important’.

Question 12

What are potential paragraph openings for each of the five paragraphs?

Answer 12

1. The argument claims / argues / maintains / asserts…
2. First / The chief reason
3. Second / Another reason / In addition
4. Thirdly / Finally / Some might argue…yet
5. In conclusion / To summarise

Question 13

What sort of connectors should you be using within the paragraphs?

Answer 13

Question 14

What do you need to remember about the AWA question?

Answer 14

They are always the same, so memorise it and you won’t have to always read it.

Question 15

What is the acronymn to remember all the different ways an argument can be weak and areas you can build your own argument on in the AWA?

Answer 15

CLIMATAL conditions

1. Contradicting Examples
2. Leap of logic
3. Irrelevant evidence
4. Missing evidence
5. Alternative Explanations
6. Terminology
7. Assumptions
8. Logical flaw

Question 16

How should you approach analysing the content?

Answer 16

• The more general an argument is, the easier it is to criticise.
• Look for the classical faults using CLIMATAL conditions.

Question 17

What should you do if the third argument is weak?

Answer 17

Bring up a counter opinion, and attack that. Removing possible counter arguments, strengthens your own.

Question 18

What should you remember to do for the body paragraphs?

Answer 18

You need to think of evidence that can back up your criticism. For example, real world examples that contradict what is being said.

Also, for one statement in the argument given you can have multiple assumptions, so don’t just assume one statement has one assumption. For example, in a argument that claims that strict dress code is the cause for employee absenteeism in finance, you can challenge the assumption that those in finance would prefer casual attire but you can also challenge the assumption.