Using critical Thinking to build strong arguments for use in exam arguments

1. BUSS 4 Reflection on Good
Exam Technique + Building
Arguments

2. “It was pleasing to see evidence of students
planning their answers.” – Chief Examiner
• (In House Examples of Planning)

3. Building Students’ Argumentation Skills – 3
Key Areas
• “Good responses had clear, well developed arguments supported by
an understanding of the given context and answered the question
set rather than a version of it.”
• Inform students how to build arguments – Critical Thinking Skills
• Context – background knowledge of topic.
• Identifying how to answer the question correctly.

4. Critical Thinking Definition of an Argument
• An argument is an assertion (a point of view or opinion) supported by
reasons and reasoning.
• The quality of the argument depends on the quality of the reasoning
used.

5. • A clear introduction requires a statement of the argument you wish
to present throughout the essay. You assert a viewpoint which you
wish to explore in your answer:
• The financial collapse of 2008 was the result of a number of factors
including poor financial planning, corporate greed and over lending.
• “This often made for a clearer sense of direction, a better structure and stronger
judgement because the student knew from the start what they wanted to argue
and the rest of the essay reinforced these initial points.”
“A good introduction showed that students thought about the
arguments they wanted to make.”

6. In Critical Thinking all arguments are built on
the following building blocks:
• Assertion: A statement of a point of view, opinion or belief.
• The financial crisis of 2008 was the result of over lending of loans by
the Banking sector.
• Effectively a strong opening assertion is a strong opening introduction
for an argumentative essay.

7. Reasons:
• Reasons: A statement that supports the asserted point of view.
• The financial crisis of 2008 was the result of over lending of loans by
the Banking sector because of the banking sectors need to make
continued profits, growth and to some extent corporate greed.
• (Other reasons could be added to develop the reasoning for this
argument, can you think of any?)
• Banks did not adequately check companies’ and individuals’ abilities
to repay these loans.

8. Conclusions
• If an assertion is given a reason to support it then the term assertion
is relabelled a conclusion as the reasoning allows a conclusion to be
made or drawn from what is being said.
• The financial crisis of 2008 was the result of over lending of loans by
the Banking sector because of the banking sectors need to make
continued profits, growth and to some extent corporate greed.
• This is now labelled a conclusion and this gives an essay its thrust or
purpose.

9. Explanation
• When building arguments points and ideas you discuss will need explaining
to show the reader you have a full understanding of the ideas you are
discussing.
• The financial crisis of 2008 was the result of over lending of loans by the
Banking sector because of the banking sectors need to make continued
profits, growth and to some extent corporate greed. Banks did not
adequately check companies’ and individuals’ abilities to repay these loans.
These loans were known as “sub prime mortgages” and when these loans
could not be paid back banks were encumbered with the debt. This led
some into bankruptcy which meant they could not pay back the debts that
they had borrowed from other institutions which in turn led to panic in the
lending market and a financial crisis.

10. A basic academic argument works like this:
• Assertion + Reasons + Explanations
• The financial crisis of 2008 was the result of over lending of loans by
the Banking sector because of the banking sectors need to make
continued profits, growth and to some extent corporate greed and
because banks did not adequately check companies’ and individuals’
abilities to repay these loans. These loans were known as “sub prime
mortgages” and when these loans could not be paid back banks were
encumbered with the debt. This led some into bankruptcy which
meant they could not pay back the debts that they had borrowed
from other institutions which in turn led to panic in the lending
market and a financial crisis.

11. “The better responses were ones that had clear arguments supported by
their research. Students thought about the arguments they wanted to
make and substantiated their analysis with evidence”
• Using evidence and examples to support your essay.

12. CT Key Term
• Evidence: data and statistics that support the argument
• Of the trillion pounds generated by banks between 2000-2007 31%
was lent on residential property and 20% on commercial real estate.
(https://positivemoney.org/issues/recessions-crisis/)

13. CT Key Term
• Example: a theory or case study you can refer to.
• For example Lehman Brothers filed for “bankruptcy in September
2008, listing a debt of $613 billion.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-05-22/lehman-
brothers-debt-pays-off-for-hedge-funds

14. Argument in Full
• The financial crisis of 2008 was the result of the over lending of loans by the
banking sector because of the banking sectors need to make continued
profits, growth and to some extent corporate greed and because banks did
not adequately check companies’ and individuals’ abilities to repay these
loans. Shockingly, of the trillion pounds generated by banks between 2000-
2007, 31% was lent on residential property and 20% on commercial real
estate. (https://positivemoney.org/issues/recessions-crisis/) These loans were
known as “sub prime mortgages” and when they defaulted on the loans
banks were encumbered with the debt, leading some into bankruptcy which
meant they could not pay back the debts that they had borrowed from other
institutions which in turn led to panic in the lending market and a financial
crisis. For example Lehman Brothers filed for “bankruptcy in September 2008,
listing a debt of $613 billion.” http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-
05-22/lehman-brothers-debt-pays-off-for-hedge-funds

15. More complex topic = More assertions,
reasons, explaining, evidence and examples!

16. Create your own exemplar of how to build a model
answer for your own subject area using the Critical
Thinking Model.
• Assertion
• Reasons
• Evidence
• Examples
• Conclusion

17. 2 sides of an argument??
• Some argument style questions may require evaluating alternative
points of view. If they conflict with one another these are known as
counter assertions or if backed by reasoning counter arguments.
These argument are built in exactly the same way as before but they
highlight a conflicting point of view.
• Counter Assertion: Some would argue that the financial collapse of
2008 was not the result of over lending of loans by the banking sector
because…..Counter Reason……..
•