A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

Around here, when it's a warm night, you should protect your arms from insect bites.Now the argument would make sense, but only if you believe all this:The warrant is true (when it's a warm night, you should protect your arms from insectbites).The reason is true (it's above 80° tonight).The reason is a valid instance of the general condition (80° is a valid in stance of beingwarm).The claim is a valid instance of the general consequence (wearing a long-sleeved shirt isa valid instance of protecting your arms from insect bites).No unstated limitations or exceptions apply (a cold snap didn't kill all insects the nightbefore, the person can't use insect repellant instead, and so on).If you believe all that, then you should accept the argument that when it's 80° at night, it's agood idea to wear a long-sleeved shirt, at least at that time and place.We all know countless such principles, and we learn more every day. If we didn't, wecouldn't make our way through our daily lives. In fact, we express our folk wisdom in theform of warrants, but we call them proverbs: When the cat's away, the mice will play. Out ofsight, out of mind. Cold hands, warm heart.HOW A WARRANT WORKS IN AN ACADEMIC ARGUMENT. Here is a more scholarly example,but it works in the same way:Encyclopedias must not have been widely owned in early nineteenth century America, claimbecause wills rarelymentioned them. reasonAssume the reason is true: there is lots of evidence that encyclopedias were in fact rarelymentioned in early nineteenth-century wills. Even so, a reader might wonder why thatstatement is relevant to the claim: You may be right that most such wills didn't mentionencyclopedias, but so what? I don't see how that is relevant to your claim that few peopleowned one. If a writer expects that question, he must anticipate it by offering a warrant, ageneral principle that shows how his reason is relevant to his claim.That warrant might be stated like this:When a valued object wasn't mentioned in early nineteenth-century wills, it usually wasn't part of theestate. warrantWills at that time rarely mentioned encyclopedias, reasonso few people must have owned one. claimWe would accept the claim as sound if and only if we believe the following:The warrant is true.www.itpub.net