Critical Reasoning

I had an interesting discussion with a student recently; she was doing such a good job breaking down arguments into their premises and conclusions that CR had become very "cut and dry" and boring for her. It was difficult to engage her mind in the "story" behind each CR argument, and she was beginning to get questions wrong because she was missing the importance of certain words and phrases in the argument.

Is this true for you? Are you typically better at Geometry than Algebra? You might be more of a visual learner! Expressing yourself using symbols and images might be the key to taking your CR to the next level! To demonstrate how we might be able to do this, let's take a look at a sample CR:

Archaeologists seeking the location of a legendary siege and destruction of a city are excavating in several possible places, including a middle and a lower layer of a large mound. The bottom of the middle layer contains some pieces of pottery of type 3, known to be from a later period than the time of the destruction of the city, but the lower layer does not.

The force of the evidence cited above is most seriously weakened if which of the following is true?

Why couldn't we simply express the evidence provided in a picture? Engage your child-like self and use your imagination to "picture" what is provided!



Usually the deeper the level indicates an older time period. So, the city was probably destroyed around the lower layer, or in the middle layer but beneath where the pottery was found!

Question: What casts doubt on the Type 3 pottery in the middle layer/destruction of city inference?

Prediction: If the pottery was moved around - if the location doesn't represent the time period accurately.

Now we can examine the answer choices. What choice BEST SHOWS the pottery was moved around?

(A) Gerbils, small animals long native to the area, dig large burrows into which objects can fall when the burrows collapse.
(B) Pottery of types 1 and 2, found in the lower level, was used in the cities from which, according to the legend, the besieging forces came.
(C) Several pieces of stone from a lower-layer wall have been found incorporated into the remains of a building in the middle layer.
(D) Both the middle and the lower layer show evidence of large-scale destruction of habitations by fire.
(E) Bronze ax heads of a type used at the time of the siege were found in the lower level of excavation.

The correct answer is [spoiler](A)[/spoiler]. Is this a perfect choice? No. But it does the JOB of the question-stem.

Remember that "notes" in CR do not always have to be mere words! Arrows and drawings can be extremely valuable tools! Try to make the next 10 CR you attempt "visual" and "real world." Are you able to understand the argument more concretely by picturing it?