BUSS 4 Reflection on Good Exam Technique +

Building Arguments

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

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.

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.

• 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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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/)

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

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

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

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

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…….. •