Reasoning & Its types

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Excerpts from the it works* module

Argument analysis

In the last academic year Pearl City College had poor results. This year fewer parents are admitting their children to the college. Therefore, the principal should be replaced.

Analyse every argument into its components

In the above argument there are two premises and a conclusion.

Premise 1 : In the last academic year the college had poor results.

Premise 2 : Fewer parents are admitting their children to the college this year.

Conclusion : The principal should be replaced.

Assumption : (what is not stated) – The principal was solely responsible for the poor results (This assumption is made, otherwise why is this solution suggested, why not any other solution?)

Five Common forms of inductive reasoning

(i) Exemplar argument or inductive generalization- is an argument in which a generalization is claimed to be likely on the basis of information about some members of a particular class.

(ii) A causal argument asserts or denies that something is the cause of something else.

(iii) A statistical argument rests on statistical evidence i.e., conclusion derived from evidence that some percentage of some group has some particular characteristic.

(iv) In an argument from analogy, the conclusion is claimed to depend on a similarity between two or more things.

(v) A predictive argument is about what may happen in the future defended with past or present experiences.

Question types

Line of Reasoning

A type of CR question in the GMAT requires you to identify the line of reasoning used in the argument.

line of reasoning is not the evidence, but what sort of evidence.

This question type requires you to analyze an argument and identify the logic used. In other words, HOW the conclusion is derived

eHere’s the all-important list of logic used in presenting arguments:

1. Appealing to reason / emotion

2. Offering a counter example

3. Presenting cause-effect relationship

4. Presenting quantified data

5. Drawing analogy

6. Presenting contrasting ideas

7. Providing examples