Identifying and evaluating arguments

Argument is the most fundamental concept in our study of critical thinking. Much of this course will be devoted to identifying, developing, and evaluating arguments. We will study valid and invalid forms of arguments, strong and weak arguments, causal arguments, analogical arguments, and arguments based on generalizations. The significance of arguments to critical thinking makes it important for all of us to understand the term, and its relationship to some of the basic language of the critical thinking course.
Argument consists of 2 parts: conclusion (decision opinion you reach after thinking about problem); reason (statement that explain justify and support conclusion). A deductive argument is one in which it is claimed that it is impossible for the premises to be true but the conclusion false. Thus, the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises and inferences. In this way, it is supposed to be a definitive proof of the truth of the claim (conclusion). An inductive argument is one in which the premises are supposed to support the conclusion in such a way that if the premises are true, it is improbable that the conclusion would be false. Thus, the conclusion follows probably from the premises and inferences.
Determining dependability in arguments: check date of publication, check source of publication, check authorship (author experience in this field, author reputation for accuracy, objectivity of author, firsthand or not). A list of Fallacious arguments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies): red herring, false cause, slippery slope, ad hominem, circular reasoning.