On the shoulders of giants: Colourful argument trees for academic writing
Maarja Kruusmaa, Amirouche Moktefi and Jeffrey Tuhtan
Abstract.
Academic writing courses tend to focus on rhetorical and linguistic components rather than on argument making. This is unfortunate since it is precisely the purpose of scientific writing to expose arguments. We present an attempt to overcome this divide. For the purpose, we introduce colourful argument trees that do not merely exhibit the structure of complex arguments but also the state of our confidence in its statements and its inferences. The visualisation of the argument and the integration of the sources into its structure provide students with a better understanding of scientific writing.
I like very much the idea of representing visually argument making for scientific writings.
The authors point out that argument trees are commonly found in logic and critical thinking textbooks. So, I was wondering whether all academic student groups are able to use the argument trees.
Also, if someone wants to use the argument trees in teaching for students in the faculty of Arts, where should he / she start? Could you give advice?