Open a word processing file, and paste in a copy of an argument you wrote at least three weeks ago.
Identify all the claims you made in the paper. Place a hard return and the label "claim" before each statement you identify.
After each claim you identify, and in a different font, write out your analysis of the reasoning you used in arriving at that claim.
Identify that reasoning as inductive, deductive, or abductive.
Try to find yourself guilty of bias in some of these claims. Where did you neglect to consider alternative solutions? Where did you rush to confirm, rather than to disconfirm, an idea?
What evidence did you not include, or not even look for? What evidence might you have interpreted differently if you had a different perspective?
If you were to re-write this paper to strengthen the reasoning, what improvement could you make? What additional evidence could you search for? How could you think differently about the evidence you used? What alternative hypotheses could you consider? Write out your response to these questions at the end of the text of the original paper, in a different font, and forward your results to your instructor.
As a check on your self-analysis, trade word processing files or paper copies of your original text file with a classmate. Run the same analysis on each other’s papers, and compare your results.
