Sample paper
Fallacies
- Subject
- English & Literature
- Type
- Paper
- Citation style
- APA 7
- Length
- 4 pages
About this sample
The paper identifies and labels logical fallacies in sixteen short arguments, giving each answer a fallacy name followed by a brief explanation. It is organised as a numbered list rather than a continuous essay, covering fallacies such as slippery slope, illogical conclusion, appeal to popular opinion, attacking the person, and begging the question. It has no thesis or introduction, and the arguments it analyses are presented as examples.
- logical fallacies
- slippery slope
- illogical conclusion
- appeal to popular opinion
- attacking the person
- begging the question
How it opens
Answer 1: Slippery slope
The argument infers that a minor move as increasing the minimum wage will prompt greater effects like increasing poverty levels.
Answer 2: Illogical conclusion
The conclusion does not follow from the arguments that are not adequate. The speaker's experience in Spain during the three-day conference is inadequate to rate the country's beauty.
Answer 3: Appeal to popular opinion
The arguer uses the popular point that no one has been able to provide evidence of the lack of psychic powers to convince that the powers exist.
Answer 4: Attacking the person
The speaker introduces personal insult in the argument by referring to John as a criminal to refute his point.
Answer 5: Circular argument
The argument applies evidence from itself rather than from outside to explain why capital punishment is wrong.
Answer 6: Illogical conclusion
The speaker attests a conclusion that does not follow from the elements of the argument. There is no relationship between Reese Witherspoon and planets.
Answer 7: Appeal to ignorance
The speaker applies listeners' lack of information on Joe to prove the point that he is the richest man in the world.
Answer 8: Begging the question
The conclusion of the argument is accepted in the inquiry itself. Obama had to garner more electoral votes to be the president.
The opening section, transcribed from the PDF. The full paper continues below.
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Using an example well
Read it for how the paper is built, not for wording to reuse: how the introduction frames the question, how each paragraph moves from a claim to evidence, and how sources are cited in APA 7. Submitting any part of it as your own work would be plagiarism, and it is written for a different brief than yours.
Writing one yourself? Read the guide How to outline a research paper and the APA format guide.