Innovative Methods and Practices of Academic Writing and Writing Instruction
LOGIC IN ACADEMIC WRITING
Alma Klein¹, Anne Kirschbaum²
¹Writing Center of the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany ²Writing Center of the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
Major premise: Academic writing means argumentation. Minor premise: Argumentation needs logic. Conclusion: So, academic writing requires logic. The aim of this workshop is to examine, whether this conclusion fits the reality of academic writing practices. In any case, most writers would agree that academic texts consist of various components such as arguments, implications, premises, conclusi ons and more. Some texts when we read them, convince us, and some don‘t. If a text convinces u s, then one reason for that might be its logical structure. Moreover, when we produce our own texts we also employ logic intuitively. However, logic seems to be an underestimated writingtoo l; one that is often used unconciously. Due to this, a lot of writers do not make full use of it to structure their texts. They fail to make deliberate use of logic and therefore end up having a hard time producing convincing argumentation. But logic does not only help to communicate one's opinion to the reader, it can also support the discovery of reasonable statements. That is why we aim to combine logic emerging from philosophy and writing pedagogies in this interdisciplinary workshop. We begin with a short introduction to the basics of logic and logical figures in sentences as well as in whole arguments. After this input, there will be an exercise aimed at recognizing logical constructions. We hope that participants will hereby increase their awareness of the use of these constructions and their implications and effects on the reader. Finally, participants will be encouraged to practice the knowledge acquired during the workshop in a short writing excercise.
References
Beckermann, Ansgar (2011): Einführung in die Logik. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter
HoyningenHuene, Paul (1998): Formale Logik. Eine philosophische Einführung. Stuttgart: Reclam
Kruse,Otto (2013) ‘Schreiben und kritisches Denken. Systematische und didaktische Verknüpfungen’. in Writinig across the Curriculum at Work. Theorie, Praxis und Analyse. ed. by : Doleschal, Ursula et.al., Berlin/Zürich: LIT, 3964
Weber, Ryan; Ellen Brizee: ‘Logic in Argumenative Writing’ The Purdue Online Writing Lab available from < https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/659/ > [25.01.2015]