The final exam for COMM 104, Advocacy and Argument, will cover the material from the entire course. Although any assigned reading is fair game, the bulk of the material covered will reflect the homework and classroom lecture/discussion. You are encouraged to make notes for your use in taking the exam. You may consult your homework.
Instructions: Choose the best answer for each question based on course material. You may consult your own notes, but not the textbook. Bring a version of Scantron Form #882 for the objective questions, each of which is worth one point. I will supply lined paper for the essay questions. Each question is worth one point unless otherwise stated, for a total of 100 pts. [Scroll down to see answers.]
1. What do we call the responsibility of advocate to provide reasons for a change?
2. Assume the following argument: “All surfers are athletic. Some athletic people are intelligent. Therefore, some surfers are intelligent.” How should you evaluate it?
Select T [a] if the statement is basically true and F [b] if basically false, based on course content.
3. Speakers should concentrate eye contact on the back of the room slightly above the heads of audience members.
4. An arguer’s credibility is usually strengthened by using qualified sources.
Match the Toulmin labels on the right with parts of the argument below.
| 5. Unless somebody else was in the house when the cake
disappeared, |
a. warrant b. data c. rebuttal d. qualifier e. claim |
| 6. it is highly probable that… |
|
| 7. Johnny ate the last piece of cake. |
|
| 8. I saw the cake on the counter this morning, Johnny was
still there when I left, and now the cake is gone. |
|
| 9. Whenever physical objects disappear, there has to be a reasonable explanation, which usually involves human action. |
These are the open-ended questions which appear on the final exam. Only the examples will be different in each case. You will be asked to answer the questions on the lined paper provided by the instructor:
10. Scan, standardize, and diagram the following argument: “Americans are already switching from hard liquor to beer and wine. They also are switching from high-tar and high-nicotine cigarettes. These examples show that Americans are turning away from drug-containing products. Thus, legalizing drugs would not be likely to result in more users.” (6 points)
11. Identify the conclusion and apply tests of statistics to the following argument: “The amount of advertising is getting worse, not better, on television. In May 1974, a consumer advocacy group monitored half-hour news broadcasts at 262 local television stations across the United States. They discovered that 43% of these programs exceeded the National Association of Broadcasters’ code restriction on advertising to a maximum of 16 minutes per hour outside prime time.” (4 points)
12. Identify the hypothesis and evaluate the causal reasoning in the following argument: “Americans have gained 28 years of life expectancy in the past century. These figures prove that the current system of medical care is working to preserve and improve health.” (4 points)
13. Identify the conclusion and apply tests of evidence to the following argument: “That dictators like Muammar Qadhafi and Fidel Castro are still in power and Saddam Hussein had to be overthrown by military force reveals why economic sanctions and quarantines are doomed to failure.” (4 points)
Answers:
1. a
2. c
3. false
4. true
5. c
6. d
7. e
8. b
9. a
10. Scan and Standardize:
A. Americans are already switching from hard liquor to beer and wine.
B. They also are switching from high-tar and high-nicotine cigarettes.
C. These examples show that Americans are turning away from drug-containing products.
D. Thus, legalizing drugs would not be likely to result in more users.Diagram:
11. Sample answer:
Conclusion: The amount of advertising is getting worse, not better, on television.
These statistics most definitely fail the recency test. It is impossible to draw a conclusion about 2007 from a study done in 1974. Even at the time the study was done, I would note that a consumer advocacy group would tend to have a bias against advertising, and I would question whether local news programs are representative of TV advertising. While 262 sounds like a reasonable number of stations, we do not know how they were sampled.
12. Sample answer:
Hypothesis: The current system of medical care has prolonged live expectancy.
One fundamental question is whether the health care system could account for this event. It seems reasonable to believe that people who are healthier should live longer. For example, cancer used to be a death sentence, but today people are living in remission for many years. A causal agent does seem to be present. On the other hand, other causal agents are also possible like a higher standard of living and better quality of nutrition. Also, the increase in life expectancy appears to be a global phenomenon, indication that many factors may be at work in addition to our medical system.
13. Sample answer:
Conclusion: Economic sanctions and quarantines are doomed to failure.
Qadhafi, Castro, and Hussein are certainly very well-known as dictators who defied economic sanctions. We have no reason to believe that Saddam would not still be in power today if the US had not go into Iraq. So these examples are clearly relevant to the conclusion. Of course they are famous for the very reason that they have defied sanctions. We may have forgotten those countries where sanctions have worked, and the argument begs the question concerning what we mean by success or failure of sanctions.
Last revised: May 26, 2007.
