CRITO outlines

Good work on your drafts. Now I want you to do an analysis of your essay using the CRITO outline format below. You should probably be able to do it on a single page. Please let me have these by the end of next week.

Conclusion:  Begin by stating your central claim or thesis in the form of a declarative sentence (followed by a brief explanation of its terms, if necessary). Your conclusion (thesis) should be explicit and clear, substantive, particular, and the object of possible or actual reasoned debate.  It should be something you believe to be true, in which you have a genuine interest, and for which you think you can give compelling reasons. Often you won’t know exactly what your thesis is until you have written a very preliminary draft of the paper.

Reasons:  Summarize briefly each of the reasons (premises, evidence, examples...) you will muster in support of your conclusion. They should be collectively sufficient to convince a thoughtful reader of the truth (accuracy, credibility) of your thesis. State each one as a single, short, declarative sentence.

Inference:  Put the central argument of your essay into standard form (list each reason as a single statement, followed by the conclusion), so as to be certain that it is sufficient to constitute a valid deductive, or strong inductive, argument for your conclusion.

Truth:  Consider the probable truth or falsity of each of your reasons in turn, so as to assess the soundness (if deductive), or cogency (if inductive) of your central argument.

Objection:  As far as the argument proper is concerned, if you have satisfied C, R, I, and T, your work should be complete. However, it is possible (and in actual practice quite likely) that you have missed something: a different perspective from which some element of your argument may be wanting, or some crucial piece of overlooked evidence or interpretation. Therefore, it will strengthen your argument to give full and respectful consideration to the strongest possible objection you can raise to some aspect of your of it. Ask yourself: what if a reasonable and intelligent person thought your conclusion, or one of your reasons, or the inference itself, had somehow missed the mark?

After presenting the strongest possible objection to your argument and according it serious consideration by developing it fully and sympathetically, respond to it as completely and respectfully as you can. It is better to acknowledge that you cannot definitively answer an objection than to attempt to deny or avoid its force.