Recognize the distinction
A statement that a plan increases one benefit does not by itself establish that the plan should be adopted regardless of cost. Identify the relevant objective, other constraints, and feasible alternatives. Recommendations often rely on a value premise about what should take priority. An effectiveness question and a best-policy question therefore impose different burdens.
Choose a method
Compare complete alternatives over the relevant time horizon. Purchase price differs from total ownership cost, and land used for parking cannot simultaneously serve the best forgone use. A missing comparison is important when it could change the ranking of the options. Naming an unrelated downside does not automatically defeat a policy that already accommodates it.
Worked contrast
Machine A can be cheaper to buy yet more expensive over five years if its energy and repairs exceed the initial saving. In the gallery case, extra attendance does not justify an unlimited staff budget without a reason to override preservation needs. The more absolute the recommendation, the more extensive the implicit priority claim.
Transfer and check
For transfer, compare two study plans using learning benefits, time, and affordability. State which criterion you are optimizing and which constraints cannot be violated. A plan can be effective but not optimal. A good answer about a policy flaw identifies the unexamined comparison rather than asserting that every cost must always outweigh every benefit.
Machine A has a lower purchase price than Machine B. The two machines can produce the same output per hour. An advocate concludes: Buying Machine A will minimize the workshop's total cost over five years. Which statement is the advocate's main conclusion?
- The advocate offers these observations: Machine A has a lower purchase price than Machine B. The two machines can produce the same output per hour.
- The target claim is introduced as what the advocate concludes: Buying Machine A will minimize the workshop's total cost over five years.
- Identifying a conclusion does not require accepting it; the task concerns its argumentative role.
Compare the other answer choices
This is a stated premise, offered as evidence rather than the target conclusion.
This is background or supporting information, not the claim the advocate infers.
This adds a stronger claim than the advocate actually states.
This is a possible counterfinding, not the claim the advocate aims to establish.
Try it, then explain it.
Complete a short set without looking at the example. After each answer, explain which evidence or rule supports your decision and why the alternatives do not fit.
Sources & authorship
Original Slope explanations and examples. References support the concepts; they are not the source of copied questions. Independent educator review is pending.
Logical Reasoning skills