Deductive Essay

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Deductive Essay Deductive essays are an important factor in evaluating the knowledge level of students in many courses. Deductive reasoning is based on the concept that given as set of circumstances or clues (premises), one can draw a reasonable assumption as to the state of the situation. More simply, a person can solve a puzzle or identify a person if given enough information. Specifically, deductive reasoning takes individual factors, weighs them against the current knowledge about such things, and adds them up to come to a conclusion. There are three parts to deductive reasoning. The first is the PREMISE. A premise is a basic fact or belief that is used as the basis for drawing conclusions. There may be several PREMISES in an argument. The second part is called EVIDENCE. The evidence is the information you have before you, whether it is a story you are analyzing or something you have observed. The last part is the CONCLUSION. The conclusion is your final analysis of the situation, based on balancing PREMISES with EVIDENCE. A simplified example might be as follows: premise: all dogs are animals evidence: Fido is a dog conclusion: Fido is an animal. This is not a complex deductive exercise, but it is accurate. We use deductive reasoning quite commonly in day-to-day life. For example, say you look out your window some morning and see the street is wet. There are several ways you could interpret this information. You might assume a large water truck has just driven by, inundating the area with spray. Possibly, you may decide that water has soaked up from the ground. Most likely, however, you will likely decide that it

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Page 1: Deductive Essay

Deductive EssayDeductive essays are an important factor in evaluating the knowledge level

of students in many courses.

Deductive reasoning is based on the concept that given as set of

circumstances or clues (premises), one can draw a reasonable assumption as

to the state of the situation. More simply, a person can solve a puzzle or

identify a person if given enough information.

Specifically, deductive reasoning takes individual factors, weighs them

against the current knowledge about such things, and adds them up to come

to a conclusion. There are three parts to deductive reasoning. The first is the

PREMISE. A premise is a basic fact or belief that is used as the basis for

drawing conclusions. There may be several PREMISES in an argument. The

second part is called EVIDENCE. The evidence is the information you have

before you, whether it is a story you are analyzing or something you have

observed. The last part is the CONCLUSION. The conclusion is your final

analysis of the situation, based on balancing PREMISES with EVIDENCE. A

simplified example might be as follows:

premise: all dogs are animals

evidence: Fido is a dog

conclusion: Fido is an animal.

This is not a complex deductive exercise, but it is accurate.

We use deductive reasoning quite commonly in day-to-day life. For example, say you look out your window some morning and see the street is wet. There are several ways you could interpret this information. You might assume a large water truck has just driven by, inundating the area with spray. Possibly, you may decide that water has soaked up from the ground. Most likely, however, you will likely decide that it has rained. Why? Based on your life experience and likely factors, the most logical deduction is that a wet street is the result of rainfall. There are other possibilities, but the most logical deduction is rain. If, however, you were SURE that there had been no rain, or you were aware of a street cleaning program, your deduction would change appropriately. Deductive reasoning takes the MOST REASONABLE, LIKELY path, but is not necessarily fool-proof. Deductive reasoning is commonly used in police work, investigative reporting, the sciences (including medicine), law, and, oddly enough, literary analysis.

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A good deductive essay is clear and focused. Each paragraph focuses on a particular aspect or a particular point, using detail and examples to lead to a specific conclusion. The support for one's conclusion is the most important factor. In other words, without supporting one's point, the conclusion is weak.

Here are the examples of the popular topics for deductive essays and papers:

•Online Education Courses and Degrees

•Democracy vs Communism

•International Immigrants and Freedom

•The Harm of Lie, The Harm of Truth

•The Love vs Habit

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Deductive Essay

A deductive essay is a specific method of evaluating the academic achievements of students in many different subjects. The key peculiarity of a deductive essay is that it must show the ability of the author to use the provided information to come to a logical conclusion, which will represent a total piece of information.

The essay of this type should be structured in the way it reflects the process of deductive reasoning:

Introduction states the topic and thesis, attracting the reader’s attention.

The first paragraph of the main body describes the set of premises (the initial generally accepted information or clues, which are further used as a basis for reasoning).

The second paragraph focuses on the evidence, the piece of information you are analyzing in order to correlate it with premises.

The analysis finally results in a deductive conclusion, which is a balance of the evidence against the premises.

The final paragraph of the essay contains the restated thesis and the deductive conclusion.

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An important feature of the deductive essay is its sharp focus and clarity. The paragraphs must be very clearly organized, discussing one particular issue and providing examples, details and explanation why the deductive conclusion is as it is. The support must be very strong and well-organized, as the failure to provide clear supporting arguments will make the conclusion look far-fetched and unrealistic.

Topics for deductive essays often seem to include comparison (Love vs. Habit, Democracy vs. Totalitarism), however, one must be careful in order not to confuse the two types of writing, as the question here is not in the issue of whether love and habits are similar or different, but in the deduction of why love cannot be a habit or vice versa.

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Sample of Deductive Essay on PhilosophyIs There Any Limit for Knowledge?It is often said that the wish for cognition is one of the most important forces that drive a human being onwards; at least, a human being that has reached certain level of development. It seems that human, if given enough time and power, won’t stop until he knows everything that is there to be known. The only thing that separates him from absolute knowledge is the necessity of death; and, as we will show, in more than one sense.

On the one hand, human cannot achieve absolute knowledge for the sheer reason of his life being limited – the information that belongs to collective knowledge of humanity even now exceeds the possibilities of what one man can learn in a lifetime, and the potential knowledge that remains unattainable so far should be of really gargantuan proportions. Yet, we see that people are not confused by the limitedness of the possibilities every separate human has; in their majority people of knowledge are quite satisfied to learn as much as it is possible for them and even more – if they are capable to add something to the existing knowledge.

But, on the other hand, if we consider for a moment a possibility of a human being becoming immortal, will it actually give him an opportunity of attaining complete knowledge? If we take it for granted that the Universe is cognizable, then it will be possible for him in his infinite life to learn everything; but in the end, one final mystery will remain – death. There is no way to learn anything about it by observing it from outside, for in this case we only see it – well, from outside, and perceive only its influence on physical matter.

The one who wants to know everything will finally become exceedingly attracted by death, for it will remain the only unlearnt thing for him. It is often said that great knowledge doesn’t bring happiness; in fact, the more person knows, the less happy he is. Isn’t it a kind of reverberation of what we have said above? Isn’t it this attraction to one final mystery that cannot be learned until you go through it on your own, and once you will, there won’t be any possibility for you to impart this knowledge to anyone?

Anyway, as we may see, complete knowledge is impossible for a human being; at least, in the state in which we consider ourselves to be humans.

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How to write a deductive essay

Purpose

The purpose of the deductive essay is to guide students in the process of using deductive reasoning. In Western countries, deductive reasoning is the most commonly used method to arrive at a valid conclusion. Deductive reasoning uses facts to draw a conclusion. For example, a simple deductive argument might be

"Only depressive students exhibit the following set of behaviors. Twenty-five percent of college freshman exhibit these behaviors. Therefore, 25% of college students must be depressed."

Of course, a deductive essay draws on a lot more than one fact to arrive at a conclusion, but this simple example illustrates the principle.

Tone

The tone of the deductive essay must be factual and objective. Personal opinions and conjecture are not welcome in a deductive essay, so take care to avoid introducing these elements in the essay.

Selecting a Topic

Topics for a deductive essay must be chosen carefully. Avoid topics that evoke a strong emotional response because it is very difficult to write an objective paper about a topic that you feel strongly about. Instead, choose a topic that you find interesting, but that you do not have a firm opinion about.

Introduction

The introduction should explain the problem that is being investigated, as well as provide the background of the problem. Because the deductive essay is based on facts, the introduction and background of the problem should be carefully researched. Then, the thesis should explain the major facts and present the conclusion. For example, in a deductive essay about the lack of diversity at a

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particular university, the thesis could be, "Plain State University lacks diversity because the majority of its students are Caucasian, Protestant, and from upper middle-class backgrounds."

Supporting Paragraphs

The supporting paragraphs should explain the major facts mentioned in the thesis. Each of these paragraphs should have a clear topic sentence to guide the reader, and then move on to provide evidence that supports the claim. This evidence must stem from credible research and never include elements of the author's opinion or personal experiences.

Conclusion

The conclusion of the deductive essay should restate the conclusion that you have drawn, based on your research. The conclusion can also look to the future. For example, the author in the Plain State University example might advocate that the university conduct further research to solve the diversity problem. Alternatively, they might discuss the implications of failing to address this problem, such as losing federal funding.

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