Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

13
SAMPLE ESSAY 8: 
WRITING IN RESPONSE TO A
CRITICAL THINKING TASK
Critical thinking involves close textual analysis and evaluation
of arguments. You will be expected to identify in the given
text how the argument is structured, the conclusions that are
drawn from the points that are being made and any
counter-arguments that are presented. You are expected to
display your understanding of the assumptions that
underpin arguments and to analyse any flaws in the argument. 
You are not usually asked to write a complete essay in response to the
assignment, but a shorter, detailed piece of continuous writing.
Assignment: Write a critical evaluation of the argument presented
below. Ensure that in your answer you:
1) Explicitly identify the structure of the argument, that is, conclusions
drawn, reasons given, and counter-assertions made. 
[5]
2) Assess the argument by explaining the flaws in the reasoning,
and giving the assumptions that must be made. 
[6]
3) Present two further arguments that challenge and/or 
support the conclusion. 
[6]
(Three marks are available for quality of written communication)
108

---

Global warming, its dangers for the planet and the reasons for it,
has become something of a sacred cause for many environmental
activists and some in the scientific community. However, the case
that these advocates make for urgent action is often over-stated and
flawed in the evidence that is presented. The situation is much less
clear-cut than these zealots would claim. There may well be a case
for accepting that the earth is warming, but even that is not a total
certainty. At any rate, it must be remembered that the earth has
always undergone climactic change independent of human
interventions.
Extravagant claims were being made only a few years ago that
within fifty years time, the average temperature of the globe would
rise by an average of ten degrees. These wildly apocalyptic
forecasts were being made by scientists and activists who stated
that widespread ecological disaster awaited the planet and this was
largely due to the impact of human behaviour through carbon
emissions, the swallowing up of the earth’s natural resources and
pollution in general. This simply has not happened and those
forecasts can now be seen as simply alarmist. Now it is generally
agreed that those wild forecasts of doom were wholly exaggerated
and that the effect of global warming, if it is to happen, would be
far less drastic than was previously thought.
If those dire prognostications were false, what can be trusted in the
current propaganda circulated through the media by those with a