Editorial: It is clear that if this country's universities were living up to both their moral and their intellectual...
vkaszuSeptember 30, 2017
Facts
Sometimes I struggle with knowing if something is an argument or set of facts when, like this question, it contains an opinion-type statement which starts with "it is clear". How can I improve this?
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Hi @vkaszu, thanks for your post. Great question. If you're not sure whether you're looking at an argument or a set of facts, one piece of advice is to ask yourself whether there is a conclusion in the stimulus. If you think you see a conclusion, you need to be able to identify at least one premise that allegedly supports that conclusion. If you cannot, then you're likely looking at a set of facts — opinionated or neutral.
In the stimulus here, you're presented with a set of facts — albeit opinionated facts. There is no conclusion that is supported by one or more premise(s).
Developing confidence and accuracy in identifying arguments vs. sets of facts is difficult for many LSAT students. With practice and careful review, this will become easier!
