Below are several claims (the sorts of claims that might serve as key premises in arguments). Obviously you cannot know, merely by reading the claims, whether they are true or whether they involve significant omissions. But you can decide what further checks you would want to run, what further information you would want to obtain, before accepting those claims at face value. (In particular, think about what is implied by each of these claims and whether they might be “half-truths,” where what is left out changes the significance of what is included.) For each claim, state what further information would be helpful in evaluating the claim.

5. The producer of a powerful commercial herbicide claims that there is no evidence that that herbicide causes cancer in humans.

6. A politician asserts that during his term as governor, cocaine use among teenagers dropped significantly.

7. A politician claims that under her proposed tax cut, most of the people receiving tax cuts will be middle-class families.

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