By Mark Milke
In a course I teach to undergraduate students, essay instruction necessitates a reminder about how to construct a proper argument. I warn students away from ad hominem attacks, one-sided essay research, guilt-by-association, the inadmissibility of “straw men” and correlation-equals-causation mistakes; I also point out why conspiracy theories are often wrong, and that assuming one's interests explains all is one-dimensional. Those and other follies too often cost students marks.