Fabowlus Memo - 10 Steps of Critical Thinking

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10 Steps of Critical Thinking Name Course School What are the issues and conclusions? The memo (R. Fabowlus, personal communication, January 30, 2014) regards whether the union SAG-AFTRA should support Eugenia Glover publicly in a lawsuit that she filed against FOX News for interfering with her ability to work, and also for wrongful termination against Al Jazeera America (AJAM). Browne & Keeley (2012) explain that sometimes the author of a document will mention the issue during their introduction or even in the title of the writing. In the case of the memo, not only does Fabowlus’ (2014) phrase, “You wanted to know if the union should publicly support the union member in publicizing their legal case(s)” state the issue in her introduction, but she also restates and alludes to it repeatedly throughout the document. The conclusion of the memo is also stated plainly at the end of the document. Fabowlus (2014) states, “SAG-AFTRA Nevada Local should not support Ms. Glover.” What are the reasons? There are several reasons detailed in the memo, and though the points are a bit haphazard, they are obvious. The author uses reason identifier terms, which Browne & Keeley (2012) state are easy ways to determine if an item is a reason or not. More often than not, these reasons stated are not factual, but opinionated. It is important to not only explore all reasons before reaching a conclusion, but to use reasons with merit to avoid weak reasoning (Browne & Keeley, 2012). There are both strong and weak reasoning in this memo. The strong reasons listed in the memo are: * Ms. Glover’s inconsistency paying her union dues since 2003. * Ms. Glover’s being fired from FOX News in 2005. * When using her FOX News job history for reference and background checks, Ms. Glover was not selected for employment. * Ms. Glover was hired as a news host by AJAM
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