Is one claim in the book The Amityville Horror probably baloney, or possibly true?

Research question:

Is one claim in the book The Amityville Horror probably baloney, or possibly true?

Thesis statement:

In this essay, your thesis statement should be your answer to the research question.

Length:

A minimum of 1500 words (about 6 pages), double-spaced, using a size 12 font, in MLA format. You can write more than this, but your essay must be at least 1500 words. Your Works Cited page does not count toward the word total.

Sources:

You will incorporate five sources into your essay. You already have two sources:

• Your primary source is The Amityville Horror
• One secondary source is our Canvas course

You may find your three other secondary sources from articles we have read in our class, on the Internet, in the ECC library, in the library databases (available on MyECC), or any other kind of credible, college-worthy source. Look for legitimate authorities.

NOTE: Wikipedia is NOT a credible, college-worthy source, and can NOT be used in this essay.

Explanation:

Think critically about the same claim you investigated in Essay 1, using at least seven Baloney Detection tools.

In Essay 1, you thought critically about your chosen claim using these four Baloney Detection tools:

• Wherever possible, there must be independent confirmation of the “facts”
• Spin more than one hypothesis
• Occam’s razor
• Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified

We’ve come a long way since then! Now we have a full Baloney Detection Toolkit:

Revise your essay, examining the same claim using any concepts from at least seven Baloney Detection tools you’ve learned throughout our course. The whole Canvas course is one of your secondary sources! For example, you might want to examine your claims in terms of the reliability of personal experience (The Amityville Horror is based on George and Kathy Lutz’s personal experience).

Helpful hints:

• You may use Essay 1 as a rough draft of this essay. Start with what you already wrote in Essay 1, and add to or revise your draft.
• Include concepts from at least seven Baloney Detection tools from our Baloney Detection Toolkit. The tools you use are your choice. Here are all the tools we’ve discussed this semester, with questions that will get you started thinking critically:
• • Wherever possible, there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.”
    • What does the article say the “facts” are? Are these really facts? (NOTE: This is a great place to include a quotation or two from the book.)
    • How many people witnessed the event? Are any of these people independent from each other?
    • What kind of evidence is presented in the article? Is the evidence empirical or anecdotal? How strong is the evidence?
    • Is any bias present in the claim or the evidence? What does any bias mean for the trustworthiness of the claim?
  • Spin more than one hypothesis.
    • What are other possible reasons for what happened? Think of one or two.
  • Occam’s razor
    • Discuss all the questions that must be answered in order for the claim to be true.
    • Discuss all the questions that must be answered in order for your alternative hypotheses to be true.
    • Which hypothesis (the article’s claim or your alternative hypotheses) has the least number of questions that must be answered? Why might the number of questions/type of questions be important?
    • Apply Occam’s razor. Based on your analysis, which hypothesis is most likely to be true?
  • Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified.
    • Is it possible to fake the hypothesis—or any evidence for or against the hypothesis? If so, how could it be done?
    • How could we find out if the hypothesis was faked? What tests could we run?
    • How do we know when to trust that a hypothesis—or any evidence for or against the hypothesis—is real?
    • What are your criteria for trustworthiness of a hypothesis or evidence?
    • Is it reasonable to think that evidence was faked just because someone says it is?
    • Is it reasonable to think that evidence was faked just because it disproves a hypothesis you believe in?
    • Why would people believe the claim–or evidence proving or disproving the claim–was real? Why would people believe the claim–or evidence proving or disproving the claim–was fake?
• • If there’s a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work
    • Does the claim make an argument? If so, what are the premises, and what is the conclusion?
    • What is the argument’s structure?
    • Is the argument good or bad?
    • Is the argument valid or invalid?
    • Do you see any logical fallacies in the claim? Which ones? How are they working in the claim?
    • Do you see any appeals in the claim? Which ones? How are they working in the claim?
  • Don’t get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours
    • Is the person in the book overly attached to their belief about what happened? How might their belief affect their ability to think critically?
    • How might perceptual constancies and other perception concepts affect what the person experienced?
      • Color constancy
      • Size constancy
      • Pareidolia
      • Problems with memory
      • Expectation
      • Representativeness heuristic
      • Denying the evidence
      • Confirmation bias
      • Availability error
    • Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view
      • Do Anson or the Lutzes introduce other points of view?
      • Do Anson or the Lutzes introduce substantive debate on the evidence?
      • Are any knowledgeable proponents introduced by Anson or the Lutzes? Who are they? What do they say?
      • What issues might a substantive debate raise about the evidence?
      • Do any cognitive biases in the book interfere with possible substantive debate about your chosen claim? (that is, even if there’s a knowledgeable debate, would any cognitive biases like confirmation bias or denying the evidence keep a debate from exploring all the important issues?)
    • Quantify
      • Is any qualitative or quantitative evidence given in the book?
      • Do Anson or the Lutzes present as evidence any statistics from reliable sources?
      • What statistics/data exist that could support the claim in the book?
      • What statistics/data exist that support your alternative hypothesis? (Here is a great place to research and locate an outside source. If you can find statistics/data that support your alternative hypothesis, you will have strong empirical evidence that your alternative hypothesis may be true.)
      • What qualitative evidence exists that supports your alternative hypothesis?
      • What can statistics/data show us about the claim and/or your alternative hypothesis?
    • Arguments from authority carry little weight
      • Who is presented as an authority in The Amityville Horror?
      • Does the authority say anything about your chosen claim?
      • Is this person an expert in the area of the claim?
      • Is this person a false authority?
      • Who is presented as an authority about your alternative hypothesis? (Here is a good place to do outside research. Who are the experts that study issues involved with your alternative hypothesis? What studies have they conducted?)
      • What does the authority say about the issues involved in your alternative hypothesis?
      • Is this person an expert in the area of your alternative hypothesis?
      • Is this person a false authority?
      • Does the authority present evidence, or just give an opinion without evidence?

Helpful hints

• You are not trying to figure out whether everything in the book is true! We just don’t have the evidence. Instead, you are thinking critically about one of the claims presented in the book.
• You do not have to answer all the questions I provide in this assignment. These questions are to help you begin applying the Baloney Detection Tools to the claim.
• Add to your existing discussion of the four Baloney Detection Tools you discussed in Essay 1. Now that you know more about critical thinking, what more would you like to say about the evidence, about possible bias, about your alternative hypothesis?
• Look over all of the Baloney Detection Tools and their questions. See which ones could involve your chosen claim. Then choose the tools you wish to apply in this essay.