GRE Analyze an Argument examines your ability to understand and analyze the arguments, evaluating them in the form of an essay. You need to write GRE analyze an argument essay of 500-600 words within 30 minutes. You need to go through GRE AWA practice papers for further practice.

Arctic Deer-GRE Essay Samples for Argument Task

TOPIC

Arctic deer live on islands in Canada's arctic regions. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island during the course of the year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travel over it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the purported decline in deer populations is the result of the deer's being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea.

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

Answer:

The author’s conjecture about the fact that the decline of the arctic deer is the reason for the melting of ice due to global warming that has rattled the age-old migration trait of the arctic deer is majorly based on weak arguments and not convincible. There is a serious lack of analysis and logic behind the author’s claim.

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The main proposition that the author has placed is, the reason behind the decline of the arctic deer is global warming but he has failed to provide any circumstantial pieces of evidence that will nurture the claim. His statement is solely based on sheer coincidences that are not strengthened. Had he been able to present statistical data of temperature changes, the rise of sea level, and the diminishing population of arctic deer – then there would have been a scope of the argument.

The very next claim of the author which is not backed by any noteworthy claim is supporting the statement of the local hunters to be trustworthy. The author has not acknowledged any researches, or the environmentalist’s declaration about the matter, neither any local magazine nor scientific journals. For the audience to back his statements he should have cited from authentic sources – but he clearly seems to fail in that thereby making his claim vulnerable. He could’ve attached some findings from reliable sources to prove his claim as a powerful one.

Thirdly, the author never presents the widely common topic of poaching of the arctic deer in the context. There is a huge possibility of the local hunters poaching the deer which is leading to their diminishing count. Illegal hunting gives rise to the endangering of these animals because of their demanding body parts that are quite lavish in the market. The author to strengthen his claim should have provided links of the local hunters’ activities with that of the arctic deer rather than completely believing in their words. Furthermore, the author has also failed to uphold a connection between human intervention and the decline of the deer. Statistical data like the count of the decrease of deer caused by illegal poaching, demolition of natural habitat, and more would have been beneficial for the claim.