Re-write your argument to address the hidden assumption (Assuming that children will attempt to access prohibited websites, firewalls may not necessarily be sufficient in preventing them due to the availability of other applications such as VPN).

• Choose a research question related to your major.
• Write the question (Can firewalls prevent children from accessing prohibited websites?)
• Deliberately answer the question wrong (if you believe the answer is “no” answer “yes”)
• Re-write the question as a statement using your wrong answer as the basis (Firewalls can prevent children from accessing prohibited websites.)

Notice that the statement above is not an argument. An argument requires at least 1 premise and 1 conclusion. However, the statement above is only a conclusion. You need to add at least 1 premise (to support your conclusion). This is where you need to do some research.

• Write a short paper (paragraph) explaining why your statement is false. In the example above, your paper will be explaining why firewalls may not necessarily prevent children from accessing prohibited websites).
• Write an argument that is supported by your research. (Because of the availability of other applications such as VPN, firewalls may not necessarily prevent children from accessing prohibited websites.)
• Identify the premise: (Because of the availability of other applications such as VPN)
• Identify the conclusion: (firewalls may not necessarily prevent children from accessing prohibited websites.)
• Is the argument logical? In other words, is the premise related to the conclusion?
• Is the premise true or an assumption? If you’ve done your research well, the answer should be “no.”
• What is the hidden assumption? All logical arguments are based upon a hidden assumption (the reason that the conclusion appears to be related to the premise). In this case, the hidden assumption is that children will access prohibited websites if they are not prevented from doing so.
• Re-write your argument to address the hidden assumption (Assuming that children will attempt to access prohibited websites, firewalls may not necessarily be sufficient in preventing them due to the availability of other applications such as VPN).