Ignore prompt in argument essay?

[Quevun]

I've read a few online resources and books, they all recommend using just one way to write the argument essay, which is finding the assumptions and attacking them.

But there are essay prompts like "discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument" which mentions nothing about assumptions.

Most sample essays I've read even had me wondering how are they relevant to the prompts given.

Is this normal? Should I ignore the prompt and just follow the template?

[onceinalifetime]

For that one you just say what each assumption is, and then tell what evidence would need to be present in order to support that assumption. Just dissect each assumption one at at a time in that manner

[DC1020]

Part of examining an assumption is analyzing the evidence needed to prove or disprove it.  The discussion of each of the assumptions should mention evidence that would be needed and which is probably not included in the original argument.

Edited January 14, 2016 by DC1020