Understanding Claims
What is a Claim of Fact?
Asserts something that can be proved or disproved with factual evidence. "factual" (true or not true)
What is Personal Experience?
Adds a human element and can be an effective way to appeal to pathos
For example, if you are writing about whether you support increasing funding for the arts in schools, you might describe your experiences as a student.
What is a current event?
What is happening locally, nationally, and globally ensures a store of information that can be used as evidence in an argument. Current events can be used to seek out multiple perspectives and be on the lookout for bias.
What is Induction?
Means arranging an argument so that it leads from particulars to universals, using specific cases to conclude.
For example, every time you eat peanuts, you start to cough, so you conclude you are allergic to peanuts
What is the Toulmin Model?
It is a framework for constructing and analyzing arguments that breaks an argument into six components: Claim, Grounds, Warrant, Backing, Qualifier, and Rebuttal.
What is a Claim of Policy
An argument that proposes a specific course of action or a solution to a problem. (Change)
What is Personal Observation?
Things you have seen but not necessarily experienced yourself - to inform your argument.
For example, use your personal observations about a nearby art museum as evidence.
What is historical information?
Verifiable facts that a writer knows from research. It can also help with establishing ethos.
What is Deduction?
Moves in the opposite direction from a general statement to a specific conclusion.
For example, you are allergic to peanuts. Every time you eat peanuts, you start to cough.
What is a Claim of Value
Argues that something is good or bad, right or wrong, valuable or not valuable, desirable or undesirable. May be personal judgments. "opinionated"
What is a Testimony?
An expression of how the writer or someone the writer is citing feels about a personal experience or personal observation. "emotional component."
For example, you might use your perception of your cousin's great experience at a magnet school for the arts as evidence in your essay on that subject.
What is expert opinion?
It is the backbone of an evidence-based argument because you are drawing on specialized, credible knowledge. You might consult the viewpoint of an individual who is an "expert" in a local matter but who is not widely recognized.
What is Syllogism?
A logical structure that uses the major premise and minor premise to reach a logical conclusion.
What is an Anecdote?
Anecdotes are stories about other people that you've either observed, been told about, or researched.
What is Quantitative evidence?
Includes things that can be represented in numbers like stats, surveys, polls, experiment results, etc/
What is Classical Argument?
Outlined a five-part structure that is used to develop their lines of reasoning, although perhaps not always consciously.
Introduction, narration, confirmation, refutation, and conclusion.
What is an Analogies
Comparisons between two unrelated things can be concrete evidence to develop an argument about the difficulties.
What is a Rogerian Argument?
It is a collaborative approach to writing that seeks to find common ground rather than winning a debate.