Parts of an Argument
This is the writer’s central position or stance on an issue.
What is a claim?
“According to a 2025 student survey, 68% of students said they would participate more actively in class if they were allowed occasional movement breaks."
Is this a claim, evidence, reasoning, counterclaim, or rebuttal?
What is evidence?
This appeal persuades an audience through emotion, such as fear, sympathy, anger, pride, or hope.
What is pathos?
A speaker uses "freedom" repeatedly throughout a speech to emphasize its importance without necessarily repeating the exact same sentence structure.
What is repetition?
In SPACECAT, this letter asks who created the text or delivered the speech.
What is S—Speaker?
This type of irony occurs when the audience knows something that a character does not.
What is dramatic irony?
These specific facts, examples, statistics, quotations, or observations are used to support a claim.
What is evidence?
“Because movement breaks may help students reset their attention, allowing them during appropriate moments could increase engagement without sacrificing significant instructional time.”
Is this a claim, evidence, reasoning, counterclaim, or rebuttal?
What is reasoning?
This appeal relies on logic, reasoning, facts, statistics, and evidence.
What is logos?
“The classroom was a prison, the desks were chains, and the bell was a guard.” This extended comparison describes one thing in terms of another to emphasize a particular idea.
What is metaphor?
In SPACECAT, this element identifies why the author created the text or what the author hopes to accomplish
What is P—Purpose?
When a character or situation represents a larger idea beyond its literal meaning, it is an example of this literary concept.
What is symbolism?
This part of an argument explains why the evidence proves or supports the claim.
What is reasoning?
“Some teachers argue that movement breaks would cause unnecessary distractions.”
Is this a claim, evidence, reasoning, counterclaim, or rebuttal?
What is a counterclaim?
This appeal depends on the speaker’s credibility, expertise, character, or trustworthiness.
What is ethos?
A writer asks, “How much longer can we allow this to continue?” without expecting the audience to provide an actual answer.
What is a rhetorical question?
An author writes a persuasive article for teenagers, knowing that many of them are worried about fitting in with their peers. This element of SPACECAT concerns the people being addressed.
What is A—Audience?
This is the struggle between opposing forces that drives a narrative.
What is conflict?
A writer acknowledges an opposing viewpoint before responding to it. This strengthens the argument by demonstrating awareness of other perspectives.
What is a counterclaim?
“However, teachers could establish specific rules for when movement breaks occur, preventing them from becoming disruptive.”
Is this a claim, evidence, reasoning, counterclaim, or rebuttal?
What is a rebuttal?
A writer says, “As someone who has spent fifteen years studying marine biology, I can tell you that this policy will damage coastal ecosystems.” Although the statement contains a claim about the environment, the primary rhetorical appeal comes from this element.
What is ethos?
A writer deliberately places two contrasting ideas next to each other: "We must learn to live together, or we will perish together."
What is juxtaposition?
A speaker chooses statistics, repetition, and emotionally charged anecdotes to persuade her audience. In SPACECAT, these deliberate decisions are referred to as ______.
What are choices?
This is the author's attitude toward the subject or audience.
What is tone?
A writer states an opposing position and then demonstrates why that position is less convincing, often by exposing a weakness in its evidence or reasoning.
What is a rebuttal/refutation?
“Schools should incorporate brief movement breaks into longer class periods.”
Is this a claim, evidence, reasoning, counterclaim, or rebuttal?
What is a claim?
A speaker presents statistics about distracted driving, then describes a teenager whose life was permanently changed by a crash. The speaker is deliberately combining these two appeals.
What are logos and pathos?
“We will work. We will fight. We will succeed.” This deliberate repetition of a grammatical structure is an example of this device.
What is parallelism?
A school principal discovers that students are vandalizing bathrooms. She immediately writes an announcement asking students to respect school property. The vandalism is the situation that prompted her to write. In SPACECAT, this is called the text's ______.
What is exigence?
A character says, "I'm fine," while the narration describes her trembling hands and tear-filled eyes. What does the reader have to do to understand the character's true emotional state?
What is make an inference?