Argumentative Writing

The Elements of an Argument A claim Based on evidence of some sort A warrant that explains how the

evidence supports the claim Backing supports the warrants Qualifications and rebuttals or

counter arguments that refute competing claims

Claim Your “thesis” statement Your argument

Evidence Good argument begins with looking at

the DATA that is likely to become the EVIDENCE in an argument and which gives rise to a thesis statement or major CLAIM

SO, your thesis statement arises from a QUESTION, which in turn arises from the examination of information or data of some sort

Evidence Once we have examined data to

produce a question and have reexamined the data to try to produce an answer to the question, we may have a claim or thesis worthy of arguing. If the data support our answer to the question, it becomes evidence in support of the claim we make.

Evidence Laid out step by step, it looks like this

Examine data Ask questions based on data Reexamine data Try to answer the questions Data that supports our answer =

EVIDENCE

Evidence TO BE USEFUL, MUST BE VERIFIABLE Must cite the works discussed and quote

from the texts to prove a claim Readers will want an explanation of

WHY the data we produced support the claims we made

This is the job of the WARRANT

Warrant Warrants may be simply common

sense rules that people accept as generally true, laws, scientific principles or studies, and thoughtfully argued definitions

Think about the crime shows on TV. They spend a considerable amount of time establishing WARRANTS

Backing Support for WARRANTS When serious arguments of judgment

are challenged, the warrants will likely need to be backed by extended definitions of the abstract qualities involved (extended data and research)

Qualifications and Counter Arguments

Because arguments deal with probabilities, they must be qualified. When statistical procedures are not appropriate, statements such as PROBABLY, IN ALL LIKELIHOOD, AS A RULE, etc., would be the form of a qualification

The very idea of arguments or probability suggest that a differing claim is likely to exist; address it

REQUIREMENTS You must include all of these

elements in your paper 5 DIFFERENT, VERIFIABLE,

RELEVANT pieces of data/research MLA format 2 pages argument + 1 works cited = 3

pages total (limit) 1, 5 slide PowerPoint presentation

POWERPOINT FORMAT

#1: Evidence #2: Claim

#3: Evidence; Warrant; Backing

#4: Evidence; Warrant; Backing

#5: Rebuttals;

Claim repeat; Conclusion

***Include pictures on each slide. Include at least 1 paragraph of information on each slide.