8/3/2019 Evidence and Claims HO
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CompLit 122
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Evidence & Claims1
Crucial site for connectionEvidence is the entirety of the
primary materialand data that makes up the subject of the writing
inquestion. (The subject, strictly speaking, is limitedto that
portion of an unknown about which youhave claims to make.)
A claim is an assertion that you make about yourevidence: an
idea that you believe the evidencesupports. (The primary claim in a
paper is thethesis, but the paper needs more claims to explainall
the evidence.)
Q: Can evidence prove that you are right?A: It can, but it
doesn't have to...
Corroborationproving the validity of a claimis one of the
functions of evidence, but it isn't the only
one and it isn't automatic. The relationship between evidence
and claimsthe thought connections that haveoccurred to youvirtually
always need to be explained. In fact, to prove comes from the Latin
verb meaning to
test. Each time you cite evidence or make a claim, your thesis
is tested and your task is to connect them
but how?
1. Learn to recognize and support unsubstantiated assertions.
(add evidence to every claim)
The word unsubstantiated means without substancean
unsubstantiated claim isn't
necessarily false, it just offers no concrete stuff upon which
the claim is based. More
important, unsubstantiated claims deprive you of details,
leaving both reader and writer
stuck in a set of abstractions.
2. Make details speak. (explain the relationship between
evidence and claim)
Your writing isn't about an innocent set of facts; you are
writing about your own
process of thinking. Thus, when you present the details that
sparked your thought process,
you need to accompany them with your thoughts. This is the
meaning of making the implicit
explicit; the evidence you cite might imply a certain
interpretation on your part, but that
interpretation is a necessary component of your paper2!
Developing a thesis is more than repeating an idea; You need to
build a
paper by analyzing evidence in depth.
1 Adapted from David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen, Writing
Analytically. 137-162
2 In the terminology of Young, Becker and Pike, the
interpretation which you argue in your paper would be called
your
unique view, and its implication would arise from the way your
view of the unknown unitizes it. This is why the
explanation of your interpretation is so important: without it
the reader does not know what you think the examples
'really' are.
8/3/2019 Evidence and Claims HO
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CompLit 122
11/04/2009
1 on 10 versus 10 on 1: or, developing a thesis is better than
repeating an
ideaAnalysis is the search for meaningful
pattern. It attends to detail, traces
impressions back to causes and searches out
further questions rather than rushing to
answers.
Demonstration is the attempt to prove that a
generalization is generally true. It fails to pay
careful attention to detail, to incorporate
evidence that counters its claim, and provide
answers for simple questions instead of
discovering interesting topics.
The problem: 1 on 10
1 on 10 describes the organization of a demonstration; the
writer of a 1 on 10 essay provides
one idea in ten different instances. (Think the five-paragraph
essay extended to 12
paragraphs.) The writer who reasserts the same idea about each
example only produces a list,
not a pieced of developed thinking, and the thesis never evolves
or changes in complexity.
...
The solution: 10 on 1
10 on 1, in contrast, describes the organization of analysis;
the writer narrows in focus and
then analyzes in depth. He or she makes 103 points about a
single representative issue or
example. (The 1 is the unknown of your thesis, while the 10 are
the points you make about
that unknown) The result is an analysis which leads the writer
to draw out as much meaning
as possible from his or her examples.
...
3 Or more than 10, or fewerhowever many points are
necessary.
Overly general
claim
Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example 10Conclusion
Example 1
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Point 4
Point 10
Representative
Example
Conclusion Example 2 etc.
The organization of 1 on 10
The organization of
10 on 1
