Parts of Argument

Five Parts of Argument

There are Five Questions that you can expect to be asked (in order) by every reader of your academic writing; any academic writing you do must provide a reasonable answer to each of these five questions. Each of your answers to the five basic questions will correspond to one of the Five Parts of argument.

1. The reader asks, “What do you think?” / You answer by making a Claim.

2. The reader asks, “Why do you think that?” / You answer by giving your Reasons.

3. The reader asks, “How do you know?” / You answer by citing your Evidence.

4. The reader asks, “What makes you think that your reasoning is good?” You answer by stating the Warrants you hold to be true.

5. The reader asks, “What other claims could be made?” You answer by offering an Acknowledgment and/or a Response

------

1. Claims offer critical solutions to intellectual problems; they suggests to readers that they ought to change the way they think or act with regard to the problem at hand. Because a claim is always debatable, it must always be based on reasons.

2. Reasons provide your logical basis for making a claim. Because your reasoning is always debatable, it must always be based on evidence.

3. Evidence provides the logical basis for your reasoning; it consists of incontestable facts that lend concrete support to your claim.

4. Warrants are the values or beliefs on which your reasoning depends. A warrant acts as a as given, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted. You should know what your warrant is so you can judge if your readers will share it or not.

5. Acknowledgement recognizes the alternate claims that run counter to the claim you have made. Response indicates your degree of disagreement with the counter-claims at hand. ------An essay makes a general claim by reason of specific evidence.

An essay must be warranted in making its particular claim.

An essay must acknowledge and respond to the other lines of reasoning that could warrant different answers to the question at hand. PARTS OF ARGUMENT

1. Claim Debatable statement that Mr. X was an incredibly lazy forms the main point of an anthropology teacher. argument. (Sometimes called a thesis statement.) What do you think? 2. Reasons Arguments that help Most every class, while Mr. X sat at support the main claim. his desk, we watched movies that had (These allow you to break a very little educational value. broad claim into smaller, more precise sections.) Mr. X used old tests that seemed to be Why do you think so? designed to save him time rather than to gauge our knowledge of material. 3. Evidence Personal experience, Some of the movies we watched outside authorities, facts, included Little Big Man and Last of and statistics that support the Mohicans. subclaims. (Stands by itself; the evidence is not During two tests, I had to show him debatable, though its as many as eight questions that interpretation may be.) covered material he had never How do you know you’re assigned. Both times, he told the class right? to skip those questions.

The three main elements—claims, reasons, and evidence—are the foundation for most academic arguments. If you at least have a solid claim in you paper, support it up with insightful reasons, and back up those reasons with sound evidence, you are virtually guaranteed to generate a reasonably good paper, both in this course and others. Additional elements:

4. Admission of possible Acknowledgement: Acknowledgement counterarguments, It’s true that half the class named him and Response reassertion of your as their favorite teacher. argument. (Strengthens your argument by adding Response: subtleties.) The same half of the class slept It may be argued that through class every day. ____. However, I’m still right because ____. 5. Warrants Assumptions that underlie Teachers ought to be engaged, your argument. (Usually attentive, and hardworking. left unstated, if you can assume your reader shares Teachers should only test students on them). What am I material covered in class. assuming?