26 Claims, Support, and Structure
Core Curriculum; Christina Frasier; and Kirsten DeVries
Learning Objectives
- Compose debatable claims about a topic
- Support claims with evidence
- Organize evidence in a structured argument
- Compose effective counterarguments
Both as a student and as a professional, you may be asked to examine complicated situations and to develop and support positions that reflect the complexity of the issues involved. For example, if you go into education, you may be asked to develop and support a recommendation for a remedial reading program based upon a careful analysis of the costs and impacts of competing proposals. If you go into a medical field, you may be asked to develop and support a recommendation for the long-term care of a patient who has suffered a catastrophic injury. Whatever field you enter—management, criminal justice, social work, information technology, or any other—you are likely to confront challenging issues that require you to analyze data and evidence and to report out your conclusions in professional language and according to a professional format. The Academic Argument assignment is intended to help you develop the writing skills necessary to perform such an analysis and to report the results.
In the course of this assignment, you will write a thesis-driven essay that articulates reasons and examples that support your claims. Your objectives as you work your way through this assignment will be to
- make a debatable claim about a topic,
- support all claims with evidence,
- analyze a multifaceted issue in writing, and
- acknowledge the legitimate concerns of others.
Objective 1. Make a debatable claim about a topic.
Central to any Academic Argument is a claim. This section will define this fundamental concept and address related concepts, such as how the claim is reflected in a thesis statement and how it is used to guide the development of the essay. In particular, this section will answer the following questions:
- What is a claim?
- When is a claim debatable?
- How do I begin an argument essay?
- How do I introduce a topic and explain its significance?
- How do I use my thesis statement to state a main claim and key supporting ideas at the same time?
- How do I use my thesis statement and key ideas to organize my argument?
- How do I use my thesis and key ideas to organize my argument when speaking?
- What is the purpose of a body paragraph in an argument essay?
- How do I structure a body paragraph to support my thesis?
What is a claim?
A claim is an idea—or point—about a topic or issue that a writer or speaker makes in an argument. It is the equivalent of a thesis sentence for an argumentative essay. For example, let’s say that your topic is social media. Claims about social media might include one of the following:
- Social media help people stay in touch across long distances.
- Social media are hurting the communication skills of young Americans.
- Social media are useful tools for social mo