CLAIMS

What is a Claim?

A claim is your opinion on a controversial issue. Remember your opinion cannot be wrong and the only way you can mess up is to poorly support your opinion.

THREE TYPES OF QUESTIONS

• Question of Fact

It asks you about the truthfulness or falsehood of something.

Example: Is it a crime or not to post on social media a threat to the life of the president? The answer is either “Yes” or “No” and will become convincing you provide a logical reason and evidence.

• Question of Value

Here you are usually asked to choose between things, ideas, beliefs or actions, and explain why you do so.

Example: Is wearing face shield necessary for all people? Why or why not?

• Questions of Policy

This question asks you to explain what should be done on a certain issue. The answer is a breakdown of the plan and a justification that it fixes the problem.

Example: What should students do to obtain quality education at this time of COVID-19 pandemic? (Plan and justify.)

THREE TYPES OF CLAIMS

• Claims of Fact

  It asserts a condition existed, exists, or will exist.

• Claims of Value

  A claim that is based on preferences such as likes or dislikes, good or bad.

• Claims of Policy

  Statements that argue that something needs to be done.

PERSUASION VERSUS ARGUMENTATION

• Persuasion

  The action or fact of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something.

• Argumentation

  The process of establishing a claim and then proving it with the use of logical reasoning, examples, and research.

  

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

An argumentative essay tries to change the reader’s mind by convincing the reader to agree with the writer’s point of view.

Argumentative - Having or showing a tendency to disagree or argue

Essay - A short piece of writing on a particular subject.

Characteristics of an Argumentative Essay

Attempts to be highly persuasive and logical. Hence, an argumentative essay should be written objectively and logically.

An argumentative essay has the following characteristics:

• presents and explains the issue or case

• gives reasons and supports these reasons to prove its point

• refutes (proves wrong) opposing arguments

Parts of an Argumentative Essay

1. Introduction First is the introductory paragraph. It introduces the problem and gives thebackground information needed for the argument and the thesis statement.

2. Body The body of the essay contains the reasons. Each paragraph talks about one reason. The reason is included in the topic sentence and is supported by details or materials. These supporting materials can be examples, statistics, personal experiences, or quotations.

3. Conclusion

   The conclusion restates the main claim and gives one or two general statements which exactly summarize the arguments and support the main premise.

ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES

• Proposal Argument

a structure of argument that focuses on presenting some kind of proposal as a solution to a problem, outlining the details of the proposal, and providing good reasons to support the proposal.

For example, it's not enough to argue that cigarette smoking is bad for one's health most people would agree but you could make a good argument that we need a plan to cut down on teens who are becoming addicted to cigarettes

• Casual Argument

a structure of argument that focuses on how something has caused, or has let to some particular problem. It answers a how or why question: How did things get to be the way there are? Why did something happen?

Example: An argumentative essay explaining why Facebook remains popular despite privacy complaints.

• Definition Argument

a structure of argument that focuses on clarifying a definition for a controversial term or concept. A definition argument is one that asserts we cannot make clear assertions or possess a clear understanding of an issue until we understand exactly what the term means.

Example: An argumentative essay arguing for the benefits of organic foods with a focus on defining what organic really means.

• Narrative Argument

a structure of argument that uses a story, usually presented in chronological order, to make some kind of point, that point is persuasive or argumentative.

HOW TO FORMULATE A CLAIM OF FACT, VALUE, OR POLICY

You can write a paragraph by formulating a clear and logical claim supported by a reason and evidence. Likewise, you can develop an essay by formulating a single claim which is supported by one or more reasons with corresponding evidences. The convincing power of your claim depends on the quality of your reasons and evidences which can be facts or opinions or a combination of both based on statistics, experience, examples, quotations, expert opinion etc.

Example:

Topic: The danger of COVID-19

Question of Fact: Is COVID-19 dangerous?

Claim of Fact: COVID-19 is dangerous.

Reason: It is highly infectious and fatal.

Evidence: According to the WHO, the virus can infect 3 to 4 people, has infected almost 3 million and killed over 300,000 worldwide.

AGREE OR DISAGREE

Adverb of Affirmation

It is an adverb which is used in a sentence to affirm it as true. Generally these adverbs are used to answer the questions raised by others.

Examples of adverbs of affirmation:

• absolutely

• avowedly

• affirmatively

• all right

• alright

• assertedly

• aye

• certainly

• clearly

• really

To express affirmation, you can use an adverb of affirmation.

Example: definitely

Cases of cyberbullying will definitely increase as more and more students will be using the social media for information and communication.

Adverb of Negation

It is an adverb which is used in a sentence to deny it as true. Generally, these adverbs are used to answer the questions raised by others.

Examples of adverbs of negation:

• almost

• contradictorily

• invalidly

• never

• no

• not

• rarely.

When you say that something is not true like disagreeing with someone’s idea, you are negating and you can use an adverb of negation.

Example: No, not

No. That is not the solution.