Reading and Evaluating

Arguments

Edlyn M. Baui
Regional Science High School for Region 02
• An argument is a claim that is
supported by reasons or evidence.

• When an author tries to persuade the

reader that something is true or
correct by presenting supporting
reasons or evidence, an argument is
being made.

• This means that an argument is

different from a statement.
An argument presents logical reasons
and evidence to support a viewpoint
 Parts of an Argument
• ISSUE - problem or controversy about which people disagree
• CLAIM - the position on the issue
• SUPPORT - reasons and evidence that the claim is reasonable and
should be accepted
• REFUTATION - opposing viewpoints
The Claim
• The claim of an argument is the point of the
argument.
• When an author makes an argument, it’s the
claim that the author is trying to persuade the
reader to accept as true.
 Types of Claims
• CLAIM OF FACT - statement that can be proven or verified by
observation or research
• “Within ten years, destruction of rain forests will cause hundreds of
plant and animal species to become extinct.”
Fact Claims:
• Women are as effective as men in combat.
• The ozone layer is becoming depleted.
• Increasing population threatens the environment.
• Bigfoot exists in remote areas.
• Men need women to civilize them.
Fact Claims
• Note that all these claims are statements of fact, but not everyone
would agree with them.
• They are all controversial.
• The facts in these claims need to be proved as either absolutely or
probably true in order to be acceptable to an audience.
 Types of Claims
• CLAIM OF VALUE - states that one thing or idea is better or more
desirable than another.
• “Requiring community service in high school will produce more
community-aware graduates.”
Claims of Value:
• Is it good or bad?
• How bad?
• How good?
• Of what worth is it?
• Is it moral or immoral?
• Who thinks so?
• What do those people value?
• What values or criteria should I use to determine its goodness or badness?
Value Claims: Examples
• Public schools are better than private schools
• Science Fiction novels are more intereesting to read than romance
novels
• Dogs make the best pets
• Mercy Killing is immoral
• Computers are a valuable addition to modern society
• Viewing television is a wasteful activity
Value Claims: Examples
• Contributions of homemakers are as valuable as those of professional
women
• Animal rights are as important as human rights
 Types of Claims
• CLAIM OF POLICY - suggests what should or ought to be done to solve
a problem.
• “To reduce school violence, more gun and metal detectors should be
installed in public schools.”
Claims of Policy:
• What should we do about it?
• How should we act?
• What should our future policy be?
• How can we solve this problem?
• What concrete course of action should we pursue to solve the
problem?
Policy Claims
• When you claim that all new students should attend orientation or
that all students who graduate should participate in graduation
ceremonies, you are making claims of policy.
• A claim of policy often describes a problem and then suggests ways to
solve it.
Policy Claims: Examples
• We should stop spending so much on prisons and start spending
more on education
• Children in low-income families should receive medical insurance
from the government
• Social security should be distributed on the basis of need rather than
as an entitlement
Policy Claims: Examples
• Every person in the United States should have access to health care
• Film-makers and recording groups should make objectionable
language and subject matter known to prospective sonsumers
 New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
stirred a furor recently when he called for
the abolition of methadone treatment for
heroin addicts in the city-a position that
put him at odds with the Clinton
administration's drug czar, Gen. Barry
McCaffrey. As a recovering addict, I can say
that Mr. Giuliani is right: Promising addicts
free methadone for life is not doing them a
favor.
• Type of claim: claim of value
• Argument/Claim: Treating heroin addicts by giving them methadone
is wrong.
 The economy may have boomed in recent years, but most
Americans are ready to bust. You don’t hear much about that, with the
national PR machine breathlessly trumpeting the longest peacetime
expansion in U.S. history. But behind the doors of the apartments, ranch
houses, and brownstones of the real folks who fuel this economy, there is a
different story, one of contraction—lives and family and free time
swallowed whole by work without end. Ask most working Americans how
things are really going and you’ll hear stories of burnout and quiet
desperation, of 50- and 60-hour weeks with no letup in sight. The United
States has now passed Japan as the industrialized world’s most overworked
land. In total hours, Americans work two weeks longer than the Japanese
each year, two whole months longer than the Germans. On top of that,
while Europeans and Australians are able to relieve the grind with four to
six weeks of paid vacation each year guaranteed by law, Americans average
a paltry nine days off after the first year (and that’s totally dependent on
the whims of employers.) If you need some time to tend to an illness in the
family or paint the house, your vacation time is pretty much shot. Forget
about Tuscany, Yosemite, or even a few days at a nearby state park.
 In the spring, Escape, the travel magazine I edit,
launched a campaign to try to roll back the new
Industrial Revolution time clock and open a national
debate on America’s biggest sacred cow: work. Mind
you, as an entrepreneur and business owner myself,
I’ve got nothing against the work ethic. It’s the crazed,
psychotic, overwork ethic that needs a pink slip. We
here at Escape have formed a committee called Work
to Live, whose goal is to increase vacation time in the
United States—to three weeks by law after the first
year on the job, and four weeks after three years.

• --Joe Robinson, "4 Weeks Vacation for Everyone!"

Utne Reader, September-October 2000.
• Claim of policy
• Americans' propensity for work long hours needs to be changed.