The Toulmin Model and

Warrant Analysis
 TOULMIN STRUCTURE
• Claim/proposition: Statement of position. May be factual,
causal, value-based or policy-based.
• Data: Evidence supporting the claim.
• Warrant: Underlying assumption, belief, or rule identifying
relationship between claim and support/grounds. Warrants
can be explicit (stated) or implicit (unstated; reader must
infer or read between the lines).
• Rebuttal: Objections to claim; an opponent’s attack against
your warrant.
• Qualifier: Response to the counterargument/ counterclaim.
 FOCUS ON TYPES OF WARRANTS
• Generalization: If something is true for the sample, it is true
for the whole.
• Cause-and-Effect: If a certain effect is observed, a particular
cause preceded it.
• Sign: If a certain sign is observed, a particular event,
condition, or situation exists.
• Analogy: If two things are sufficiently similar, what is true for
one is true for the other.
• Authority: If an authority is cited, he/she is presumed to be a
qualified expert.
• Value: Moral or ethical principles/beliefs the writer hopes the
audience shares.
 FOCUS ON TYPES OF CLAIMS
 Claim of Cause
 Claim of Policy
 Claim of Value
 Claim of Fact
 Claim of Definition
CLAIM, SUPPORT,
WARRANT
 THE “GIMME” QUESTION--
WWF: ONE…MORE…TIME!!
Many newspapers include hefty sports sections, and all legitimate sports are
represented in these pages. In them, fans can learn all about their favorite
sports, teams, and players. Statistics, standings, and highlights are also
provided. Are you looking for information on playoff games and Super Bowl
prospects? You will find them in the sports pages. One sport you won’t find
there, however, is WWF wrestling.

•What is the claim?

– WWF wrestling is not a legitimate sport.
• What is the data?
– WWF is not covered in the sports pages.
•What is the warrant?
– Only legitimate sports are covered in the sports pages.
•What kind of warrant is this?
– Sign warrant (the newspaper is a sign/symbol of reliability).
 REAGAN ON RUSHMORE?
(Borrowed from R. Gass, Ph.D., Cal State Fullerton)
Ronald Reagan’s likeness should be chiseled onto Mt. Rushmore, alongside
Washington, Jefferson Lincoln and Roosevelt. Polls show Americans rank him
with John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln as one of the greatest presidents
of all time.

•What is the claim?

– Ronald Reagan’s likeness should be chiseled onto Mt. Rushmore.
• What is the data?
– Polls show Americans rank him with JFK and Lincoln as one of the greatest
presidents of all time.
•What is the warrant?
– Public popularity is the basis for determining whose face belongs on Mt.
Rushmore.
•What kind of warrant is this?
– Value warrant (the public decides what is popular/unpopular).
 EFFECTIVE WRITING
(Adapted from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s “How to Write with Style”)
Remember that the two great masters of language, William Shakespeare and James
Joyce, wrote sentences which were almost childlike when their subjects were most
profound. “To be or not to be?” asks Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The longest word is three
letters long. Joyce could put assemble intricate sentences, but my favorite sentence
in his short story ‘Eveline’ is this one: ‘She was tired.’ At that point in the story, no
other words could break the heart of the reader as those words do.

•What is the claim?

– Simple language is the most effective.
• What is the data?
– Shakespeare and Joyce express the most profound ideas in the simplest
language.
•What is the warrant?
– Because Shakespeare and Joyce are literary giants, their simple language
exemplifies effective writing.
•What kind of warrant is this?
– Authority warrant (Shakespeare and Joyce are experts).
 LAST ONE: PILL-POPPING KIDS?
(Adapted from Kim Painter’s “Are Your Kids Little Addicts?”)
As shocking health statistics go, this one is an eye-popper: Prescription sleeping-pill use is
up 85% among older children and adolescents. The recent study that includes this
information also shows a doubling of use among young adults. So are we raising a
generation of pill-dependent insomniacs who need drugs to fall asleep? Not really. A
closer look at the data, and some additional information, suggests the actual number of
kids getting sleeping pills is tiny and the reasons complex.

•What is the claim?

– Adolescents are not becoming a generation addicted to sleep aids, despite the
increasing number of such prescriptions.
• What is the data?
– Study data shows that relatively few kids are taking sleeping pills.
•What is the warrant?
– The data gathered in this study is very likely indicative of trends in other,
unobserved cases.
•What kind of warrant is this?
– Generalization warrant (what is true of the study group is probably true for the
general population).