Parts of An Argument
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I created these slides to teach a 9th grade lesson on Argument. I embedded comments on how these match the principles outlined by Richard Mayer for multimedia design.
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Parts of An Argument
- 2. Parts of an Argument 1. Claim – the statement of the author’s opinion on a debatable topic 2. Reason – an argumentative statement that supports the main claim by showing the thinking behind it 3. Evidence – the specific facts that supports the author’s reason
- 3. Parts of an Argument 1. Claim – the statement of the author’s opinion on a debatable topic
- 4. Parts of an Argument 2. Reason – an argumentative statement that supports the main claim by showing the thinking behind it
- 5. Parts of an Argument 3. Evidence – the specific facts that supports the author’s reason
- 6. Should Schools Give Summer Homework? Schools should rethink summer homework, and not just because it stresses students (and parents). The truth is, homework doesn’t accomplish what we assume it does. Research shows there’s only a moderate correlation between homework and standardized test scores or long-term achievement in middle school. Nancy Kalish, “Should Schools Give Summer Homework: No.” New York Times Upfront 11 May 2015: 23. Print.
- 7. Should Schools Give Summer Homework? Schools should rethink summer homework, and not just because it stresses students (and parents). The truth is, homework doesn’t accomplish what we assume it does. Research shows there’s only a moderate correlation between homework and standardized test scores or long-term achievement in middle school. Nancy Kalish, “Should Schools Give Summer Homework: No.” New York Times Upfront 11 May 2015: 23. Print.
- 8. Should Schools Give Summer Homework? Schools should rethink summer homework, and not just because it stresses students (and parents). The truth is, homework doesn’t accomplish what we assume it does. Research shows there’s only a moderate correlation between homework and standardized test scores or long-term achievement in middle school. Nancy Kalish, “Should Schools Give Summer Homework: No.” New York Times Upfront 11 May 2015: 23. Print.
- 9. Should Schools Give Summer Homework? Schools should rethink summer homework, and not just because it stresses students (and parents). The truth is, homework doesn’t accomplish what we assume it does. Research shows there’s only a moderate correlation between homework and standardized test scores or long-term achievement in middle school. Nancy Kalish, “Should Schools Give Summer Homework: No.” New York Times Upfront 11 May 2015: 23. Print.
- 10. Parts of an Argument Claim WHAT the author is arguing Reason WHY the author argues that claim Evidence FACTS that support a reason
Editor's Notes
- There are three main parts to an argument. You might have kind of a gut instinct as to what these parts are or to what these words mean, but we’re going to use this technical vocabulary so that we can do a better job describing and analyzing the arguments we read and the arguments we create.
- The first part is the CLAIM. It’s the short, summary statement of WHAT the author is arguing.
- The second part of an argument is the REASON. You can think of it as the reasons WHY the author has made the claim he or she has so that you can understand the thinking behind it. Each REASON is a sort of mini-claim. There can be a number of them in an argument.
- The third part of an argument is the EVIDENCE. Evidence are the factual details that support the REASONS, and by doing so they support the overall CLAIM.
- This passage, written by Nancy Kalish in response to the question “Should Schools Give Summer Homework?,” contains ONE CLAIM, ONE REASON, and ONE PIECE OF EVIDENCE. Read through and see if you can find them. So here’s what I’ve determined, and I’ll talk you through my thinking.
- The CLAIM is the WHAT – what Nancy Kalish says in response to the question… so her response is that schools should “rethink,” which implies that they should do something different from what they’re already doing. This is a creative way of stating CLAIM, which in even more simple language is basically “schools should not assign summer homework.”
- The REASON is the WHY– why Nancy Kalish has made the argument that she schools should get rid of summer homework. The WHY here is that” homework doesn’t achieve what we assume it does”… even though this is implicit as well, we probably assume it helps kids learn, but her REASON for abolishing summer homework is that it actually doesn’t help kids learn, if we state her REASON a little more simply. Of course, Kalish’s WHY– her REASON -- leaves us wondering… really? Can that possibly be correct?
- That’s why she needs to provide some EVIDENCE – some specific facts that support her REASON. Here, she provides some examples from researchers. She could make this evidence even stronger, and therefore support her reason even more, if she gave some details about that research – who did the study and perhaps some numbers that show what she means by “moderate correlation” – but I’m guessing she didn’t since she wanted to keep this article short and sweet.
- In short, you can think of the CLAIM as the WHAT, the REASON as the WHY, and the EVIDENCE as the FACTS. A few more quick things to know before I turn you loose to do some team work: --They often come in this order – first claim, then reason, then facts, then perhaps another reason and another set of facts, then perhaps another reason and another set of facts. HOWEVER, they don’t ALWAYS come in this order. --Sometimes, one or more of these parts seems like it’s missing. If it’s really and truly an argument (and most of what we read is an argument) then that part is usually not missing altogether but it is IMPLICIT (meaning it’s not directly stated) rather than EXPLICIT (meaning the author just comes out and says it). We’ll dig into this a little more deeply later, but that’s something I want you to keep in mind. But the most important thing to keep in mind is this basic structure.