Simple arguments and their elements claim, reason, evidence, acknowledgement and response

1. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
(IUSD)
Research Methodology
Dr. Ayat Ismail, PhD
Urban design & planning dept.
Ain Shams University
ayat.ismail@eng.asu.edu.eg
Building an argument - Basing claims on
reasons - Basing reasons on evidence

2. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
(IUSD)
Topics
• From notes to argument
• The 4 elements of argument
• What do you claim?
• What reasons support that claim?
• What evidence supports those reasons?
• Do you acknowledge this alternative/complication/objection, and how do
you respond?
• Building complex arguments out of simple ones
• What to avoid?

3. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
(IUSD)
Weeks Lecture Series and Activities
w1 - 22 Feb Introductory lecture: What is research? - types of research - the stages of research - semester overview
w2 - 1 Mar
Formulating a research: From an Interest to a Topic, from a Topic to a Question, and From a Question to
a Problem
w3 - 8 Mar
Navigating the literature - finding reliable sources – reviewing the selected literature – developing a
theoretical framework
w4 - 15 Mar
Developing an analytical framework – Identifying variables – case study selection – tools for qualitative
research data collection and analysis
w5 - 22 Mar off
w6 - 29 Mar
Building an argument - Basing claims on reasons - Basing reasons on evidence - Acknowledging and
responding to alternatives
w7 - 5 Apr How to write a research proposal? components of proposal – how to develop realistic work plan?
w8 - 12 Apr Tutorial – discussion of students’ MT topics and its development in time for MT WS
w9 - 19 Apr
Validity and reliability of research – methods for determining validity and reliability in quantitative and
qualitative research
w10 - 26 Apr Master Thesis Workshop (TBC) – Preliminary Submission
w11 - 3 May Research Ethics: plagiarism and misconduct – quotes and referencing styles
w12 - 10 May
Introductions and Conclusions- How to write an introduction – how to write a conclusion – the
components of conclusions
w13 - 17 May Tutorial – discussion of students’ MT proposals for their 1st MT colloquium
w14 - 24 May Planning to draft, drafting your thesis, and revising your draft
w15 - 31 May Master Thesis Colloquium 1 (TBC) – Final Submission

4. MSc
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• Assuming that you have read 20 to 30 books/articles related
to your research interest:
• You have taken notes (lots and lots of notes)
• Books covered several relevant topics
• How do you suggest to arrange your notes?
• The most obvious way is to arrange your notes under the most
obvious topics, then sort the topic into a certain logical
sequence that makes sense to you.
• In your opinion; what are the possible shortcomings of this
approach?
From notes to argument

5. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
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• The obvious topics are usually the least useful, because they will
likely reflect only what your sources suggest.
• Even if those suggested topics are really relevant, they are likely
to fit only a linear sequence (A followed by B followed by C . . .),
• Such linear sequence/structure is usually too weak to support a
complex argument.
• Almost surely, such linear sequence/structure can never be
organized in a way that clearly supports the answers your
question.
• In your opinion; what are the possible shortcomings of this
approach?

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Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
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• Now what? How to impose a useful order on all the information
you have?
• Organization of notes should come not from the categories of
your data but from the logic of your answer and its support.
• You have to organize your report to support a claim that
answers your research question
• The support for that answer and claim takes the form of a
research argument.
• Your final draft must reflect not only the structure of your
argument but also the structure of your readers’ understanding

7. MSc
Integrated urbanism
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The 4 elements of an argument
• Claim
• Reasons
• Evidence
• Acknowledge alternatives and response

8. MSc
Integrated urbanism
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The 4 elements of an argument
1. Claim:
a statement that answers to your research question
• Expresses your position or stand on the issue
• States precisely what you believe (and perhaps WHY you
believe it)
• This is the viewpoint you want readers to accept or the action
you want readers to take
• The claim is in essence your thesis statement

9. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
(IUSD)
The 4 elements of an argument
2. Reason:
A statement or two explaining why your claim is acceptable
• The explanation and justification of your claim
• Reasons answer the “Why” and the “How Come?
• Logical and rational reasons win arguments
• Reasons must ALWAYS be supported with evidence or
examples

10. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
(IUSD)
The 4 elements of an argument
3. Evidence:
A statement that is accepted as a fact and supports reason.
• Proof that your reasons and claim are accurate and believable
• Evidence often includes: statistics, interviews, quotes,
examples, anecdotes, etc.
• Evidence should be: relevant to the topic - provided by a
credible source (an expert in the field) - reputable (i.e. contact
information is available, up-to-date source, etc.)

11. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
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Claim
Reason
Evidence Evidence
Reason
Evidence
The 4 elements of an argument
Claim because of Reason based on Evidence
A series of points leads to a logical conclusion

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The 4 elements of an argument
Claim because of Reason based on Evidence
Examples?
TV violence can have harmful psychological effects on
children (claim) because those exposed to lots of it tend to
adopt the values of what they see (reason). Smith (1997)
found that children ages 5–9 who watched more than three
hours of violent television a day were 25 percent more likely
to show signs of verbal and physical aggression (evidence)

13. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
(IUSD)
The 4 elements of an argument
Claim because of Reason based on Evidence
Examples?
Global cities are not necessarily spatially segregated by
income and ethnicity (claim) because the literature that
suggests such correlation is over-generalizing the assumption
on cities without verification (reason). The empirical study
shows that only 54% of global cities witnessed an increase in
spatial segregation over the past decade (evidence)

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Claim because of Reason based on Evidence
• The 3 elements are not enough for a good argument because:
• Readers might not accept a claim just because you back it up
with your reasons and your evidence
• Readers will probably think of evidence you haven’t provided,
interpret your evidence differently, or, from the same evidence,
draw a different conclusion
• Readers may think of alternative claims you did not consider.
The 4 elements of an argument

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4. Acknowledging and responding to alternatives:
• In a good argument, you should try and anticipate as many of
your readers questions as you can, and then acknowledge and
respond to the most important ones
• Back to the TV violence example: some readers might wonder
whether children are drawn to TV violence because they already
are inclined to violence, or is it something in their genes.
• Then you should acknowledge and respond to it:
The 4 elements of an argument

16. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
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4. Acknowledging and responding to alternatives:
TV violence can have harmful psychological effects on children (claim) because those
exposed to large amounts of it tend to adopt the values of what they see (reason). Smith
(1997) found that children ages 5–9 who watched more than three hours of violent
television a day were 25 percent more likely to show signs of verbal and physical
aggression (evidence) It is conceivable, of course, that children who tend
to watch greater amounts of violent entertainment already have
violent values, (acknowledgment) but Jones (1989) found that
children with no predisposition to violence were just as attracted to
violent entertainment as those with a history of violence (response)
The 4 elements of an argument

17. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
(IUSD)
4. Acknowledging and responding to alternatives:
Global cities are not necessarily spatially segregated by income and ethnicity (claim)
because the literature that suggests such correlation is over-generalizing the assumption
on cities without verification (reason). The empirical study shows that only 54% of global
cities witnessed an increase in spatial segregation over the past decade (evidence). Of
course, the 54% of cities might seem not significant enough to
deconstruct the generalized assumption that globalization is linked
to segregation, (acknowledgment) but the hypothesis testing
approach proved the rejection of the null hypothesis in favor of the
alternative hypothesis (response)
The 4 elements of an argument

18. MSc
Integrated urbanism
& Sustainable Design
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4. Acknowledging and responding to alternatives:
The 4 elements of an argument

19. MSc
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Building complex argument out of simple ones
• Researchers almost always support a claim with more than
one reason, each of which is supported by its own evidence
• Each element of a substantial argument is itself likely to be
treated as a claim. Each reason will typically be treated as
a claim supported by other reasons, often reasons that are
themselves claims with reasons and evidence with its own
acknowledgments and responses.
• Each response might itself be a mini-argument, sometimes
a full one.

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& Sustainable Design
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What to avoid?
• Personal beliefs and anecdotes from writers’ own lives
• Direct quotations, borrowings from previous writers
• Detailed documentary data that do not serve as
evidence
• Networks of implications and conclusions independent
of factual data.

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Thank You