Paper instructions:
1. Summary of claim, subclaim, or warrant made in a class reading or discussion (i.e., statement by another classmate or the professor).
2. Category of claim, subclaim, or warrant
3. Grounding or backing (singular or multiple) which you found to support, suggest reservations, or outright refute the claim, subclaim, or warrant.
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4. Citation on which the above grounding or backing was based.
Academic Arguments
Using the Toulmin Model of Argumentation
Academic essays often present novel ways of thinking about the world. Whether they introduce
new ideas or evaluate current ideas and practices, academic arguments are, by definition,
arguable – you can agree or disagree with them. As you think of potential ideas for your own
academic writing, you should ask yourself, “What am I saying that is arguable, and whom am I
trying to persuade?” If you determine that the issue you are raising is not really arguable or that
nobody would be persuaded to change their mind about your subject, then you may want to
rethink the focus of your writing.
Academic arguments are generally put together through a series of claims and grounds. A claim
can be defined as a statement, observation, or opinion about the world; grounds are the evidence
used to support a claim. This terminology, introduced by the philosopher Stephen Toulmin in his
1958 book The Uses of Argument, gives us a common vocabulary for analyzing argumentation.
Sometimes referred to as a thesis statement in high school writing, the main claim (or major
claim or primary claim) of an argument is the central position that an author is trying to convey –
the focal point of an academic essay. All the material included throughout the argument works in
support of the main claim. Unlike a thesis statement, which is typically found in a single
sentence within the first paragraph or two of an essay, the main claim may appear at the
beginning or end of an argument, and often is not locatable in any one given sentence – rather,
readers must “piece together” the main claim and express it for themselves in their own words.
Complex academic arguments may have more than one main claim.
Subclaims are used to support or further elaborate on the main claim. How can you determine
whether a statement is a main claim or a subclaim? The main claim holds the entire argument
together, and all aspects of the argument serve to support it. If you delete the main claim, the
argument will fall apart. If you delete a subclaim, the argument will still make sense, although it
may lose some of its support. Subclaims serve a variety of purposes: introducing evidence;
providing explanations, definitions, or important background information; establishing opposing
viewpoints that the argument will respond to.
Claims generally fall into four basic categories:
1. Designative: These claims involve questions of fact – whether or that something is likely,
accurate, or true – and they generally don’t create much disagreement. Example: It’s cold today.
2. Definitive: These claims involve questions of definition – what something is or how it can be
defined, classified, or categorized. These claims may or may not generate disagreement.
Example: To me, anything below 60ºF is cold; in fact, in a recent poll, 75% of Americans agreed
that temperatures under 60ºF are “far too cold.”
3. Evaluative: These claims involve making a value judgment, especially concerning ethical,
social, or political worth. They are usually more controversial than designative or definitive
claims. Example: Cold mornings suck.
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4. Advocative: These claims involve advocating a course of action, and can be controversial.
Example: We should all stay home when the weather outside is colder than 60ºF.
Designative and definitive claims are sometimes called descriptive claims: they describe an
understanding of reality as it is. Evaluative and advocative claims are sometimes called
prescriptive claims; they prescribe the way things should be.
Whatever the claim may be, an argument is not effective without sufficient grounding; in the
absence of evidence, all claims are merely opinion. Academic essays largely consist of providing
detailed evidence to support reasonable claims. What data can be offered in support of the
argument? Some types of grounding are more highly valued than others in the context of
academic writing. Acceptable grounds include quotes or paraphrased ideas from published
experts on the topic in question; research undertaken by government entities or universities;
generally accepted historical facts; conclusions based on supervised experiments; statistics from
reliable sources. Unacceptable grounds include outdated data, research and statistics taken from
unbiased or non-academic sources; personal life experiences; personal opinion.
Warrants are perceptions, beliefs, intellectual agreements, values, assumptions, or theories that
are culturally, historically, and situationally specific. Every argument is founded on warrants.
Warrants are those things you must believe in order for your grounds to work in support of your
claim. However, warrants are rarely stated outright. Usually, they’re just accepted as commonsense
assumptions about the way the world works. The key to a good argument is making sure
that the warrants you rely on are strong. Acceptable warrants shift depending on a variety of
factors, and different warrants justify different forms of grounding to support the claims being
made.
Here are a few examples of warrants that could underlie claims regarding a cold morning: bodily
senses (such as touch) are reliable ways of making judgments about the world; scientific
measurement (a thermometer) is a trustworthy source of evidence; opinion polls are reliable;
majority consensus should help dictate how we lead our lives; air temperature is important
enough to govern our daily lives. You may note that, because the last warrant sounds
unreasonable to many of us, the claim that We should all stay home when the weather outside is
colder than 60ºF seems to be weakly warranted. Backing – evidence that is used to strengthen or
justify the warrants – may be necessary to effectively promote an argument, especially when you
cannot assume that your audience will immediately accept your warrants.
Reservations constitute questions that cast doubt on the argument. They may ask us to consider
alternate positions, explanations, or perspectives. What might someone who disagrees with you
say in opposition to your claims? It can be useful to explicitly articulate such reservations in
order to refute them with your own rebuttal. The more serious or significant a potential
counterargument may be, the more necessary it is to acknowledge and rebut it.
Qualifiers limit or lessen the weight of the claim. Qualification and concession – admitting and
accepting the limitations, constraints, and imperfections of your position – can paradoxically
make your argument seem stronger.
M
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Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
OVER
RATING
YEARS
