CLAIMS

INGRID McLAREN, PhD,

LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS AND
PHILOSOPHY

CLAIMS

A claim is a statement we
make to an audience with
an anticipation that they
should agree with it.

A claim is the main

argument of an essay. It
is probably the single
most important part of
an academic paper.

A claim defines your papers

goals, direction, scope, and
exigence and is supported by
evidence, quotations,
argumentation, expert opinion,
statistics, and telling details.

A claim must be
argumentative. When you
make a claim, you are
arguing for a certain
interpretation or
understanding of your
subject .

A good claim is specific. It makes

a focused argument (MTVs
popularity is waning because it
no longer plays music videos)
rather than a general one

claim works with

contingency -- a question
of whether the audience
will agree or not.

Each claim is to be supported by

a number of sub claims,
arguments or evidence. The
claim may contain additional
contextual material, for
example explaining terms used
and scope.

TYPES OF CLAIMS

Fact or Definition: A claim

asserts some empirical truth.
Something

that can be determined by

careful observation of past, present,
or future.
Generally, the truth of the assertion
will be determined by events. But the
speaker will offer information or
explanation that predicts or
characterizes the events

CLAIMS OF FACT

Types of factual claims

(generally "objective")
Factual / historical
Relational - causal
connections
Predictive

CLAIMS OF FACT
Claims

of fact or
definition:

Example:
What some people refer to as
global warming is actually
nothing more than normal,
long-term cycles of climate
change.

CLAIMS OF FACT

EXAMPLE:
Although it has largely
been forgotten, the flu
epidemic of 1918-1919 was
one of the most
devastating epidemics of
all time

CLAIMS OF FACT: TYPES OF

PROOF

PROOF REQUIRES:
sufficient

and appropriate grounds

reliable authority
recent data
accurate, typical data
clearly defined terms -no loaded language

clear distinction between fact

and inference.

TYPES OF CLAIMS

Judgement or Value: A claim

asserts a judgement of some
sort (taste & morals / good-bad)
[makes value judgments/
resolves conflict between
values/ quasi policy (rightness
of it; relative merit)]
.

 Look

for key words that

are a matter of
judgement rather than
fact: good, well, kind,
useful, desirable, etc.

CLAIM OF JUDGEMENT OR VALUE:

Claims of value
assert that something is good
or bad, more or less desirable.
are based on things we like or
dislike. Thus it deals with
goals, with things we find
attractive.

CLAIM OF JUDGEMENT OR VALUE:

Claims of value.
Example:
Global warming is the most
pressing challenge facing the
world today.

CLAIM OF JUDGEMENT OR VALUE:

EXAMPLE:
The use of civil disobedience
during the Civil Rights struggle
was reasonable, moral, and
necessary.

CLAIM OF JUDGEMENT OR VALUE

Fetal

tissue research
is wrong.

CLAIMS OF JUDGEMENT OR VALUE

PROOF REQUIRES:
Establishing

standards of evaluation (i.e. a warrant that

defines what constitutes instances of the relevant value)

note

the priority of the value in this instance.

Establish

the advantage (practical or moral) of your

standards.

Use

examples to clarify abstract values

Use

credible authorities for support.

TYPES OF CLAIMS: CLAIM OF

POLICY OR ACTION
Action or Policy asserts that an
action should be taken (action /
should or ought) - usually
involves sub-claims of fact and
value)

CLAIMS OF POLICY OR ACTION

Be

sensitive to calls that some action

be taken.
Look for key words "should" or "ought."
These words may not always be
present, but if they are actions are
usually called for.

CLAIM OF POLICY OR ACTION

Claims about solutions or
policies
Example:
Instead of drilling for oil in
Alaska we should be focusing on
ways to reduce oil consumption,
such as researching renewable
energy sources.

CLAIM OF POLICY

PROOF REQUIRES:
making

proposed action clear

need (justification)
plan (must be workable)
benefit (advantages)
consider opposition / counter
arguments

TYPES OF CLAIMS

A causal claim is one that asserts

that there is a relationship between
two events such that one is the
effect of the other. A causal claim
takes the form of "x causes y," with x
referring to the cause and y
referring to the effect. A causal
argument provides the premises to
support a conclusion about a cause
and effect relationship.

Claims of cause and

effect:
Example:
The popularity of SUV's in
America has caused
pollution to increase.

claim is supported by
a REASON, that is to
say proof or evidence
to believe that the
claim
is true

 The

reason offered
may be in the form of
support, or another
argument1

Claim: Dinosaurs are popular.

Reason: [Because] Dinosaur

toys are a perennial favorite
with children.

SUPPORT

Information or explanation given to

an audience in anticipation that
the support will earn their
agreement to the claim.
Support

is discourse -- either
information or explanation
It relates to a claim

SUPPORT
It

is chosen to satisfy the

demands of the audience in
search of their agreement to
the claim.
Another way of putting it:
Support is information or
explanation given as a reason
for your agreement to a claim.

SUPPORT

Support substantiates the

reasons offered and helps
compel audiences to accept
an advanced claim. This
usually comes in the form of
evidence.

EVIDENCE

Evidence is also referred to

as support or facts. Evidence
is just that: facts. Unlike
claims, facts are
indisputable.

 Evidence

is what you use

in argumentative writing
to support the claims that
you present.

Evidence comes in
various forms, including
specific examples,
statistics, data,
testimonies and
narratives etc.

WHAT MIGHT THE

CONTROVERSY BE?
Claim: We must

supports

resist all efforts

to censor
entertainment

Argument
is a sub claim of

Sub claim:As soon

as we allow some
censorship, it
wont be long
before criticisms
of the govt will be
silenced

is evidence for
Evidence: Hitler
in Germany

is a sub claim of
Sub
claim

is evidence for
Evidence

ISOLATING CLAIMS
Several clues to use in isolating
claims:
Is the purpose to persuade? If so,
then the claim is a statement of
what the speaker is trying to
persuade you of.
Ask Yourself : What claim on your
beliefs is the speaker making?

ISOLATING CLAIMS
Look for the relationship of
claim to support.
Monitor your anticipation as
an audience.
Be aware of times when
claims are unsupported

Research has shown that

people who do at least 30
minutes a day of vigorous
exercise reduce their risk of
heart disease and some forms
of cancer. It would be wise for
you to begin a daily program of
exercise.

To install the program, you

must first put the CD in the
player. Open up the File
Manager, click on "Run" and
type in "D: Install." After the
program is loaded, you will
need to restart the computer
to use the program

Carlos must be sick today. He

did not show up for work. And
he has never missed work unless
he was sick.

Many U.S. cities have the name of

Fayetteville. Fayetteville, North Carolina
has the distinction of being the first to be
named after the Marquis de Lafayette,
the French general who supported the
American Revolution, and the only
Fayetteville that the famous Marquis
visited.

The last person we hired from

Bayview Tech turned out to be a bad
employee. I'm not willing to hire
anybody else from that school again.