developing a thesis for an argument about an issue<\/h3>\r\nOne way of creating a thesis for an argument essay about an issue is to understand that an argument is a claim with reasons - it has those two parts, which are indicated in the thesis.\r\n\r\nIn other words, the thesis both makes a claim and indicates a conclusion, often in a \"because\"\u00a0 or \"as\" statement.\u00a0 Each part of the thesis, the claim and the reasons or conclusions, supports the other.\r\n\r\nFor example:\r\n\r\n \t- A flat percentage income tax should be instituted because it can simplify taxation, make taxation fairer by requiring the same income percentage from everyone, and generate more income by eliminating loopholes for the wealthy.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Even though they may help some smokers quit, flavored e-cigarettes should be banned because they target young smokers to start smoking, they are just as addictive as regular cigarettes, they have the potential for delivering even more nicotine than traditional cigarettes through extra-strength cartridges, and they may cause severe respiratory and other health problems.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Technological change has diminished human communication, as it has influenced written language to become terse and has lessened the propensity for people to talk to one another in public spaces.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nOnce you identify an issue, consider five questions to start prewriting and developing your thesis and support for a logical argument.\u00a0Questions are at the core of arguments. Academics, business people, scientists, and other professionals all make arguments to determine what to do or think, or to solve a problem<\/span> by enlisting others to do or believe something they otherwise would not. What matters is not just that you believe that what you have to say is true, but that you give others good reasons to believe it as well\u2014and also show them that you have considered the issue from multiple angles. To do that, build your argument out of the answers to the five questions any rational person will expect you to answer.<\/span>\r\n
\r\n \t- What do you want me to do or think?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- Why should I do or think that?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- How do I know that what you say is true?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- What about this other idea, fact, or consideration?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- What general principles ground your argument?<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
When you make a good <\/span>argument<\/span>, you anticipate and respond to each of these questions with a particular part of argument:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n \t- The answer to What do you want me to do or think?<\/em> is your <\/span>claim (thesis)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cI claim that you should do or think X.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to Why should I do or think that?<\/em> states your <\/span>reasons (topic sentences)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou should do or think X because . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to How do I know that what you say is true?<\/em> presents your <\/span>evidence (support)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou can believe my reasons because they are supported by these facts . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to What about this other idea, fact, or conclusion?<\/em> acknowledges<\/b> that your readers might see things differently and then responds<\/b> to that <\/span>alternative<\/span> view.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to Why should I accept that your reasons support your claim?<\/em> states your general principle of reasoning, called a <\/span>warrant<\/b><\/span>: \u201cMy specific reason supports my specific claim because whenever this general condition is true, we can generally draw a conclusion like mine.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
![\"Scrabble](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3033\/2016\/06\/24161341\/CW-OER-Prewriting-Support-for-Logical-Argument-2-300x201.jpg\")
\r\nHere\u2019s a fuller example of a way to use these five questions to prewrite and develop support for an issue analysis\/logical argument essay: <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\nQuestion #1\u2014\u201cWhat do you want me to do or think?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\nThis question means that the reader is ready to hear your claim<\/b>. You know how to answer this question because you make arguments like this every day. Suppose, for example, that Sally is having coffee with her friend Jim. Jim points out a story on the front page of his newspaper:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nJim: So did you hear about the hurricane that\u2019s headed for New Orleans? <\/span><\/p>\r\nSally: Yes, I think they should evacuate the city as soon as possible.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nSally has made a claim: a statement of her view of what someone should do: New Orleans should be evacuated. Note that this is not a statement of fact but of Sally\u2019s idea, her judgment about the best course of action. She takes a position on a problem without an obvious solution; other rational people could disagree. Some might claim that the hurricane is not strong enough to warrant evacuation or that this time New Orleans is properly prepared for a hurricane. Sally has made a claim because her statement is up for debate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\nQuestion #2\u2014\u201cWhy should I think that?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\nThis question is about what reasons<\/b> support your claim. Most readers won\u2019t question your argument until they know your reasons. Let\u2019s look at how Jim responds to Sally\u2019s claim:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nJim: Really? Why do you say that? <\/span><\/p>\r\nSally: Well, New Orleans is surrounded by water and it\u2019s mostly below sea level. If a hurricane breaks the levees that keep the water out, the city will flood. Houses could be destroyed, and people would be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nSally answers Jim\u2019s question by giving him a few reasons why she thinks New Orleans should be evacuated. New Orleans is (1) surrounded by water, (2) mostly below sea level, and (3) protected by levees. So if the levees break and let the water in, (4) houses will be destroyed, and (5) people will be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\nQuestion #3\u2014\u201cHow do I know that your reasons are true?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\nThis question asks for factual evidence<\/b> to support the given reasons. Jim asks Sally a version of this question to push her for more information:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nJim: Will the levees actually break? Why do you think that they\u2019re in danger of failing? <\/span><\/p>\r\nSally: Remember Hurricane Katrina in 2005? The levees failed then, and the city was almost ruined. It\u2019s right there in the newspaper story: many of the levees have been rebuilt or reinforced since Katrina, but the government is way behind and there are a lot of levees that are just like the ones that failed after Katrina. And even the ones that have been rebuilt will not protect against the worst storm surges.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nWhen Jim asks what makes Sally believe that the levees are in danger of failing, she must respond with facts. For her factual evidence, Sally points to a real, historical event as a precedent, and she cites facts she found in a <\/span>reliable<\/span> newspaper. In an academic argument, you\u2019ll also need to give evidence that your ideas are based on real-world facts. These facts can take the form of quotations, events, statistics, dates, or other <\/span>data<\/span> that you found in a reliable source, but they must be something that your readers accept as true in order for your readers to see them as evidence. Taken together, your claim, reasons, and evidence make up the core of your argument. While your claims, reasons, and evidence do answer your readers\u2019 questions, they are also mostly about you, what you think and why. Your argument may be complete with just these three parts, but to fully address your readers\u2019 concerns, you also need to address what they think and why.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\nQuestion #4\u2014\u201cWhat about this other idea, fact, or conclusion? Or: What if I think about this topic differently than you do?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\nYou can expect that for any serious claim about a significant problem, there will be some readers who don\u2019t see things the way you do. They may take a different approach to the problem; they may want to consider different evidence; or they may even think that your reasons and evidence point to a different conclusion. If so, you have to anticipate that they will ask, \u201cWhat about my way of thinking about this?\u201d In order for your argument to be the most effective, you have to address these objections, counterarguments, varying perspectives, and so on. The best way to do this is to acknowledge<\/b> your readers\u2019 possible alternative positions and then respond<\/b> to them. Here, Jim raises a question based on a fact that he thinks Sally has not fully considered:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nJim: Sure, the Katrina flood was a disaster. But this new hurricane is not as strong as Katrina. It poses much less danger. And evacuation is expensive. <\/span><\/p>\r\nSally: That\u2019s true; the hurricane is weaker than Katrina now. But hurricanes often get stronger as they approach land, and you can\u2019t wait until the last minute to evacuate\u2014people will just get stuck out on the roads. So I think that everyone should evacuate even if it is expensive and at the moment seems that it may not be necessary. Better safe than sorry.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nSally acknowledges that Jim has a point: the <\/span>current<\/span> danger may in fact be less than that posed by Katrina. But she responds with more facts: hurricanes can get stronger and evacuation takes time, so that it will be too late to evacuate if the hurricane intensifies as it approaches land. She then restates her claim: people should evacuate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\nQuestion #5\u2014\u201cWhy should I accept that your reasons support your claim?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\nThis last question forces us to consider the logical assumptions on which we base our arguments. Many arguments never address these assumptions because writers assume that their readers will reason as they do. So we rarely see the answer to the fifth question, a statement of a general principle of reasoning or warrant<\/b>. But if you think your readers may not share your general principles, you should state them in your argument. In Sally\u2019s response to Jim\u2019s point about balancing the risk of flooding against the cost of evacuation, we see that they are following different principles:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nJim: I don\u2019t know. Being too safe may not be smart. I\u2019m not sure that the risk of flooding is enough to force an evacuation. <\/span><\/p>\r\nSally: Well, I believe that no cost is too high to save lives. So whenever we can anticipate a reasonable possibility that lives will be endangered, we should be willing to accept a reasonable cost to avoid the loss of life. Even though the hurricane may not cause flooding, there is enough chance that it will. The cost of an evacuation is not too high a price to pay to save lives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n![\"two](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3033\/2016\/06\/16111221\/CW-OER-pros-cons-300x198.jpg\")
\r\nJim may still not accept Sally\u2019s principle: he may think that the <\/span>costs<\/span> are too high. But what is important is that he can now see the complete basis of Sally\u2019s argument: he knows her claim, her\u00a0reasons, her evidence, how she responds to his alternative views, and what principle she applies to connect her reasons to her claim. <\/span>Applying these five questions to your own argument \u2013 and creating a hypothetical conversation in this way \u2013 may help you prewrite and develop support for an essay analyzing an issue and creating a logical argument.<\/p>\r\nOther ways of developing support include:\r\n\r\n \t- listing pros and cons related to the issue<\/li>\r\n \t
- identifying the information you'd need to \"convince a jury\" of the validity of your argument<\/li>\r\n \t
- applying basic logic concepts (determining your audience's values, ethos-pathos-logos)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"
Identify an issue about which you can make a claim and develop a logical argument. Remember, an issue is a concept with at least two sides, an idea that can be debated.<\/p>\n
![\"decorative](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3033\/2016\/06\/24160510\/CW-OER-Prewriting-Support-for-Logical-Argument-300x110.png\")
<\/p>\n
For example,\u00a0making the claim that\u00a0\u201cmany people use social media\u201d\u00a0would not be debatable. But writing that\u00a0\u201csocial media are hurting the communication skills of young Americans\u201d\u00a0would be debatable because the author must prove both that there is a problem with the communication skills of younger Americans and that social media are the cause of it.<\/p>\n
\ndeveloping a thesis for an argument about an issue<\/h3>\n
One way of creating a thesis for an argument essay about an issue is to understand that an argument is a claim with reasons – it has those two parts, which are indicated in the thesis.<\/p>\n
In other words, the thesis both makes a claim and indicates a conclusion, often in a “because”\u00a0 or “as” statement.\u00a0 Each part of the thesis, the claim and the reasons or conclusions, supports the other.<\/p>\n
For example:<\/p>\n
\n- A flat percentage income tax should be instituted because it can simplify taxation, make taxation fairer by requiring the same income percentage from everyone, and generate more income by eliminating loopholes for the wealthy.<\/li>\n
- Even though they may help some smokers quit, flavored e-cigarettes should be banned because they target young smokers to start smoking, they are just as addictive as regular cigarettes, they have the potential for delivering even more nicotine than traditional cigarettes through extra-strength cartridges, and they may cause severe respiratory and other health problems.<\/li>\n
- Technological change has diminished human communication, as it has influenced written language to become terse and has lessened the propensity for people to talk to one another in public spaces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Once you identify an issue, consider five questions to start prewriting and developing your thesis and support for a logical argument.\u00a0Questions are at the core of arguments. Academics, business people, scientists, and other professionals all make arguments to determine what to do or think, or to solve a problem<\/span> by enlisting others to do or believe something they otherwise would not. What matters is not just that you believe that what you have to say is true, but that you give others good reasons to believe it as well\u2014and also show them that you have considered the issue from multiple angles. To do that, build your argument out of the answers to the five questions any rational person will expect you to answer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n- What do you want me to do or think?<\/span><\/li>\n
- Why should I do or think that?<\/span><\/li>\n
- How do I know that what you say is true?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What about this other idea, fact, or consideration?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What general principles ground your argument?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
When you make a good <\/span>argument<\/span>, you anticipate and respond to each of these questions with a particular part of argument:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- The answer to What do you want me to do or think?<\/em> is your <\/span>claim (thesis)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cI claim that you should do or think X.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to Why should I do or think that?<\/em> states your <\/span>reasons (topic sentences)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou should do or think X because . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to How do I know that what you say is true?<\/em> presents your <\/span>evidence (support)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou can believe my reasons because they are supported by these facts . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to What about this other idea, fact, or conclusion?<\/em> acknowledges<\/b> that your readers might see things differently and then responds<\/b> to that <\/span>alternative<\/span> view.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to Why should I accept that your reasons support your claim?<\/em> states your general principle of reasoning, called a <\/span>warrant<\/b><\/span>: \u201cMy specific reason supports my specific claim because whenever this general condition is true, we can generally draw a conclusion like mine.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a fuller example of a way to use these five questions to prewrite and develop support for an issue analysis\/logical argument essay: <\/span><\/p>\nQuestion #1\u2014\u201cWhat do you want me to do or think?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\nThis question means that the reader is ready to hear your claim<\/b>. You know how to answer this question because you make arguments like this every day. Suppose, for example, that Sally is having coffee with her friend Jim. Jim points out a story on the front page of his newspaper:<\/span><\/p>\n\nJim: So did you hear about the hurricane that\u2019s headed for New Orleans? <\/span><\/p>\nSally: Yes, I think they should evacuate the city as soon as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSally has made a claim: a statement of her view of what someone should do: New Orleans should be evacuated. Note that this is not a statement of fact but of Sally\u2019s idea, her judgment about the best course of action. She takes a position on a problem without an obvious solution; other rational people could disagree. Some might claim that the hurricane is not strong enough to warrant evacuation or that this time New Orleans is properly prepared for a hurricane. Sally has made a claim because her statement is up for debate.<\/span><\/p>\nQuestion #2\u2014\u201cWhy should I think that?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\nThis question is about what reasons<\/b> support your claim. Most readers won\u2019t question your argument until they know your reasons. Let\u2019s look at how Jim responds to Sally\u2019s claim:<\/span><\/p>\n\nJim: Really? Why do you say that? <\/span><\/p>\nSally: Well, New Orleans is surrounded by water and it\u2019s mostly below sea level. If a hurricane breaks the levees that keep the water out, the city will flood. Houses could be destroyed, and people would be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSally answers Jim\u2019s question by giving him a few reasons why she thinks New Orleans should be evacuated. New Orleans is (1) surrounded by water, (2) mostly below sea level, and (3) protected by levees. So if the levees break and let the water in, (4) houses will be destroyed, and (5) people will be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\nQuestion #3\u2014\u201cHow do I know that your reasons are true?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\nThis question asks for factual evidence<\/b> to support the given reasons. Jim asks Sally a version of this question to push her for more information:<\/span><\/p>\n\nJim: Will the levees actually break? Why do you think that they\u2019re in danger of failing? <\/span><\/p>\nSally: Remember Hurricane Katrina in 2005? The levees failed then, and the city was almost ruined. It\u2019s right there in the newspaper story: many of the levees have been rebuilt or reinforced since Katrina, but the government is way behind and there are a lot of levees that are just like the ones that failed after Katrina. And even the ones that have been rebuilt will not protect against the worst storm surges.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nWhen Jim asks what makes Sally believe that the levees are in danger of failing, she must respond with facts. For her factual evidence, Sally points to a real, historical event as a precedent, and she cites facts she found in a <\/span>reliable<\/span> newspaper. In an academic argument, you\u2019ll also need to give evidence that your ideas are based on real-world facts. These facts can take the form of quotations, events, statistics, dates, or other <\/span>data<\/span> that you found in a reliable source, but they must be something that your readers accept as true in order for your readers to see them as evidence. Taken together, your claim, reasons, and evidence make up the core of your argument. While your claims, reasons, and evidence do answer your readers\u2019 questions, they are also mostly about you, what you think and why. Your argument may be complete with just these three parts, but to fully address your readers\u2019 concerns, you also need to address what they think and why.<\/span><\/p>\nQuestion #4\u2014\u201cWhat about this other idea, fact, or conclusion? Or: What if I think about this topic differently than you do?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\nYou can expect that for any serious claim about a significant problem, there will be some readers who don\u2019t see things the way you do. They may take a different approach to the problem; they may want to consider different evidence; or they may even think that your reasons and evidence point to a different conclusion. If so, you have to anticipate that they will ask, \u201cWhat about my way of thinking about this?\u201d In order for your argument to be the most effective, you have to address these objections, counterarguments, varying perspectives, and so on. The best way to do this is to acknowledge<\/b> your readers\u2019 possible alternative positions and then respond<\/b> to them. Here, Jim raises a question based on a fact that he thinks Sally has not fully considered:<\/span><\/p>\n\nJim: Sure, the Katrina flood was a disaster. But this new hurricane is not as strong as Katrina. It poses much less danger. And evacuation is expensive. <\/span><\/p>\nSally: That\u2019s true; the hurricane is weaker than Katrina now. But hurricanes often get stronger as they approach land, and you can\u2019t wait until the last minute to evacuate\u2014people will just get stuck out on the roads. So I think that everyone should evacuate even if it is expensive and at the moment seems that it may not be necessary. Better safe than sorry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSally acknowledges that Jim has a point: the <\/span>current<\/span> danger may in fact be less than that posed by Katrina. But she responds with more facts: hurricanes can get stronger and evacuation takes time, so that it will be too late to evacuate if the hurricane intensifies as it approaches land. She then restates her claim: people should evacuate.<\/span><\/p>\nQuestion #5\u2014\u201cWhy should I accept that your reasons support your claim?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\nThis last question forces us to consider the logical assumptions on which we base our arguments. Many arguments never address these assumptions because writers assume that their readers will reason as they do. So we rarely see the answer to the fifth question, a statement of a general principle of reasoning or warrant<\/b>. But if you think your readers may not share your general principles, you should state them in your argument. In Sally\u2019s response to Jim\u2019s point about balancing the risk of flooding against the cost of evacuation, we see that they are following different principles:<\/span><\/p>\n\nJim: I don\u2019t know. Being too safe may not be smart. I\u2019m not sure that the risk of flooding is enough to force an evacuation. <\/span><\/p>\nSally: Well, I believe that no cost is too high to save lives. So whenever we can anticipate a reasonable possibility that lives will be endangered, we should be willing to accept a reasonable cost to avoid the loss of life. Even though the hurricane may not cause flooding, there is enough chance that it will. The cost of an evacuation is not too high a price to pay to save lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/p>\n
Jim may still not accept Sally\u2019s principle: he may think that the <\/span>costs<\/span> are too high. But what is important is that he can now see the complete basis of Sally\u2019s argument: he knows her claim, her\u00a0reasons, her evidence, how she responds to his alternative views, and what principle she applies to connect her reasons to her claim. <\/span>Applying these five questions to your own argument \u2013 and creating a hypothetical conversation in this way \u2013 may help you prewrite and develop support for an essay analyzing an issue and creating a logical argument.<\/p>\nOther ways of developing support include:<\/p>\n
\n- listing pros and cons related to the issue<\/li>\n
- identifying the information you’d need to “convince a jury” of the validity of your argument<\/li>\n
- applying basic logic concepts (determining your audience’s values, ethos-pathos-logos)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
- \r\n \t
- What do you want me to do or think?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- Why should I do or think that?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- How do I know that what you say is true?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- What about this other idea, fact, or consideration?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- What general principles ground your argument?<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
When you make a good <\/span>argument<\/span>, you anticipate and respond to each of these questions with a particular part of argument:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
- \r\n \t
- The answer to What do you want me to do or think?<\/em> is your <\/span>claim (thesis)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cI claim that you should do or think X.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to Why should I do or think that?<\/em> states your <\/span>reasons (topic sentences)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou should do or think X because . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to How do I know that what you say is true?<\/em> presents your <\/span>evidence (support)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou can believe my reasons because they are supported by these facts . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to What about this other idea, fact, or conclusion?<\/em> acknowledges<\/b> that your readers might see things differently and then responds<\/b> to that <\/span>alternative<\/span> view.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- The answer to Why should I accept that your reasons support your claim?<\/em> states your general principle of reasoning, called a <\/span>warrant<\/b><\/span>: \u201cMy specific reason supports my specific claim because whenever this general condition is true, we can generally draw a conclusion like mine.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
\r\nHere\u2019s a fuller example of a way to use these five questions to prewrite and develop support for an issue analysis\/logical argument essay: <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
Question #1\u2014\u201cWhat do you want me to do or think?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\n
This question means that the reader is ready to hear your claim<\/b>. You know how to answer this question because you make arguments like this every day. Suppose, for example, that Sally is having coffee with her friend Jim. Jim points out a story on the front page of his newspaper:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\n
Jim: So did you hear about the hurricane that\u2019s headed for New Orleans? <\/span><\/p>\r\n
Sally: Yes, I think they should evacuate the city as soon as possible.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
Sally has made a claim: a statement of her view of what someone should do: New Orleans should be evacuated. Note that this is not a statement of fact but of Sally\u2019s idea, her judgment about the best course of action. She takes a position on a problem without an obvious solution; other rational people could disagree. Some might claim that the hurricane is not strong enough to warrant evacuation or that this time New Orleans is properly prepared for a hurricane. Sally has made a claim because her statement is up for debate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
Question #2\u2014\u201cWhy should I think that?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\n
This question is about what reasons<\/b> support your claim. Most readers won\u2019t question your argument until they know your reasons. Let\u2019s look at how Jim responds to Sally\u2019s claim:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\n
Jim: Really? Why do you say that? <\/span><\/p>\r\n
Sally: Well, New Orleans is surrounded by water and it\u2019s mostly below sea level. If a hurricane breaks the levees that keep the water out, the city will flood. Houses could be destroyed, and people would be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
Sally answers Jim\u2019s question by giving him a few reasons why she thinks New Orleans should be evacuated. New Orleans is (1) surrounded by water, (2) mostly below sea level, and (3) protected by levees. So if the levees break and let the water in, (4) houses will be destroyed, and (5) people will be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
Question #3\u2014\u201cHow do I know that your reasons are true?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\n
This question asks for factual evidence<\/b> to support the given reasons. Jim asks Sally a version of this question to push her for more information:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\n
Jim: Will the levees actually break? Why do you think that they\u2019re in danger of failing? <\/span><\/p>\r\n
Sally: Remember Hurricane Katrina in 2005? The levees failed then, and the city was almost ruined. It\u2019s right there in the newspaper story: many of the levees have been rebuilt or reinforced since Katrina, but the government is way behind and there are a lot of levees that are just like the ones that failed after Katrina. And even the ones that have been rebuilt will not protect against the worst storm surges.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
When Jim asks what makes Sally believe that the levees are in danger of failing, she must respond with facts. For her factual evidence, Sally points to a real, historical event as a precedent, and she cites facts she found in a <\/span>reliable<\/span> newspaper. In an academic argument, you\u2019ll also need to give evidence that your ideas are based on real-world facts. These facts can take the form of quotations, events, statistics, dates, or other <\/span>data<\/span> that you found in a reliable source, but they must be something that your readers accept as true in order for your readers to see them as evidence. Taken together, your claim, reasons, and evidence make up the core of your argument. While your claims, reasons, and evidence do answer your readers\u2019 questions, they are also mostly about you, what you think and why. Your argument may be complete with just these three parts, but to fully address your readers\u2019 concerns, you also need to address what they think and why.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
Question #4\u2014\u201cWhat about this other idea, fact, or conclusion? Or: What if I think about this topic differently than you do?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\n
You can expect that for any serious claim about a significant problem, there will be some readers who don\u2019t see things the way you do. They may take a different approach to the problem; they may want to consider different evidence; or they may even think that your reasons and evidence point to a different conclusion. If so, you have to anticipate that they will ask, \u201cWhat about my way of thinking about this?\u201d In order for your argument to be the most effective, you have to address these objections, counterarguments, varying perspectives, and so on. The best way to do this is to acknowledge<\/b> your readers\u2019 possible alternative positions and then respond<\/b> to them. Here, Jim raises a question based on a fact that he thinks Sally has not fully considered:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\n
Jim: Sure, the Katrina flood was a disaster. But this new hurricane is not as strong as Katrina. It poses much less danger. And evacuation is expensive. <\/span><\/p>\r\n
Sally: That\u2019s true; the hurricane is weaker than Katrina now. But hurricanes often get stronger as they approach land, and you can\u2019t wait until the last minute to evacuate\u2014people will just get stuck out on the roads. So I think that everyone should evacuate even if it is expensive and at the moment seems that it may not be necessary. Better safe than sorry.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
Sally acknowledges that Jim has a point: the <\/span>current<\/span> danger may in fact be less than that posed by Katrina. But she responds with more facts: hurricanes can get stronger and evacuation takes time, so that it will be too late to evacuate if the hurricane intensifies as it approaches land. She then restates her claim: people should evacuate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
Question #5\u2014\u201cWhy should I accept that your reasons support your claim?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\r\n
This last question forces us to consider the logical assumptions on which we base our arguments. Many arguments never address these assumptions because writers assume that their readers will reason as they do. So we rarely see the answer to the fifth question, a statement of a general principle of reasoning or warrant<\/b>. But if you think your readers may not share your general principles, you should state them in your argument. In Sally\u2019s response to Jim\u2019s point about balancing the risk of flooding against the cost of evacuation, we see that they are following different principles:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\n
Jim: I don\u2019t know. Being too safe may not be smart. I\u2019m not sure that the risk of flooding is enough to force an evacuation. <\/span><\/p>\r\n
Sally: Well, I believe that no cost is too high to save lives. So whenever we can anticipate a reasonable possibility that lives will be endangered, we should be willing to accept a reasonable cost to avoid the loss of life. Even though the hurricane may not cause flooding, there is enough chance that it will. The cost of an evacuation is not too high a price to pay to save lives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\r\nJim may still not accept Sally\u2019s principle: he may think that the <\/span>costs<\/span> are too high. But what is important is that he can now see the complete basis of Sally\u2019s argument: he knows her claim, her\u00a0reasons, her evidence, how she responds to his alternative views, and what principle she applies to connect her reasons to her claim. <\/span>Applying these five questions to your own argument \u2013 and creating a hypothetical conversation in this way \u2013 may help you prewrite and develop support for an essay analyzing an issue and creating a logical argument.<\/p>\r\nOther ways of developing support include:\r\n
- \r\n \t
- listing pros and cons related to the issue<\/li>\r\n \t
- identifying the information you'd need to \"convince a jury\" of the validity of your argument<\/li>\r\n \t
- applying basic logic concepts (determining your audience's values, ethos-pathos-logos)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"
Identify an issue about which you can make a claim and develop a logical argument. Remember, an issue is a concept with at least two sides, an idea that can be debated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nFor example,\u00a0making the claim that\u00a0\u201cmany people use social media\u201d\u00a0would not be debatable. But writing that\u00a0\u201csocial media are hurting the communication skills of young Americans\u201d\u00a0would be debatable because the author must prove both that there is a problem with the communication skills of younger Americans and that social media are the cause of it.<\/p>\n
\ndeveloping a thesis for an argument about an issue<\/h3>\n
One way of creating a thesis for an argument essay about an issue is to understand that an argument is a claim with reasons – it has those two parts, which are indicated in the thesis.<\/p>\n
In other words, the thesis both makes a claim and indicates a conclusion, often in a “because”\u00a0 or “as” statement.\u00a0 Each part of the thesis, the claim and the reasons or conclusions, supports the other.<\/p>\n
For example:<\/p>\n
- \n
- A flat percentage income tax should be instituted because it can simplify taxation, make taxation fairer by requiring the same income percentage from everyone, and generate more income by eliminating loopholes for the wealthy.<\/li>\n
- Even though they may help some smokers quit, flavored e-cigarettes should be banned because they target young smokers to start smoking, they are just as addictive as regular cigarettes, they have the potential for delivering even more nicotine than traditional cigarettes through extra-strength cartridges, and they may cause severe respiratory and other health problems.<\/li>\n
- Technological change has diminished human communication, as it has influenced written language to become terse and has lessened the propensity for people to talk to one another in public spaces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Once you identify an issue, consider five questions to start prewriting and developing your thesis and support for a logical argument.\u00a0Questions are at the core of arguments. Academics, business people, scientists, and other professionals all make arguments to determine what to do or think, or to solve a problem<\/span> by enlisting others to do or believe something they otherwise would not. What matters is not just that you believe that what you have to say is true, but that you give others good reasons to believe it as well\u2014and also show them that you have considered the issue from multiple angles. To do that, build your argument out of the answers to the five questions any rational person will expect you to answer.<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- What do you want me to do or think?<\/span><\/li>\n
- Why should I do or think that?<\/span><\/li>\n
- How do I know that what you say is true?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What about this other idea, fact, or consideration?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What general principles ground your argument?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
When you make a good <\/span>argument<\/span>, you anticipate and respond to each of these questions with a particular part of argument:<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- The answer to What do you want me to do or think?<\/em> is your <\/span>claim (thesis)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cI claim that you should do or think X.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to Why should I do or think that?<\/em> states your <\/span>reasons (topic sentences)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou should do or think X because . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to How do I know that what you say is true?<\/em> presents your <\/span>evidence (support)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou can believe my reasons because they are supported by these facts . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to What about this other idea, fact, or conclusion?<\/em> acknowledges<\/b> that your readers might see things differently and then responds<\/b> to that <\/span>alternative<\/span> view.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to Why should I accept that your reasons support your claim?<\/em> states your general principle of reasoning, called a <\/span>warrant<\/b><\/span>: \u201cMy specific reason supports my specific claim because whenever this general condition is true, we can generally draw a conclusion like mine.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/p>\nHere\u2019s a fuller example of a way to use these five questions to prewrite and develop support for an issue analysis\/logical argument essay: <\/span><\/p>\n
Question #1\u2014\u201cWhat do you want me to do or think?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\n
This question means that the reader is ready to hear your claim<\/b>. You know how to answer this question because you make arguments like this every day. Suppose, for example, that Sally is having coffee with her friend Jim. Jim points out a story on the front page of his newspaper:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
Jim: So did you hear about the hurricane that\u2019s headed for New Orleans? <\/span><\/p>\n
Sally: Yes, I think they should evacuate the city as soon as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Sally has made a claim: a statement of her view of what someone should do: New Orleans should be evacuated. Note that this is not a statement of fact but of Sally\u2019s idea, her judgment about the best course of action. She takes a position on a problem without an obvious solution; other rational people could disagree. Some might claim that the hurricane is not strong enough to warrant evacuation or that this time New Orleans is properly prepared for a hurricane. Sally has made a claim because her statement is up for debate.<\/span><\/p>\n
Question #2\u2014\u201cWhy should I think that?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\n
This question is about what reasons<\/b> support your claim. Most readers won\u2019t question your argument until they know your reasons. Let\u2019s look at how Jim responds to Sally\u2019s claim:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
Jim: Really? Why do you say that? <\/span><\/p>\n
Sally: Well, New Orleans is surrounded by water and it\u2019s mostly below sea level. If a hurricane breaks the levees that keep the water out, the city will flood. Houses could be destroyed, and people would be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Sally answers Jim\u2019s question by giving him a few reasons why she thinks New Orleans should be evacuated. New Orleans is (1) surrounded by water, (2) mostly below sea level, and (3) protected by levees. So if the levees break and let the water in, (4) houses will be destroyed, and (5) people will be at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n
Question #3\u2014\u201cHow do I know that your reasons are true?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\n
This question asks for factual evidence<\/b> to support the given reasons. Jim asks Sally a version of this question to push her for more information:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
Jim: Will the levees actually break? Why do you think that they\u2019re in danger of failing? <\/span><\/p>\n
Sally: Remember Hurricane Katrina in 2005? The levees failed then, and the city was almost ruined. It\u2019s right there in the newspaper story: many of the levees have been rebuilt or reinforced since Katrina, but the government is way behind and there are a lot of levees that are just like the ones that failed after Katrina. And even the ones that have been rebuilt will not protect against the worst storm surges.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
When Jim asks what makes Sally believe that the levees are in danger of failing, she must respond with facts. For her factual evidence, Sally points to a real, historical event as a precedent, and she cites facts she found in a <\/span>reliable<\/span> newspaper. In an academic argument, you\u2019ll also need to give evidence that your ideas are based on real-world facts. These facts can take the form of quotations, events, statistics, dates, or other <\/span>data<\/span> that you found in a reliable source, but they must be something that your readers accept as true in order for your readers to see them as evidence. Taken together, your claim, reasons, and evidence make up the core of your argument. While your claims, reasons, and evidence do answer your readers\u2019 questions, they are also mostly about you, what you think and why. Your argument may be complete with just these three parts, but to fully address your readers\u2019 concerns, you also need to address what they think and why.<\/span><\/p>\n
Question #4\u2014\u201cWhat about this other idea, fact, or conclusion? Or: What if I think about this topic differently than you do?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\n
You can expect that for any serious claim about a significant problem, there will be some readers who don\u2019t see things the way you do. They may take a different approach to the problem; they may want to consider different evidence; or they may even think that your reasons and evidence point to a different conclusion. If so, you have to anticipate that they will ask, \u201cWhat about my way of thinking about this?\u201d In order for your argument to be the most effective, you have to address these objections, counterarguments, varying perspectives, and so on. The best way to do this is to acknowledge<\/b> your readers\u2019 possible alternative positions and then respond<\/b> to them. Here, Jim raises a question based on a fact that he thinks Sally has not fully considered:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
Jim: Sure, the Katrina flood was a disaster. But this new hurricane is not as strong as Katrina. It poses much less danger. And evacuation is expensive. <\/span><\/p>\n
Sally: That\u2019s true; the hurricane is weaker than Katrina now. But hurricanes often get stronger as they approach land, and you can\u2019t wait until the last minute to evacuate\u2014people will just get stuck out on the roads. So I think that everyone should evacuate even if it is expensive and at the moment seems that it may not be necessary. Better safe than sorry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Sally acknowledges that Jim has a point: the <\/span>current<\/span> danger may in fact be less than that posed by Katrina. But she responds with more facts: hurricanes can get stronger and evacuation takes time, so that it will be too late to evacuate if the hurricane intensifies as it approaches land. She then restates her claim: people should evacuate.<\/span><\/p>\n
Question #5\u2014\u201cWhy should I accept that your reasons support your claim?\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\n
This last question forces us to consider the logical assumptions on which we base our arguments. Many arguments never address these assumptions because writers assume that their readers will reason as they do. So we rarely see the answer to the fifth question, a statement of a general principle of reasoning or warrant<\/b>. But if you think your readers may not share your general principles, you should state them in your argument. In Sally\u2019s response to Jim\u2019s point about balancing the risk of flooding against the cost of evacuation, we see that they are following different principles:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
Jim: I don\u2019t know. Being too safe may not be smart. I\u2019m not sure that the risk of flooding is enough to force an evacuation. <\/span><\/p>\n
Sally: Well, I believe that no cost is too high to save lives. So whenever we can anticipate a reasonable possibility that lives will be endangered, we should be willing to accept a reasonable cost to avoid the loss of life. Even though the hurricane may not cause flooding, there is enough chance that it will. The cost of an evacuation is not too high a price to pay to save lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\nJim may still not accept Sally\u2019s principle: he may think that the <\/span>costs<\/span> are too high. But what is important is that he can now see the complete basis of Sally\u2019s argument: he knows her claim, her\u00a0reasons, her evidence, how she responds to his alternative views, and what principle she applies to connect her reasons to her claim. <\/span>Applying these five questions to your own argument \u2013 and creating a hypothetical conversation in this way \u2013 may help you prewrite and develop support for an essay analyzing an issue and creating a logical argument.<\/p>\n
Other ways of developing support include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- listing pros and cons related to the issue<\/li>\n
- identifying the information you’d need to “convince a jury” of the validity of your argument<\/li>\n
- applying basic logic concepts (determining your audience’s values, ethos-pathos-logos)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
- The answer to Why should I do or think that?<\/em> states your <\/span>reasons (topic sentences)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou should do or think X because . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- Why should I do or think that?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What do you want me to do or think?<\/span><\/li>\n
- The answer to Why should I do or think that?<\/em> states your <\/span>reasons (topic sentences)<\/b><\/span>: \u201cYou should do or think X because . . .\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
- Why should I do or think that?<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t