Making & Supporting a Claim with Evidence

When working on a research project - you often will be asked to make a claim and to provide evidence that supports your claim.

Opinion:

• Twinkies are delicious.
• I like dance music.
• The governor is a bad man.

Argument/Arguable Claim:

• Twinkies taste better than other snack cakes because of their texture, their creamy filling, and their golden appearance.
• Dance music has become popular for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the music; rather, the clear, fast beats respond to the need of people on amphetamines to move, and to move quickly.
• The governor has continually done the community a disservice by mishandling money, focusing on frivolous causes, and failing to listen to his constituents.

What are the differences?

• An argument is supported by evidence which can be debated/challenged.
• Opinion is supported by more opinion (and ultimately you end up with something along the lines of "well, just because, okay?").
• A claim can be substantiated with research, evidence, testimony, and academic reasoning.
• A claim is something more than statement and support: an arguable claim also goes on to address the "so what?" question, the implications, and why we should care in the first place.

Remember that not all claims are created equal, and though a claim may be arguable, the best claims are focused specific, complex, and relevant. Usually a really broad claim can only be supported by really broad evidence, which ends up describing rather than arguing. So be specific, be concrete, be focused, Think carefully about what you are trying to argue, what the stakes of your argument are, and use relevant quotes from your supporting materials to help you generate a specific claim.

Counterclaims:

In arguing a claim, you should always consider potential counterclaims and counter arguments. In response to some claims, someone might say "you're wrong..." and deny the validity of your claim.  Usually it is important to address possible counterclaims in your writing.

1. Explore the possibilities of your research question. Once you’ve found a topic and written a research question that you are interested in, do some informal reflective writing to consider why this topic interests you, considering some of the following questions:

• Why does this topic/question interest me? What personal connection do I have to the topic/question, if any?
• What do I already know about the topic/question?
• What additional questions do I have about the issue that I want to investigate?

2. Look again at your research question. Drawing on your responses to the questions in section #1, if you haven’t already, write an open-ended research question about your topic that you’re curious about. To evaluate the quality of the question, consider the following:

• Does the question have a number of possible answers?
• Do you already know the answer to the question? If so, dig a little deeper to find or articulate a question that you don’t know the answer to.
• Is the question something you need to investigate further or something you’re especially curious about? If so, then you’ve found an issue that is likely to sustain your interest throughout the project.

3. Conduct research focusing on your research question(s). Now that you have a question, consider where you might look to find out what other people have said about this issue.

• Conduct research pertaining to the question(s) you want to answer.
• Look for multiple viewpoints that are related to or discuss issues related to your research question(s).

4. Write a (tentative) claim. Based on your brainstorming and research, consider how to turn your research question into a statement that will signal to your reader what you will be exploring in your essay.

• Is your question about a controversy or debate? What side(s) of the issue do you agree with?
• Do you think that other people should care about this topic? Why?
• What key factors or points will you discuss in your essay to prove your argument in your essay?
• Writing Prompt: Take a stand on your research question by turning it into a statement. Take your responses to the above questions into account when you write your claim.

5. Continue to revise your claim. As you draft your essay, return to your claim periodically to consider whether your thinking on the issue you’re writing about has changed. If so, revise your claim to reflect your change(s) in thinking.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has many helpful handouts on related topics:

• Argument
• Conclusions
• Evidence
• Fallacies
• Thesis Statements