Student Support

Claim Evidence Reasoning is a traditional paragraph you might find in an essay. It makes a claim, provides evidence that backs that claim, and provides the reason that the supports the claim. In Civics class, students will be asked to respond to big questions by using an arguable claim, evidence to support, and reasoning that is persuasive. Below is an example that will help you better right CER's.  I find that many students continue to struggle with this, most likely because they've been taught to use it to share their opinion. The only difference between traditional C.E.Rs and what students will be doing in Civics (and in high school) is they are NOT to use first person. Unless specifically asked for their opinion, students will be making claims in the form of arguments, not opinions.

1. Claim: This is a statement of your topic/what your paragraph is about/what you will be attempting to convince your audience of.

Example: "Social media is causing more harm than good in younger people."

In this case, social media is the topic, believing it causes harm in young people is the argument.

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2. Evidence: This is a quote, statistic, or other piece of evidence that supports your claim. It needs to be introduced by a transition sentence. I call this the peanut butter.

Example: "According to columnist Natalie Jacewicz's article from KHN.org, "The negative effects of social media on young people’s mental health are well-documented by researchers and the press. Social media can drive envy and depression, enable cyberbullying and spread thoughts of suicide."

This first example is a direct quote from the article, which means you need to copy, paste, use quotation marks, and cite your source. You also may include a secondary piece of data to back your point, but this is not always necessary:

Example: "Furthermore, the author discusses how social media is now an integral part of the lives of young adults and teens. She claims that at least 45 percent of teenagers say they use apps like Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram every day.

This second example is re-wording the author's words, therefore you don't need quotation marks, but you DO need to make sure you reword it well enough that it isn't considered plagiarism. 

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3. Reasoning: This is an explanation of how your evidence supports your claim. It should be at least 2 or more sentences. 

Example: "With young people on social media online more often than other generations, it is important that the concerns of emntal health are addressed. If someone is spending 4-8 hours of their days engaged in "socialization" on an app, they are not taking the time to process the interactions of this in real-time. There is no face-to-face engagement to help process feelings and emotions and more importantly there is no break from the interaction. In real time, one can walk away from an interaction that they feel is negative. On social media, young people are literally carrying around this negative interaction with them all day, constantly checking their phones for updates and never really getting a mental break."

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4. Conclusion. EVERY piece of writing needs at least one sentence to wrap up and tie everything back together. In this instance, you can simply restate claim (just not word - for - word). You also want to take an opportunity to elaborate a bit and really drive your point home. This is the last chance to convince your reader!

Example: "It is clear that social media is causing harm to young people. especially considering how much time teens spend on their phones. With this in mind it is important to teach proper social media use to young people and for parents to limit the amount of "screen time" their engage in."

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Think of it like a burger!

Claim = Top bun. Whether you like it with or without seeds, a burger needs something to hold it together.

Evidence = The meat. Good, quality, TASTY meat. Vegetarian? That's fine, you still need a patty in there!

Reasoning = Toppings (you wouldn't eat a burger PLAIN, would you?) The more reasoning/elaboration you give, the better the burger! Ketchup, mustard, bacon, tomatoes, onions, lettuce....gimme moreeee!!!

Conclusion = Bottom bun. Again, we need to hold our burger together. If you have a top bun (intro) you need a bottom bun (conclusion)