From Inquiry to Academic Writing, p.51-59

TEACHING NOTE: IDENTIFYING CLAIMS

Textbook: Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky’s From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader, second edition (2012), pp. 51-7.

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p. 51, para. 1:

A claim is an assertion of fact or belief that needs to be supported with evidence—the information that backs up a claim.

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p. 51, para. 2:

As readers, we need to identify a writer’s main claim, or thesis, because it helps us organize our own understanding of the writer’s argument: “This is what the essay is about,” “This is what I want you to pay attention to,” “This is how I want you to think, change, or act.”

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p. 51, Types of claim/argument:

• A claim of fact

• A claim of value

• A claim of policy

p. 52, The nature of the arguments:

• Use of evidence

• concessions

• counterarguments

p. 55, Claims of Fact

• are assertions (or arguments) that a problem or condition has existed, exists, or will exist.

• Most claims of fact are debatable. They may be based on factual information, but they are not necessarily true. Most claims of fact present interpretations of evidence derived from inferences（推論）.

p. 56, Claims of Value

• expresses an evaluation of a problem or condition that has existed, exists, or will exist.

• Is a condition good or bad? It is important or inconsequential?

• presents a judgement: ugly, beautiful, immoral, etc.

p. 56, Claims of Policy

• is an argument for what should be the case, that a condition should exist. It is a call for change.

• are often signaled by words like should and must.

Practice: Claim of Fact / Value / Policy

Click the link: https://quizlet.com/254176207/identifying-claims-of-fact-value-and-policy-flash-cards/