6h. Supporting your claims with specific evidence

6hSupport your claims with specific evidence.

You will need to support your central claim and any subordinate claims with evidence: facts, statistics, examples and illustrations, visuals (charts, slides, photos), expert opinion, and so on. Debatable topics require that you consult some sources. As you read through or view the sources, you will learn more about the arguments and counterarguments at the center of your debate.

using sources responsibly: Remember that you must document any sources you use as evidence. Documentation gives credit to authors and shows readers how to locate a source in case they want to assess its credibility or explore the issue further.

Using facts and statistics

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR HANDBOOK

Sources, when used responsibly, can provide evidence to support an argument.

image Paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting sources: 51c

image Punctuating direct quotations: 37a

image Citing sources: 54b (MLA), 59b (APA), 63b (Chicago)

A fact is something that is known with certainty because it has been objectively verified: The capital of Wyoming is Cheyenne. Carbon has an atomic weight of 12. John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Statistics are collections of numerical facts: Alcohol abuse is a factor in nearly 40 percent of traffic fatalities. More than four in ten businesses in the United States are owned by women.

Most arguments are supported at least to some extent by facts and statistics. For example, in the following passage the writer uses statistics to show that college students carry unreasonably high credit card debt.

A 2009 study revealed that undergraduates are carrying record-high credit card balances and are relying on credit cards more than ever, especially in the economic downturn. The average credit card debt per college undergraduate is more than three thousand dollars, and three-quarters of undergraduates carry balances and incur finance charges each month (Hunter).

Writers often use statistics in selective ways to bolster their own positions. If you suspect that a writer’s handling of statistics is not fair, track down the original sources for those statistics or read authors with opposing views, who may give you a fuller understanding of the numbers.

Using examples and illustrations

Examples and illustrations (extended examples, often in story form) rarely prove a point by themselves, but when used in combination with other forms of evidence, they flesh out an argument with details and specific instances and bring it to life. Because examples are often concrete and sometimes vivid, they can reach readers in ways that statistics and abstract ideas cannot.

In a paper arguing that online news provides opportunities for readers that print does not, Sam Jacobs describes how regular citizens using only cell phones and laptops helped save lives during Hurricane Katrina by sending important updates to the rest of the world.

Citizen reporting made a difference in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Armed with cell phones and laptops, regular citizens relayed critical news updates in a rapidly developing crisis, often before traditional journalists were even on the scene.

Using visuals

Visuals—charts, graphs, diagrams, photographs—can support your argument by providing vivid and detailed evidence and by capturing your readers’ attention. Bar or line graphs, for instance, describe and organize complex statistical data; photographs can immediately convey abstract ideas; a map can illustrate geography. (See the chart "Using visuals to suit your purpose.")

As you consider using visual evidence, ask yourself the following questions:

Citing expert opinion

Although they are no substitute for careful reasoning of your own, the views of an expert can contribute to the force of your argument. For example, to help make the case that print journalism has a one-sided relationship with its readers, student writer Sam Jacobs integrates an expert’s key description.

With the rise of the Internet, however, this model has been criticized by journalists such as Dan Gillmor, founder of the Center for Citizen Media, who argues that traditional print journalism treats “news as a lecture,” whereas online news is “more of a conversation” (xxiv).

When you rely on expert opinion, make sure that your source is an expert in the field you are writing about. In some cases, you may need to provide credentials showing why your source is worth listening to, such as listing the person’s position or title alongside his or her name. When including expert testimony in your paper, you can summarize or paraphrase the expert’s opinion or you can quote the expert’s exact words. You will of course need to document the source, as Jacobs did.

hackerhandbooks.com/bedhandbook

  • Academic reading and writing > As you write: Drafting your central claim and supporting claims