Any time you propose a change, you’re making a claim of policy. It might be local: a group at your school proposes to raise money to contribute to a school in Haiti. You want your parents to let you spend more time with friends on weeknights. Or it might be a bigger issue such as a proposal for transitioning to alternative energy sources, a change in copyright laws for digital music, a shift in foreign policy, a change in legislation to allow former felons to vote.

An argument of policy generally begins with a definition of the problem (claim of fact), explains why it is a problem (claim of value), and then explains the change that needs to happen (claim of policy). Also, keep in mind that while an argument of policy usually calls for some direct action to take place, it may be a recommendation for a change in attitude or viewpoint.

Let’s take a look at the opening paragraphs of an argument of policy. In this piece, published in 1999 in Newsweek, Anna Quindlen argues for a change in attitude toward the treatment of mental illness. Notice how she combines claims of fact and value to ground her claim of policy—that is, that attitudes toward mental illness must change so that treatment options become more available.

from The C Word in the Hallways

Anna Quindlen

(1999)

Quindlen calls for “ending the ignorance” about mental health and its care. As she develops her argument, she supports this claim of policy by considering both personal examples and general facts about mental health in America. To arrive at this claim of policy, however, she first makes a claim of value—“There’s a plague on all our houses”: that is, this is a problem deserving of our attention. She then offers a claim of fact that demonstrates the scope of the problem: teenage suicide and homicide in the last decades have “exploded.” Granted, all three of these claims need to be explained with appropriate evidence, and Quindlen does that in subsequent paragraphs; but at the outset, she establishes claims of value and fact that lay the foundation for the claim of policy that is the main idea of her argument.