The presentation of your overall claim will set up expectations among your readers about how you’re likely to support it. For example, if you’ve said that the city council needs to increase funding for a flood mitigation program, your readers are likely to expect that at least some of your reasons for making the claim will touch on the consequences of failing to fund the program at a reasonable level. As you review your draft, ask whether your reasons make sense individually, and then ask whether they work well together. Most important, ask how your readers are likely to react to each reason and whether you’ve provided enough evidence to support it.

In addition, ask whether your readers are likely to accept the kinds of appeals you’ve used to present your reasons and evidence. Always consider your readers’ needs, interests, backgrounds, and knowledge of the issue. You might conclude, for instance, that an emotional appeal will backfire, or that your readers will expect more evidence from authorities, or that you could strengthen an appeal to values by explaining an underlying assumption.