a claim in an argument definition
Claims, Premises, Arguments, Issues. A claim,or assertion,is a statement that could be put into the form of a declarative sentence. It can be in the form of a factor judgment,although the distinction between these two is often a matter of social consensus. A premiseis a claim that supports another claim. An argument, at its simplest, is a claim that is supported by a premise. In full texts, the main claim, or conclusion,is often supported by many premises, which are themselves supported by simple arguments (sometimes called sub-arguments). Arguments are everywhere. You may be surprised to hear that the word “argument” does not have to be written anywhere in your assignment for it to be an important part of your task. In fact, making an argument—expressing a point of view on a subject and supporting it with evidence—is often the aim of academic writing. Claims typically fall into one of four categories. Thinking about how you want to approach your topic, in other words what type of claim you want to make, is one way to focus your thesis on one particular aspect of your broader topic. Claims of fact or definition: These claims argue about what the definition of something is or whether something is a settled fact. Do not stop with having a point. You have to back up your point with evidence. The strength of your evidence, and your use of it, can make or break your argument. See our handout on evidence. You already have the natural inclination for this type of thinking, if not in an academic setting. Think about how you talked your parents into letting you borrow the family car. Practice Definition Claims. The underlying rhetorical structure of the definition argument is x is/is not y. Review the following examples of definition claims and notice that they are all concerned with saying what something is (or isn't) and assigning it to a category (or excluding it). The lottery is really a tax on the poor. Although the scope of your paper might seem overwhelming at the start, generally the narrower the thesis the more effective your argument will be. Your thesis or claim must be supported by evidence. The broader your claim is, the more evidence you will need to convince readers that your position is right. 1 Establishing standards of evaluation (i.e. a warrant that defines what constitutes instances of the relevant value) 2  note the priority of the value in this instance.  Establish the advantage (practical or moral) of your standards. Sometimes a claim can look like a definition claim, but it actually expresses a fact rather than a stand on one side of an argument. All the following examples are statements of fact and are NOT definition claims. It's simply impossible (under ordinary circumstances) to argue about these facts. Think of the claim in an argument as the most general statement in that argument. It may not be a. particularly general statement all by itself, and some for arguments are very narrow indeed. But the. claim is like the umbrella statement that all other parts of an argument have to fall under. It is the. The thesis statement or main claim must be debatable. An argumentative or persuasive piece of writing must begin with a debatable thesis or claim. In other words, the thesis must be something that people could reasonably have differing opinions on.
A statement that could be put into the form of a declarative sentence.