Claim warrant data example

Claim - Data - Warrant: A Model for Analyzing Arguments (This is adapted from the work of Stephen Toulmin)

1. Teachers are posed with many problems today.

2. Polls show that today more minorities own businesses than ever before.

3. We must strive with every ounce of our national vigor to ensure that America has a
bright future and that truth and justice will abide with us forever.

4. Ophelia is my favorite character in Hamlet because she is the most interesting.

5. If we can put humans on the moon, we can find a cure for the common cold.

6. Though they seem mere entertainment, Hollywood movies are actually responsible for
reinforcing cultural stereotypes in America.

Definition: the evidence which you cite to support your claim. Like a lawyer presenting evidence to a jury, you must support your claim with facts; an unsupported claim is merely an assertion.

Data can include:

• Facts or statistics: objectively determined data about your topic. (Note: just what constitutes "objective" may be open to debate.)
• Expert opinion: the media and our essays are full of learned opinions which you should cite frequently, both to support your argument and to disagree with. Authors must be quoted and properly cited in your paper.
• Personal anecdotes: the most difficult kind of data to use well, for doing so requires a persuasive argument that your own experience is objectively grasped and generalizable. Personal experience can, however, help bring an argument to life.

Exercise: Find warrants which will interpret the data to support the claim in the following passages:

1. Claim: President Clinton should be applauded for his policies on minority owned businesses.
Data: The NYT reports that more minorities own businesses today than ever before.
Warrant:

2. Claim: Any American can grow up to be president.
Data: Bill Clinton came from a poor town in a poor state to be president.
Warrant:

3. Claim: The school system itself promotes racial tension in its effort to provide America's children with a good education.
Data: There's a lot of racial tension in many schools these days.
Warrant:

Now, go back and attack the warrant you have just formulated. How might the data be interpreted in ways that do not support the claims?

1. Counter-warrant:

2. Counter-warrant:

3. Counter-warrant: