Wize Core English Textbook > English Writing Form & Structure

Claim, Evidence, and Commentary
In analyzing texts (or writing our own!) we need to be very clear on three things:
What is the main claim (or thesis)?
What is the evidence to support that claim?
What is additional commentary?
A main claim/thesis must have a "so what" component to it. Why do we care? Why should our readers care? 

Example Text:
The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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Questions
What is the main claim (or thesis)?

A: That the American colonies are justified in declaring themselves independent from rule by the British imperial governmental forces.

What is the evidence to support that claim?

A: There is evidence at the level of "facts" and at the level of "values" put forward. The entire list after "let facts be submitted to a candid world" list factual claims that the King (representing the British) have subjected the American colonies to. Throughout there are also references to values. The first three paragraphs outlines "rights" that are valued and should be valued by state governance.

What additional commentary is worth noting?

A: The argument moves from listing the failures at the level of facts and values through to a conclusion that in order to respond to these failings, independence is the only course of action. The logic is largely deductive, i.e. making true claims that lead logically to subsequent truth claims. From a stylistic perspective, the language is formal, yet positive in its tone, especially expressed through words with positive connotations. The opening paragraphs function by way of parallelism.

For more on this, I recommend the first chapter "Understanding Argument" of Annette T. Rottenberg's excellent book Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader.

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Fallacies
As we all know, the point of an argumentative essay is to prove a thesis. 

The way in which that is done is by providing evidence to support points that all add up to prove the thesis.

However, arguments do not just exist in argumentative essays. In fact, we construct arguments every time an attempt is made to convince someone of something; it is up to us to figure out what tools and tricks are constantly being used on us to convince us of one thing or another.

Some of these tools and tricks are called fallacies. A fallacy is a type of argument that may seem to be correct, but that proves, on examination, not to be so.

The following are a list of logical fallacies that sometimes come to play in written arguments that work to persuade us of something. It is powerful to be able to identify them (and even use their latin names!) in exam settings.
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Fallacies

The Argument from Ignorance:  Agrument ad Ignorantiam
This fallacy occurs when someone argues that some thesis/premise is false simply because it has not been proven true.

The Appeal to Inappropriate Authority:  Argument ad Verecundiam
This fallacy occurs when an attempt is made to support a claim by citing the opinion of an “expert” who really is not an expert in the specific field of the thesis/premise.

The Doubtful Cause:  Post hoc, ergo Propter hoc (meaning:  “after this, therefore because of this”)
This fallacy occurs when the argument is made that simply because something follows another it is a result of the first thing that occurred.

The Argument Against the Person:  Argument ad Hominem
This fallacy arises when someone attacks the validity of a thesis/premise by directing the attack not at the conclusion but at some qualities of a person.
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The Appeal to Emotion:  Argument ad Populum
By appealing to one’s emotions, the person setting out to prove the validity of a thesis/premise skips the act of presenting a logical argument with rational supporting evidence.

The Appeal to Pity:  Argument ad Misericordiam
Almost as a sub-group of the Appeal to Emotion fallacy, the Appeal to Pity specifically appeals to the audience’s sense of pity and empathy.

The Appeal to Force:  Argument ad Baculum
One can try to gain the agreement of others with respect to a particular thesis/premise by using explicit or veiled threats.  
Any time a threat is even implied the fallacy ad Baculum is in effect.

The Irrelevant Conclusion:  Ignoratio Elenchi
This fallacy occurs when an argument appears to be set up to prove a particular thesis/premise, but then claims that it is indeed proving something else that it has not offered appropriate evidence for.



Adapted from:
Copi, I.  Introduction to Logic.  Toronto:  Prentice Hall, 1997.
Rottenberg, Annette T.  Elements of Argument:  A Text and Reader.  Boston:  Bedford Books, 1

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Research, Claims, and Citing Sources
Evaluating data, research, and sources is a key skill you must develop. There are ways to write about evidence that demonstrates you have a nuanced understanding of research and how to weigh the strength of one type of research over another.

Aristotle suggests that "intelligence, character, and goodwill" are the traits necessary for establishing credibility. What he means by that is:
Intelligence: the writer must convince the reader that they are knowledgeable
Character: the writer must convince the reader that they are honest or trustworthy 
Goodwill: the writer must convince the reader that the intentions in the argument being put forth are good (acting in good faith)
As careful readers and critics of non-fiction texts, we examine the written word with an eye to the credibility of the author. However, we as writers are held to that same standard and must establish ourselves as credible writers able to convince OUR readers that we should be taken seriously.
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How is this kind of credibility established?
Submit evidence of careful research.
Establish an objective tone and stance.
Weigh in opposing views.
Develop a sense of authority through good writing.