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Notes on Writing about Literature: A Brief Guide to Better Writing Prepared by Professor Livia Katz

Using Evidence to Strengthen Your Arguments (from Prof. Allison Pease’s Writing Center workshop)

What Is Evidence?

Evidence is the facts or sources that support your written argument.

In a literature course, for instance, evidence would be a quotation from

the text that helps you make your point. In a write-up of a scientific

experiment, evidence would be the data you collected in your experiment that

prove or disprove a thesis.

Why Do We Need Evidence?

Evidence is central to any written argument because it provides the facts around

which you create your argument, your opinion. Without evidence, an argument

is a windy, flimsy statement of one person’s opinion. With evidence, an

argument is grounded in facts and given shape. Evidence is the critical link that

helps you prove your points.

Can Evidence Speak for Itself?

No. This is where you come in. It is simply not enough to drop a quotation

into your paper and expect your reader to be convinced of your point.

So How Can We Speak for and through Evidence?

When you use evidence, your role is to show your reader that evidence supports

your argument. Consider your role as writer analogous to that of a lawyer in a

court of law. When you introduce evidence, you must tell the jury--your

readers--why this evidence supports your argument. Evidence must be

analyzed and interpreted. What does the evidence say and how should your

reader understand it? How does the evidence support the larger ideas at work in

the paper? You need to make these connections for your reader.

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Examples

Unsuccessful Use of Evidence (as if it spoke for itself):

Frederick Douglass gains self-confidence when he fights back against the cruel

slave-owner Mr. Covey. Douglass notes that the battle “rekindled the few

expiring embers of freedom and revived within me a sense of my own

manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence and inspired me again with

the determination to be free” (Douglass, 1845, p. 43). This quotation alone

captures the essence of Douglass’s feelings after his self-reliance was

challenged by his slave master and he prevailed.

Problem: This use of evidence does not work because the author does not show

why the evidence is important, or what it does. The writer repeats rather than

analyzes what is said. Her thesis is about self-reliance, so she should focus on

how this quotation shows that Douglass became self-reliant.

Another Unsuccessful Use of Evidence (the writer “dumps” the quotation and does not explain it):

As a self-conscious boy, Douglass relied on other slaves’ mistakes to protect

him. He was always aware of how white men could trick slaves and make

money for themselves and so he never trusted white men. “White men have

been known to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch

them and return to their masters” (p. 25).

Problem: Not only does the writer fail to introduce the quotation with his own

words but he also “dumps” the evidence. What did you learn from this

paragraph? What’s the author’s point? Are the first and second sentences

connected? To leave a quotation at the end of a paragraph is to leave your job

undone. You must tell the reader why the quotation is significant and show

how the quotation connects back to your main idea.

Successful Use of Evidence to Support Ideas:

Emerson believes that people must accept who they are and embrace their

talents and their minds. We've all been taught the saying, "No pain, no gain."

Emerson goes one step further, claiming that "A man is relieved and gay when

he has put his heart into his work and done his best, but what he has said or

done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance that does not

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deliver" (Emerson, 1993, p. 20). He is explaining here that one's heart truly

needs to be dedicated to his task in order to reach fulfillment. Achieving

fulfillment is, in essence, a step towards self-reliance.

What Is Good Here: This author uses evidence, an actual quotation and correct

citation of author, year, and page number, a) to provide a scholarly record of

where to find this reference, and b) to support his points. The writer’s thinking

here is clear in that he analyzes the evidence and draws conclusions from it.

What to Keep in Mind:

Whenever you use a quotation, show your reader the thinking that went into

choosing that quotation. What does it mean and why is it relevant to your

point? Evidence is the framework of an argument, but you must do the arguing

around that framework. If you want your reader to believe your argument, you

must do the thinking for your reader. It is up to you to tell your reader what to

think about the evidence you provide.