Thesis Statement, Outline, and Essay

So, your thesis/outline page will look like this (you can actually copy and paste this into a word document and fill in the blanks if you wish. Your Toulmin argument must include all of these parts):

Title

Claim: Thesis statement ______________________________

Support: __________________________________________

Warrant: __________________________________________

Backing: ___________________________________________

Qualifier: ___________________________________________ (Don't get stressed out about the qualifiers. Just try to think ahead about what you will be discussing in your paper and which qualifiers you will be using.)

Rebuttal:___________________________________________

When writing your thesis and outline, look at the following information:

 Step 1: Choose a topic and identify your audience.

 *Audience: Who are they? What do they believe? What do we have in common? What differences do we have? What motivates them? What is the best appeal to use (ethos, pathos, logos)?

 Step 2: Identify your claim. (Decide what you want to argue about the topic. It needs to be debatable)

 Types of Arguments to consider:

 Factual:  Is it true?  Actual facts

 Definition: What is it?  Classify/Define

 Cause/Effects: Why did it occur?  What are the long term results?

 Values Based: Moral vs. immoral? Productive vs. unproductive?

 Action Based: What needs to be done?  Who can fix it and how?

 Step 3: Turn your claim into a clear thesis statement.

 Constructing a Toulmin Argument Outline

 Step 4: Create an outline (include each of the following supported by your research)

 

•        Claim: Thesis statement (the viewpoint that you want your audience to accept)

 

•        Support: Give reasons why your audience should believe what you have to say about the topic.

 

•        Warrant: Reach a common ground with your audience.

 

•        Backing: Evidence to convince your audience that you share common ground (warrant).

 

•        Rebuttal: Consider possible opposing viewpoints and explain why your claim is better. Your rebuttal should be a full paragraph. 

 

·        Qualifier: Decide whether it is appropriate to use qualifiers (some, many, often, if, better) or absolute terms (all, always, never, best).