I need this assignment by 10:00pm today 04/18/2016

A claim is relative, meaning that its degree of controversy depends on the audience to whom it is addressed: One audience may fully agree with your position on an issue, whereas another may disagree completely. Consider, for example, two different claims (theories) about the origins of life on earth: evolution and intelligent design (also known as creationism). A claim based on intelligent design would be controversial at a conference of scientists, whereas some church congregations would accept intelligent design as a reality, not as a claim. Similarly, evolution is regarded as a claim by some religious people but accepted by many scientists as a fact.

Claims can vary in how they function within a piece of writing. You could think of claims as ranging from broad to narrow, general to specific, major to minor, or central to supporting—any of these ways will help you see the role a particular claim plays in an overall argument.

An argument usually presents one major claim—namely, the arguer’s stance on a particular issue. An issue differs from a topic by being specific and arguable. “Global Warming” is a topic. Whether government should enforce emission standards for automobiles to curb global warming is an issue. The major claim functions as a thesis statement, expressing the main idea. A major claim always needs support in the form of evidence and/or explanations. If, for example, you argue that Ronald Reagan was the greatest American president of the twentieth century, you could support this major claim by citing evidence of his achievements and explanations of how this evidence proves your claim.

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Topic and Issue

The supporting claim is offered as evidence to support the major claim. Whenever evidence contains some element of uncertainty or disagreement, it must be treated as a claim and must be given its own support. If, for example, you said that one reason for Ronald Reagan’s greatness was the way that his foreign policies led to the breakup of the Soviet Union, this evidence actually would be a supporting claim and would need its own evidence and explanations. In other words, you would have to argue a cause/effect relationship between Reagan’s policies and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Supporting claims sometimes function as topic sentences but may also be used as support for a topic.

Claims can also vary in what they assert as being true. This chapter describes five types of claims: fact, identity, cause/effect, value, and proposal. The thesis statement of an argument usually fits into one of these categories. By contrast, the support for the thesis statement often consists of a combination of many types of claims.

· Fact claims make assertions about what is real or not real.

· Identity claims make assertions about what something is.

· Cause-and-effect claims make assertions about how or why things happen.

· Value claims make judgments.

· Proposal claims make assertions about what should be done.

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Types of Claims

Types of Claims

When is someone needy enough to deserve public assistance? In this photo, people wait in line for assistance following hurricane Katrina.

Value claims help citizens make informed decisions in political contests. Here, a woman in Iraq casts a ballot in the referendum to approve the new constitution.

Fact claims make assertions about whether something is or ever was an actuality, answering the question, “Is or was it real?” These claims sometimes deal with whether an event occurs or ever occurred. For example, historians debate whether Viking or Chinese explorers discovered America before Columbus in 1492. Fact claims may also focus on whether a person, place, thing, or phenomenon exists or ever existed. For example, global warming—a theory that human pollution is contributing to a greenhouse effect—has been the subject of much argument.

Example of a Fact Claim

Americans know something without a name is undermining the country, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don’t like it.

Charlton Heston, “Winning the Cultural War”

Over time, the unearthing of new evidence has shown many earlier claims of fact to be erroneous. For example, from ancient times until the fifteenth century, European astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the universe; later astronomers such as Copernicus and Galileo discovered new evidence showing that the Earth revolved around the Sun. More recently, the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, William Tenet, made a factual claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, saying to President George W. Bush, “It’s a slam-dunk case.” Not until after Coalition forces invaded Iraq did new evidence reveal the fact claim of Iraqi WMDs to be in error.

Fact claims make assertions about what is real or not real.

Auth © 2005 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

Practice 2.1. Fact Claims: Part 1

Read the following two paragraphs. For each, identify a claim of fact within the paragraph; (2) rephrase the claim in your own words; and (3) write an opposing claim that might be used to refute what each paragraph has to say. Hint: This exercise involves being able to identify a generalization in the midst of many facts and specifics. Which sentences in the paragraphs are of a more general nature, and which are more specific?

1. From Lowell Monke, “Charlotte’s Webpage: Why Children Shouldn’t Have the World at Their Fingertips”

“There have been no advances over the past decade that can be confidently attributed to broader access to computers,” said Stanford University professor of education Larry Cuban in 2001, summarizing the existing research on educational computing. “The link between test-score improvements and computer availability and use is even more contested.” Part of the problem, Cuban pointed out, is that many computers simply go unused in the classroom. But more recent research, including a University of Munich study of 174,000 students in thirty-one countries, indicates that students who frequently use computers perform worse academically than those who use them rarely or not at all.

2. From Charles Shaw, “A Less Fashionable War”

But as the rare upper-middle-class educated White American in prison, I found myself in a truly alien, self-perpetuating world of crushing poverty and ignorance, violent dehumanization, institutionalized racism, and an entire subculture of recidivists, some of whom had done nine and ten stints, many dating back to the seventies. Most used prison as a form of criminal networking, knowing full well they would be left to fend for themselves when released. We were told on many occasions that an inmate was worth more inside prison than back in society. Considering it costs an average of $37,000 a year to incarcerate offenders, and the average income for black Americans is $24,000, and only $8,000–12,000 for poor blacks, one can easily see their point.

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Fact Claims

Sometimes, a claim that is argued as a fact is based on a personal value rather than on evidence. In such cases, people will hold a position regardless of any evidence presented that shows the opposite to be true. Such arguments are usually irrational, and they do not rely on evidence for their support. For example, if someone argues that you should never shop in a mall because cameras watch you in the dressing rooms, the person is likely stating this position not on the basis of evidence, but on the basis of a personal belief. In such cases, the arguer has short-circuited the contract between the writer and the audience.

Practice 2.2. Fact Claims: Part 2

1. What is arguable about the following claims of fact?

a. Global warming is a myth.

a. Wearing motorcycle helmets prevents injuries.

a. Evolution is not believable because it is not mentioned in the Bible.

a. Stem-cell research will cure Alzheimer’s disease.

a. Playing cops and robbers desensitizes children to killing.

1. State a claim of fact that you have heard or read—a statement that some people accept as valid but others reject. What makes this claim arguable? What evidence and explanations support it? Are there alternative claims of fact?

1. State your own claim of fact. Who would agree or disagree with your claim? How would you defend your position?

Identification is the ability to assign a name to something by observing its characteristics. The ability to identify things is so basic to our lives that we probably take it for granted. The methods we use for identification include defining, classifying, comparing and contrasting, and observing resemblances.

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Identity Claims

· We define by understanding a thing by the qualities it possesses. Example: “An activist is a person who believes that direct, visible action is necessary to attain a political or social goal.”

· We classify by creating groups that help sort out similar things from dissimilar things. Example: “Political demonstrators may be classified either as activists or as rabble.”

· We compare and contrast by examining the degree to which one thing is different from or the same as another thing. Example: “Activists tend to be well organized and focused on a specific issue, while rabble tend to be disorganized and generally discontented.”

· We observe resemblances between two things that are similar yet not identical. Example: “When a rabble stages a demonstration, it is like children throwing a tantrum.”

Identification claims are based on criteria that are descriptive.

By permission of John L. Hart FLP and Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Identity arguments are based on descriptive details known as criteria (also called descriptors, qualities, characteristics, or features). Criteria provide a kind of checklist that helps answer the question, “How do I know what this is?” For example, if you define an activist as “a person who believes that direct, visible action is necessary to attain a political or social goal,” then the criteria are expressed in the key words: person, direct action, visible action, social or political goal.

Identity claims arise from either (1) matching the criteria with a particular thing or (2) establishing particular criteria for the identity:

· Matching criteria: If, for example, you define rabble as “a crowd of people who are disorganized and generally discontented,” then any political demonstrator who matches those criteria can be identified as being part of the rabble. Arguments might arise over whether a demonstrator displays any, some, or all of those criteria. Is the demonstrator actually “disorganized” and “generally discontented”? This kind of identification argument is typical of legal trials, which match the criteria of a law with the actions of the accused: The verdict is based on the match.

· Establishing criteria: Sometimes an identity claim is based on reaching an agreement about which criteria actually identify something. For example, you might want to define rabble as “unsanitary”: You argue for the criterion of “not using soap” to be added. This kind of arguing is a typical of policy makers such as legislators who write laws establishing the difference between legal and illegal actions.

You’ll find that definition, classification, comparison and contrast, and resemblance overlap a bit in how they identify things. Each, however, gives a particular perspective on the criteria that answer the question, “What is it?”

Definition claims identify something by detailing its characteristics or features. Most definitions are not controversial, but they become claims when they are not accepted by all or part of an audience.

Examples of Definition Claims

If marriage is redefined to include two men in love, on what possible principled grounds can it be denied to three men in love?

Charles Krauthammer, “When John and Jim Say, ‘I Do’”

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Definition Claims

Defining Kitsch

Kitsch, a German word meaning “ugly,” is often applied to a category of collectables that are—or once were, before they became valuable—considered “junk.” Kitsch is usually mass-produced and inexpensive when the product is first sold. Pez dispensers, Elvis memorabilia, fuzzy dice, and 1970s black-light posters are all examples of “kitschy” items. Kitsch can be difficult to categorize and define. To do so, it is best to examine several items that seem “kitschy” and work your way backward from there. What makes some junk not junk? In some cases you have to begin with the adage, “I know it when I see it.”

Practice 2.3. Definition Claims

1. Use the following statements as the basis of a definition. Is your definition controversial? Who would agree or disagree with it? How would you defend it?

a. What is the difference between erotica and pornography?

a. What does a police officer have to do to be accused of police brutality?

a. What is the difference between cigarette, alcohol, and drug abuse and use? Can these substances ever be used without being abused?

a. What makes someone a soldier, a terrorist, or a freedom fighter?

a. What makes some expressions objectionable? When can language be said to be colorful as opposed toobjectionable?

1. State a controversial definition that you have heard or read—a definition that some people accept as valid but that others do not accept. What makes the definition claim arguable?

1. State your own definition claim. Who would agree or disagree with your claim? How would you defend your position?

The difference between police brutality and proper procedures is often a matter of definition.

We will never get a moral consensus that a single cell, or a clump of 100 cells, is a human being. That definition defies moral sense, rational argument, and several major religious traditions.

Virginia Postrel, “Should Human Cloning Be Allowed? Yes, Don’t Impede Medical Progress”

Definition claims arise either in formulating the definition or in applying it. For example, defining junk as “anything that has outlived its usefulness” may be intended to be informative and nonargumentative, but it would become a claim if you applied that label to something (or somebody) that others consider “useful.”

Classification claims offer a system for splitting a large group of people, places, objects, or events into smaller groups. Virtually everything is classified in some way. People are classified by race, gender, age, education, career, nationality, religion, height, weight, blood group, hair color, and many other ways. How people are classified can have many effects on their lives, either opening opportunities or closing doors.

The components of a large group often can be arranged continuously between two extremes, as with human IQ values. This method of sorting is called a range, spectrum, or continuum. A range usually is divided into subgroups, even when none are obvious: We have a need to break large, undifferentiated collections into parts that are easier to understand. For example, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security classifies terrorism threat levels by using a handful of colors to represent degrees of severity, even though the dividing lines between degrees of real-life threats may not be distinct.

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Classification Claims

Classification claims focus either on creating a system or on applying it.

Non Sequitur © 2005 Wiley Miller. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Examples of Classification Claims

The spectrum of body decoration incorporates body painting, body adornment, and body modification.

Janice Selekman, “A New Era of Body Decoration”

The debate is usually divided into two issues—reproductive cloning (creating cloned human beings) and therapeutic cloning (creating cloned human embryos for research and destruction).

Eric Cohen and William Kristol, “Should Human Cloning Be Allowed? No, It’s a Moral Monstrosity”

Classification becomes important when the groups are treated differently—for example, when one group receives more or fewer benefits or has greater or lesser responsibility. For example, vehicles classified as SUVs (based on the criterion of weighing more than 6,000 pounds) recently have qualified for $100,000 in tax breaks for small businesses. Controversy has erupted because of accusations that this government policy encourages sales of luxury vehicles with low fuel efficiency.

Classification claims are created in three ways: (1) by establishing criteria for a categorical system (e.g., how to classify vehicles); (2) by matching criteria of an existing system with particular subjects (e.g., does a particular vehicle qualify for a tax break); or (3) by establishing the rights, protections, and responsibilities of each group.

Practice 2.4. Classification Claims

1. For the following large groups, describe one existing classification system. Try to create a hierarchy that is at least three levels deep, ending with a specific example (e.g., Automobiles/Trucks/Sports Utility Vehicles/Midsize SUVs/Hyundai Santa Fe). What criteria are used for each system?

a. Motion pictures

a. Students

a. Relationships

a. Food groups

a. Music

1. Name a controversial classification system—groupings that some people accept as valid but others reject. What makes the classification system arguable?

1. Devise an original classification system or revise an existing one. Explain the benefits of your system. Who would or would not agree with it?

If you are proposing a new or revised system of classification, make sure your system is unified, thorough, and exclusive:

· Unity: A classification system is usually based on a unifying concept. For example, people can be classified by religion or by political party, but probably not both ways in the same system.

· Thoroughness: A classification system usually needs to have a place to put every item being sorted. Of course, some things will resist classification. If too many items don’t fit into any of your categories, however, your system probably needs revision.

· Exclusiveness: The categories should clearly apply to some items and clearly not apply to others. If many items seem to fit in more than one category, the classification system probably needs revision.

Comparison and contrast claims identify something in relation to something else: Features of one thing are shown to be essentially the same as or different from the features of the other thing. Claims based on comparisons and contrasts tend to point out the unexpected: how two “different” things are unexpectedly alike, or how two “identical” things are surprisingly different. Shoppers and advertisers frequently make comparisons between products—that is, their product versus an inferior “Brand X.” Advocates and opponents of gay marriage sometimes compare the lifestyles of heterosexual and homosexual couples or make a distinction between marriage and civil union.

Examples of Comparison and Contrast Claims

For no matter how true the new feminist analysis might be, there remains a world of difference between a smooth talker on the one hand and a hand holding a knife to your throat on the other. Calling them both rapists may be a fine way of highlighting the malignity of the former, but it is also a way of trivializing the criminality of the latter.

David Carlin, Jr., “Date Rape Fallacies”

Compared to marriage, a civil pact is harder to get into (some of its benefits do not arrive until a couple has been together for two or even three years) and much easier to get out of.

David Frum, “American Conservatism: The Marriage Buffet”

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Comparison/Contrast Claims

How does a “civil union” between gay partners compare with a heterosexual marriage? What are the features of each? Is one inherently better than the other? By comparing the requirements of each, it is possible to build an argument on the basis of comparison.

Practice 2.5. Comparison and Contrast Claims

1. For the following pairs, list points of comparison and contrast. What kind of claim could you make about how they are alike or different? Which would interest an audience more, the comparison or the contrast?

a. Healthful dieting and eating disorders

a. Traditional and nontraditional unions

a. Animal rights and human rights

a. Mercy killing and murder

a. Reasonable fear and paranoia

1. State a controversial comparison or contrast you have heard or read. What makes the comparison/contrast arguable?

1. State your own comparison/contrast claim. Who would agree or disagree with your claim? How would you defend your position?

Sometimes you may identify things by indicating what they resemble. Resemblance claims can help an audience understand something complex or unknown by showing how it mimics something simpler or more familiar. These claims can also raise the prestige of the thing being defined by showing how it resembles other things that are valued and respected.

Examples of Resemblance Claims

Hip hop is like an interdisciplinary academic community, combining the fields of sociology, psychology, political science, English, ethnomusicology, economics, American studies, African American studies, and offering a choice of electives to its subscribers

Todd Boyd, The New H.N.I.C.

At first glance, the correlation between piracy and terrorism seems a stretch. Yet much of the basis of this skepticism can be traced to romantic and inaccurate notions about piracy. An examination of the actual history of the crime reveals startling, even astonishing, parallels to contemporary international terrorism.

Douglas R. Burgess, Jr., “The Dread Pirate bin Laden”

Resemblance claims can take the form of precedents or analogies.

Analogy claims argue for finding similarities between basically dissimilar things.

Carlson © 2005 Milwaukee Sentinel. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

· Precedent: As its root word indicates, a precedent “precedes” or comes before something else. In a courtroom, for example, lawyers sometimes cite an earlier case as a precedent for the one being tried. Do the same legal rulings that hold bartenders responsible for the inebriation of their customers extend to fast-food restaurants, making the latter responsible for the obesity of their customers?

· Analogy: An analogy highlights a similarity between essentially different things. For example, one might argue that the United States’ dependence on foreign oil makes the country analogous to a dog on a leash. When you claim two things are analogous, you must usually explain in specific terms which aspects of the analogy are meaningful: Its control over the world’s oil supply gives OPEC a degree of leash-like control over the United States, restraining it and coercing it to go where its master leads it.

Body builders and power-lifters are among the athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids to win athletic contests. How is this practice similar to or different from cheating on a test?

Practice 2.6. Resemblance Claims

1. For each of the following actions, state something it resembles and briefly explain why. Is the resemblance claim original (your own idea) or is it something you have heard or read before? Do you agree with the resemblance? Why or why not?

a. Censoring song lyrics is like . . .

a. Blaming a restaurant for making you obese is like . . .

a. Using steroids to win an athletic competition is like . . .

a. Polluting the environment is like . . .

a. For a democratic society to allow torture is like . . .

1. Name a controversial resemblance claim—a similarity some people accept as valid but others reject. What makes the resemblance claim arguable?

1. State your own resemblance claim. Who would agree or disagree with your claim? How would you defend your position?

Practice 2.7. Identity Claims

The following excerpt from Andrew Sullivan’s article, “Why the M Word Matters to Me,” contains many claims of identity. As you read it, locate and try to label the kinds of identity claims: definition, classification, comparison/contrast, or analogy. Which claims do you agree or disagree with, and why? Would more evidence and explanation change your mind? Why or why not?

When people talk about gay marriage, they miss the point. This isn’t about gay marriage. It’s about marriage. It’s about family. It’s about love. It isn’t about religion. It’s about civil marriage licenses. Churches can and should have the right to say no to marriage for gays in their congregations, just as Catholics say no to divorce, but divorce is still a civil option. These family values are not options for a happy and stable family life. They are necessities. Putting gay relationships in some other category—civil unions, domestic partnerships, whatever—may alleviate real human needs, but by their very euphemism, by their very separateness, they actually build a wall between gay people and their families. They put back the barrier many of us have spent a lifetime trying to erase.

Claims of cause and effect argue how or why something takes place. When you argue that an action (or the lack thereof) leads to a particular result, you are making a cause-and-effect claim. Your auto mechanic might warn you that if you don’t change the oil in your car regularly, its engine will burn out. Your professor might argue that if you do not do your homework regularly and with care, it will be impossible to make an A.

Cause-and-effect relationships might seem obvious, but in many arguments this kind of link is not immediately clear. An effect might have more than one cause, a cause might have several effects, or the evidence connecting two events might be inconclusive. Because causal relationships are rarely simple, they can be some of the most challenging arguments to make.

When you make a claim about cause and effect, you may want to focus on either a cause or an effect: You’ll name a known effect and then claim a cause or causes, or you’ll name a known cause and then claim an effect or effects.

Cause claims are argued when an effect is known but the cause is uncertain.

Example of a Cause Claim

Research conducted . . . at Harvard reveals that even among people who claim to have no bias, the more strongly one supports the ethnic profiling of Arabs at airport-security checkpoints, the more hidden prejudice one has against Muslims.

Margo Monteith, “Why We Hate”

In this example, the cause—a subconscious prejudice against Arabs and Muslims—leads to the effect of supporting racial profiling at airport security stations.

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Cause Claims

Cause claims may focus on past, present, or future effects, depending on when the effects are presumed to take place:

· Past: Often we know what happened in the past, but we don’t know how or why. For example, scientists generally accept that dinosaur species suffered mass extinctions during the Cretaceous Period, but they disagree on the cause or causes of the extinction: Meteor impact, disease, weather changes, and other theories are debated as the source of the dinosaurs’ disappearance.

· Present: The need to understand a cause can become urgent when detrimental effects are apparent. Problems such as drug abuse, hate crimes, terrorism, illegal immigration, and obesity are known effects, but their causes are the subjects of debate: Finding their solutions will remain “guesswork” until the root causes are understood. When people try to remedy a problem without knowing its true cause, the approach is regarded as “treating the symptoms rather than the disease.”

· Future: Predictions of future causes are claimed in some arguments. Such predictions already have a desired (or feared) effect in mind and then claim a means to achieve (or to avoid) that effect. For example, if the effect desired was a healthier work force and higher productivity, you might argue that national health insurance would cause that result.

Practice 2.8. Cause Claims

1. In a journal entry or group discussion, consider the effects listed below. What are their causes? How certain are you about these causes? Who might agree or disagree with your position? Why? For each of these five specific situations, try to generalize it into a causal claim.

a. After a public-transit bombing in a city in another country, a commuter in the United States refuses to take public transportation.

a. A health club declines to offer membership to a lesbian couple.

a. A consumer purchases a gas–electric hybrid automobile.

a. After 20 years of teaching, a professor leaves his university to pursue a career as a business executive.

a. Although they have always been happy in the city, a couple decides to move to a suburban development that is an hour’s drive from work.

1. Name an effect that you have heard or read about. What do some people claim its cause(s) to be? Who would agree or disagree? Why?

1. Name an effect that interests you. What do you claim its cause(s) to be? Who would agree or disagree? How would you defend your claim?

Understanding cause-and-effect relationships can help people avoid undesirable consequences.

Non Sequitur © 2005 Wiley Miller. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Was the Hurricane Katrina disaster primarily caused by an unusually fierce hurricane or by an inadequate levee system?

Effect claims are argued when a cause is known but its outcome is uncertain.

Example of an Effect Claim

More than in the past, children are viewed as a project by perfectionist parents. Today’s parents are imposing on their kids a violence of raised expectations. They are using their children for their own needs. We’ve decreased the threat of physical violence but increased the psychological violence.

Steven Mintz, Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood

In this example, the focus is on the effect. The cause—parents who drive their children to excel as a sort of status symbol—results in the effect—psychological damage to the children.

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Effect Claims

Like cause claims, effect claims may focus on past, present, or future effects.

· Past: Often, we know what happened in the past, but we don’t know what effect it had. For example, scientists know that mass extinctions of dinosaur species took place during the Cretaceous Period, but they debate the effect the extinctions had on the rise of mammals.

Practice 2.9. Effect Claims

. In a journal entry or group discussion, consider the causes listed below. What are their effects? How certain of these effects are you? Who would agree or disagree? Why? Can you rewrite your responses to each of these specific situations as an effect claim of a more general nature?

. A mother smokes marijuana while she is pregnant.

. In an urban neighborhood with spotty police presence, guns are readily available.

. Large numbers of unskilled workers are unable to find employment and are unable to feed their families.

. A bright student becomes nervous before tests and performs poorly on standardized tests.

. A young woman, although she is thin, is self-conscious about her appearance and refuses to eat.

· Name a cause that you have heard or read about. What effect claims do some people make regarding this cause? Who would disagree? Why?

· Name a cause that interests you. What do you claim its effect(s) to be? Who would agree or disagree with your position? Why? How would you defend your claim?

· Present: The need to understand an effect can become urgent when the causes are occurring in the present. For example, drug abuse may be an outcome (effect) of psychological or physical problems or even of medical malpractice, but it also may lead to (cause) personal and societal problems such as disease, crime, shortened life span, or death. An effect claim might attempt to show the benefits of drug rehabilitation or the consequences of ignoring or improperly responding to drug addiction.

· Future: Predictions of future effects already have a cause or means to an end in mind, but then claim an effect or result. For example, if you oppose the establishment of a national health plan, you might claim the plan’s effects would include higher costs to employers, higher taxes, higher-priced and less competitive goods, overseas outsourcing of jobs, and a weaker economy.

Some cause-and-effect claims deal with a sequence of events called a causal chain. In a causal chain, each effect becomes the cause of another effect. A schoolyard rhyme expresses this kind of chain: “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Junior in a baby carriage.” We know that one thing often leads to another: Lack of education can lead to poverty, poverty can lead to crime, crime can lead to convictions, convictions can lead to a need for more prisons, more prisons can lead to higher taxes, and so on. If your goal is to reduce taxes, you may find yourself arguing for better schools because it could prevent this chain of events from starting. On a lighter note, comedies and comic strips sometimes depict causal chains as a complicated, multistep process that accomplishes very little.

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Causal Chains

Some causal chains are actually causal loops known as vicious circles, such as the historic feud between the Hatfield and McCoy clans: A member of one family shoots a member of the other family, setting off a series of revenge killings. Sociologists and economists speak of the “cycle of poverty,” a self-perpetuating situation in which the deprivations associated with having a low income produce new generations of poor people. It is possible to write an entire essay that focuses on a cycle of causes and effects. For example, domesticabuse counselors argue that a “cycle of violence” within an abusive relationship (1) begins with an incident of violence, (2) which is followed by making up, (3) which results in a period of calm, (4) which is followed by a period of renewed tension, (5) which eventually explodes into a new incident of violence, and so on.

Causal chains clarify how an effect can become a cause of other effects.

Rube Goldberg is the ® and © of Rube Goldberg, Inc.

Practice 2.10. Cause-and-Effect Claims

The following excerpt from Frank L. Cioffi’s article, “Argumentation in a Culture of Discord,” contains claims of cause and effect.

1. As you read, locate any stated cause and the effect.

2. Do you agree with the claims? Why or why not?

3. Would more evidence and explanation change your mind? Explain.

Students typically don’t want to attempt “argument” or take a controversial position to defend, probably because they’ve seen or heard enough of the media’s models—Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter, or Al Franken, to name a few—and are sick of them. If I were an 18-year-old freshman assigned an argumentative essay, I’d groan in despair, either because I found the food-fight journalism model repulsive or because . . . I didn’t feel strongly enough about anything to engage in the furious invective that I had all too often witnessed. Maybe the unanticipated consequence of the culture of contentious argument . . . is the decline in the general dissemination of intellectual, argumentative discourse more broadly construed.

Value claims make judgments about things, answering the question, “How is it judged?” These claims examine specific features or criteria and assess them using standards or a scale. The assessment can be quantitative, which usually means that numbers are involved, or qualitative, which usually means that the assessment is stated in words. Assessments often rank the thing being assessed (e.g., “top of the class”) or simply accept or reject the thing (e.g., a “pass/fail exam”).

Value claims can be classified as either quality or moral/ethical, based on the kinds of standards applied.

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Value Claims

Quality claims assert that a person, place, thing, or event fulfills a function at a particular level of competence. Typically the writer acts as a critic, reviewer, grader, or other kind of evaluator of the quality of performance.

Example of a Quality Claim

The scenery, effects, and balletic, iconic combats are perfectly wonderful, but there’s an emotional black hole where the hero should be.

Joe Morgenstern, “Lucas Goes to the Dull Side” (review of Star Wars Episode III)

The criteria used to evaluate performances may range along a high-to-low scale, as in the following examples:

· Hotels and restaurants are rated on the quality of service: “four out of five stars.”

· Dramas are rated on aesthetic qualities such as the script, costumes, and actors’ performances: “two thumbs up.”

Practice 2.11. Quality Claims: Part 1

Which of the following are quality claims? Which are not? Can you identify what sort of claims they are? Can some of them serve more than one purpose?

. The houses destroyed in the fire were especially valuable.

. You should not put modern art in your house because it has a very traditional style.

. Modern art, being more emotionally expressive than eighteenth-century art, is by far a superior choice for your apartment.

. The Parable of the Sower is a cautionary novel about the economic collapse of the United States.

. You can’t call The Parable of the Sower science fiction because there are no space ships, laser battles, or aliens in it.

. This college campus is especially attractive because it overlooks a pristine river valley.

· Employee performances are rated according to a supervisor’s expectations: “excellent,” “good,” or “bad.”

When making quality claims, it is important to use criteria that other people can share. For example, film critics assess the acting, screenplay, musical score, special effects, and other features that an audience values. Critics, judges, and reviewers try to maintain as much objectivity as possible, avoiding claims based on idiosyncratic, personal tastes. For example, saying “I hate spicy foods” is such a highly personal critique of Cajun cuisine that a mixed audience will find the information in a restaurant review containing this phrase of little use when looking for a place to dine.

Practice 2.12. Quality Claims: Part 2

1. For each of the following (1) give an example, (2) decide on at least one criterion (quality), and (3) evaluate the example based on that criterion. Briefly explain your decisions.

a. Motion picture or actor

a. Restaurant or chef

a. Song or singer

a. Vacation spot or type of recreation

a. Food or drink

1. Describe a quality claim that you have heard or read. Who would agree or disagree with it? Why?

1. Select something that interests you and briefly evaluate it. Name and explain the criteria you believe to be important. Who would agree or disagree with your position? Why?

Quality arguments do not always make aesthetic judgments. Many times, when an argument is based on a scale, a claim of quality is being made.

Moral and ethical claims judge human behavior by applying a code of conduct based on a religious or philosophical belief system. These types of claims emerge when someone (1) matches a standard to a situation or behavior, (2) establishes a moral/ethical standard where none previously existed, and (3) resolves conflicts between competing moral/ethical standards (for example, between mercy killing and allowing someone to suffer). The moral/ethical scale of values typically ranges from right to wrong, from good to evil, or from moral to immoral. Depending on the belief system, this scale may or may not include a middle ground or “gray area.”

Claims of Quality and Claims of Fact

Claims of quality do not always judge the desirability or undesirability of something (as in a movie review or with someone’s opinion of the service in a particular restaurant). These types of claims can also make factual statements identifying where something lies on a particular scale. The claim can also be written in a way that accomplishes both purposes.

· Desirability: “These mashed potatoes sure are good!”

· Scale: “These mashed potatoes are too cold to eat!”

· Desirability and scale: “I sure do like warm, buttery potatoes!”

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Moral/Ethical Claims

Examples of Moral or Ethical Claims

Advocates of the gay and lesbian movement have the responsibility to set forth publicly their alternative proposals.

Wall Street Journal editorial

Contrary to a lot of scary rhetoric, a healthy cloned infant would not be a moral nightmare, merely the not-quite-identical twin of an older person.

Virginia Postrel, “Should Human Cloning Be Allowed? Yes, Don’t Impede Medical Progress”

All normal people make moral/ethical decisions, following their conscience or moral compass—in fact, a lack of conscience is considered a defining trait of a sociopath. Conscience goes beyond an individual’s conduct, spilling over into public affairs and taking many forms. Although “separation of church and state” limits religion-based influence on some public issues, it doesn’t prevent people from “voting their conscience.” Codes of conduct, such as an honor code against cheating, try to make a boundary between ethical and unethical behavior. Your professor may discuss plagiarism in your class. When she tells you that representing someone else’s writing as your own is unethical, the professor is making a moral argument. Cheating in academia, like stealing, is viewed as a form of dishonesty, and therefore a violation of moral conscience.

Moral/ethical arguments make judgments about conduct.

© 2006 Russ Wallace

The argument that women and children should be rescued first in a disaster is a moral choice based on conscience and a sense of right and wrong.

Practice 2.13. Value Claims

This excerpt is from a speech that was delivered by President George W. Bush on August 9, 2001. It contains value claims.

1. As you read it, locate and try to label any stated value.

2. Do you agree with the claims made in the speech? Why or why not?

3. Would more evidence and explanation change your mind? Explain.

Embryonic stem-cell research is at the leading edge of a series of moral hazards. The initial stem-cell researcher was at first reluctant to begin his research, fearing it might be used for human cloning.... I strongly oppose human cloning, as do most Americans. We recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts, or creating life for our convenience. And while we must devote enormous energy to conquering disease, it is equally important that we pay attention to the moral concerns raised by the new frontier of human embryo stem-cell research. Even the most noble ends do not justify any means.

I also believe human life is a sacred gift from our Creator. I worry about a culture that devalues life, and believe as your President I have an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life in America and throughout the world.

Practice 2.14. Moral and Ethical Claims

1. For each of the following, take a moral or ethical stand. Which criteria are you using? Who might agree or disagree with your values?

a. Spanking is a good way to discipline children. Spare the rod and spoil the child.

a. For the advance of science, it is acceptable to use animals in scientific experiments.

a. If it will save lives, then it is the moral responsibility of government agents to torture suspected terrorists in an attempt to extract useful information from them.

a. A loving couple has the right to engage in sex before they are married.

a. If a plane full of people wanders into the airspace surrounding Washington, D.C., it should be shot down on the chance that the president might be harmed.

1. Describe a moral/ethical claim that you have heard or read. Who might agree or disagree with it? Why?

1. Make a claim about something moral or ethical that interests you. Which values influence your claim? Who might agree or disagree your position, and why?

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Proposal Claims

When you make a proposal, you try to convince an audience that it should take a specific course of action. Familiar examples of proposals are those issued regularly by the American Medical Association and the U.S. Department of Health, which suggest dietary habits that could improve health and longevity. Dietary proposals often are supported by other kinds of claims such as classification (food groups) or value (degree of healthiness of particular foods).

Proposal claims argue what should be done, such as “eat healthy foods.”

By permission of Chip Bok and Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Proposal claims have two possible aims: prescribing what should be done (policy) and indicating how it should be done (procedure). Policy and procedure are closely related, and sometimes you may find yourself synthesizing the two into one argument. On other occasions you may be more concerned with one aim than the other. For example, you may want to propose or revise a policy without getting into the details of its implementation, or you may want to propose or revise an implementation plan for an existing policy.

Policies can be rules, guidelines, or laws. They help guide decision makers, enabling them to treat people or situations in a consistent and fair manner. When policies lack consistency or fairness, they are likely to be challenged and eventually revised or repealed.

Example of a Policy Claim

Equality is not the empirical claim that all groups of humans are interchangeable; it is the moral principle that individuals should not be judged or constrained by the average properties of their group.

Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate

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Policy Claims

What policies should governments enact to be better prepared to respond to disasters?

Students with cognitive disabilities receive help while enrolled in a special degree program. Should institutions create special bachelor’s programs for people who are mentally challenged?

Pinker’s claim uses definition as the basis for making a statement about policy. Sometimes, however, claims may be hybrids consisting of two different types of claims. In such cases, it is best to identify the primary argumentative purpose of the claim. In this example, Pinker’s primary purpose is not to establish a definition but rather to work from that definition so as to argue in favor of a policy. The definition part of his claim acknowledges that people are different; the policy part of his claim says that in spite of these differences, they should have the same rights.

The following example is a little more straightforward.

If cities are to survive in Europe or elsewhere, they will need to face this latest threat to urban survival with something more than liberal platitudes, displays of pluck, and willful determination. They will have to face up to the need for sometimes harsh measures, such as tighter immigration laws, preventive detention, and widespread surveillance of suspected terrorists, to protect the urban future.

Joel Kotkin, “Survival of the City”

Practice 2.15. Policy Claims

1. Using the following questions as a guide, write a claim of policy for each issue.

a. Does the government have the right to limit your privacy in the name of national security? Should it be able to examine your employment history, banking practices, and even keep tabs on what you read or watch on television?

a. Should people be allowed to commit suicide when they are very sick or have a terminal illness?

a. Under what conditions should abortion be legal?

a. Should an employer be allowed to check your credit history as part of the hiring process (and make a decision whether to hire you based on what it says)?

a. To what extent should fast-food restaurants be held responsible for the health risks associated with their food?

a. Are affirmative action programs that encourage or require employers to hire a certain number of women and persons of color appropriate and fair? How about if employers were also required to fairly represent minority religions? What if the employer were required to hire people with mental disabilities, such as Down syndrome? Where should the equal-opportunity line be drawn?

1. Describe a policy that you have heard or read. Who would agree or disagree with it? Why?

1. Choose a problem that concerns you. Write a policy claim that will remedy this problem. In what way do you think your policy will be beneficial?

A claim of procedure is intended to persuade an audience that a policy should be carried out in a specific way. For example, if your community had a policy of restricting possession of handguns, you might propose a buy-back program through which people could turn in handguns for cash; this procedure would be an alternative to procedures such as having the police execute search warrants in homes and other methods that might be either objectionable or ineffective.

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Procedure Claims

Examples of Procedure Claims

Given the gravity of the terrorist threat, vigorous questioning [of prisoners] short of torture—prolonged interrogations, mild sleep deprivation, perhaps the use of truth serum—might be justified in some cases.

The Economist editorial

But what can you do [about political correctness]? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation? The answer’s been here all along.... You simply . . . disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely.

Charlton Heston, “Winning the Cultural War”

Practice 2.16. Procedure Brainstorming

Working individually or in groups, brainstorm (or discuss), outline, and briefly defend a procedure.

1. How do you get a reluctant friend in need of intervention to enroll in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program?

2. What is the best way to give someone extremely bad news?

3. What is the best way to study for an examination?

4. How should the United States’ borders be protected against illegal immigration?

5. How should students be disciplined after cheating on a university exam or submitting a plagiarized paper?

6. What should parents do to encourage their children to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly?

Practice 2.17. Procedure Claims

1. Choose a policy that concerns you. Outline a procedure for implementing it. In what ways do you think your procedure will be effective? In what ways might your procedure be controversial?

2. Describe a procedure that you have heard or read about. Who would agree or disagree with the procedure? Why?

3. Choose a problem that concerns you. Write a procedure claim that will remedy this problem. In what way do you think your procedure will be beneficial?

Practice 2.18. Proposal Claims

The following excerpt from Frank L. Cioffi’s article, “Argumentation in a Culture of Discord,” contains proposal claims. Read the excerpt, and answer the questions that follow it.

I propose that we teach students more about how intellectual discourse works, about how it offers something exciting—yet when it succeeds, it succeeds in only approaching understanding. The philosopher Frank Plumpton Ramsey puts it bluntly but eloquently: “Meaning is mainly potential.” Philosophical and, more generally, argumentative discourse presents no irrefutable proofs, no indelible answers. In fact, the best writing of this kind tends not only to answer but to rain questions, ones that perhaps the audience hadn’t previously considered. Or to put it in terms my college-age nephew uses, when you’re writing argument, don’t go for the slam-dunk.

At the same time, we should make students aware that they’re not alone on the court. We need, that is, to emphasize more the need for counterarguments, which inevitably force writers to place themselves in the audience’s position and attempt to image what the audience values and feels—what objections it might intelligently raise.

1. Locate any proposal claim(s) in the paragraph.

2. How would you state the claim(s) in your own words?

3. What evidence is offered to support the proposal? Do you find it convincing? Why or why not?

4. Do you agree with what is being argued? Why or why not?

5. Would more evidence and explanation change your mind? Why or why not?

In the following essay, a student discusses various ways that American society has reacted to terrorism. Complete Practice 2.19before reading this essay, and then answer the questions that follow the reading.

Practice 2.19. Before You Read

1. What do you think of when you hear the word terrorism? How does it make you feel?

2. Have you ever discussed with friends or family what you thought should be done to stop terrorism? What did you say?

3. What does the essay’s title, “The Horrors of Terrorism” suggest to you? What do you think the author will say?

Practice 2.20. Understanding the Essay

1. What is the essay’s overall claim? What does it tell you about the author’s purpose?

2. Look over the essay, and identify as many supporting claims as you can find. What types of claims are they? (Look carefully; this document includes a number of different types of claims.)

3. What sort of evidence is used to validate the author’s supporting ideas?

4. How does the author establish himself as an “authority” on this subject? How does he attempt to connect with the audience on an emotional level?

5. Who do you think might be an appropriate audience for this argument?

Practice 2.21. Responding to the Essay

1. Name one significant strength and one significant weakness of the author’s argument. Explain your answer.

2. Study the introductory paragraph. How does the author use analogy to set the tone for his argument?

3. Examine the conclusion. How effectively does the author return to the ideas and images in the introduction to bring his argument full circle? In other words, how effectively does he reemphasize his primary claim?

4. In the second paragraph, the author recognizes a viewpoint contrary to his own. How effective is this tactic in creating a sense that he is taking a fair and balanced approach toward his subject? (And what might this suggest about his intended audience?)

5. Which is the strongest claim in this paper? Which is the weakest? Explain.

6. Sometimes this author uses quotations from one of his sources to support the claim he wants to make. Does this tactic help him establish authority as a writer? If so, how?

· Arguments always are based on claims, always with the goal of convincing reasonable skeptics of the claims’ validity.

· Claims state that something is true, but some element of uncertainty or disagreement prevents others from immediately accepting that statement.

· Claims vary in (1) their degree of controversy, (2) their function within a piece of writing, and (3) the type of statement they make about what is “true.”

· The thesis statement of an argument usually will be one of five kinds of claims: fact, identity, cause/effect, value, and proposal.

· Claims always need support in the form of evidence and explanations.

· Choose an argumentative article and read it carefully, examining its claims and support. Write a short evaluation of the effectiveness of the argument.

· Use the Practice activities in this chapter to guide your planning for writing your own essay on an issue.

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Suggestions for Writing

Dynamic Argument

Chapter 2: Claims

ISBN: 9780618475186 Authors: Robert Lamm, Justin Everett

Copyright © Heinle, Cengage Learning (2007)