The Genuine and Valuable Support Needed to Accept Claims.
Kevin Wells - Date Updated: 11/25/07 - Date Completed: 11/16/07
Definition
Supporting a Claim:
Strengthening a controversial opinion, idea, or philosophy, with various facts of valuable relation, strategically ordered to direct the targeted audience into accepting the issue at hand. Claims are not meant to be universally agreed upon and it is the support that determines whether a claim will ever become a fact.
Description
Support for claims is used in many different types of written work including essays, academic thesis, trade summaries, reports, and mission statements to name a few. The idea is to derive information out of the supporting work that helps readers arrive to belief in the overall claim. Claims exist through out our society and lead to innovation within the world culture. Education spread in the middle ages with scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, priests, etc. creating claims within their areas of expertise, and presenting sound support for the newly proposed ideas. The establishment of the printing press put this information on paper and distributed it through out the world leading to the creation of all facts we recognize today.
Support Methods (Examples)
There are basically three different ways to issue support when attempting to prove or validify a claim. Most of the time in an essay, the thesis statement is the claim that is to be proposed. The biggest question seems to be how to identify and use effective support? The three types of support listed below can be used separately or in combination, depending on the work’s purpose and targeted audience.
1.) Statistics
Statistics display information in numerical terms and there must be an explanation as to why this is important and relates to the claim. They should also be used sparingly. The purpose is to provide specific details in support of a claim, but the description readers often extract helps to create belief in their mind.
Example:
Claim: The United States Automobile Industry has been loosing more and more market share over the last few decades, constantly struggling to outdo Japanese manufacturers.
Support: The United Auto Workers (UAW) membership has dropped from over 2 million members in 1975, to less than 600,000 in 2007 (Wikipedia).
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2.) Examples
Examples can be used to show real thoughts and beliefs to readers and can make the claim seem like it already influences society. The idea is to both tell a story with valid details and finish with mentioning why the story is relevant to the claim.
Example:
I agree that the death penalty may be something that should be abolished as we enter the twenty-first century.
I recently read a story about a nineteen-year-old male who was sentenced to death for having another teenager murder a drug partner. The state in which he was tried has a very short death row holding period, and he is set to be executed in a year and a half.
I could not imagine the fear and regret this young person is facing in prison, nor the sorrow placed on his mother and father. Some crimes are worthy of a lifetime of incarceration, however we must reach to a higher level of civility and realize there are better ways to handle crimes then to perform them with a misguided solution.
3.) Expert Opinion
Expert opinions can be used as a significant way to show validity in the support that is needed. Expert opinions are studied every time people read books since they are attempting to learn a new subject of fact. This form of support is another very effective way to persuade readers that the support presented is sound, thus leading to belief in the claim.
Example:
My strong belief that the Elk River Mill was the most efficient lumber mill for its size in the nation was enlightened by John Gates, the author of Faulk’s Claim. “The mill was now producing 40,000 broad feet of lumber daily and the company was swamped with work orders, sales orders, and a bulging payroll of 100 employees.” This shows that the mill was generating 400 broad feet of lumber per employee each day. This was enough to pay that one employee’s salary 100 times over. This output rate lead the industry during the late nineteenth century and was considered the best way to identify efficiency.
- http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
- This source is the Guide to Grammar and Writing section of the Capital Community College web site. The site seems to be very credible, with the college having a very strong writing and journalism department. The site was most useful in their correlation between claim and thesis statement, offering ways to strengthen the overall ideas meant to direct the presented work. Any difficulty in understanding thesis statements can be remedied here. It is also very easy to find all components of the Grammar and Writing section.
- http://essayinfo.com/
- This source is an essay writing center that has all sorts of information on drafting different types of written work indicating credibility. There are at least twenty-five different forms of writing that can take on “critical” characteristics. The majority of what I used was information on the components of critical writing in order to see what is needed to make written claims as valid as possible. Any unknowns about critical writing can be found here in the many pages of summary. The site is very easy to navigate through, and it even gives lists of things to think about when doing certain writing assignments.
- http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/detail.html
- This source is composed of an article written by an English teacher named Joe Essid and is about using details to support a claim. There is an excellent example about the switch Court TV has gone through from legal to entertainment. The type of support highlighted is example support, where the author brings up related issues or stories and then derives the idea of the claim out of the lesson. This is a very effective way to support a claim and the example shown would help anyone wanting more information in example support. The article is the overall purpose of the site and thus very easy to find, however not much else relating to claim support can be found here.
- http://www.umt.edu/writingcenter/pdfs/MicrosoftWord-ThreeWaystoSupport.pdf
- This is perhaps the most valuable site for finding information on defined types of support used for claims. There are three different types and each one is extremely effective at absorbing readers. The site is very simple since it is composed of the written article solely, and gives a fairly large amount of detail for each type of support. It is also full of examples which really helps site readers grasp the ideas that are proposed. This source presents fundamentals to establish support and I feel the article should be read by everyone close to finalizing a written claim.
- www.wooster.edu/writing_center/documents/support.doc
- This source is a writing center that offers different information about all writing topics and concepts. The site is fairly difficult to navigate through since there are places that branch off the listed major sections. It really needs to be thoroughly searched in order to see all types of information it has to offer. I specifically used the descriptive details part of the supporting an argument section. This was very helpful to understand the use of statistics and expert opinions to support an overall claim. This page really helped me figure out the actual principals for claim support that have been created in English Grammar, and I believe in it's validity.
- http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/reason3.html
- This source is a smaller site that has different argument methods and techniques for review. Specifically I learned that an analogy is another way an author can present support, however this could be included in the examples support when considering the three major kinds. There is also a large section easy to find devoted entirely to avoiding fallacies and learning how to take advantage the increasing experience that one receives the more they write. I feel this site is best for those seeking information about argumentation, since the author David Roberts is PhD. in argumentative communication.
- http://www.english.pdx.edu/writingstudies/instructors/resources/an_arg_sec/teach_arg.php
- This site is mainly composed of an article titled, “Teaching Argument: A List of Possibilities.” It is primarily associated with argumentation and the development of controversial ideas plus ways to support those ideas. I really liked the order that was presented for the creation of a critical essay. Topic selection, mapping positions, developing claims, organization, and drafting all can easily be found in this website, and its sophistication gives off good impressions of credibility. People interested in the sequence of claim, support, warrant can also find use of this site as well.
Related Topics
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Argumentation
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Critical Writing Essays
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Essay Structure
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Establishing A Claim
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Thesis Statement
Works Cited
- Gates, John. Faulk’s Claim. Moonstone Publishing. 1983.
- Hale, Constance. Sin and Syntax. Broadway Books. 1999.
- Stuart, Douglas. The Speakers Handbook. Thomson Learning. 2003.
- "United Auto Workers." Wikipedia. 16 Nov 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Auto_Workers>.
- "American Auto Industry." MarketWatch. 16 Nov 2007 <http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/personal-finance-daily----nov/story.aspx?guid=%7B83D321F1%2D1EDE%2D4D28%2D9881%2D3012BD165DDB%7D>.
