So now that you've seen your prompt, let's review the parts of an argumentative essay. The claim is the umbrella statement for all parts of an argument. It's the position or opinion on the topic, it's the main point you're trying …show more content…
So now let's learn about choosing evidence for your essay, which could be facts, statistics, examples, or quotations. You need to support your reasons. They might make sense to you, but you need to give your reader proof, which comes from your evidence. For example, here's an excerpt from a report
on setting prescribed fires, which are fires that are planned and set on purpose. Let's read this excerpt together. "It is estimated that federal land management agencies complete between 4,000 and 5,000 prescribed fires annually. Approximately 99% of those burns were 'successful,' in that they did not report escapes or near misses. This can be viewed as an excellent record,
especially given the elements of risk and uncertainty associated with prescribed fire." So this report analyzes when prescribed fires went out of control and gives us the statistic that 99% of those burns were successful. So you could use that as proof and evidence, if you're writing in favor of setting prescribed fires. But you might actually also use this research …show more content…
You might use an outline or a web of ideas, you might also use a table, and here we have an example. This example is on a different topic, on school uniforms, but it's a model that you can follow as you organize your notes on your essay about forest fires. Let's go over it. The first column gives the claim, and this is the position that can be logically argued for or against. The example claim here is school uniforms limit students freedom. The next column gives reasons, and these you'll discover doing your research. And you'll want at least two reasons to support your claim. This example reason here is clothing is a form of self expression. Now we have evidence to support that reason. Data from a survey showed 60% of students use clothing to show their interests. In this example, the evidence that's given uses a statistic, but it could also be examples, or facts, or quotations,and this also is going to come from your research. And finally we have a counterclaim. And this is a strong argument from the opposing viewpoint, which you can include, so that you can then give a rebuttal or argue against it. The counterclaim for this example is, people in favor of uniforms say that they make students less vulnerable to crime. So now as you start your pre-writing you can think about using a table like this to organize your reasons and