What type of claim is it

The claim is the position being taken in the argument — the thesis. Three types of claims are as follows: fact, value, and policy. Claims of fact attempt to establish that something is or is not the case. Claims of value attempt to establish the overall worth, merit, or importance of something. Claims of policy attempt to establish, reinforce, or change a course of action.

The position being takin in an argument should be demonstrated with evidence. A speaker or writer needs to use a specific claim and stay consistent with the use of that claim throughout their argument.

Analyzing and understanding a specific audience involves demographic analysis, psychological profiling, and environmental scanning. Demographic analysis includes considering the age, gender, ethnic, socio-economic, and racial background of the audience.

Psychological profiling involves considering attitudes, values, and belief systems. Environmental scanning involves considering the size of the room if speaking or the visual layout of the media if writing. The speaker or writer needs to understand the audience to appeal to their needs and desires and avoid offending them.

A speaker or writer can structure their message multiple ways — three common ways are deductively, inductively, and analogically. In a deductive structure the claim is presented at the beginning of the argument, with the remaining information in the form of support strategies and materials bearing out that claim. In an inductive structure, the claim is presented at the end of the argument with examples and other reasoning strategies from particular cases leading up to that claim.

In an analogical structure, the claim is usually presented near the end of the argument, and the information takes the form of a comparison between two cases. The structure and form of information has as much to do with persuasion as the information itself.

Six common methods of organization for persuasive writing and speaking are as follows: basic argument, comparative advantages, invitational, motivated sequence, problem-solution, and refutation Sellnow A speaker or writer needs to use the method or organization that fits best with their claim, the disposition of their audience, and the pattern of their argument.

Arguments are more interesting and more persuasive when a variety of support strategies are used. The most basic arguments consist of description and explanation. More sophisticated speakers and writes look for more ways to use a comprehensive repertoire of support strategies. The speaker or writer needs to implement a variety of support strategies to demonstrate their claim. Of course, the sources from which you draw these support strategies will vary as well.

Past claims of fact tend to deal with the assigning of motive or responsibility for historical actions. Examples are: " General Custer was responsible for the massacre at the Battle of the Little Big Horn ," or, " Democrat policies caused the rise of terrorism.

Present claims of fact tend to deal with events of current importance. Future claims of fact deal with making predictions about the nature of future events; such as: " Tuition at community colleges will be increased next year ," " Oil prices will continue to rise " or, " The Tesla Model 3 will become the best-selling sedan in the United States. Claims of fact are quantifiable. That is, establishing the correctness of factual claims depends heavily on empirical verification.

Such verification, or evidence, usually consists of using some combination of sensory data sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste. We will be examining how we find quality evidence to support our arguments in another chapter.

Examples of claims of value are: " The Wizard of Oz is the greatest movie of all time ," " Snowboarding is the greatest way to spend a vacation ," or, " Indian food is the best food of all. The center of argument in a value claim is over the criteria used in making the judgment. Value claims call into question a standard of comparison: bad as compared to what, good as compared to what, superior as compared to what?

All judgments we make are opinions that compare two or more items and assert that one of the items is, by comparison, the better one. For instance, " Coke is better than Pepsi ," " Natural gas is our best energy source ," and , " George Washington is the greatest President of all time. And more importantly, do you and the person you are arguing with, define them identically.

If not, that difference has to be resolved first with agreed upon definitions of these key terms. Then you can begin your argument. In our everyday decisions, we make many kinds of value judgments.

Our own experiences reveal how difficult it often is to empirically quantify these judgments. These words have no universality or common understanding.

Since value claims cannot be empirically supported, our arguments with others tend to be qualitative and without much factual support. It needs, instead, to focus on an assertion which uses facts to back it up, but for which the evidence might still be debatable. Decreasing carbon dioxide emissions from car exhaust, manufacturing processes, fertilizers, and landfills, while slowing deforestation, may help slow the process of global warming. A claim of value argues that something is good or bad, or that one thing is better than another thing.

Although immunotherapy has produced some good results in fighting cancer, overall it is less effective than chemotherapy. A claim of policy argues that certain conditions should exist, or that something should or should not be done, in order to solve a problem. Just as smoking ads have been banned in order to decrease the urge to engage in an unhealthy behavior, soda ads should be banned for the same reason.

No matter the type of claim, you will usually combine many types of support for that claim in order to write a logical argument, including facts, case studies, reasons, personal interviews, and more, as appropriate.