The HyperTextBooks Daniel Kies
Department of English
College of DuPage
Composition 2
English 1102		 Contact Form

Claims

   

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Claims (also called propositions) function as the main point, main idea, thesis, or controlling idea of the text, specifically an argumentative essay. Claims answer one of the first questions readers have about an essay: What is the writer trying to prove? Until proven, all claims are opinions, and claims subdivide into three categories.

Factual claims are those that can be verified through experimentation, observation, or reason. (In science, factual claims are called hypotheses.)

Value claims are those that express a writer's value system — what the writer believes is good or bad, right or wrong.

Policy claims are those that seek to change people's attitudes and behaviors toward a particular issue.

Kinds of Claims
Factual
Claims		 Policy
Claims		 Value
Claims
  1. Sufficient Data
  2. Appropriate Data
  3. Reliable Sources
  4. Facts vs. Inferences
  1. Obligation
  2. Necessity
  3. Rightness
  1. Personal *
  2. Social
  3. Cultural
(The Evaluation Criteria for each Kind of Claim)

To evaluate a claim, to judge the merits of writer's point of view, readers must consider two different issues:

  1. readers must establish the nature of the claim, and
  2. readers must use evaluation criteria relevant to each particular kind of claim.

For example, given a factual claim, one would think about quality of the data that supports the claim.

  • Is there sufficient data to support the writer's ideas?
  • Is the data relevant and appropriate to the claim (or does the writer present data that is only marginally, circumstantially relevant to the claim?
  • Are the sources of the data reliable?
  • Does the writer confuse fact and inference (the deriving of a conclusion by reasoning), presenting one in place of the other?

When evaluating a policy claim, readers must consider the source of the sense of obligation that the writer is hoping to create. Readers must ask if the writer's proposed policy change is really necessary and is truly the right change to make.

To evaluate a value claim, the reader needs to consider the personal, social, and cultural influences and biases that each of us carries with us. Evaluating a value claim often entails comparing your personal set of beliefs with those of the writer.

Note

*When it comes to matters of taste, remember the wisdom of the ancients: de gustibus non est disputandum.





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