Claim, Data, Warrant Next Exit The Road to Answering Open Response Questions

What is claim, data, warrant? »Claim, data, warrant (CDW) is a formal and analytical writing style. »CDW helps you prove your thoughts using evidence. »It can be used for answering open response questions, discussion questions, or writing essays. »You can use it in any class.

Claim »What you are claiming is true »Your opinion about the subject »Your answer to the question »Often the topic sentence of a paragraph »Very much like a hypothesis

Data »The evidence or the facts you use to support your claim »Examples to support your claim »Quotes from the text to support the claim »References to the text supporting your claim »Statistics supporting the claim »Content specific vocabulary that supports the claim

Warrant »The explanation of how the data supports your claim »Explains how the example, statistic, quote or reference supports the claim »Explains the significance of the data »Usually three to five sentences long

Easy Example »Claim: BCMS has an excellent after- school program. »Data: We offer archery, art, and cooking classes along with tutoring in all core subject areas. »Warrant: Archery helps students develop strength, focus, and confidence. Art allows students to tap into their creativity, and cooking teaches students to be self-sufficient. Tutoring classes reinforce students’ academic skills.

Color-coding your answers »Claim is highlighted in pink. »Data is highlighted in green. »Warrant is highlighted in yellow.

Example BCMS has an excellent after-school program. We offer archery, art, and cooking classes along with tutoring in all core subject areas. Archery helps students develop strength, focus, and confidence. Art allows students to tap into their creativity, and cooking teaches students to be self-sufficient. Tutoring classes reinforce students’ academic skills.

Things to remember: »The order of claim, data, warrant may not be the same for every open response. »Sometimes you may give the data first and then write the claim and warrant. »Occasionally open responses may only require you to include data and warrant in your response.

Math Example Samantha made the following scores on unit tests for the term: 92, 98, 15, 92, 87, 92. Samantha’s teacher said her grade would be based on the mean of her grades. Samantha argued that her grade should be based on the median score of her grades. A. Find the mean and median of Samantha’s grades. B. Which do you think best reflects Samantha’s work for the term? Explain your answer.

Part A of this response includes both claim and data. Your answer is your claim because it is what you are asserting to be true. The work is the data or evidence you are using to support your claim. A. The mean of Samantha’s grades is about 79.3 The median of Samantha’s grades is about Mean Median

B. I think the median best reflects Samantha’s work. This is because except for two low grades none of her grades was below 92. The 87, which is really fairly high, and the 15 bring the total score down considerably, and although these grades are important, they don’t fairly represent Samantha’s work considering the damage they do to her scores. Part B contains claim and warrant. This first sentence is your opinion about what is best. Remember your opinion is a claim, and the remainder of the paragraph is your explanation of why you think this is the best way to represent Samantha’s work. Explanation is always warrant.

Median A. The mean of Samantha’s grades is about 79.3 The median of Samantha’s grades is about Mean B. I think the median best reflects Samantha’s work. This is because except for two low grades none of her grades was below 92. The 87, which is really fairly high, and the 15 bring the total score down considerably, and although these grades are important, they don’t fairly represent Samantha’s work considering the damage they do to her scores.

Science Example Yolanda and James’ Disagreement Yolanda and James are having a disagreement. Yolanda thinks that natural rainwater is better for plant growth than water from the hose in her garden. James disagrees. He thinks that natural rainwater has too many chemicals from the atmosphere and the hose water is better. They perform the following experiment to see whose prediction is correct. They buy two plants of the same species and size. They plant one outside and one inside away from the rain. When it rains, they water the inside plant with hose water.

This experiment has several mistakes. a.Identify two mistakes in the experiment’s design. b.Explain how you could redesign the experiment to settle Yolanda and James’ disagreement.

Part A is a combination of claim and data. When you say the experiment has too many variables, you are putting this forth as your claim. When you give examples of problems in this experiment, this is your data. A.There are many mistakes in this experiment because there is more than one variable. One mistake is that the plants are not in the same climate or environment so they will be getting amounts light and be exposed to different temperatures. Another mistake involves the inaccurate water measurements. In this experiment the plants are not receiving the exact same amounts of water.

Part B includes both claim and warrant. The claim is what you are saying needs to be changed, and the warrant is your explanation of exactly how to conduct the experiment correctly. B. The experiment should be designed to allow for only one variable. Both plants should be located in the same type of environment so that the temperature and lighting are the same. Rain water should be collected and then measured before adding it to one plant, and the hose water should be measured in an equal amount before adding it to the other plant.

Social Studies Example The Road to the American Revolution A.Describe three restrictions (taxes and acts) that the British placed on the colonists that denied them their personal liberties (individual rights) and helped lead to the Revolution. B.Explain why the colonists had restrictions (taxes and acts) placed upon them. C.Explain how these restrictions of the colonists’ rights led to the Revolutionary war.

Part A of this question requires you to write data because you are giving factual information about various acts and taxes. A. Three restrictions that helped lead to the Revolutionary War were the Stamp Act, Townshend Act, and Intolerable Act. The Stamp Act placed a tax on all printed materials such as marriage licenses, letters, wills, and even playing cards. The Townshend Act placed a tax on all imported goods such as tea, lead, paper, silk and spices. The Intolerable Act, passed in reaction to the Boston Tea Party, closed the port of Boston, shut down the Massachusetts legislature, established a new Quartering Act, and sent British soldiers and officials back to England for trial.

Part B is warrant because it requires you to explain why the colonists were placed under these restrictions. The colonists had these restrictions placed on them because the British government was in debt after the French and Indian War. The British felt the colonists should have to pay back the debt because the war was fought to provide protection for them.

The taxes increased the tension and resentment between England and the colonies. These restrictions created financial difficulty, and the colonists felt that they had no voice in the British government. They begin using the battle cry “No taxation without representation”. This meant if the colonists were going to be taxed by the British government then they should be able to run for office and have a voice in government. Many of the colonists felt that they should separate from England if they weren’t given this right. Part C of the question is a combination of claim, data and warrant. Remember anything you assert to be true is a claim. Factual references to historical events will be data, and your explanation of how that data supports the claim is warrant.

Language Arts Example Mood is the overall feeling of the text, and authors use imagery to help create mood. Imagery is language that appeals to the senses and paints a picture in the mind of the reader. Read the passage on pp in The Outsiders. A.Identify the mood of the passage. B.Explain how S.E. Hinton uses imagery to create this mood.

Part A of the question is your claim because it is what you are claiming to be true. a. In this passage from The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton uses imagery to create a mood of danger and desperation.

Part B of your response will contain both data and claim. You should make specific references to the text to support your claim, and this will be data. As you explain how those references (data) support your claim (how they create mood), you will be writing warrant. b. In this scene, Pony and Johnny save some kids from the burning church. Images such as “the roar and crackling was getting louder”, “drowning in smoke”, and “timber crashing and flames roaring” work to establish a feeling of intense risk. The imagery affects the reader in this way because it is connected to life or death situations. “The roar and crackling was getting louder” is a sound image that emphasizes the sense of danger and also helps build suspense. The reader realizes the fire is growing more out of control. “Timber crashing and flames roaring” is another sound image that intensifies the mood of danger in the scene because we know the church is close to collapsing. “Drowning in smoke” emphasizes the desperate nature of the situation and underscores the fact that the smoke is deadly.