Structure, using sources, and stuff like that Argument Structure, using sources, and stuff like that

Toulmin Model Stephen Toulmin, The Uses of Argument

Toulmin Method Claim Reason Data Warrant Qualifier Rebuttal

Claim The Claim is your thesis, the overall argument you are making. Claim

Claim The United States should abolish the death penalty. (Note: examples are chosen for expediency and should not be taken as an attempt to influence your views on any given topic.)

Reasons Claim Reason

Reasons Reasons are the major supports that bolster your claim, the larger ideas that demonstrate why you are right, or why the opposing arguments should not be listened to.

Reasons The United States should abolish the death penalty because: Death sentences are given disproportionately to racial minorities. No deterrent effect has been proven. Executing a criminal costs more than life imprisonment. The discovery of innocent people on death row indicates that mistakes are sometimes made.

Data Claim Reason Data

Data Data is the information that demonstrates the validity of your Reasons. These may include: Statistics Examples Testimony (anecdotal evidence, interviews with experts) Experiments/surveys/etc Logic Emotional appeals

Data The United States should abolish the death penalty because: Death sentences are given disproportionately to racial minorities. According to Amnesty International USE, “In a 1990 report, the non-partisan U.S. General Accounting Office found ‘a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty’” (emphasis original). Amnesty International USA also reports that, “the single most reliable predictor of whether someone will be sentenced to death is the race of the victim.” They further quote a study by Yale University that reports that, “African- American defendants receive the death penalty at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victims are white.” As you can see, this is where your sources will become a factor.

Qualifier Claim Reason Data Warrant Qualifier Rebuttal

Qualifier Expresses degree of force or certainty, may make exception to claim. Although it is understandable that families of victims want murderers to be executed,

Rebuttal Refutes counterarguments/qualifier. Although it is understandable that families of victims want murderers to be executed, our justice system must adhere to a higher standard of behavior. Given the possibility of executing an innocent person, we should abolish the death penalty.

Warrant Claim Reason Data Warrant Qualifier Rebuttal

Warrant An underlying assumption on which the claim rests, one that is usually not spelled out, but that the writer assumes her audience shares/accepts. Values Knowledge Logical connections

Warrant The United States should abolish the death penalty because: Death sentences are given disproportionately to racial minorities. Warrant: racial injustice is wrong, and should be eliminated. Racial injustice that results in death is sufficiently bad that we must guard against it as vigilantly as possible. The discovery of innocent people on death row indicates that mistakes are sometimes made. Warrant: Blackstone’s Formulation (“better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer“).

Toulmin Method Claim Reason Data Warrant Qualifier Rebuttal