1. China Debate Education Network: Structure of Argument

2. Elements of Arguments Claim: the main point or conclusion of an argument. Evidence: any information on which the claim rests. Evidence is information that supports the claim. Link: a link is a statement that creates a bridge between the evidence and the claim. Reservation: not present in all arguments, a reservation explains special circumstances when the claim should be set aside.

3. Structure of a Simple Argument a single piece of evidence leads to a single claim, following along a single link, and perhaps accompanied by a reservation.

4. Structure of a Simple Argument In this example, the evidence is actually a previous claim that the audience has been convinced to accept.

5. Structure of a Simple Argument

6. Argument With Combined Structure Consists of multiple pieces of evidence linked with one another.

7. Argument With Combined Structure

9. Argument with Independent Structure Several pieces of evidence independently support a claim

10. Argument with Independent Structure