Claims,Counterclaims, and Transition Words

A claim is a(n)...

• opinion or belief

• fact or truth

• interpretation of fact

A counterclaim is a(n)...

• reasonable challenge to a claim

• contradiction to a claim

• flaw in reasoning

The strongest evidence for a fact-based claim is...

Click all that apply.

• directly supports the claim

• comes from a credible source

• based on personal experience only

• is an opinion

Credible evidence in argumentative writing includes...

Check all that apply.

• facts

• personal experiences

• statistics

• scientific studies

• dreams

Consider this claim:

Learning to play an instrument can help you succeed academically.

Which piece of evidence better supports this claim?

• A long-term study at a top research university showed that children who had learned to play an instrument in the past year had greater self-confidence than those who had not.

• Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital scanned the brains of musicians and non-musicians while they completed various tasks. Musicians showed increased brain activity in areas that could strengthen school performance.

Consider the claim:

It is possible for a person to have more than one best friend.

Now consider how someone might argue against this.

Which sentence presents the stronger and more reasonable counterclaim to the above claim?

• The word best means "above all others," so by definition, it's only possible to have one best friend.

• The perfect number of friends is three because that way you never have to be alone, but you're never in a crowd.

Read the claim and the supporting evidence.

Claim: Eve should not be elected class president.

Evidence: The other candidate, Seth, is much more collaborative.

Why does the evidence support the claim? Choose the analysis that better explains the connection.

• Seth also has more leadership experience.

• Good leaders must be collaborative.

Consider this claim:

Online colleges prepare students for careers just as well as traditional brick-and-mortar schools do.

Which is the strongest evidence to support the claim?

• Many students choose to gain some credits through an online college program and then successfully transfer to a brick-and-mortar institution to complete a degree.

• "I've hired two people recently who received their college degrees through online programs, and the quality of their performance is as good as, if not better than, that of their peers," reported business owner Ryan McCarthy.

• Online college programs often provide career preparation services that are equivalent to those provided by traditional college programs, including interview preparation, job fairs, and even internship placement.

• Admittedly

• Likewise

• For example

• That begin said

• More importantly

• In summary