Week 7 — Argument: Claims, Evidence & Warrants

Welcome to your Week 7 Start Here page.

Why this matters

A nurse changing a handoff routine, a tenant asking a building board for a later laundry-room closing, and a sales associate pitching a new shift schedule all have to show why their evidence counts and answer the strongest objection.

In plain language

An argument (a claim backed by reasons and evidence, made to a reader who could disagree) is more than an opinion said loudly. This week you learn to build one on purpose. You map your point, your evidence, and the hidden link between them, which is called the warrant (the assumption that explains why your evidence counts), and you learn to state the other side at its strongest and answer it fairly. Finally, you learn to spot a logical fallacy (a flaw in reasoning that makes an argument look stronger than it is). You practice on the running draft about phones in lecture classes and on small campus questions.

• Already covered: Week 2 split a claim from its support; Week 4 built the arguable thesis; Week 6 named the four appeals.
• This week: the Toulmin model, the warrant, the qualifier, steel-manning and the rebuttal, and the common fallacies.
• How they connect: you stop analyzing someone else's persuasion and build your own.
• Where we're going next: Week 8, Midterm Review & Exam.

Focus

What is my claim, what is my evidence, and what is the warrant between them?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] tell an arguable claim from a fact, a topic, and a matter of taste
• [ ] map an argument's claim, grounds, warrant, and rebuttal
• [ ] write a warrant as a principle and scope a claim with a qualifier
• [ ] steel-man an objection, concede what is right, and answer it
• [ ] name the common fallacies by definition

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 7 (about 40 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Writing Studio (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

Checkpoint: map the running draft's working thesis as claim, grounds, and warrant, and state its strongest objection fairly.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if a step snags.

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