How to Provide Evidence for Your Argument Essay — Transcript

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1. 0:01critical thinking writing an essay
2. 0:04provides you an opportunity to engage in
3. 0:07one of the most important skills
4. 0:08developed during your college
5. 0:10education when reading critical thinking
6. 0:13means to analyze another author's claim
7. 0:16or argument in order to determine if it
8. 0:18is sound and acceptable when you're
9. 0:21writing the first step in critical
10. 0:23thinking is to identify the claim that
11. 0:25you the author will make your claim is
12. 0:28your position on the topic it is the
13. 0:30idea that you the author will assert an
14. 0:33attempt to convince your audience to
15. 0:35accept here's an example prison
16. 0:38overcrowding in America has become a
17. 0:40National Disgrace clearly this riter has
18. 0:44a strong position or Point she wishes to
19. 0:46make about prison overcrowding once
20. 0:49you've identified your position or claim
21. 0:51you must then find evidence or support
22. 0:54to back it up here's why a claim backed
23. 0:58up by facts is considered reported solid
24. 1:01and strong facts are things that can be
25. 1:04verified as true and thus facts are
26. 1:06considered reliable and
27. 1:09objective however a claim back backed up
28. 1:11by opinions is considered unsupported
29. 1:14the reason is that opinions are
30. 1:16subjective and cannot be verified as
31. 1:18true or false when stating a claim in
32. 1:21your essay ask yourself what facts or
33. 1:24evidence can I use to support my
34. 1:26position your ability to answer that
35. 1:29question will determine whether your
36. 1:31claims are supported or unsupported
37. 1:33let's return to our example prison
38. 1:36overcrowding in America has become a
39. 1:38National Disgrace once again the greed
40. 1:41of capitalism has run rough shot over
41. 1:44common sense and the United States
42. 1:46Constitution private corporations
43. 1:48running prisons can mean only one thing
44. 1:51profits no matter the cost to our
45. 1:53society in fact America has become the
46. 1:57prison Nation now does the support in
47. 2:00this paragraph consist of facts or
48. 2:03opinions if you said opinions you're
49. 2:05right the author of this paragraph does
50. 2:08not provide any specific facts to
51. 2:10support the claim Claim about prison
52. 2:13overcrowding instead the author provides
53. 2:16only deeply felt opinions about prisons
54. 2:18and profits as a result at this point we
55. 2:21cannot accept the author's claim or
56. 2:24position as a valid one as an essay
57. 2:27writer you have a variety of ways to
58. 2:29support your claims facts statistics
59. 2:33experiences research all of these can
60. 2:36help you support the claims that you
61. 2:37make by supporting your claims with
62. 2:40verifiable data you are in a position to
63. 2:43offer an informed opinion to your
64. 2:45audience let's examine this paragraph
65. 2:48again to determine the kind of support
66. 2:50that can lead to an informed opinion
67. 2:52about a topic prison overcrowding in
68. 2:55America has become a National Disgrace
69. 2:58the United States imprison significantly
70. 3:01more people than any other nation in the
71. 3:03world a fact verified by the Pew
72. 3:06Foundation which also found one in every
73. 3:09100 American adults currently lives
74. 3:12behind bars California exemplifies what
75. 3:15has happening in the entire Federal
76. 3:17Bureau of Prisons the prison at Chino
77. 3:19California was built to hold 3,000
78. 3:22inmates today it bulges with
79. 3:256,000 conditions are so bad at Chino
80. 3:28that California Supreme court has
81. 3:30ordered the entire state to reduce its
82. 3:33prisoner population in order to prevent
83. 3:35quote cruel and unusual
84. 3:38punishment now did the author of this
85. 3:40paragraph use objective evidence to
86. 3:42support the claim that quote prison
87. 3:45overcrowding in America has become a
88. 3:47National Disgrace yes the facts
89. 3:50presented about America's prisons
90. 3:52provide objective verifiable evidence of
91. 3:55the claim that the situation is
92. 3:58disgraceful end quote your job as an
93. 4:01essay writer is to engage in this
94. 4:03process of critical thinking as you make
95. 4:05clear for your readers that your claims
96. 4:08or positions are based on a solid
97. 4:10foundation of evidence and are therefore
98. 4:13worthy of their consideration and
99. 4:15acceptance