Claim Data Warrant

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Claim Data Warrant the secret to winning all of
your arguments.
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Stephen E. Toulmin

• philosopher and rhetorical theorist
• born in England in 1922
• received his Bachelors degree at Kings College
  and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy
  degrees from Cambridge

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More on Toulmin

• Toulmin taught at the University of Southern
  California from 1993 - 2009
• In 1958, Toulmin offered his model of
  argumentation a way to compare truths

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Toulmins Model
Claim
Data
Warrant
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Toulmin Model, cont.

• Simply
• A Claim is made.
• Data is provided in the form of supporting facts.
• The Warrant connects the Data to the Claim.

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Example 1

• I am an American. (Claim)
• My mother was an American citizen when I was
  born. (Data)
• Anyone born of an American citizen is a legal
  American citizen. (Warrant)
• Toulmin says that the Claim and the Data cannot
  hold without a sufficiently strong Warrant, or,
  the weakest argument is the one with the weakest
  warrant.

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Example 2

• The U.S. Postal service is wasteful and
  inefficient. The proposed new mail distribution
  agency will be wasteful and inefficient.
• Claim The proposed new mail distribution agency
  will be wasteful and inefficient.
• Data The U.S. Postal service is wasteful and
  inefficient.
• Warrant the two situations are similar
  (Reasoning by analogy)

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Let's try one together

• This is the coldest winter since 2000. My heating
  bills are going to be outrageous.
• Claim
• Data
• Warrant

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And another one together

• I work hard in class, do my homework every night
  and study for tests. I am going to ace my debate
  class!
• Claim
• Data
• Warrant

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Types of Claims

• fact claims that have historical backing
• judgment/value claims involving opinions and
  attitudes
• policy claims advocating courses of action that
  should be undertaken

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Types of Data

• Fact or Statistic a point of data that claims
  some objective
• Expert Testimony a stated opinion by a person
  experienced in the field
• Personal Anecdote personal experience gained
  from time in the related field

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Connecting the Claim and Data

• underline a claim, warrant (if it states one) and
  data in the article
• create a diagram of the claim, warrant, and data
  that looks like the example below
• Claim ------------------ Data
• Smoking is bad It causes lung cancer
• Warrant Lung cancer is bad.