•Making and supporting a claim•Avoiding logical fallacies

Claims of Fact Claims of Value Claims of Policy

State or claim that something is true or not true

◦ Super Ferry service to the outer islands will result in increased crime rates.

◦ Super Ferry service to the outer islands will not cause an increase in crime rates.

State that something has or does not have value or worth.

◦ An environmental impact statement is a valuable tool in evaluating whether the Super Ferry should be allowed to operate.

◦ An environmental impact statement for the Super Ferry’s operation is an unnecessary expense.

Assert that something ought to be done or not done.

◦ The Super Ferry must complete an environmental statement before operating.

◦ The Super Ferry should be allowed to operate while an environmental impact statement is being completed.

Because proposals involve meeting needs and/or advocating for specific policies, their primary claim will be a claim of policy.

Depending on your audience, you may also need to argue facts and values, but your primary claim and focus for your proposal will be a claim of policy.

Show that your claim addresses a specific need or problem.

State that claim as a clear, concise, thesis statement.

Outline what the main points of your claim are.

Determine the specific facts, statistics, and other researched information necessary to convince your audience that your claim has merit.

Anticipate and answer objections or questions to your claim, supporting your answers with solid research.

For each research element you present to support your claim, explain how that element supports your claim.

Be careful about the logic of your argument in making your claim and characterizing the arguments of others, especially those who hold views opposite of yours.

Avoid circular reasoning in making your claim. Don’t present the absence of your solution as the actual problem.

Bandwagon – implying that because many people hold a view that it must be correct.

Appeals to ignorance –assuming something is true/false because it hasn’t been proven to be true/false, unfairly shifting the burden of proof to someone else.

Oversimplification –reduces complex situations to overly simple ones.

Either-or thinking –reducing a solution to two possible extremes.

Slanted language –insults the person or position instead of arguing against it.

Stacking the deck –focusing on only one side of an issue.

Stacking the deck –focusing on only one side of an issue.

Straw-man – changing the main focus of an argument to a minor point, misrepresenting the opposition’s argument by focusing on a side issue.

Circular thinking – assuming, in an argument, the very thing you are trying to prove.

Broad generalization –A broad generalization takes in everyone and everything at once allowing no exceptions.

Half –truths –Misleading arguments that leave out “the rest of the story”.

Testimonial –a testimony or statement from a person famous in an unrelated field.

Bachman, Laura, Diane Barnhart and Lois Krenzke. Write for College. Wilmington, Massachusetts: Great Source Education Group, Inc., 1997. Print.

Kemper, Dave, Patrick Sebranek, and Verne Meyer. Write Source, 12. Wilmigntom, Massachusetts: Great Source Education Group, Inc., 2007. Print.

"Proposal Writing Short Course." Proposal Writing Short Course. 2009. Foundation Center. 6 May 2009 <http://

foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/shortcourse/need.html>.

Rottenberg, Annete T. Elements of Argument. New York: St, Martin's Press, 1988. Print.