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English 1213: English Composition II

Writing an Argument Using the Toulmin Method
Assignment: Please use the contents of a reading or readings in the Identity in the Workplace
section of the textbook. All topics should be generated from that section.
Develop a topic of your choice for an argumentative essay using the Toulmin Model to organize
the essay. Make sure your topic is suitable for a 4-6 page paper. Do not tackle anything that will
require more (or less) research or development than that. As preparation for assignment, you may
to outline the structure of your Toulmin argument (claim, sub-claims, evidence, warrants,
qualifiers, rebuttal, and conclusion). This outline will help you highlight your claim, the main
reasons for your argument, and the essential components (sub-claims) of your argument. In your
argument, you should include at least three sources that are correctly documented using MLA
style. You must use a work of literature from your text, and you may use books, periodicals, new
stories, interviews or scholarly journals to supplement the text. If you cite something from the
Internet, make sure it is a credible and valid source.
Objectives:

Use invention techniques such as brainstorming, listing, cubing, reporters questions,

freewriting, and clustering
Consider an external audience to guide tone, vocabulary, and content
Establish a tone that is suitable to both your topic and purpose
Write in a clear, concise, and engaging manner
Formulate an argument using the Toulmin model by including a claim with
wellsupported reasons and rebuttals;
Analyze and synthesize several sources;
Incorporate and document correctly external evidence within your essay;
To be able to structured claim as well as subsidiary claims and related evidence to
support a argumentative essay;
Use invention techniques, such as, brainstorming, listing, cubing, reporters questions,
freewriting, and clustering;
Establish a tone that is suitable to both your topic and purpose;
Effectively integrate quotations, summaries, and paraphrases;
Use sound logic and avoid fallacies;
Utilize the writing process inventing, writing, revising, and editing from start to
finish.

Requirements:

MLA Format
12 point font (Times New Roman or Arial)
4-6 pages, not including the Works Cited page
A minimum of two outside sources, correctly quoted and cited
All sources are subject to approval by instructor

At least one source must come from the text but more may be used and at least two
sources must come from outside the text but more may be used. An outside source many
be an article, essay, book, short story, poem, song, play, or film.
Include a minimum of three documented direct quotations, paraphrases, or summaries.

Techniques:
1. Use the Toulmin method, based on the work of philosopher Stephen Toulmin, as a way of
writing an argument. The component parts of the Toulmin Method are as follows:
Main Claima statement that something is so or an assertion that captures the
substances of a controversy;
Sub-claima statement that answers questions arising from a controversy and is
related to the Main Claim;
Evidencethe reason for believing the sub-claim or an answer to a specific question
raised by the controversy;
Warrant or assumptionis what links the sub-claim to the evidence;
Backingis support for the warrant (if necessary);
Qualifiera limitation of the degree of certainty about the claim;
Rebuttalis a refutation of opposing view.
2. Use thought-provoking examples from sources both in the text and outside the text.
3. Use the work of literature and outside source to connect the topic within the literature of
everyday life.
4. When possible use hard data (e.g. statistics, polls, and first-hand account) as evidence to
support your claim and sub-claim.
5. Be sure to use the three rhetorical appeals in appropriate proportionslogos, pathos, and
ethos.
6. Be sure to consider the rhetorical situation of the writers purpose, audience, and the
cultural context.
Steps in Using the Toulmin Method:
1. Decide on the purpose of your argument. In other words, what do you hope to
accomplish by writing your argument? Obviously you want to convince your reader of
something, as argument is a method of persuasion. But what specific action do you want
your reader to eventually do? Develop a claim based on a disputable fact, a value in
question, or a policy under consideration.
2. Gather information about your topic/situation/issue. This is an important step in forming
your claim (or thesis statement). You will need to know all the particulars of your topic.
What are the historical or current antecedents of your topic? What are the causes and
effects of the situation? Who are the major supporters of the various sides of the issue?
Who are the experts? How has the situation developed? What are the predictions of its
development?
3.Develop a central claim. A thesis statement in a written argument is called a claim, which
makes an assertion, whether it is about disputable facts, the worth of something, or the

way something is/is not done.

4. Add qualifiers to make your claim flexible and moderate. Qualified claims are easier to defend
because they are not stated in absolute terms. For example: Media violence shouldbe tempered
because it tends to generate aggression in children. By using the word tends,
the writer avoids the absolute of saying media violence always generates aggression. It is
not provable that it generates aggression in every case.
5. Define abstract terms. You, as the writer, have a responsibility to define terms that are
abstract and, therefore, potentially ambiguous. For example: Aggression in children
refers to any forceful action intended to dominate another, any unprovoked attack,
whether physical or verbal on another as well as any hostile or injurious behavior toward
another. This might include a child forcefully removing a toy from another child,
attacking another child with inappropriate racial or sexual insults, or physically assaulting
another child.
6.Gather the support for your claim. Support makes up the grounds for the argument and is
sometimes called a minor claim, evidence or data. Support can be made up of self-evident
facts, literary examples, statistics, personal experiences, analogy, inference,
comparison/contrast, and classification.
7.Weigh the reliability of your support. No matter the form of your support, you need to
determine how reliable it is. Support must be accurate, relevant and representative. In
addition, it must be adequate for your purposes. Accurate support is true and taken from
trustworthy sources, quoted exactly and presented without distortions. Relevant support
pertains to the argument and is taken from sources with authority on the subject, relates
directly to the claim, and is current. .
Connect your support to your claim by outlining the warrants or assumptions of your
argument. A warrant is an assumption or premise (also known as an enthymeme) about
the topic that demonstrates why the support you offer for the claim should be accepted.
Warrants can be simple statements of reason or complex lines of reasoning. Sometimes a
warrant needs to be explained or illustrated or even defended
Options:
Choose an issue about individually and community. For example, when is the use of civil
disobedience justified? or
Choose an issue about nature and place. For example, how the place (geographical
location) in which we learn basic culture rules shapes our ideology? or
Choose an issue about family and identity. For example, how does nature or nurture
shape our identity as a male or female? or
Choose an issue about power and responsibility. For example, how does being a member
of a minority group empower or disempower one?
Organizational Patterns:
Use a work of literature from the text to introduce a controversial issue that you would like to
argue. Begin by providing a brief synopsis of the work of literature (be sure to include the
authors name and title of the work) and the issue that it highlights. Then develop an

argument around a group of related questions concerning the issue. The answers to these
questions will become sub-claims for your arguments. In the body of the essay, you may
organize your sub-claims and related evidence as follows:
Arranged the sub-claims in a series (or subordinate) structure in which:
Each sub-claim is dependent on a series of sub-claims.
All the sub-claims must be linked together to support the Main Claim.
Arranged the sub-claims in a convergent (or coordinative) structure in which:
Each sub-claim is independent of the others.
The whole group of sub-claims is necessary to support the claim.
Arrange the sub-claims in a parallel (or multiple) structure in which:
Each sub-claim is independent of the others.
Each sub-claim is separately sufficient to support the main claim.