Reasoning, Evidence and Building Arguments

Building arguments

Every paragraph starts with a claim / idea, followed by supporting evidence, concluding sentence
tying it all together.

Intro / claim:

Support:

Concluding statement:

Arguments build a foundation from which both the writer and reader can build knowledge.
(Badenhorst, p. 113).

Argument conclusions are often signalled by the following words:

Therefore .
So
Hence
Thus
Consequently, .
This argument proves that
This statement justifies the / my belief that
I conclude that
[This] implies that
[This] allows us to assume / conclude that
It follows that
Subsequently,
[This] establishes the idea that
[This] demonstrates that

Problems with arguments:

Heres what happens when arguments and evidence are not thought through carefully:

1. Generalisations: sweeping claims with little or no evidence. All women are oppressed.
Check your generalisations; identify, unpack and provide evidence.
2. Stereotyping: making assumptions about people, places, things because everyone knows
without providing evidence. This often happens at the beginning of an argument. Rural
areas are slow. Unpack, contextualise and provide evidence.
3. Either-or: limiting an argument to two alternatives, when in fact there may be more. Us and
Them .. Children misbehave in the class because they get no attention at home or are
struggling with the work. Polarising and dualisms oversimplify the situation. Explore the
range of complexity, introduce the notion of degrees, and explain how / why you limited
your discussion.
4. Faulty logic or reasoning: logic is about one event happening after another because the first
causes or leads to the second. Faulty logic occurs when the conclusion doesnt follow the
logic of the argument and evidence. Children from single parent households struggle to
 make friendships at school or learners who constantly misbehave in class experience
reading difficulties.
5. Assuming a truth: arguments are flawed when assumptions are taken for granted. Science
is about truth and therefore my conclusions are truthful. Unpack your assumptions.
Parents who are not involved in their childs homework often have not been through school
themselves and do not value education.

TASK:

Article section . Identify 1) the claim, 2) evidence to support it 3) concluding remark.

Be Critical:

- Contextualise the claim / evidence

Eg: while author (date) is referring to students in a large university in the US, I believe his
remarks could also relate to our current situation.
It should be noted though that author (date) ascribed these factors to an American public
school which dont necessarily share contextual factors with South African schools.
- Highlight any limitation in methodology or assumptions
While authors (date) conclusions are relevant to this study, it is noted that his study was
quantitative in nature OR was focused on a particular case study.
- Highlight any difference / similarity with your study
Similarly, this study will also work with children to explore their experiences of however,
we will be making use of a different methodology / OR we will be working in a different
context.

Adapted from: Badenhorst, C. (2013). Dissertation writing. A research journey. Pretoria: Van
Schaik Publishers