Claim and Evidence in One Paragraph
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| claim/kleɪm/ | A statement that requires defense with evidence from the text. |
Close reading comes first
- In literary analysis, writers read a text closely to identify details that, in combination, enable them to make and defend a claim.
- In combination is the load-bearing phrase: one detail is an observation, several are a case.
- So the claim comes out of the details, not before them.
One detail is a clue; several working together are a committee that finally agrees on something.
The test of whether a statement is a claim is whether it...
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If nobody could disagree, it is an observation, not a claim.
What makes a claim a claim
- A claim 主张 is a statement that requires defense with evidence from the text.
- That is a test you can apply: if nobody could disagree, it is not a claim.
- The story is set in a kitchen needs no defence; the kitchen is where her authority ends does.
Select all the initial components of a literary-analysis paragraph.
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Commentary is added in a later unit; this unit's paragraph has two components.
The two initial components
- The CED is exact: the initial components of a literary-analysis paragraph are the claim and the textual evidence that defends it.
- Two components — commentary is added in a later unit.
- This unit's paragraph is complete when the claim is defensible and the evidence is on the page.
Build one paragraph of literary argument
Claim, evidence, commentary — and in literature the commentary is about the CHOICE, not the content.
Writers identify details that, in ____, enable them to make and defend a claim.
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One detail is an observation; several in combination are a case.
A statement nobody could disagree with is not a claim. "The story takes place in a kitchen" is an observation and needs no defence; "the kitchen is the one room where her authority holds" requires evidence, and therefore can be argued, and therefore can earn marks.
Paraphrasing the text is as good as quoting it.
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Paraphrase is your voice claiming to be the text's, which the reader cannot check.
Evidence means quotation
- Evidence from the text is the text's own words, quoted.
- Paraphrase is your voice claiming to be the text's, which cannot be checked.
- Quote short, quote exactly, and quote the words that actually carry your point.
Match each check to the fault it catches.
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Two components, three checks — and the paragraph passes or fails on them.
A two-part check
- Could a careful reader disagree with my claim? If not, sharpen it.
- Is my evidence quoted, and does it contain the words my claim depends on?
- Two questions, and this unit's paragraph passes or fails on them.
Claim: the kitchen is the one room where her authority holds. Evidence: she is described there as "telling them where to sit," and in every other room she "waited to be asked." Two quotations in combination — one alone would have been an observation.
Read closely for details that in combination support a claim. A claim requires defense with evidence from the text — if nobody could disagree, sharpen it. The paragraph's initial components are the claim and the evidence; quote short, quote exactly, and quote the words the claim depends on.