September Writing Lesson = Body Paragraphs - Claim, Evidence, & Reasoning

Hi guys, Miss Horn, this is the september writing focused

lesson for body paragraphs, claim evidence and reasoning.

This is part two of the two part video.

Um So the first time we talked about claims and

evidence and this time we're going to talk about reasoning.

We're going to start though, by by going over how

to identify claims and evidence in the paragraph.

So identifying claims, claims should be the first thing that

happens in the body paragraph, ideally it should be the

topic sentence of the very first sentence.

But you're going to ask yourself what sentence most concisely

conveys the point the author is trying to defend.

So what is the position that they're taking?

What are they trying to say in this paragraph?

And that is the claim.

So, if you look at this example, um it's about

stress management.

So the first sentence as american high schools should offer

classes on stress management in order to better prepare students

for the workforce.

So in this sentence, the author is clearly taking a

position. Their opinion is that High schools should offer classes

on stress management.

Um that is something that's going to be very valuable

for students in their futures as workers.

Okay, so our assumption is that the rest of the

paragraph will support that.

Um that claim.

So evidence should be the second part of the process.

Um evidence is going to be a piece of a

fact. Excuse me, that supports the claim.

Um you're gonna ask yourself if you're looking for the

evidence in the paragraph, you should ask yourself what sentence

or sentences give facts that support the authors point this

evidence can come from um like a news article or

something like that, a book reference source.

Um or it could come from a piece of literature

if you're writing about literature itself.

So let's look at a couple of examples.

So here's the same claim that we looked at just

a minute ago about the stress management classes.

The second sentence says according to CNBC, 80% of American

workers report feeling stressed at work.

So this is the piece of evidence that um that

they're using to explain why high school students should learn

about stress management before they go into the workforce.

You can see that there's definitely a connection there.

And the third sentence um is our reasoning which would

connect it all together.

Let's look at another example.

This one is from literature.

So this is using the Hunger Games as an example.

So, the claim that they're trying to prove here is

that Katniss consistently underestimates her competitors in the Hunger Games.

Now, in this example passage, they have multiple pieces of

evidence that are supporting this idea.

So they say for example, upon first noting ruin the

training centre, Katniss characterizes the younger girl as a small

yellow flower.

Um and then they give the citation from the book

exactly where they found it Furthermore, Katniss maintains that 12

year old rule reminds her of a bird.

And the citation of that as well And then the

last sentence would explain how these two examples calling through

a small yellow flower and comparing her to a bird.

How do they show that Katniss is consistently underestimating her

competitors? Because these are great examples, but the connection is

not 100% clear, so you need to have that third

component, that reasoning component that ties it all together.

Okay, so let's look for reasoning.

The reasoning is the third part of an effective argument

and it connects the evidence to the claim.

So you're going to ask yourself what sentence or sentences

connect the evidence to the claim him.

So here in this example they're using harry potter is

as an example in this passage.

Um so the claim that they're trying to prove is

that her many benefits immensely from her friendship with Harry

and Ron.

Now that's certainly debatable, some people would definitely argue with

that. Um the piece of evidence is that after Harry

and Harry, Ron and Hermione band together to defeat the

mountain troll.

The narrator notes that her mind becomes more relaxed and

then gives the citation.

So um her becoming more relaxed doesn't necessarily very clearly

proves that her many benefits immensely.

So you need to have the reasoning sentence that explains

how the becoming more relaxed shows the the immense benefits

of her friendship.

Okay, so this sentence it says because she feels a

sense of belonging, her mind is able to release some

of her attention and is better able to connect with

those around her, right?

So this shows that her being relaxed, a super tense,

super stressed person, that she is, her being able to

relax um is a huge benefit for her because of

her friendship with them.

Okay, so the so the reasoning sentence connects it all

together, it connects the claim of immense benefits to this

example with the mountain troll.

So what makes something a piece of strong reasoning?

Um and again, reasoning, the whole purpose is to connect

the pieces, piece of evidence or pieces of evidence to

your claim.

Um in general, strong reasoning is supposed to draw a

conclusion from the evidence and then it should support the

claim. So it always has to tie it back to

the claim.

Somehow. You don't want to just echo and repeat the

claim when I'm writing, I always ask myself the question.

So what I imagine that whoever is reading my paragraph

looks at my piece of evidence and they asked me

the question, so what, what does this matter?

And then I have to be able to explain them

to them.

I actually was sometimes put that on a post it

note and stick it by my laptop or my notebook

or wherever I am, wherever I'm writing, just to remind

me that I have to answer that question.

So what and clearly explain how my evidence proves whatever

claim I'm making.

Let's look at an example here.

So the claim is that Katniss consistently underestimates our competitors

in the Hunger Games.

And the example that we're going to use is that

Katniss describes rule as a small yellow flower.

Now, weakness, weak reasoning would be Katniss description shows that

she feels protective of young Rue.

So being protective is not connected to the claim.

The claim is that she is underestimating her competitors.

Now this is not incorrect, it's not wrong that she

feels protective of young room.

It just doesn't have anything to do with the claim.

So it's not a good piece of reasoning.

The second piece of second week example is the Katniss

is arrogance lands her in several dangerous situations and this

is true.

It certainly connects back to the claim, but it doesn't

really connect to this quote at all.

Doesn't explain how small yellow flower shows her underestimating anything.

So a stronger example would be um here in this

last sentence, the words small as well as the comparison

to a delicate flower shows that Katniss does not think

rule will be a tough competitor.

So in this sentence, it explains how the piece of

evidence um proves this claim and that's what you want

to do with strong with a strong reasoning sentence.

You want to show how your evidence proves your claim.

You cannot assume that your reader, your audience will naturally

make the connection that you made.

So you have to take that extra sentence or two

to explain Um the connection between the two.

So let's break this down a little bit.

Strong reasoning should connect to the claim.

Strong reasoning has to draw a conclusion that is connected

to the claim.

You cannot um can't go off topic, right?

And this can be really hard.

Sometimes you try to squash things together to try to

fit things together.

Maybe you find a really cool quote, you want to

use it in your essay, but if it doesn't connect

back to the claim, you have to let it go

or move it to a different paragraphs where it makes

sense. You have to make sure everything every conclusion your

drawing is directly supporting the claim.

Let's look at an example.

The claim is that Katniss had a close relationship with

her father.

So the plot point is, Katniss says that wearing the

Mockingjay pin is like having a little piece of her

father with her keeping her safe.

Okay, so weak reasoning would be, this suggests that Katniss

is superstitious.

Okay, well maybe she is superstitious, but that has nothing

to do with her close relationship with her father.

So that's that is a weak piece of reasoning.

Stronger example would be Katniss is warm feelings for the

pin showed that she clearly felt protected and loved by

her father while he was alive.

Okay, so this draws that connection between wearing the pin

to her close relationship and that's what you want to

do with a strong reasoning sentence.

Okay, strong reasoning has to connect to the evidence.

You can't just ignore the evidence and then repeat back

the claim.

So here's an example claims smartphones make it almost impossible

for workers to disconnect from their jobs and de stress.

So here's a fact piece of evidence.

Approximately 80% of smartphone owners have their phones near them

throughout the day.

So if that fact is true then, what what can

we uh what can we draw we figure out from

this of the the week example of smartphones can therefore

damage users relationships with friends and family.

So this has nothing to do with this.

The fact the fact is how kind of close people

keep their phones to to them has nothing to There's

no proof that that it affects relationships from this fact,

we can't draw this.

Um this conclusion, a stronger example would be that even

when not at work, many employees have their phones close

by making it difficult to ignore stressful job related communications.

Okay, so this makes a strong connection between the fact

that 80% of smartphone owners have their phones near them

throughout the day to the claim, which is that it's

almost impossible for workers to totally disconnect from their jobs.

Okay, and that's what you want with your strong reasoning

sentence. It has to clearly connect to your claim and

has to clearly connect to your evidence.

It is the link between the two of them There

you have it.

We're all done.

Good luck, guys, keep writing.

September Writing Lesson = Body Paragraphs - Claim, Evidence, & Reasoning - Part 2

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