Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Hi guys, Miss Horn, this is the september writing focused
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lesson for body paragraphs, claim evidence and reasoning.
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This is part two of the two part video.
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Um So the first time we talked about claims and
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evidence and this time we're going to talk about reasoning.
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We're going to start though, by by going over how
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to identify claims and evidence in the paragraph.
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So identifying claims, claims should be the first thing that
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happens in the body paragraph, ideally it should be the
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topic sentence of the very first sentence.
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But you're going to ask yourself what sentence most concisely
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conveys the point the author is trying to defend.
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So what is the position that they're taking?
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What are they trying to say in this paragraph?
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And that is the claim.
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So, if you look at this example, um it's about
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stress management.
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So the first sentence as american high schools should offer
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classes on stress management in order to better prepare students
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for the workforce.
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So in this sentence, the author is clearly taking a
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position. Their opinion is that High schools should offer classes
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on stress management.
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Um that is something that's going to be very valuable
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for students in their futures as workers.
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Okay, so our assumption is that the rest of the
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paragraph will support that.
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Um that claim.
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So evidence should be the second part of the process.
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Um evidence is going to be a piece of a
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fact. Excuse me, that supports the claim.
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Um you're gonna ask yourself if you're looking for the
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evidence in the paragraph, you should ask yourself what sentence
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or sentences give facts that support the authors point this
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evidence can come from um like a news article or
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something like that, a book reference source.
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Um or it could come from a piece of literature
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if you're writing about literature itself.
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So let's look at a couple of examples.
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So here's the same claim that we looked at just
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a minute ago about the stress management classes.
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The second sentence says according to CNBC, 80% of American
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workers report feeling stressed at work.
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So this is the piece of evidence that um that
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they're using to explain why high school students should learn
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about stress management before they go into the workforce.
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You can see that there's definitely a connection there.
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And the third sentence um is our reasoning which would
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connect it all together.
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Let's look at another example.
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This one is from literature.
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So this is using the Hunger Games as an example.
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So, the claim that they're trying to prove here is
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that Katniss consistently underestimates her competitors in the Hunger Games.
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Now, in this example passage, they have multiple pieces of
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evidence that are supporting this idea.
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So they say for example, upon first noting ruin the
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training centre, Katniss characterizes the younger girl as a small
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yellow flower.
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Um and then they give the citation from the book
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exactly where they found it Furthermore, Katniss maintains that 12
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year old rule reminds her of a bird.
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And the citation of that as well And then the
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last sentence would explain how these two examples calling through
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a small yellow flower and comparing her to a bird.
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How do they show that Katniss is consistently underestimating her
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competitors? Because these are great examples, but the connection is
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not 100% clear, so you need to have that third
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component, that reasoning component that ties it all together.
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Okay, so let's look for reasoning.
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The reasoning is the third part of an effective argument
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and it connects the evidence to the claim.
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So you're going to ask yourself what sentence or sentences
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connect the evidence to the claim him.
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So here in this example they're using harry potter is
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as an example in this passage.
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Um so the claim that they're trying to prove is
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that her many benefits immensely from her friendship with Harry
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and Ron.
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Now that's certainly debatable, some people would definitely argue with
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that. Um the piece of evidence is that after Harry
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and Harry, Ron and Hermione band together to defeat the
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mountain troll.
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The narrator notes that her mind becomes more relaxed and
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then gives the citation.
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So um her becoming more relaxed doesn't necessarily very clearly
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proves that her many benefits immensely.
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So you need to have the reasoning sentence that explains
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how the becoming more relaxed shows the the immense benefits
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of her friendship.
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Okay, so this sentence it says because she feels a
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sense of belonging, her mind is able to release some
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of her attention and is better able to connect with
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those around her, right?
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So this shows that her being relaxed, a super tense,
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super stressed person, that she is, her being able to
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relax um is a huge benefit for her because of
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her friendship with them.
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Okay, so the so the reasoning sentence connects it all
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together, it connects the claim of immense benefits to this
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example with the mountain troll.
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So what makes something a piece of strong reasoning?
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Um and again, reasoning, the whole purpose is to connect
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the pieces, piece of evidence or pieces of evidence to
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your claim.
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Um in general, strong reasoning is supposed to draw a
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conclusion from the evidence and then it should support the
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claim. So it always has to tie it back to
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the claim.
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Somehow. You don't want to just echo and repeat the
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claim when I'm writing, I always ask myself the question.
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So what I imagine that whoever is reading my paragraph
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looks at my piece of evidence and they asked me
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the question, so what, what does this matter?
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And then I have to be able to explain them
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to them.
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I actually was sometimes put that on a post it
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note and stick it by my laptop or my notebook
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or wherever I am, wherever I'm writing, just to remind
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me that I have to answer that question.
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So what and clearly explain how my evidence proves whatever
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claim I'm making.
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Let's look at an example here.
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So the claim is that Katniss consistently underestimates our competitors
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in the Hunger Games.
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And the example that we're going to use is that
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Katniss describes rule as a small yellow flower.
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Now, weakness, weak reasoning would be Katniss description shows that
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she feels protective of young Rue.
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So being protective is not connected to the claim.
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The claim is that she is underestimating her competitors.
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Now this is not incorrect, it's not wrong that she
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feels protective of young room.
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It just doesn't have anything to do with the claim.
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So it's not a good piece of reasoning.
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The second piece of second week example is the Katniss
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is arrogance lands her in several dangerous situations and this
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is true.
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It certainly connects back to the claim, but it doesn't
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really connect to this quote at all.
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Doesn't explain how small yellow flower shows her underestimating anything.
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So a stronger example would be um here in this
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last sentence, the words small as well as the comparison
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to a delicate flower shows that Katniss does not think
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rule will be a tough competitor.
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So in this sentence, it explains how the piece of
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evidence um proves this claim and that's what you want
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to do with strong with a strong reasoning sentence.
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You want to show how your evidence proves your claim.
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You cannot assume that your reader, your audience will naturally
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make the connection that you made.
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So you have to take that extra sentence or two
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to explain Um the connection between the two.
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So let's break this down a little bit.
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Strong reasoning should connect to the claim.
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Strong reasoning has to draw a conclusion that is connected
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to the claim.
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You cannot um can't go off topic, right?
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And this can be really hard.
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Sometimes you try to squash things together to try to
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fit things together.
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Maybe you find a really cool quote, you want to
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use it in your essay, but if it doesn't connect
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back to the claim, you have to let it go
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or move it to a different paragraphs where it makes
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sense. You have to make sure everything every conclusion your
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drawing is directly supporting the claim.
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Let's look at an example.
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The claim is that Katniss had a close relationship with
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her father.
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So the plot point is, Katniss says that wearing the
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Mockingjay pin is like having a little piece of her
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father with her keeping her safe.
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Okay, so weak reasoning would be, this suggests that Katniss
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is superstitious.
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Okay, well maybe she is superstitious, but that has nothing
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to do with her close relationship with her father.
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So that's that is a weak piece of reasoning.
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Stronger example would be Katniss is warm feelings for the
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pin showed that she clearly felt protected and loved by
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her father while he was alive.
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Okay, so this draws that connection between wearing the pin
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to her close relationship and that's what you want to
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do with a strong reasoning sentence.
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Okay, strong reasoning has to connect to the evidence.
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You can't just ignore the evidence and then repeat back
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the claim.
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So here's an example claims smartphones make it almost impossible
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for workers to disconnect from their jobs and de stress.
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So here's a fact piece of evidence.
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Approximately 80% of smartphone owners have their phones near them
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throughout the day.
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So if that fact is true then, what what can
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we uh what can we draw we figure out from
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this of the the week example of smartphones can therefore
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damage users relationships with friends and family.
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So this has nothing to do with this.
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The fact the fact is how kind of close people
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keep their phones to to them has nothing to There's
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no proof that that it affects relationships from this fact,
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we can't draw this.
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Um this conclusion, a stronger example would be that even
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when not at work, many employees have their phones close
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by making it difficult to ignore stressful job related communications.
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Okay, so this makes a strong connection between the fact
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that 80% of smartphone owners have their phones near them
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throughout the day to the claim, which is that it's
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almost impossible for workers to totally disconnect from their jobs.
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Okay, and that's what you want with your strong reasoning
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sentence. It has to clearly connect to your claim and
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has to clearly connect to your evidence.
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It is the link between the two of them There
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you have it.
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We're all done.
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Good luck, guys, keep writing.