Welcome to Unit 6! 

Let’s dive in and review a little about what we know about claims.

**A claim is an arguable statement. **

What is a Claim?

Your claim is the central argument of your work.

It's essentially the same idea as the topic sentence or thesis of your work, except you're expanding on that idea.

The claim is the central point or argument is making for the reader.

 A claim is an opinion becauase an argument cannot be a statement of fact. You cannot argue a fact, it is universally true.

(The opinion can be BASED on facts; it can USE facts, but facts are there only to prove that the opinion you have is right.)

There are three different types of claims you can make in your argument essay. 

• ○  Claim of Fact: Is something true, or not? Facts can become arguable if they are controversial or if they question someone’s beliefs..
• ○  Claim of Value: What is something worth? These claims argue ethical properties, like if something is good or bad, wrong or right. Make sure you write about the extent of the value.
• ○  Claim of Policy: These claims propose a change to a law or policy.

Justify your claim through the use of evidence, then remember commentary on your evidence. 

A list of some common ways to provide evidence:

• ○  Experts’ opinion
• ○  Statistics
• ○  Pictures/Illustrations
• ○  Personal experience
• ○  Testimonies
• ○  Experiments

And with that I’ll leave you with some vocab from Unit 6.

Anomalous - adj. abnormal, irregular

Castigate - v. to punish severely

Disabuse - v. to free from deception or error

Ennui - n. weariness from lack of interest, boredom

Megalomania - n. a delusion marked by a feeling of power or wealth

Remember the type of diction you use in your writing says a lot about you as a writer and about who your intended audience is. Most of this vocab would be targeted toward a sophisticated, well-educated audience.