 Evidence, support, proof/foundation for claim
 Basis for claims may be 1 of 2 types
 Artistic Proof-reasoning, analysis, inspiration of
advocate-personal knowledge
 Primary Research-original, first hand findings
 Interviews, surveys, questionnaires, field studies
 Inartistic Proof-someone else’s words, ideas,
numbers, examples used as proof
 Secondary Research
 Aristotle identified 3 types of artistic proof-3
ways we gain support for argument
 Logos
 Pathos
 Ethos
 Premises are often used as grounds for a claim-as proof
 A point accepted without the requirement of additional
support-common knowledge
 Premises used to support a claim are based on 2 types of
knowledge
 Personal Knowledge
 Cultural Knowledge
 Personal Knowledge
 Type of artistic proof
 What we know to be true because of first hand experience
 Cultural Knowledge
 Shared values and shared truths-common knowledge
 Come from stories we tell and hear
 Can be codified into the rules, principles, laws we follow
 Reinforced through rituals-repeated behavior patterns
 Ex. Graduation ceremony=reinforces value in discipline,
education, etc.
 Reinforced through symbols
 Presumption-audience believes premises until convinced
otherwise
 Evaluating the use of premises in support of claim
requires considering 3 things
 1. Is premise truly shared by audience-majority
 2. Are there contradictory premises
 3. Are there discrepancies between our public and private
beliefs
 Ex. We frown upon racism in US, but that doesn’t mean racist
people don’t exist in US
Supporting a
Premise/Claim/Proposition
 Hard Evidence
 Includes factual examples and statistics
 Soft Evidence
 Rests on opinion or inference.
 Hypothetical illustrations, descriptions, explanations,
analogies
 Variety
 Accuracy-credibility
 Relevance
 Conveying info through giving meaning.
 Focuses on addressing the meaning of a new or complex
concept
 Defining can take at least 5 forms
•
1-operational definition
•
2-definition by negation
•
3-definition by example
•
4-definition by synonym
•
5-definition by etymology
 Examples-illustrate, describe, or represent ideas+ aid
understanding
-Brief example
-Extended example
-Hypothetical example
 Explanation-involves providing reasons or causes and
demonstrating relationships, & offering interpretation
and analysis
• Testimony-first hand findings, eye-witness accounts
and opinions
• Expert testimony-provided by professionals trained to
evaluate or report on a given topic
• Credibility important-competence
Ex. According to Dr. Lee Jones from Harvard Medical
School, people with diabetes who exceed the
consumption of 2 eggs per week increase their chances
of heart disease. NOT REAL
 -Lay testimony-evidence provided by non- experts (eye-
witness)-credibility is still
important
According to one student who witnessed the shootings
at Virginia Tech University, the shooter was
…………(description)
 quantified evidence-summarizes numerical data
 percentage, average, frequency, mean, median, mode-

ex. Smoking increases one’s chances of getting lung
cancer. 75% of people who get lung cancer are smokers.

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present ethically
avoid cherry-picking
Underreporting
Overreporting
Is statistic coming from random sample
 Facts-documented occurrences that include events,
dates, times, etc
-people usually require evidence or facts in order to
accept something as true
 Documenting Source Material-cite sources
-keep track of where you get
everything (working bibliography)
-cite within and at the end of work
(reference page) Pg. 140
 MLA and ABA samples in back of book