Five Parts of Argument
There are Five Questions that you can expect to be asked (in order) by every
reader of your academic writing; any academic writing you do must provide a reasonable
answer to each of these five questions. Each of your answers to the five basic questions will
correspond to one of the Five Parts of argument.
1. The reader asks, “What do you think?” / You answer by making a Claim.
2. The reader asks, “Why do you think that?” / You answer by giving your Reasons.
3. The reader asks, “How do you know?” / You answer by citing your Evidence.
4. The reader asks, “What makes you think that your reasoning is good?”
You answer by stating the Warrants you hold to be true.
5. The reader asks, “What other claims could be made?”
You answer by offering an Acknowledgment and/or a Response
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Claims offer critical solutions to intellectual problems; they suggests to readers that
they ought to change the way they think or act with regard to the problem at hand.
Because a claim is always debatable, it must always be based on reasons.
2. Reasons provide your logical basis for making a claim. Because your reasoning is
always debatable, it must always be based on evidence.
3. Evidence provides the logical basis for your reasoning; it consists of incontestable
facts that lend concrete support to your claim.
4. Warrants are the values or beliefs on which your reasoning depends. A warrant
acts as a as given, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted. You should know what your
warrant is so you can judge if your readers will share it or not.
5. Acknowledgement recognizes the alternate claims that run counter to the claim you
have made. Response indicates your degree of disagreement with the counterclaims at hand.
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An essay makes a general claim by reason of specific evidence.
An essay must be warranted in making its particular claim.
An essay must acknowledge and respond to the other lines of reasoning that
could warrant different answers to the question at hand.