Claim Data Warrant
Essay
A model for analyzing arguments adapted from
the work of Stephen Toulmin.
Literary Analysis
Chunk
Claim
Data
Warrant OR
Commentary
Thesis Statement
Topic Sentences
(What you wish
to prove.)
Direct Quotes
Summary
Paraphrase
Details
opinion, insight,
analysis, reaction
explication, feelings,
reflection
Claim
 Definition: A claim states the position that
will be defended in the essay.
 What is your claim?
War is ennobling.
or
War is contemptible.
Data
 Definition:: Data is the evidence the writer
cites that supports his or her claim.
 What 3 pieces of evidence from Michael
Shaara’s The Killer Angels support your
claim that war is either ennobling or
contemptible?
Warrant
 Definition: The warrant interprets your data,
showing how the data supports your claim or
explaining why the data proves your claim.
– In trials, for example, opposing lawyers often agree on the
data but dispute the warrants. They would argue that the set
of data presented proves their point rather than the
opposing side’s point.
 Go back to your data. Make sure you can
connect each piece of evidence/data to your
position on war. Those explanations are your
warrants.
The Blind Always Come as Such a Surprise
by Ted Kooser
The blind always come as such a surprise,
suddenly filling an elevator
with a great white porcupine of canes,
or coming down upon us in a noisy crowd
like the eye of a hurricane.
The dashboards of cars stopped at crosswalks
and the shoes of commuters on trains
are covered with sentences
struck down in mid-flight by the canes of the blind.
Each of them changes our lives,
tapping across the bright circles of our ambitions
like cracks traversing the favorite china.
Literary Analysis:
Claim
This poem uses excellent imagery to depict
how blind folks affect our lives, to evoke sympathy
for the blind, and to criticize mainstream America
Data
for its callousness towards the disabled. In the first
three lines Kooser describes how the blind can
suddenly fill an elevator “with a great white porcupine
of canes.” A porcupine is noted for its prickliness;
we are apprehensive when it is around and we do not
want to touch it. The blind person, according to
Commentary
Kooser, evokes a similar reaction: their presence in a
situation causes “prickliness,” and it makes us
uncomfortable.
In Animal Farm, Clover represents a
caring and motherly figure to the other
animals. She talks to Mollie, the horse,
when others will not. She cares about
keeping the animals together. She isn’t
mean to Mollie but wants her to
In Animal Farm, Clover
understand how her decision to leave
represents a caring and motherly
may affect the farm. In addition, Clover
figure to the other animals. For
warns Boxer to slow down and nurses
example, she talks to Mollie, the
him when he collapses. In her concern
horse, when others will not. In
for him, she models the kind of behavior
addition, Clover warns Boxer to
that the animals wanted from Mr. Jones
slow down and nurses him when he but did not get. She sees the injustice of
collapses. Furthermore, she sees
the system and understands the
the changes in the Seven
punishment of hard work. Furthermore,
Commandments and in the pigs at she notices the changes in the Seven
the end. She works hard to help
Commands and in the pigs’ behavior at
the other animals regardless of
the end. The knowledge that something
what the negative consequences
is wrong leads her to speak out. Her
may be.
commitment to Animal Farm is most
important in her mind, and she wants to
put her beliefs into action. Clover works
hard to help the other animals,
regardless of what might happen to her.
Literary Analysis:
In Animal Farm, Clover represents a
caring and motherly figure to the other
animals. She talks to Mollie, the horse,
when others will not. She cares about
keeping the animals together. She isn’t
mean to Mollie but wants her to
In Animal Farm, Clover
understand how her decision to leave
represents a caring and motherly
may affect the farm. In addition, Clover
figure to the other animals. For
warns Boxer to slow down and nurses
example, she talks to Mollie, the
him when he collapses. In her concern
horse, when others will not. In
for him, she models the kind of behavior
addition, Clover warns Boxer to
that the animals wanted from Mr. Jones
slow down and nurses him when he but did not get. She sees the injustice of
collapses. Furthermore, she sees
the system and understands the
the changes in the Seven
punishment of hard work. Furthermore,
Commandments and in the pigs at she notices the changes in the Seven
the end. She works hard to help
Commands and in the pigs’ behavior at
the other animals regardless of
the end. The knowledge that something
what the negative consequences
is wrong leads her to speak out. Her
may be.
commitment to Animal Farm is most
important in her mind, and she wants to
put her beliefs into action. Clover works
hard to help the other animals,
regardless of what might happen to her.
Literary Analysis: