The Toulmin Model

1. The Toulmin Model A Summary

2. Claim • Synonyms: proposition, conclusion, thesis, main point. • Answers the question, “What is the author trying to prove—what’s the bottom line?”

3. Support • Synonyms: data, grounds, proof, evidence, premises. • Answers the question, “What additional information does the author supply to convince me of the claim?” • The support for the claim provides the evidence, reasoning, opinions, examples, and factual information about the claim that make it possible for the reader to accept it. Support is always explicitly stated and will not have to be inferred. It can appear either before or after the claim and is required to be acceptable and convincing.

4. Common Types of Support • Facts • Must be described in a written argument. • Vivid, real, and identifiable. • Examples—detailed reports of observed events, specific examples of real happenings, references to events (either historical or recent), and statistical data.

5. Common Types of Support • Opinions • Develop when people start to interpret the facts. • In argument, interpretation of facts is prevalent—you need to be able to distinguish between parts that are factual, parts all agree upon, and parts that represent someone else’s opinion. • Opinions can come from an author(ity) or from other experts that an author quotes. • Opinions may be formed based on considerable knowledge and excellent judgment or they may be ill-founded and based on ignorance, hearsay, or gossip.

6. Common Types of Support • Examples • Can be real or made-up • Are used to clarify, to make material more memorable and interesting, and to prove. • Examples that are real function in the same way facts do—they are convincing because they are grounded in reality.

7. Warrants • Synonyms: unstated assumptions, presuppositions of the author, unstated premises. • Answers the question, “Where is the author coming from or what is causing the author to think this way?”

8. Qualifiers • Examples: sometimes, maybe, might, many, some, few, possibly, probably • Arguments are not expected to demonstrate certainties. Instead, they usually only establish probabilities. Claims are qualified to meet anticipated objections of an audience.

9. Backing • Evidence to make questionable warrants acceptable to an audience.

10. Rebuttal • Answers the question, “What are the other possible views on this issue?” • Rebuttals establish what is wrong, invalid, or unacceptable about an argument, and may also present counter-arguments or new arguments which represent different perspectives on the issue. • Rebuttals may appear as answers to arguments that have already been stated, or the author may anticipate an audience’s rebuttal and include answers to possible objections before they are stated. • Cited from: http://www.uta.edu/english/SH/The%20Toulmin%20Model.htm