A claim is the point an author wants you to accept or act on. A reason is a statement offered to make that claim believable. Spotting which is which is the first step in judging any source in claims, reasons and evidence.
How do you tell a claim from a reason?
Ask one question of each sentence: “Is this the point, or is this here to support the point?” The point is the claim. Whatever supports it is a reason.
A useful test is to add the word “because” after a sentence. If the author could sensibly be asked “why?”, you are probably looking at a claim, and the answer is the reason.
Step by step
- Read the whole text once without marking anything.
- Find what the author wants: a belief to accept or an action to take. Underline it as the claim.
- Ask “why?” of the claim. Each answer given in the text is a reason.
- Look under each reason for the evidence it rests on, such as a figure, observation or example.
- Write the structure out in one line each: claim, reasons, evidence.
Worked example
Here is an invented notice from the student council of a fictional school, Sekolah Contoh:
“The school library should stay open until 6 pm. Students need a quiet place to study after lessons. The library is the only room on campus with free Wi-Fi.”
Step 1: the text is three sentences.
Step 2: the author wants a change in action: the library should stay open until 6 pm. This is the claim.
Step 3: ask “why should it stay open?” The text gives two answers.
Step 4: the reasons are “students need a quiet place to study after lessons” and “the library is the only room with free Wi-Fi”. Neither has a figure or observation behind it yet, so no evidence is given.
Step 5, the structure:
- Claim: the library should stay open until 6 pm.
- Reason 1: students need a quiet place after lessons.
- Reason 2: it is the only room with free Wi-Fi.
- Evidence: none stated.
Noticing that the evidence box is empty is already a useful finding. It tells you what to look for in the next lesson.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to take a strong-sounding fact as the claim, because it is the most specific sentence.
Mistaken answer: “The claim is that the library is the only room with free Wi-Fi.”
That sentence is a statement of fact the author uses to support something else.
The correction is to ask what the author wants you to do or believe at the end. The Wi-Fi fact matters only because it is offered in support of keeping the library open. If the council had written only “the library is the only room with free Wi-Fi”, there would be a statement but no argument.
Check yourself
1. Find the claim: “Because teenagers need more sleep, school should start at 9 am.”
Show answer
The claim is school should start at 9 am. The reason is that teenagers need more sleep. The word “because” introduces the reason.
2. An invented town newsletter says: “The council should hire park cleaners. The park is dirty, and the bins overflow every weekend.” Name the claim, the reason and the evidence.
Show answer
Claim: the council should hire park cleaners. Reason: the park is dirty. Evidence offered for the reason: the bins overflow every weekend.
3. “Since the bus is late on most mornings and students are marked absent when they arrive late, the school should change its late rule.” How many reasons are there, and what is the claim?
Show answer
There are two reasons: the bus is late on most mornings, and late students are marked absent. The claim is the school should change its late rule.
Where this leads next
With the parts named, you can test the link between a reason and its support in explaining whether cited evidence supports a statement. Come back to the practice set once you can sort short texts quickly.
Students sometimes find this easy in class and then lose track in a long source with several claims. Our teachers work on exactly that in online one-to-one Global Perspectives tuition.