Toulmin Thesis

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WHAT THIS HANDOUT IS ABOUT
This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your
writing, and how you can discover or refine one for your draft.
INTRODUCTION
Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an
interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you
practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents
to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In
college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are
asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called
academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of
your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This
sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make
in the rest of your paper.
WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT
A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under
discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the
rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or
subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or
Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your
argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and
organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/thesis-statements/
Observations:
• "What is it that makes arguments work What makes arguments effective The British logician Stephen Toulmin made
important contributions to argument theory that are useful for this line of inquiry. Toulmin found six components of
arguments:
• Claim: A statement that something is so.
• Data: The backing for the claim.
• Warrant: The link between the claim and the grounds.
• Backing: Support for the warrant.
• Modality: The degree of certainty employed in offering the argument.
• Rebuttal: Exceptions to the initial claim.
[T]he Toulmin model provides us with useful tools for analyzing the components of arguments."
(J. Meany and K. Shuster, Art, Argument, and Advocacy. IDEA, 2002)
• "[Toulmin's] general model of 'data' leading to a 'claim,' mediated by a 'warrant' with any necessary 'backing,' has been very
influential as a new standard of logical thinking, particularly among scholars of rhetoric and speech communication."
(C. W. Tindale, Rhetorical Argumentation. Sage, 2004)

• Using the Toulmin System
Use the seven-part Toulmin system to begin to develop an argument . . .. Here is the Toulmin system:
0. Make your claim.
1. Restate or qualify your claim.
2. Present good reasons to support your claim.
3. Explain the underlying assumptions that connect your claim and your reasons. If an underlying assumption is
controversial, provide backing for it.
4. Provide additional grounds to support your claim.
5. Acknowledge and respond to possible counterarguments.
6. Draw a conclusion, stated as strongly as possible.
(Lex Runciman, Carolyn Lengel, and Kate Silverstein, Exercises to Accompany The Everyday Writer, 4th ed. Macmillan,
2009)
• "Toulmin's model actually boils down to a rhetorical expansion of the syllogism . . .. Although the reactions of others are
anticipated, the model is primarily directed at representing the argumentation for the standpoint of the speaker or writer who
advances the argumentation. The other party remains in fact passive: The acceptability of the claim is not made dependent on
a systematic weighing up of arguments for and against the claim."
(F. H. van Eemeren and R. Grootendorst, A Systematic Theory of Argumentation. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004)
• "When I wrote [The Uses of Argument], my aim was strictly philosophical: to criticize the assumption, made by most Anglo-
American academic philosophers, that any significant argument can be put in formal terms . . ..
"In no way had I set out to expound a theory of rhetoric or argumentation: my concern was with twentieth-century
epistemology, not informal logic. Still less had I in mind an analytical model like that which, among scholars of
Communication, came to be called 'the Toulmin model.'"
(Stephen Toulmin, The Uses of Argument, rev. ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003)
•
http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/Toulminmodelterm.htm