CompLit 122 11/04/2009

Evidence & Claims1

Crucial site for connection
Evidence is the entirety of the primary material and data that makes up the subject of the writing in question. (The subject, strictly speaking, is limited to that portion of an unknown about which you have claims to make.) A claim is an assertion that you make about your evidence: an idea that you believe the evidence supports. (The primary claim in a paper is the thesis, but the paper needs more claims to explain all the evidence.)

Q: Can evidence prove that you are right? A: It can, but it doesn't have to... Corroborationproving the validity of a claimis one of the functions of evidence, but it isn't the only one and it isn't automatic. The relationship between evidence and claimsthe thought connections that have occurred to youvirtually always need to be explained. In fact, to prove comes from the Latin verb meaning to test. Each time you cite evidence or make a claim, your thesis is tested and your task is to connect them but how? 1. Learn to recognize and support unsubstantiated assertions. (add evidence to every claim) The word unsubstantiated means without substancean unsubstantiated claim isn't necessarily false, it just offers no concrete stuff upon which the claim is based. More important, unsubstantiated claims deprive you of details, leaving both reader and writer stuck in a set of abstractions. 2. Make details speak. (explain the relationship between evidence and claim) Your writing isn't about an innocent set of facts; you are writing about your own process of thinking. Thus, when you present the details that sparked your thought process, you need to accompany them with your thoughts. This is the meaning of making the implicit explicit; the evidence you cite might imply a certain interpretation on your part, but that interpretation is a necessary component of your paper2!

Developing a thesis is more than repeating an idea; You need to build a paper by analyzing evidence in depth.
1 Adapted from David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen, Writing Analytically. 137-162 2 In the terminology of Young, Becker and Pike, the interpretation which you argue in your paper would be called your unique view, and its implication would arise from the way your view of the unknown unitizes it. This is why the explanation of your interpretation is so important: without it the reader does not know what you think the examples 'really' are.

CompLit 122 11/04/2009

1 on 10 versus 10 on 1: or, developing a thesis is better than repeating an idea

Analysis is the search for meaningful pattern. It attends to detail, traces impressions back to causes and searches out further questions rather than rushing to answers. Demonstration is the attempt to prove that a generalization is generally true. It fails to pay careful attention to detail, to incorporate evidence that counters its claim, and provide answers for simple questions instead of discovering interesting topics.

The problem: 1 on 10 1 on 10 describes the organization of a demonstration; the writer of a 1 on 10 essay provides one idea in ten different instances. (Think the five-paragraph essay extended to 12 paragraphs.) The writer who reasserts the same idea about each example only produces a list, not a pieced of developed thinking, and the thesis never evolves or changes in complexity. Overly general claim The organization of 1 on 10

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

...

Example 10

Conclusion

The solution: 10 on 1 10 on 1, in contrast, describes the organization of analysis; the writer narrows in focus and then analyzes in depth. He or she makes 103 points about a single representative issue or example. (The 1 is the unknown of your thesis, while the 10 are the points you make about that unknown) The result is an analysis which leads the writer to draw out as much meaning as possible from his or her examples. Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 4 Point 10 Conclusion
3 Or more than 10, or fewerhowever many points are necessary.

Representative Example ...

The organization of 10 on 1

Example 2 etc.