Why Study the Toulmin Method

1
Why Study the Toulmin Method?

• Some answers

2
But first a little history

• The Toulmin method is named for Stephen Toulmin,
  a British philosopher whose method of
  argumentation proved useful in the analysis of
  legal arguments as well as in the study of
  rhetoric.

3
A super tool the Toulmin method

• The Toulmin method is an excellent means of
  analyzing written,
• oral
• visual arguments.
• For example
• Thomas Jeffersons
  The Declaration of
• 
  Independence
• Martin
  Luther Kings I Have a Dream
• magazine ad

Big guys need the calcium as much as kids do.
4
A super tool the Toulmin method

• Critical analysis and writing are vital to
  communicating your views to an academic audience.
• The Toulmin method provides you with a means of
  easily structuring your own argument.

5
Basic stuff

• The Toulmin method for analyzing and writing
  arguments is composed of three basic elements
• The claim
• The support
• The warrant

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Claims

• A claim is an assertion or conclusion which must
  be proven or supported. Claims are typically
  categorized as a claim of fact, value, or policy
• Example of a claim of fact
• The banning of cigarette smoking in
  restaurants will help decrease the number of
  lung cancer deaths in both smokers and
  non-smokers.

7
Support

• The support for a particular claim may be in the
  form of
• 1) Evidence facts, examples, statistics, expert
  opinion, interpretation of facts
• or
• 2) Appeals a) to human needs (such as self-
• esteem or good health)
• b) to values (such as
  honesty or
• decency)

8
Warrants

• A warrant is an assumption or principle that
  bridges the claim and support in an argument
  and reveals the arguers own beliefs or values.
• An example of a warrant underlying the sample
  claim in Slide 5 might be something like
• Smoking is dangerous to human health.

9
For More Information

• To supplement the information in your textbook,
  you may want to visit the web links below, which
  address the Toulmin method, its various elements
  and rationale
• http//www.concentric.net/Creyn266/COMM35/Toulmin
  .htm
• http//www.unl.edu/speech/comm109/Toulmin/layout.h
  tm
• http//writing.colostate.edu/guides/reading/toulmi
  n/