Chapter 7: Building an Argument from Evidence

What You Will Make

Build an argument chain: claim, evidence, reasoning, alternative, and response. The chain should show how the evidence bears on the question rather than simply demonstrate that you have collected sources.

Make the Connection Explicit

After each source detail, explain what it establishes and how it changes your answer. When using several sources, organise them around a relationship: agreement, difference, qualification, or a gap. A sequence of unrelated source summaries is not yet synthesis.

Fictional teaching case: This lesson uses the invented campus-transit records in Chapter 1. Record labels and numbers are practice material, not real research to cite or submit.

Develop a Qualified Argument

Claim: Increased boardings do not settle whether the evening timetable meets late-class needs.

Evidence: Record A shows higher use, while Record B leaves the last departure at 20:10 and Record C reports some classes ending at 20:30.

Reasoning: The count measures trips across weekdays; the other records identify a time-specific barrier. A higher total can coexist with that barrier.

Objection: Greater use still suggests that the change served some demand.

Response: Accept that usage is relevant, then distinguish it from the narrower access question. Do not answer by pretending the increase is meaningless. The dossier also cannot show which people made the additional trips or why.

This response changes an absolute criticism into a more precise evaluation. You can recognise a benefit while showing that the evidence does not establish a different claim.

Try It Yourself

Choose one contested point in your essay. Write the strongest reasonable alternative as someone who holds it would recognise it. Identify its evidence and answer it directly. If it reveals a flaw you cannot resolve, revise your thesis or qualify the affected point.

Revision test: Replace “the change failed” with an answer identifying the criterion that remains unmet or unproven. Explain why that criterion matters to the assignment.

Check Your Work

• Does the evidence support the claim actually written?
• Is your reasoning visible between source and conclusion?
• Have you represented the objection fairly?
• Does your response engage its strongest point?

Place the objection where it helps the reader assess the relevant claim, not as an isolated requirement at the end.

Source Guidance

A serious alternative may require revising a claim rather than simply rejecting the objection. (Harvard College Writing Center)