Information Literacy Series of Short Articles on: How to Analyze, Evaluate, and Make Arguments
No. 1 - “Why You Need to Learn More About Argumentation – Even If or Especially If You’re the Kind of Person Who Hates Arguing About Politics”
Blake Wollstonecraft
Do you want to be better informed about politics but don’t know where to start? Have you heard the phrase, “information literacy”? Have you wondered what the heck that even is or how to become more “information literate”?
Perhaps you are someone who has voted infrequently, if at all? Perhaps you haven’t wanted, in the past, to get “political”? Perhaps because it has negative connotations for you? Maybe you’re someone who just wanted to live your life and not get into arguments over politics? Well, in the last few years, this has changed dramatically as political issues are increasingly hitting close to home.
Maybe you hear the phrases “everything is political” or “the personal is political”? Maybe they echo in your mind because you’ve seen them in the comments sections of your friends’ social media posts? Perhaps before now, these phrases never made that much sense to you, but today they’re making sense in a very personal way? Why?
Maybe because you or your family’s ability to get certain healthcare is under threat in your state.
Or maybe you suddenly feel an urgent need to understand the reasons why the value of your 401K goes up or down depending on what the President has said today.
Or maybe you’re already stressed about your monthly budget and now you’ve got to try to predict the impact of the tariffs that might or might not go into effect between the United States and China.
You now realize you need to become more informed on the political issues that affect you as a voter, a citizen, or a parent. But where do you start?
In early 2025, my sister and I discussed her concerns. As a busy parent of three teenagers, she had avoided politics. Now, she feels obligated to engage in it to protect her family's future. But where should she start?
If you were my sister, I would want you to start with the same crash course in analyzing arguments that I got as a new graduate student who was charged with teaching “freshman comp” to a classroom full of 18-year-olds.
If you were my sister, I would emphasize the importance of understanding what makes a good argument. Despite its negative connotation, productive and well-reasoned arguments are essential for solving problems and advancing our culture.
When I was a very nervous graduate student who walked into that crash course on how to teach “freshman comp,” I had a BA degree in English; but I also was a person who, much like my sister, wanted to avoid conflict, wanted to avoid argumentation. A lot of us are like that, right?
Also, like many people, I wasn't taught in school how to craft a good argument or why it’s important to analyze others' arguments to make informed decisions, such as voting or choosing political candidates.
I’d bumbled through writing papers in high school with a vague sense that I should be trying to persuade (argue to) my teacher that I had learned something but exactly how I was supposed to do that, or what made a good argument, was not clear to me.
That five-paragraph essay we learned how to write in middle school - and then learned how to stretch for high school and beyond - is probably the extent of many peoples’ education about how to craft an argument:
“Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em. Tell ‘em. Tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”
- what English teachers used to say about the five-paragraph essay, back when I was a teenager!
But what about beyond middle school, how do you analyze politicians' arguments when you are an adult responsible for others and your well-being depends on these major policy decisions? How do you make sense of the major policy decisions that affect your lives?
First, breathe! You got this! You got this because you already intuitively understand that the title of the book that I used to teach freshman comp IS true: Everything Is An Argument.
You already know this because you live it. Everywhere you go, there is someone making some kind of argument to try to persuade you to think or do something.
Advertisements urging you to buy that product!
PACs or non-profit organizations asking for donations to carry out their cause!
Your kids asking you to buy them a candy bar in the check-out aisle of the grocery store!
Arguing isn't inherently negative; it's essential to our humanity. The issue lies in poor or bad-faith arguments. Learning to argue and analyze arguments effectively is a teachable skill.
So, keep breathing and hang with me here while I quickly teach you that all arguments have the same basic structure, elements, and strategies (though weaker arguments might lack in some).
The basic structure and elements of an argument are: A claim which is an opinion based on facts and that is debatable by two rational human beings, some supporting reasons on which to base that opinion, and enough evidence to back up those reasons. Additionally, the strategic ways that the arguer presents the reasons and evidence are often referred to as appeals.
That’s it: claim, reasons, evidence, and appeals; those are the four basic concepts that you need to know to analyze any argument.
The Four Basic Concepts You Need to Know to Analyze Any Argument:
Claim: The claim is often the “should” statement of an argument. The claim proposes some action on behalf of the audience, even if the action is only changing one’s mind or holding a certain opinion.
Claim Example: “You should buy me a candy bar as we put our groceries on the conveyor belt, parent.”
Reasons: The reasons are the logical supports for the claim. The reasons explain WHY or HOW the “should” statement of the claim is a valid one.
Reasons Example: “I have been a good kid, doing all my chores all week long so I deserve the candy bar as a reward. I have eaten all my vegetables at dinner all this week so a single, small, sugary treat will be in accordance with the standards for a healthy diet. This Three Musketeers is my favorite candy bar, it is right here within arm’s reach and on sale.”
Evidence: The evidence further supports why or how the claim is valid; the evidence gets even more numerous and specific than the reasons do about why or how. Valid evidence is fact-based and includes key details, and often, numbers.
Evidence Example: “Grandma will vouch for the fact that I did my daily chores, including watering her flowers on the patio this morning. You make sure I eat five servings of fruit and vegetables every day, even including lima beans, which I hate and ate for dinner last night. Three Musketeers are 3 for $2 today, instead of the usual $1 each.”
Appeals: The appeals are the strategic ways that the arguer tries to persuade the audience to believe that the claim is valid. When we talk about appeals, we might use the Greek names for these ways, which go all the way back to ancient Greece: ethos, logos, and pathos. But don’t freak out if you don’t know Greek. The English terms are: ethical appeals, logical appeals, and emotional appeals.
You’ll see from the examples below that you already know these appeals even if you didn’t know you knew them!
Appeals examples:
Logical appeal example: “You know how you always say that a good work ethic should be rewarded now and again with a little treat? Well, here’s a little treat! And it’s on sale!”
Ethical appeal example: “You always say that healthy eating and fun eating should be done in balance. I want to follow your good example!”
Emotional appeal example: “I didn’t like eating vegetables before but since you’ve been encouraging the family to eat ‘five a day’ since New Year’s Day, I’m learning to like them (except for lima beans, yuck). Don’t you think that we all deserve a little treat for how we’ve worked so hard to eat more healthfully? Let’s buy three at the sale price, one for me, you, and Grandma!”
Was this example argument kind of silly? Maybe!
But seriously, this example argument showed you that you already intuitively know a lot about argumentation. And it showed you that you can easily learn the terms for the basic structure, elements, and strategies of any argument. This foundation will help you to build your skills in becoming a more informed person, citizen, voter, and, if relevant, vegetable-and-candy-provider to growing humans.
This knowledge will boost your confidence in making more informed decisions in this world in which everything is an argument. Once you can identify the key parts of any argument, you can use them to analyze and evaluate it. We’ll get into more of how you analyze and evaluate arguments next time.