Evidence 091112

EVIDENCE

Proving Your Point

Today’s Agenda

Types of Evidence Providing Evidence Qualities of Evidence Developing Evidence Writing Assignment Creating an Outline Going from Outline to a Draft

Types of Evidence

Reasons Examples Facts Details Statistics Personal Experiences Anecdotes Quotations

Internal vs External Sources

Internal – knowledge you have acquired through personal experience

Anecdotes, personal stories External – knowledge you have acquired

through research Statistics, facts

Developing Evidence

Research vs Personal Experience Citations – External Sources Memory – knowing what to research vs

what you know

Research

Not Wikipedia – on its own The Internet – the best and worst place

for information Trust nothing on Facebook

Internet Research

Links to other established sources Use personal accounts as personal

accounts – not authoritative statements Do not rely on personal accounts from

others. Use them to illustrate a point, but find other

sources Starting point, not an ending Don’t be lazy

Note Taking

Especially important Refer to personal thoughts as well as

information Concrete moments in the reading Reminders of what was written

Providing Evidence

Arranged according to your thesis Lasting impressions Placed in order

Arranging Evidence

Should make sense logically Should make sense dramatically

Possible Arrangements

Chronological Spatial Emphatic Simple-to-Complex

Chronological

Ordered on time Easy to understand Good with narration Flashbacks and forwards

Spatial

Ordered by location Easy to lose readers along the way Systematic approach

Emphatic

Psychological momentum Builds from least relevant to most

relevant

Simple to Complex

Simplest concepts written first Escalating in complexity Pretty obvious, right?

Qualities of Evidence

Unified Relevant Specific Adequate Dramatic Accurate Representative Documented

Unified and Relevant

Collected makes sense for the task at hand

Specific

Engages readers Avoid vagaries

Adequate

A variety of evidence Does the whole actually prove the

thesis?

Dramatic

“Bring the drama” Engages readers Understand what you’re trying to say

Accurate

Don’t lie Different from “selective editing”

Representative

Exceptions don’t prove the rule Shows the typical situation

Documented

Not just academically honest Supports your case Lean on another’s authority

Writing Assignment

Write a story describing a time that you felt “moved.” Explain what in particular was important to you in that moment. Try to convince me to feel as you felt using different types of evidence.

Patterns of Development

Description Narration Illustration Division-Classification Process Analysis Comparison-contrast Cause-effect Definition Argumentation-persuasion

Description

Provides details of an incident

Narration

Tells a story of an incident Much more involved telling than simply

describing it

Illustration

Provides concrete examples to illustrate the point

Division-Classification

Divides the telling into various stages Classifies evidence into those stages

Process analysis

Step by step accounts Explores what should be done or what is

done

Comparison-contrast

Compares/contrasts two incidents Builds up authority with similarity of

incidents Can also show how differences in

incidents prove your point

Cause-effect

Why an incident occurs The consequences of said incident

Definition

Explores what exactly is meant semantically by evidence

Argumentation-persuasion

Makes a proposal Makes the case for x, y, or z to be

implemented or believed

Presenting Your Evidence

Outlines

Purpose

An Outline should break your paper into manageable pieces.

Expandable Assume half to two-thirds as long as the

paper itself

An Example

Primary Heading Subsection Subsection

Quotation Primary Heading

Quotations

From your note taking For college writing, focus around a

particular quote Introduce -> Quote -> Explore-

>Transition

An Easy Format

Introduce Where are you going?

Quote The quotation itself

Explore How the quotation fits your thesis and

introduction Transition

On to the next point

Introductions

Transition from the transition Prepares reader for the quotation

Quote

Most direct and meaningful parts Do not take out of context Prove what you’re trying to say Try to avoid block quotes, except where

necessary to build context

Explore

Show how the quotation proves your point

Can be multiple sentences long.

Transitions

Outline will help build these Skip around and go back to them Learn to love subheadings

Writer’s Block

Skip around in the piece Write as you speak