Making a claim in an essay isn’t enough to get people to agree with your stance in an argument. You also have to support your statement with objective reasons and evidence to make your essay convincing enough. That’s why in this guide, you’ll learn how to support a claim in an essay without trying so hard.
Remember, someone reading your essay won’t necessarily agree with your position on an issue and will often try to throw in an opposing point of view to challenge your stand.
By making a claim, and using the strongest evidence to handle counterclaims, you can easily prove to your audience that you’ve done in-depth research on the topic and, if possible, make them consider your stance even if they didn’t agree with you initially.
Before we look at how to support a claim in an essay, it’s important to note that a claim isn’t the same as a descriptive statement or an opinion. A claim is debatable, it needs support for evidence, and it gives a concise answer to the “so what” question.
With that out of the way, let’s look at the different ways to support the claim you make in an argumentative essay.
What Makes A Claim in an Essay?
Before we look at the different ways to support a claim in any type of essay that you write, it’s important to learn what makes a claim in an essay.
We define a claim as a statement of truth subject to debate. With this respect, the claim you make in your essay should invite debate while defining your writing’s goals, direction, and scope. Unlike personal opinion packed with emotions and subjective ideas, the claim you make will require inquiry and evidence.
More importantly, a claim can’t be broad. It needs to be specific in kind to assert a focused argument that you can easily explore and defend.
Types of Claims in an Essay
To take this even further, we strongly believe that it’s important to touch on the different types of claims in brief so you write this part of the assignment with clarity and precision.
So here we go:
- Claims of definition or facts: Here, your intention is to argue the definition of an issue or to find out whether the issue is an already established fact.
- Claims about value: The requirement in this case is that you present an argument that show someone, something, or an issue is of a certain value and you should therefore rate it in a given way.
- Claim of cause and effect: The claim you make in this case suggests that you intend to argue how one person, thing, or event is the cause of an issue.
- Claims about policies or solutions: This one is simple. It’s where one gives a declarative statement for or against a certain policy or solution.
How to Write a Claim
Before you learn how to support a claim in an essay, we need to be sure you know exactly how to write the claim in the first place.
So here’s how you should write a claim in your essay:
1. Start with a Question
Pose a question you can comfortably answer based on the positon you take. The question you ask should be clear, concise, and debatable.
Here’s an example:
- Are cellphone bad?
- Should 12-year-old kids have smartphones?
From an academic standpoint, you don’t have to look at the first question to know that it’s plain vague. That’s not the kind of question to ask when you want to write a claim for your essay.
Go with the second question instead. It’s clear, focused, concise, and current. What’s more? It even invites an argument because not everyone can agree with what the question suggests.
2. Convert the Question into a Statement
This is a no brainer.
Really all you have to do is to take the relevant question and convert it into an arguable statement.
You need to do two thing to get this right:
First, answer the question you just asked. Your answer describes the stance you take on the issue. Second, give reasons why you believe your position is valid. Remember, your reason shouldn’t be any specific evidence that can justify your stance. Rather, it should be a generic statement.
Different Ways to Support a Claim in an Essay
You’ve learned quite a lot already in this guide. At least, you now know what a claim is, what makes a good claim, types of claims you can make, and the best way to write a claim for your essay.
The question is:
How exactly do you support a claim in an essay?
Here’s how:
1. Use Statistics to Support Your Declarative Statement
Even when used sparingly with written explanations of why the data is significant for your argument, statistics can defend your position in a way mere explanations of your claim never can. Statistics are factual, and they can be incredibly helpful if you can provide the full context of the data.
Including the data isn’t going to make your audience reconsider their stand on issue if you can’t show the source of your data. With this respect, it’s important that you credit the source of the data, and then state the conclusion the reader can draw from your analysis.
2. Use Relevant Examples to Support Claims in Your Essay
There are many examples you can use to support a claim in your essay, but it’s important that you choose something that’s relevant to the topic you’re investigating.
Examples are good for a reason.
They convince your reader that the statement you’ve presented is true by providing details that support your claim. More often than not, examples easily capture readers’ attention and can help to convince them to reconsider their position on the issue and accept your opposing point of view in the argument.
3. Include Expert Opinion in Your Essay
We strongly recommend including expert opinions in your essay because they’re factual evidence that can support your claim.