claim

(noun)

An assertion, used as the basis for an academic piece of writing, that must be proven with evidence. 

Related Terms

  • Topic Sentences
  • academic writing
  • topic sentence
  • "so what"
  • counter-arguments
  • question
  • paragraph
  • genre
  • rhetoric
  • hypothesis
  • fact
  • thesis statement
  • genres
  • Academic Writing
  • analysis

(noun)

A new statement of truth made about something, usually when the statement has yet to be verified.

Related Terms

  • Topic Sentences
  • academic writing
  • topic sentence
  • "so what"
  • counter-arguments
  • question
  • paragraph
  • genre
  • rhetoric
  • hypothesis
  • fact
  • thesis statement
  • genres
  • Academic Writing
  • analysis

Examples of claim in the following topics:

  • Turning Your Working Hypothesis into a Claim

    • Consequently, it is the nature of a hypothesis to make a claim about something.
    • If your hypothesis does not make a claim, it is for one of two reasons.
    • If something cannot be contradicted, it is a fact rather than a claim.
    • You always want to be as clear and thorough as possible about what you are claiming.
    • Compose a working hypothesis based on a claim you want to prove
  • Supporting Your Thesis

    • Synthesizing your general claims with specific evidence is a way of providing support for your claims.
    • General claim: The novel has a history of being popular with politically progressive groups.
    • Your thesis will condense a series of claims into one or two sentences.
    • To prove your thesis, you will need to articulate these claims and convince the reader that these claims are true.
    • Consequently, the majority of your paper will be dedicated to presenting and analyzing evidence that supports your claims, making it clear to the reader how the evidence relates to the claims.
  • Topic Sentences

    • You then organized your research, finding the evidence to support each claim.
    • Each paragraph will begin by making a claim (your topic sentence) that connects back to your thesis.
    • Usually, paragraphs will end by connecting their claim to the larger argument or by setting up the claim that the next paragraph will contain.
    • If you have a lot of ideas and claims to address, you may be tempted to combine related claims into the same paragraph.
    • If you have too many claims, choose the strongest ones to expand into paragraphs, or research the counterarguments to see which of your claims speak most powerfully to those.
  • Establishing Why Your Claims Matter

    • In your writing, you should establish why the claims you are making matter for your reader.
    • Putting Your Claims in Context: Tell your readers where things currently stand with your topic.
    • After you build the foundation of your argument, illustrate your general claims with specific examples.
    • Putting Your Claims in Context: Tell your readers where things currently stand with your topic.
    • In the course of your writing, be sure to articulate why the claims you are making matter.
  • Step 3: Outlining

    • Do the same with the other claims and pieces of evidence.
    • Now you can rearrange the pieces of evidence as necessary to go with the most appropriate claim. 
    • Read your thesis, claims, and evidence out loud to a friend.
    • Looking at your outline board, come up with counter-arguments and questions for each claim.
    • After each claim, ask, “What does the reader need to know next?”
  • Approaches to Your Concluding Paragraph

    • Next, you'll restate your claims, but you'll want to do this in a way that flows.
    • You're no longer trying to prove the claim.
    • As you're weaving your claims together, you can get creative.
    • Your point here is to show the reader how these claims inform one another to support the thesis, and to emphasize the significance of each claim to the argument.
    • There should be no new evidence or claims presented in the conclusion.
  • Generating Further Questions

    • A thesis statement, by making a claim or challenging one, is bound to generate further questions.
    • Your thesis statement stages the overall claim of your paper.
    • Which claims must be proven in order to move onto the next step of your argument?
    • Does my analysis of evidence make it clear how that evidence supports my claim?
    • Defend your thesis by anticipating and answering questions your claim may generate
  • Approaches to Your Body Paragraphs

    • Each body paragraph will be organized around a claim, which you'll form into a topic sentence.
    • You'll generally begin each paragraph with its topic sentence, then you'll move to the evidence that led you to this claim before ending with a concluding sentence that weaves claim and evidence together.
    • Check to see whether the statement sums up one of your claims.
    • Instead, write your topic sentence and look over the evidence you've gathered for that claim.
    • It could be that a recent study found exactly what your topic sentence claims, and you want to lead with that.
  • Making Your Own Arguments

    • This section plays a vital role: it makes sense of your results, and it also synthesizes your work, reminding your readers of the steps you've taken to address your initial claim.
    • Therefore, you need to formulate a contestable claim.
    • In the case of the sciences, those claims are the conclusions you draw from your data.
    • Using this section to explain how you reached those claims and why the reader should agree with them is essential.
    • An easy way to ensure that you are making a contestable claim is to position yourself in relation to other scientists' work.
  • Approaches to Your Introductory Paragraph

    • Leading them from your claims to your thesis, which is generally at the bottom of the "funnel," is also a subtle act of persuasion, whispering, "Once I've proven all of these points, you'll see that [my thesis] must be true."
    • What you want to do here is simply draw a line from your opening to your thesis statement, using your claims.
    • Think of this part as weaving together each claim with the emotion you brought up in the beginning, bringing the strands in one by one.
    • In this paragraph, the example in the opening takes us through the claims, getting us closer to the thesis.
    • The reader is ushered into the topic and through the claims without being conscious of reading an essay.
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