Choose a paragraph from the same scholarly source you used for our previous exercise. It may be one of the paragraphs you copied for that exercise, but it does not have to be. It should not, though, be an introductory or concluding paragraph.

Perform a Toulmin analysis of the paragraph. That means you should use five elements of the Toulmin model — Claim, Grounds, Warrant, Qualifier, Rebuttal — as subheads. Under each one, copy every statement in the paragaph that you believe fits into that category. These statements should be either complete sentences or clauses (meaning they contain both a subject and verb). Taking brief phrases or single words out of context does not make sense here.

Note that I have not included the category of Backing, because by definition backing does not appear within the argument itself.

After identiifying all of the above elements in the paragraph, use Other as an additional subhead and put anything you could not identify from the paragraph under it.

Write a paragraph in which you evaluate the argument in light of your analysis. Does the author support his or her claim effectively? Can you follow his or her logic? Is the argument well-organized, and is it efficient? Do you find it persuasive?

The paragraph you choose should be of moderate length. A short paragraph may not make a claim as such; sometimes, a short paragraph merely serves as a bridge between sections of an argument. You need a pargraph that makes a claim and supports it with evidence and logic.

At minimum, you must find a claim, grounds, and a warrant. The paragraph you choose may or may not include a qualifier or a rebuttal.

Remember that claims tend to be concisely stated; the support for the claims should take up most of the paragraph. How much of the support is grounds and how much is warrant varies, but in the humanities, arguing the warrant typically requires more space than presenting the grounds. (In the sciences, it is the other way around.)

The paragraph will likely include quotations. If you can figure out if the quotations are Type 1 or Type 2, that should tell you whether the author is using them as warrant or grounds.

Bring one hard-copy to class.

If you complete the exercise according to the instructions and submit it on time, you will receive full credit. Otherwise, you may receive reduced credit.