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Info Lit Building Blocks: Arguments

Link to or create a copy of these basic boxes or tabs in your new LibGuides. The online equivalent of the instruction file cabinet.

Building Your Argument

Questions to consider:

  1. Do you have specific examples to support your claims?
  2. Do you have a variety of resource types (ex. Background, Evidence, Argument, Method)?
    1. Have you included primary (i.e. interviews or direct quotes from those involved--if applicable) and secondary resources?
  3. Have you given your audience enough information to understand the situation?
    1. „Is there enough background to understand your argument?
    2. Are there points that need further clarification (i.e. Will they be confusing to your audience)?
    3. Are there any questions/points left lingering? Make sure to fully explain your argument. Open-ended ideas leave a weak argument.
  4. Do your sources come from credible places? Poor source quality weakens an argument.
  5. Does your counter argument address specific points on your FOR the theory side?

Evidence in Arguments

In some articles, the author will take a stance on the issue, whereas others may remain neutral.  
If your author is making an argument, take notes on these questions:

  1. What is the author's position on this issue?
  2. What evidence* does the author give to support his or her argument?
  3. Do I agree with the author's conclusion?  Why or why not?  
    • What evidence do I have to back up my position?

*Evidence is the hard data you use to support the claims you make in your paper.  Evidence for this paper could take the form of statistics, survey data, court decisions, or case studies from schools.  

If your article has a more neutral point of view, consider the following questions:

  1. What evidence do you see that would SUPPORT a particular position on the issue?
  2. What evidence do you see that would REFUTE a particular position on the issue?

BEAM Spectrum

The BEAM spectrum is a way to think about how you can use sources for your project. What type of information are you looking for? What do you need to accomplish? Construct an argument? Provide evidence? Or just report basic facts?

Remember, not all projects will require you to use sources in all four ways. And some sources will help you in more than one of these categories.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Adapted from Kristin M. Woodward & Kate Ganski's "What Could A Writer Do With This Source?"

Evaluation - Questions to ask

Evaluating Information - CRAAP test

There are some things to consider when determining source credibility. Try using the CRAAP method.*

  • Currency: Is the information up-to-date? If a web source, do the links work & has it been updated recently?
  • Relevance: Did you consider many sources before selecting those you'll use?
  • Authority: Is the author a professor/researcher in communication, psychology, education, business, or a field related to the topic? Does he/she have credentials that qualify them to write about this? Who is the sponsoring organization?
  • Accuracy: Is the information accurate?  Did you compare it with other sources you have located?
  • Purpose: What is the author's intended goal?  Trying to provide research results to other researchers (scholarly)?  Trying to sell something (popular)? Trying to summarize research for the general public (popular)?  Is the audience the general public or scholars/students?

Remember, popular treatments of topics by scholars are fine to use too!

*Developed by Meriam Library, Cal State Chico.