Prompt: Final Research Paper

Research paper – English 100

We discussed the issue of trust and food in class. The truth is that the American people have had little choice but to trust the food industry who, for the most part, are responsible for providing us with the food we consume. We need to examine the history of the food industry to decide for ourselves whether or not this trust is warranted. The new frontier of food production is genetic modification (GMO), but in fact, science has long been an essential element of food production. In recent years, light has been shown on the treatment of the animals whose bodies give America the meat it eats. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes on YouTube.com to see that ethical treatment of animals has been a low priority for the food industry. Another important element of the journey from farms to our table involves the workers who tend and slaughter animals, and those who pick fruit and vegetables. Food and union activists have raised important issues regarding the  way that workers in the food industry are treated - and what it does to them. Another important issue that is now being discussed is the harsh reality of food manufacturing’s impact on climate change. 

Your research paper will take you inside the long journey from the farms and slaughterhouses (and laboratories) to our tables by going deep into one issue. During discussion of your research, we’ll be asking many important questions: Who oversees all the elements of food production? What is the relationship between the legal system and the food industry? How well-tested are genetically modified foods? Since we are, quite literally, what we eat, is it possible for humankind to ignore the health and welfare of those animals who give us life without paying a severe price for it? What about the imposing list of chemicals that show up on the labels of our food. How safe are these additives? What are they and what effect to they have on our bodies and minds?

For this assignment, you must choose one of three questions to write about.

1. Examine the relationship between the legal system and the food industry by writing about one court case. 

2. What is “natural” food, and what’s at stake in the legal battle surrounding use of this word in the labeling of food.

3. Pigs are intelligent, friendly animals who are forced to spend their lives enduring often horrific treatment. How did this situation develop, what can and should be done about the situation, and what are the obstacles to changing it. 

Facts about your research paper:

1. This research paper should present a thesis that is specific, manageable, provable, and contestable—in other words, the thesis should offer a clear position, stand, or opinion that will be proven with research.   You should analyze and prove your thesis using examples and quotes from a variety of sources.  
2. You need to research and cite from at least five sources.  You must use at least 3 different types of sources.  At least one source must be from a library database. At least one source must be a book, anthology or textbook. At least one source must be from a credible website, appropriate for academic use.
3. The paper should not over-rely on one main source for most of the information. Rather, it should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them.
4. This paper will be approximately 2000 words in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required.  (use the word count function to check the length) The Works Cited page does NOT count towards length requirement.  
5. You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
6. You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.  
7. You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
8. our paper must be logically organized and focused.

Kite Runner Prompt (Essay 2)

Essay Assignment #2 – Literary Analysis of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Write a 700-1000 page literary analysis essay on one topic from the list below.

1. Discuss the significance of kites in the novel. Consider both the function and symbolic significance of the kites. How do the traditions and practices of kite fighting and kite running portrayed in The Kite Runner express cultural values and replicate aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system?
2. Discuss the significance of giving and receiving gifts in The Kite Runner.  Consider both the function and symbolic significance of the gifts. How does the practice of giving gifts evolve over the course of the novel? How does the theme of gift giving enhance the main themes of the novel?
3. Compare and contrast the relationship between Soraya and her father with the relationship between Amir and his father. How do these relationships evolve from childhood through adulthood? How are these relationships affected by traditional attitudes about gender?
4. While in the hospital in Peshawar, Amir dreams about his father wrestling a bear:

They roll over a patch of green grass, man and beast…. The bear roars, or maybe it’s Baba…. They fall to the ground with a loud thud and Baba is sitting on the bear’s chest, his fingers digging in its snout. He looks up at me and I see. He’s me. I am wrestling the bear. (Hosseini 295)

Discuss the significance of this dream and how it relates to Amir’s journey in the novel as a whole. Why does Amir have this dream at this point in the story?
       5. When Amir and Hassan were children, they were as close as two childhood playmates could be. Yet because of their master-slave relationship, they would never have described themselves as friends. How did this shape the future of each boy? Could the two boys have used their mutual affection to rise above cultural divide and become friends in a Western sense? Describe the cultural and class factors in each boy's background that shaped the differing views of their relationship. 

You may propose a topic of your own. However, you must get it approved by your instructor before you begin writing.

Your essay

• Should contain a clear thesis statement asserting your view, evaluation, or interpretation of a narrowly defined, focused aspect of your topic.
• Should abide by the conventions of writing about literature (e.g. use the present tense to describe fictional events and avoid attributing motive to the author).
• Should draw on detailed, concrete, specific evidence from the text of Kite Runner. Be sure to include in-text citations following direct quotations and specific text references. Example: According to Amir, “Winter was every kid’s favorite season in Kabul” (Hosseini 48).
• May include research material, as long as you cite your sources properly. However, you are not required to use research, and your evidence should consist primarily of your own analysis of the text. 

Critical Reading Strategies

Reading fiction

Many types of fiction give us great reading pleasure:
novels and short stories can be historic, westerns, science fiction, thrillers, romance, horror, etc. The following can provide a framework for discussing these in book clubs and for writing book reports.

Point of view: test your knowlege (narrator and character types)
An author creates a person to tell the story, and this person is the narrator.

The narrator delivers the point of view of the story. 

Multiple narrators of the story can also present multiple points of view.

-A first person narrator
uses the pronoun "I" to tell the story, and can be either a major or minor character. 

It may be easier for a reader to relate to a story told in a first person account.

-A subjective narrator is generally unreliable
because he/she is in the story,

and can only speak to his/her experience within it.

-A second person narrator

uses the pronoun "you" and is not used very often since it makes the reader a participant in the story (and you, as reader, may be reluctant to be in the action!).

-A third person narrator

uses the pronoun "he" or "she" and does not take part in the story.

-An objective narrator is an observer

and describes or interprets thoughts, feelings, motivations, of the characters. Details such as setting, scenes, and what was said is stronger with an objective observer

-An omniscient (omniscient = all knowing) narrator has access to all

the actions and thoughts within fiction

-A limited narrator has a restricted view of events,

and doesn't "know" the whole story

Questions:

• How much does the narrator know? 
• Does he or she know everything, including the thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc. or present just limited information?
• Do you (the reader) know more?
• Time?
  Do events take place "now" (verbs in the present tense)?
  or in the past (verbs are in the past tense)?
• Are past recollections fresh, or distant, and maybe hazy?
• Is the narrator a participant in, or a witness to, the action?
• Is the story second-hand, related "as told to" the narrator? 
• Think of yourself telling someone something that happened:
• How much of the event do you know, and how does that affect the story?
• Why is the story being told, and why now? 
• What is the motivation?

Character types in fiction
Characters are the people of a story, or the opposing forces.

A protagonist or hero/heroine is the central character of the story.

An antagonist is the counterpart to the protagonist

Tension between the protagonist and antagonist creates the story.

Speech, thoughts, actions, appearance, desires, and relationships reveal characters, and each undergoes development and/or change as the story unfolds. 

Static characters are role players, and may not “develop.”

Questions:

• Can the protagonist and antagonist be the same person?
• Can events or situations act as an antagonist?
• How do your characters speak? How does it affect the dialogue?
• What effect has the social class of the characters?

Environment
Environment consists of the time, place, and mood of a story.

• How does the setting affect the story?
• Are the situations happy, unhappy, mysterious, joyful, what?
• Where does the story take place: in nature, in a city, within a room?
• How does location affect the story?
• How is emotion created?
• Is it dramatic at the outset, or build in intensity? 
• Maybe the effect is to maintain a certain evenness throughout: creating its own type of tension?
• How would you change the setting of a story to change it?

7 CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES 1.  Previewing: Learning about a text before really reading it. Previewing enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is organized before reading it closely. This simple strategy includes seeing what you can learn from the headnotes or other introductory material, skimming to get an overview of the content and organization, and identifying the rhetorical situation.  2.  Contextualizing: Placing a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts. When you read a text, you read it through the lens of your own experience. Your understanding of the words on the page and their significance is informed by what you have come to know and value from living in a particular time and place. But the texts you read were all written in the past, sometimes in a radically different time and place. To read critically, you need to contextualize, to recognize the differences between your contemporary values and attitudes and those represented in the text.   3.  Questioning to understand and remember: Asking questions about the content. As students, you are accustomed (I hope) to teachers asking you questions about your reading. These questions are designed to help you understand a reading and respond to it more fully, and often this technique works. When you need to understand and use new information though it is most beneficial if you write the questions, as you read the text for the first time. With this strategy, you can write questions any time, but in difficult academic readings, you will understand the material better and remember it longer if you write a question for every paragraph or brief section. Each question should focus on a main idea, not on illustrations or details, and each should be expressed in your own words, not just copied from parts of the paragraph.   4.  Reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values: Examining your personal responses. The reading that you do for this class might challenge your attitudes, your unconsciously held beliefs, or your positions on current issues. As you read a text for the first time, mark an X in the margin at each point where you feel a personal challenge to your attitudes, beliefs, or status. Make a brief note in the margin about what you feel or about what in the text created the challenge. Now look again at the places you marked in the text where you felt personally challenged. What patterns do you see?   5.  Outlining and summarizing: Identifying the main ideas and restating them in your own words. Outlining and summarizing are especially helpful strategies for understanding the content and structure of a reading selection. Whereas outlining reveals the basic structure of the text, summarizing synopsizes a selection's main argument in brief. Outlining may be part of the annotating process, or it may be done separately (as it is in this class). The key to both outlining and summarizing is being able to distinguish between the main ideas and the supporting ideas and examples. The main ideas form the backbone, the strand that holds the various parts and pieces of the text together. Outlining the main ideas helps you to discover this structure. When you make an outline, don't use the text's exact words. Summarizing begins with outlining, but instead of merely listing the main ideas, a summary recomposes them to form a new text. Whereas outlining depends on a close analysis of each paragraph, summarizing also requires creative synthesis. Putting ideas together again -- in your own words and in a condensed form -- shows how reading critically can lead to deeper understanding of any text.   6.  Evaluating an argument: Testing the logic of a text as well as its credibility and emotional impact. All writers make assertions that they want you to accept as true. As a critical reader, you should not accept anything on face value but to recognize every assertion as an argument that must be carefully evaluated. An argument has two essential parts: a claim and support. The claim asserts a conclusion -- an idea, an opinion, a judgment, or a point of view -- that the writer wants you to accept. The support includes reasons (shared beliefs, assumptions, and values) and evidence (facts, examples, statistics, and authorities) that give readers the basis for accepting the conclusion. When you assess an argument, you are concerned with the process of reasoning as well as its truthfulness (these are not the same thing). At the most basic level, in order for an argument to be acceptable, the support must be appropriate to the claim and the statements must be consistent with one another.   7.  Comparing and contrasting related readings: Exploring likenesses and differences between texts to understand them better. Many of the authors we read are concerned with the same issues or questions, but approach how to discuss them in different ways. Fitting a text into an ongoing dialectic helps increase understanding of why an author approached a particular issue or question in the way he or she did.

Reading Analysis Questions: Fiction

Reading Analysis #2

Guidelines for Reading Analysis Presentation 1

Sign-up for one of two chapters on the presentation calendar. Make a note of the article title and presentation date that you sign up for below.

Reading analysis 1 article: __________________________  Presentation date: _______________

You will be presenting your analysis in class along with two to five of your classmates. The class will be counting on you to be on top of the chapters you are covering, so please be prepared!

This assignment is worth 40 points – to receive credit, you must participate in the presentation of your analysis. You will be graded primarily on your written analysis (breakdown of scoring below), but outstanding presentations will be rewarded.

Read the chapters that you will be analyzing carefully. If possible, read them twice. On your first reading, just try to identify the main idea(s) and get a feel for the writer’s approach and the flow of the chapter. On your second reading, go over the text more carefully; notice how the writer creates characters and tells the story. 

To prepare your written analysis:

Identify the author’s name and the title of the book. Answer the following questions. Put your answers in outline form (see sample analysis on the reverse side of this sheet).

1.     What is the central theme of the selection? Your answer should be a complete sentence in your own words (not a quote!). Be as specific as possible, but remember that your claim should cover the whole chapter(s). 

2.     Why is the subject of this story is a compelling theme for a writer to explore?

3.     Do you think this is a true story? In a certain way, could something like this happen?

4.     Is the central theme expressed explicitly or implicitly? The claim is explicit if the writer spells out what it is. The claim is implicit if the writer only implies the claim but does not state it outright. 

5.     What is the tone – the feel – of the story?

6.     What things in the story give the most insight into human nature?

7.     Does the writer leave the opinions and feelings to the readers? If so, why? Is this approach effective?

More on rhetorical analysis essay

San José State University Writing Center
www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter

How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
This handout is designed to assist you in writing your rhetorical analysis paper. Some of the instruction given here comes from the course prompt to ensure that you meet the assignment requirements. Use the background information given here to understand the assignment. Then use the questions that follow as a supplement to the course prompt, to generate both the content and an outline for your draft.
What Is a Rhetorical Analysis?
The purpose of the rhetorical analysis essay is not to summarize a piece of writing, but to

•   explore how rhetoric works;
  
•   explore how ideas are argued and presented;
  
•   analyze how the strategy is working to help the writer achieve his or her purpose.
  What Is Rhetoric?
  Rhetoric is the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively, especially as a way to persuade or influence people. To analyze a writer’s rhetoric, you need to investigate how the writer composed the writing to achieve his or her goal. The prompt outlines questions you can use to brainstorm the rhetoric of the sample you are studying.
  

From the Prompt: Questions to Think about before Writing

•   What do you think was the author’s purpose in producing this writing?
  
•   Who was the intended audience and how do they affect the writing?
  
•   What style and tone did the author use? Why?
  
•   What rhetorical appeals did the writer use? (ethos, pathos, and logos)
  
•   What logical schema were used to develop ideas? (description, narration, process
  analysis, compare and contrast, cause and effect, etc.)
  
•   How is the text organized, and why do you think the author chose this particular
  organizational pattern? Is there a particular format that is used?
  
•   Why do you think the author included or omitted particular information?
  
•   What kinds of evidence did the author include to support his/her point of view, and
  how was that evidence used?
  

How Do I Write a Rhetorical Analysis?
Take the following four steps to develop content and plan your rhetorical analysis essay draft.

1. Analyze the rhetorical appeals.
   
2. Brainstorm your introduction.
   
3. Develop your body paragraphs.
   
4. Draw a Conclusion.
   

How to Write the LLD/ENGL 100A Rhetorical Analysis Essay, Spring 2014. 1 of 4

Analyze the Rhetorical Appeals
Analyzing rhetorical appeals can seem daunting. However, you can approach this analysis as a simple matrix for outlining the contents of your paper.

Definition	How does the writer use each strategy to develop his or her purpose?
Ethos: Ethical appeals establish the credibility and goodwill of the author or of the sources used to support an argument. Where and how does the author explain his or her related background or establish the credibility of the sources used?
Pathos: Emotional appeals draw on the readers’ emotional response to the subject and on shared beliefs and values. Where does the author use language and/or create images that are emotionally charged?
Logos: Logical appeals use reasoning and evidence to support an argument. Logical appeals draw on facts, statistics, research, financial costs, observations, and experiments to reach conclusions using logical schema. Where and how does the author use evidence? What kinds of evidence are used? What logical schema does the author draw on to interpret the evidence?

Brainstorm Your Introduction
Once you have answered the prompt’s questions and filled out the rhetorical appeals table, you will have generated a lot of specific information for your rhetorical analysis. You are now ready to start drafting your paper. You can begin with the introduction.
In a rhetorical analysis essay, the purpose of the introduction is to provide information about what is to come.

1. How do writers use rhetorical writing to achieve their purpose?
   
2. Introduce the paper you are analyzing.
   

3. What a. b.
   
4. What
   

a. b. c.

Who is the writer?
What were the circumstances under which the paper was written?
Give the full title of the paper, indicate when it was written, and identify the intended audience.
do you think was the writer’s purpose?
What did the writer want to achieve?
What did the writer want the reader to conclude?
are the rhetorical appeals and strategies used by the author? Which appeals will you discuss in your analysis? This is your preview statement.

How to Write the LLD/ENGL 100A Rhetorical Analysis Essay, Spring 2014. 2 of 4

5. What is your central argument? How did the writer use the rhetorical strategies and appeals to accomplish his or her purpose? Was the writer successful? The answers to these questions can be summarized as a thesis statement.
From this example, can you identify which rhetorical strategies and appeals the student will likely discuss?
Develop Your Body Paragraphs
Make sure to analyze instead of summarize your chosen piece of writing. Each paragraph in the body should have its own topic sentence and a unified focus. You should write one paragraph on each of the rhetorical strategies and appeals that you mention in the introduction.

Rhetorical Analysis Thesis Statement Example
The author’s emphasis on her first-hand experience as a mother who lost her son to E. coli and use of evidence that is descriptive and data-driven make her argument about FDA policy reform persuasive.

Questions to Consider for Your Outline
You can use the following questions as you begin to outline your paper.

•   What is the definition of the rhetorical strategy or appeal you are writing about?
  
•   What is your evaluation of the writer’s use of that rhetorical strategy or appeal in
  regard to his or her purpose?
  
•   How do two to three examples from the paper illustrate the use of that strategy or
  appeal?
  
•   How do the examples contribute to the writer’s purpose?
  
•   How does the strategy or appeal contribute to the writer’s purpose?
  

Draw a Conclusion
In the conclusion to your rhetorical analysis essay, summarize briefly the main points of your analysis to explain its significance and to draw a clear and specific conclusion.

Questions to Consider for Your Conclusion

1. What conclusions can you draw about the role in general of rhetorical appeals and strategies in producing clear communication through writing?
   
2. Was the author successful in using the various rhetorical appeals and strategies for the intended audience and purpose?
   
3. What changes might you recommend to the author to better achieve his/her purpose?
   
4. How does this assignment help improve your writing, help your critical thinking skills,
   and help you become a better reader?
   
5. What lessons have you learned by writing a rhetorical analysis?
   

How to Write the LLD/ENGL 100A Rhetorical Analysis Essay, Spring 2014. 3 of 4

How Do I Edit My Draft?
When editing your writing, consider how your writing looks to someone else. What is clear to you may not be clear to others. You are writing for someone who is unfamiliar with your topic, and your instructor is evaluating you on your understanding of the rhetorical strategies and appeals as well as the clear presentation of your analysis. As you work through the following editing worksheet, assume the role of your intended audience: 100A instructors and the portfolio committee.
Editing Worksheet
Thesis Statement

1. Does the thesis statement provide an evaluation of the sample text?
   
2. Does the thesis statement provide reasoning behind that idea?
   

Content

1. Does the draft explain why each strategy was important to the audience of the text and
   explain how the strategy is working to help the writer achieve his or her purpose? Does
   the draft do more than summarize the article?
   
2. Do any of the claims remain vague? Where might the 100A audience need more
   illustration, evidence, or discussion of evidence to follow the conclusions drawn?
   

Structure

1. Does the paper provide cues at each paragraph opening and closing to help the reader
   follow the reasoning of the paper?
   
2. Does each paragraph have a clear central idea? Is evidence tied to a clear conclusion at
   the end of the paragraph?
   
3. Does the conclusion briefly summarize your main points and explain the significance of
   your analysis?
   

References
Lunsford, Andrea A. The Everyday Writer. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2013. Print.

How to Write the LLD/ENGL 100A Rhetorical Analysis Essay, Spring 2014. 4 of 4 

How to write (and analyze) a rhetorical analysis

How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis

Four Parts:Gathering InformationWriting the IntroductionWriting the BodyWriting the Conclusion

A rhetorical analysis can be written about other texts, television shows, films, collections of artwork, or a variety of other communicative mediums that attempt to make a statement to an intended audience. In order to write a rhetorical analysis, you need to be able to determine how the creator of the original work attempts to make his or her argument. You can also include information about whether or not that argument is successful. To learn more about the right way to write a rhetorical analysis, continue reading.

Part 1 of 4: Gathering Information

1. 
   1
   Identify the SOAPSTone. The SOAPSTone of a text include its Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject and Tone.
   • The speaker refers to the first and last name of the writer. If the writer has any credentials that lend to his or her authority on the matter at hand, you should also briefly consider those. Note that if the narrator is different from the writer, though, it could also refer to the narrator.
   • The occasion mostly refers to the type of text and the context under which the text was written. For instance, there is a big difference between an essay written for a scholarly conference and a letter written to an associate in the field.
   • The audience is who the text was written for. This is related to the occasion, since the occasion can include details about the audience. In the example above, the audience would be a conference of scholars versus an associate in the field.
   • The purpose refers to what the writer wants to accomplish in the text. It usually includes selling a product or point of view.
   • The subject is simply the topic the writer discusses in the text.
2. 
   2
   Examine the appeals. Appeals are the first classification of rhetorical strategy and involve the ethos, logos, and pathos.^[1]
   • Ethos, or ethical appeals, rely on the writer's credibility and character in the garnering of approval. Mentions of a writer's character or qualifications usually qualify as ethos. For instance, if a family therapist with 20 years of practice writes an article on improving familial relations, mention of that experience would be using ethos.
   • Logos, or logical appeals, use reason to make an argument. Most academic discourse should make heavy use of logos. A writer who supports an argument with evidence, data, and undeniable facts uses logos.
   • Pathos, or pathetic appeals, seek to evoke emotion in order to gain approval. These emotions can include anything from sympathy and anger to the desire for love. If an article about violent crime provides personal, human details about victims of violent crime, the writer is likely using pathos.
3. 
   3
   Note style details. Style details are the second rhetorical strategy and include a wide variety of elements, such as imagery, tone, syntax, and diction.^[2]
   • Analogies and figurative language, including metaphors and similes, demonstrate an idea through comparison.
   • Repetition of a certain point or idea is used to make that point seem more memorable.
   • Imagery often affects pathos. The image of a starving child in a third-world country can be a powerful way of evoking compassion or anger.
   • Diction refers to word choice. Emotionally-charged words have greater impact, and rhythmic word patterns can establish a theme more effectively.
   • Tone basically means mood or attitude. A sarcastic essay is vastly different from a scientific one.
   • Addressing the opposition demonstrates that the writer is not afraid of the opposing viewpoint. It also allows the writer to strengthen his or her own argument by cutting down the opposing one. This is especially powerful when the author contrasts a strong viewpoint he or she holds with a weak viewpoint on the opposing side.
4. 
   4
   Form an analysis. Before you begin writing your analysis, determine what the information you gathered suggests to you.
   • Ask yourself how the rhetorical strategies of appeals and style help the author achieve his or her purpose. Determine if any of these strategies fail and hurt the author instead of helping.
   • Speculate on why the author may have chosen those rhetorical strategies for that audience and that occasion. Determine if the choice of strategies may have differed for a different audience or occasion.

Evaluating Arguments

Aristotle’s categories for basic appeals in arguments:

Pathos: Emotional appeals (also known as pathos) play to the reader’s feelings and values.
    Example: In an argument for health care reform, the writer presents a story about one family suffering under the current system that evokes the reader’s sympathy and sense of fairness.

Ethos: Ethical appeals (also known as ethos) seek to establish the credibility of the writer as trustworthy.
    Example: The writer cites a source that the reader trusts; the writer gives the reader a sense that complete facts are being presented and/or all sides of an issue are being treated fairly.

Logos: Logical appeals (also known as logos) use reasoning and logic to make their points.
    Example: The writer makes strong logical connections between steps of her argument, such as clearly explaining how a cause produces a particular effect. The writer supports her claim with convincing factual evidence.


Toulmin’s Model of Arguments

Stephen Toulmin, a 20th century British philosopher, developed a model for evaluating arguments. This is a simplified version of his model.

The three major elements of Toulmin’s argument model are:
Claim – the statement, position, or idea that the author wants the reader to accept.
    Example: The sales and operation of most SUVs should be banned.
Your claim should be a complete sentence that expresses an arguable (not a factual) statement.

Reason – the reasoning or logical connection between the evidence and the claim. The reason explains why, according to the argument, the claim is true.
    Example: SUVs contribute to global warming.
Remember: Your reason should be an idea, not a specific piece of evidence. You can think of the reason as a generalization of the evidence.

Evidence / data – the facts, examples, authoritative opinions, statistics, etc. that the author presents to support the claim
    Example: Studies show that SUVs emit significant levels of greenhouse gases.

Test your claim, reason, and evidence by inserting them in the following questions and answers.
What is the author’s argument?
Answer: Claim because Reason.    
Answer: The sales and operation of most SUVs should be banned because SUVs contribute to global warming.
Your claim should specifically and precisely express the author’s main argument, and your reason should make sense as a “because” clause to your claim.
How do we know?
Answer: Evidence
Answer: Studies show that SUVs emit significant levels of greenhouse gases.
Your evidence should make sense as the answer to the question, “How do we know?