Prof. Marteney Speech 104

1. Claims and Debates
BY: MARY BEZJIAN

2. DEFINITION
OF A CLAIM
An arguable
statement.

3. All About a Claim
 Claim is……
 The main argument of an essay or debate.
 A claim defines your paper’s goals and direction, and is
supported by evidence, quotations, argumentation, expert
opinion, statistics, and telling details.
 A claim must be argumentative. When you make a claim,
you are arguing for a certain interpretation or
understanding of your subject.
 A good claim is specific
Example: MTV’s popularity is declining because it no
longer plays music videos- rather than a general one-
MTV sucks.

4. What You Can NOT Use to Support Your Claim
“My friends or relatives
“It’s my opinion” think so, or everybody
think so”

5. What You Can NOT Use to Support Your Claim
Pt. 2
“Because it’s morally
“Because it’s obvious”
right”

6. It’s Always Been, it’s Tradition.

7. Types of Debates
 Burden of Proof
 Burden of Presumption
 Prima Facie Case
 Burden of Rebuttel

8. Burdens
Burden of Proof Burden of Presumption
 Burden of proof lies with those  Burden of presumption is to
making the positive claim. It is assume something without
the duty to prove the proof.
allegations are true.  For example if you lost a piece
 This is what is meant in a court of jewelry, you automatically
room “innocent until proven assume your friend stole it
guilty”. Prosecutors have to because they were at your
prove the accused person is house the day before.
guilty.

9. Prima Facie
Case
Is when someone is
caught red-handed!
The argument does
not need proof. “Proof
is in the pudding”. The
case is able to stand
on its own.
For example someone
stealing in a grocery
store is caught on
security cameras or by
the owner on the spot.
No need for proof he
was caught in the act.

10. Burden of
Rebuttal
•Is the duty to
prove the contrary
argument.
•For example if you
are accusing
someone of a
murder (they did
not really commit),
you have to use
evidence to prove
your accusation.