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Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 09 / Press Day
6/6
Week 09 · Tracing Arguments

Press Day

Press Day: weigh it yourself
// Claim, reasons, evidence, and whether they hold
⏱ about 20 min

Press Day: Weigh It Yourself

Rain drums on the porch roof. Press Day has moved three steps back from the edge, under cover.

"A rained-out basket," Rocket says, pulling the table away from the drips. "We hand them out from the door instead."

Raven folds the last issue. "Four arguments inside, and one trace. Yours."

"The student's," Rocket says, nodding at the notebook. "A paragraph weighing one letter. Claim, reasons, evidence, and a judgment."

Nova hovers under the lamp, dry and bright. "A reader who can weigh an argument is hard to fool," she says. "That is worth a wet morning."

The first neighbor arrives under an umbrella and takes a copy through the doorway.

  1. An argument has a claim, reasons and evidence. Trace the claim down to the evidence.
  2. A supported claim has evidence under it. Everyone, always and simply are warning signs of unsupported claims.
  3. Evidence is relevant when it is tied to the claim. True is not the same as relevant.
  4. Reasoning is sound when each step follows. Watch for leaps: one for all, all or nothing, more is always better.
  5. Evidence is sufficient when there is enough to hold the claim. One example is rarely enough.
◇ READ YOUR TRACE ALOUD
Read the letter you chose aloud to a family member or friend.
Then read your trace of it. Ask them whether they agree with your judgment and why.
Ask for one compliment and one question. Write both in your Signal notebook.
Swap: let them make a small claim about something at home, and ask them for one piece of relevant evidence.
PRESS DAY CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A letter says: Everyone knows the garden needs a new gate. What should your trace say about that sentence?
A letter about the ramp mentions that the library has new chairs. What should your trace say?
Which is the best last sentence for a trace?
Press Day checkTrue or false?
A trace states the claim before judging it.?
Liking a letter is a reason to call it supported.?
A good trace names the evidence it weighed.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEA trace is a fair weighing, and fair weighing starts with the claim and ends with a judgment you can point to.
Which of the four tests comes first when you trace an argument? Type claim, supported, relevant or sound.
WHY THIS EXERCISEYou cannot judge reasons or evidence until you know what claim they are supposed to hold up.
Checklist
My first sentence states the claim of the letter I chose.
I named at least two reasons and the evidence under each.
I said whether any evidence was irrelevant or any claim unsupported.
I named any leap in the reasoning.
My last sentence gives a judgment I can point to in the text.

Your trace is in the issue, dry and folded. Next week you write an argument of your own, with evidence that can bear weight.

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