The two examples that were dicussed in class are:
- America's Most Wanted should not be banned because it helps catch criminals.
- America's Most Wanted should be banned because it glorifies violence.
In the Toulmin Method you first need to recognize the two main elements within each of the
sentences; the first being the CLAIM, and the second being the STATED REASON. Therefore,
the two clauses can be split up into their respective parts.
In the first sentence the CLAIM is, "America's Most Wanted should not be banned", and the
STATED REASON is, "..because they catch criminals." In a similar fashion, the second
statement can be broken into, the CLAIM, "America's Most Wanted should be banned" and
the STATED REASON, "..because it glorifies violence."
The Toulmin Method rephrases the STATED REASON and its EVIDENCE into a single term,
calling it the GROUNDS. The Toulmin method also breaks down the clause, by stating the
UNSTATED REASON, being the "general" message the statement is trying to get across. The
UNSTATED REASON is also sometimes called the WARRANT.
For the two statements that were analyzed, the WARRANTS are as follows:
- Statement 1, the WARRANT is "All things which catch criminals are o.k."
- Statement 2, the WARRANT is "Things that glorify violence should be banned."
The method also, states that a WARRANT must be backed up by a BACKING, stating
examples of cases where it is good. For example, in the case of the second statement,
a good backing for the WARRANT would be "Cockfighting, why it has been banned ?"
Finally, the Toulmin Method specifies a QUALIFIER, in most cases the word used is "unless",
and a REBUTTAL supporting the QUALIFIER.
Return to the syllabus for general information, go to the
policy statement for student information, go back to the page
created for Monday Mondays summary, or the page for week three.
iamdan