Research and Writing — Lesson 2 – English with Ms. Harris

GoogleDocs Format

Students continue to plan for research-based argument papers by completing the outline they began in Lesson 1. Using these outlines, students develop a counterclaim in opposition to their central claim developed in Lesson 1. Students then address the strengths and limitations of the counterclaim.

Tools

Linked here as reference:

Sources

In the previous lesson, you were asked to search for another source to gather stronger or more relevant evidence for a supporting claim on your outline, and provide reasoning that explains how this evidence supports the claim.

Record the evidence and reasoning on the Additional Evidence Tool. Be sure to use your Organizing Evidence-Based Claims Tool to support the analysis.)

Developing Counterclaims

You will develop both a counterclaim to their central claim and supporting claims for the counterclaim.

Forming Counterclaims Tool

To present a balanced perspective in the research-based argument paper, it is necessary to develop a counterclaim to an existing central claim. Incorporating a strong counterclaim in the research-based argument paper demonstrates to the audience that the writer has addressed opposing or divergent perspectives.
Following is an example of a central claim and a counterclaim.

Central claim: The most effective way for developing nations to become more prosperous is by investing in human capital, providing quality education and technology to all citizens, regardless of gender or race.

Counterclaim: Some scholars and policymakers argue that although education and technology are important in the development of a more robust economy, they are not the most important pieces in this complicated puzzle. After all, in order for nations to make these types of investments in the first place, there must be some amount of foundational stability and reliable governance.

Consider the following question about the relationship between the claim and counterclaim.
Q. How does the counterclaim refute the central claim?
A. The counterclaim suggests that some critics believe that the most important aspect of developing a robust economy is establishing foundational infrastructure. These critics argue that before education and technology are implemented, there must be a foundational amount of wealth and reliable government.
Review your research materials and develop counterclaims on your outlines. See the model outline below for a potential counterclaim.
Presenting a counterclaim fairly means developing supporting claims and providing evidence as they would when developing a central claim.

Model counterclaim: Some scholars and policymakers argue that although education and technology are important in the development of a more robust economy, they are not the most important pieces in this complicated puzzle. After all, in order for nations to make these types of investments in the first place, there must be some amount of foundational stability and reliable governance.

Supporting counterclaim: Others may argue that good health comes before education and technology. In order to invest in human capital through education and technology, humans themselves must be healthy.
Supporting counterclaim: Economic development fails if a government cannot uphold its own rule of law or even begin to institute its ideal policies in the first place.
Supporting counterclaim: It is impossible to educate everyone.

Q. Which of the examples above best supports the counterclaim and why? Which example does not effectively support the counterclaim and why?
In addition to claims in support of the counterclaim, you should provide evidence from research materials and demonstrate reasoning.

Strengths and Limitations

As you develop the supporting claims for the counterclaim, you are deliberately questioning your original central claim. It is important to question the argument’s central claim as rigorously as possible, pointing out the strengths of each counterclaim before highlighting the counterclaim’s limitations. In doing so, you are strengthening your own argument by assuring the reader all other arguments have been considered and dismissed on the basis of their limitations.
A model supporting counterclaim, evidence, and reasoning for the model counterclaim above:

Model supporting counterclaim: Others may argue that good health comes before education and technology. In order to invest in human capital through education and technology, the humans themselves must be healthy.
Model supporting evidence: In very poor countries, “[l]ife expectancy is less than 50 years (as opposed to 80 years in high-income countries), and child mortality is 100 per 1,000 live births or higher … Infectious diseases are rife” (Sachs et al. 33).
Reasoning connecting evidence to supporting counterclaim: How can people begin to take advantage of a quality education system if they are suffering from disease? Investing in human capital through equal and affordable health care is more important or effective than education, insofar as able minds rely on able bodies.

An effective counterclaim requires supporting counterclaims and evidence to oppose the central claim effectively. Supporting counterclaims and relevant evidence bolsters the strength of the counterclaim, and ultimately the strength of the argument overall.
Q. How does the model supporting counterclaim demonstrate the strength of the model counterclaim above? A. The supporting counterclaim strengthens the counterclaim by making a specific assertion, that health care should take priority over education and technology because it is difficult to educate an ailing and diseased population with a short lifespan.
While a counterclaim may have strong supporting counterclaims and the evidence may be sound, there may be also be limitations, or points the author does not consider or does not develop fully or effectively. Pointing out these flaws or weaknesses in a counterclaim creates an opportunity for the writer to reassert the strength of the argument’s central and supporting claims, thereby advancing the argument.
Q. What is a potential limitation of the model supporting counterclaim? A. A limitation of this perspective is that it does not take into account the interrelatedness of health care and education. Investing in education leads a greater number of professionals to develop and facilitate advanced health care to the population, which in turn yields healthier citizens who may participate in education and contribute to the economic health of the nation.
It is important to include your analysis of the strengths and limitations of the counterclaim in your outline so you can easily integrate it into the paper in subsequent lessons.

Outline

Organize the claims and evidence in your outline, using a method that makes sense to you. Everyone has a slightly different method for outlining their paper and organizing their thoughts, but everyone should apply all the elements discussed in today’s lesson: counterclaims, supporting claims, and the strengths and limitations of each. You worked to develop central and supporting claims in the previous lesson, and you should now work on outlining their counterclaims, evidence, and reasoning.

Independently work to add counterclaims, supporting claims, evidence, and the strengths and limitations of the claims to your outlines.
Search for another source to gather stronger or more relevant evidence for a counterclaim on your outline, and provide reasoning that explains how this evidence supports your counterclaim. Record the evidence and reasoning on the Additional Evidence Tool.

Open Response

Respond briefly in writing to the following prompt:

Explain your counterclaim and two pieces of relevant evidence for that counterclaim. Additionally, explain the strengths and limitations of your counterclaim.

Follow your outline to develop a written response. Use the W.11-12.1.b portion of the 12.3.2 Rubric and Checklist to guide written response.

Model Outline Tool

Directions: Organize your claims below. State the connection of each supporting claim to the central claim, and then provide sufficient and relevant evidence and reasoning to support each claim. Finally, provide a strong counterclaim that challenges your central claim. Include supporting claims, evidence, and limitations of the counterclaim.

[Introduction] Problem-based question: What is the most effective way for a developing nation to increase its economic prosperity? Central claim: The most effective way for developing nations to become more prosperous is by investing in human capital, providing quality education and technology to all citizens, regardless of gender or race.
[Body] Supporting claim: For developing nations to prosper, men and women of all races must have equal access to quality education.
Connection of supporting claim to the central claim: This supporting claim highlights the value of equal access to education for all members of a developing nation.
Evidence: “[B]etter-educated women can undertake higher-value economic activity.” (Ward et al. viii) “With the exceptions of resource-rich Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, no country has achieved both GDP per capita of over $10,000 and a ratio of girls to boys in primary education of less than 90 per cent.” (Ward et al. viii)	Reasoning: How does the evidence support your claim? This evidence supports the claim by providing a logical reason why education would support economic prosperity (higher-value activity), and also providing a statistic linking education and economic prosperity in the vast majority of countries.
Supporting claim: Equal access to quality education results in wealth not only for countries as a whole, but also for the individuals who live in these countries.
Connection of supporting claim to central claim: This supporting claim highlights the connection between education and individual economic growth, which in turn supports national economic growth.
Evidence: “Product markets are more competitive if all would-be entrepreneurs can use their talents.” (Ward et al. ix) “A more productive workforce, through greater equality in employment and education, increases expected rates of return, which in turn generates a modest increase investment and promotes growth.” (Ward et al. ix)		Reasoning: How does the evidence support your claim? Education creates a positive feedback loop; people become educated, refine their talents, compete with one another, attract investors, increase domestic prosperity, create more wealth at the individual level, become educated potential investors themselves, and in turn incentivize education and the development of talent to perpetuate the cycle.
Supporting claim: A developing nation must also seek out communication to foster productive competition within the nation, and technology plays a vital role; in order for communication to take place on a larger scale and contribute to economic growth, all citizens must have access to technology.
Connection of supporting claim to central claim: This supporting claim highlights the importance of technology for all citizens in order for national economic growth to occur.
Evidence: “[D]eploying broadband networks at the community and municipal levels has become an important factor in allowing local businesses to grow and remain competitive.” (Qiang et al. 38) Broadband Internet access has also helped individual workers in developing nations “acquire skills (increasing their marketability as workers) and develop social networks through broadband-enabled Web applications, facilitating peer-to-peer communities and their integration with the economy” (Qiang et al. 36).		Reasoning: How does the evidence support your claim? This evidence supports the claim by pointing to the direct benefits of broadband Internet access deployed throughout developing nations and the positive economic implications.
Counterclaim (to the central claim): Some scholars and policymakers argue that although education and technology are important in the development of a more robust economy, they are not the most important pieces in this complicated puzzle. Economic development fails if a government cannot uphold its own rule of law or even begin to institute its ideal policies in the first place.
Supporting claim (for the counterclaim): If there is no foundation for equality in the first place, such as a constitution declaring all citizens equal and a legal infrastructure to uphold that law, all the benefits of instituting education and technology will be limited to the privileged and ultimately remain ineffective on a large economic scale.
Evidence: “In many places, access to public goods and services is restricted for certain groups. Minority groups, for their language, religion, or race, suffer discrimination at the hands of more powerful groups.” (Sachs et al. 31)		Reasoning: How does this evidence support the counterclaim? If access to public goods is still restricted for certain groups, investing in education and technology will only be investing more in the rich majority.
Supporting claim (for the counterclaim): Without proper governance, legal infrastructure, a baseline amount of wealth, and basic health care needs met, a suffering population will not benefit from the luxuries of the classroom or technology.
Evidence: To end this poverty trap, a country must “raise the economy’s capital stock—in infrastructure, human capital, and public administration—to the point where the downward spiral ends and self-sustaining economic growth takes over. This requires a ‘big push’ of basic investments … in key infrastructure (roads, electricity, ports, water and sanitation, accessible land for affordable housing, environmental management), human capital (nutrition, disease control …) and public administration” (Sachs et al. 39).		Reasoning: How does this evidence support the counterclaim? These basic investments—that is, key infrastructure and sanitation, accessible land for affordable housing, human capital, and public administration—take precedence over education and technology.
Limitation of the counterclaim: Basic necessities and government infrastructure are important for economic development, but they are not the primary foundational elements of a long-term solution. Education is necessary for an educated citizenry, which gives birth to and sustains reliable governance. Reliable and strong government infrastructure cannot be supplied from outside the country. Also, a country needs technology in order to deliver basic necessities like clean water. To sustain an infrastructure that delivers basic necessities, a population must be educated.
[Conclusion] Restate central claim: The future wellbeing of developing nations depends on investment in human capital. When everyone has equal access to quality education and technology, skilled workers will thrive at their fullest, and economies will grow.

From Outline Tool by Odell Education, www.odelleducation.com. Copyright (2012–2013) Odell Education. Adapted with permission under an Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Model Additional Evidence Tool

Directions: Choose one supporting claim from your Outline Tool that requires stronger or more relevant evidence. Record the source, the new evidence, and why the evidence provides additional support for your claim.

Claim: Health care is most important for developing nations. In order to invest in human capital through education and technology, the humans themselves must be healthy.
Source: Sachs et al.
Evidence: In very poor countries, “[l]ife expectancy is less than 50 years (as opposed to 80 years in high-income countries), and child mortality is 100 per 1,000 live births or higher… Infectious diseases are rife” (Sachs et al. 33).	Reasoning: How does the evidence provide additional support for your claim? How can people begin to take advantage of a quality education system if they are suffering from disease? This line of reasoning leads one to the conclusion that investing in human capital through equal and affordable health care is more important or effective than education, insofar as able minds rely on able bodies.

From Additional Evidence Tool by Odell Education, www.odelleducation.com. Copyright (2012–2013) Odell Education. Adapted with permission under an Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/