Types Five of Weak Claims
(and how to revise them)
Weak Claim Type 1: The thesis makes no claim.
In this paper, I will examine the elements of the American Dream.
Advice for revision: Convert broad categories and generic (fits anything) claims
to more specific, more qualified assertions; find ways to bring out the complexity
of your subject.
Belief in the attainability of the American Dream informs American public
assistance policy in ways that make living above the poverty level unattainable
for millions of Americans.
Weak Claim Type 2: The thesis is obviously true or is a statement of fact.
Hip hop music has its roots in the African-American community.
Advice for revision: Find some avenue of inquiry a question about the facts or
an issue raised by them. Make an assertion with which it would be possible for
readers to disagree.
Although hip hop music has traditionally been closely tied to the AfricanAmerican community, the recent popularity of hip hop amongst white teenagers
has led to a softening of commercial hip hop.
Weak Claim Type 3: The thesis restates conventional wisdom.
Time magazines annual photograph contest demonstrates that a picture is worth
a thousand words.
Advice for revision: Seek to complicate see more than one point of view in
your subject. Avoid conventional wisdom unless you can qualify it or introduce a
fresh perspective on it.
Despite the claim of photojournalism that pictures can stand alone and tell a
unique story, this way of thinking ignores that photo spreads are often
accompanied by various forms of print text, such as headings and captions, which
influences their meanings for readers. Particularly in the case of Time print magazine,
the text that accompanies each picture in the annual photograph contest
guides the meanings of the photograph.
Weak Claim Type 4: The thesis offers personal conviction as the basis for the claim.
Democratic presidential speeches are more manipulative than republican
presidential speeches because democrats always want voters to spend more
money.
Advice for revision: Try on other points of view honestly and dispassionately;
treat your ideas as hypotheses to be tested rather than obvious truths.
When American politicians make speeches about social issues, they are more free
to be direct than when they make speeches about funding programs because of
the difference, in American culture, between family or social values and value
as a monetary term.
Weak Claim Type 5: The thesis makes an overly broad claim.
There are many similarities and differences between American womens battle for
suffrage and the Civil Rights movement.
Advice for revision: Convert broad categories and generic (fits anything) claims
to more specific, more qualified assertions; find ways to bring out the complexity
of your subject.
While both proponents of womens suffrage in the early 1900s and supporters of
Civil Rights in the mid-1900s had the same basic goal to extend political power
to groups considered inferior they created very different types of arguments as
a result of the political and social contexts of their situations. Because women
were over-humanized in popular social belief, suffragists focused less on the
character of women and more on the logic of extending the right to vote, while
Civil Rights proponents highlighted the character of African-Americans.