Skip to main content

Learn It

A claim is a statement that represents the most important information that the author wants you to learn about the topic or concept. Authors support their claims through evidence, which may consist of facts, research findings or statistics, and quotes from experts.  When considering the evidence, the reader must assess the clarity of the reasoning, which is how the writer explains the importance of the evidence and makes specific connections between the evidence and how it supports the claim.  The better the reasoning is, the stronger the author’s claim.

Explore the slideshow to learn how to identify the author’s claim and assess the reasoning and evidence.


Speaker plays audio

Identifying Claims, Evidence
and Reasoning

Implicit vs. Explicit •Explicit – Authors directly state their claim • Implicit – reader infers or draws conclusions about the author's claim

When writing about a scientific topic or concept, authors implicitly or explicitly reveal their claim. When authors are explicit, they directly state their claim about the topic. When authors are implicit, the reader must read carefully in order to infer, or draw conclusions about, the author's claim by looking carefully at the evidence.
Pen and graph

To support the claim, authors must present evidence such as:

  • Facts
  • Research findings from text and/or experiments
  • Statistics
  • Quotes from respected experts and/or scientists in the field
TBrain thinking

Authors must explain how the evidence supports their claim. Such an explanation is called reasoned judgment. The more logical the reasoning, the more likely the reader will be to accept the author's claim.
Pros and cons on scale

When authors support their claim with evidence, such support may come in the form of pros (good things or benefits) and cons (bad, negative things) that help the reader to gain a balanced and complete understanding of the topic or concept presented.

Evidence magnified

When assessing evidence, the reader must think about the strengths and limitations of that evidence. Ask yourself:

  1. What evidence supports the author's claim?
  2. Is the evidence from a reliable source and presented in a way that is not biased?
  3. Does the author offer reasoned judgment to explain how all evidence relates to the claim?

Such assessments will aid the reader in knowing what further reading or learning is required.