Question

Read Dimitri’s outline for the claim and one body paragraph of his argumentative essay.

Claim: Social networking improves society.

Reasons: It helps people to share information and connect with global events.

Evidence: A recent survey showed that almost 30% of Americans get their news from social networking rather than from TV or radio.

Counterclaim: Social networking is distracting, leading to lower grades among students.

To fully develop the claim in his essay, the best way for Dimitri to improve his outline is to

replace the statistical evidence with a personal anecdote.
change the viewpoint he states in his claim because it is biased.
add a rebuttal to discredit the counterclaim and support his claim.
insert another counterclaim to fully explain the opposing argument.

Answer 1

add a rebuttal to discredit the counterclaim and support his claim.

Reason: He already has a clear claim and a strong statistic; responding to the opposing view with a rebuttal will make the argument more persuasive by acknowledging the counterclaim and then explaining why it is mistaken or limited (for example, showing that distractions are a matter of misuse, not inherent to social networking, or citing studies that link social media to civic engagement rather than lower grades). Replacing the statistic with an anecdote would weaken the evidence, changing the claim isn’t necessary, and merely adding another counterclaim without rebuttal would leave the opposition unaddressed.