At Brighton High School, we encourage students to become proficient writers by using a writing technique called argumentative writing or claim, evidence, reasoning (CER). This technique asks students to develop a claim, provide evidence to support their claim, then follow it up with reasoning as to why the information being supplied and supported is important and defends the inital claim. Students who use this technique of writing will become proficient writters in all subjects at school as well as in their future endeavors.
Below you will find more information explaining the CER process as well as some tools to assist your student in becoming proficient writers.
CER Paragraph Checklist
Students should consider having the following items when they write a paragraph:
Category
Requirements to Consider
Content and Organization
Student begins writing with a claim (opinion statement) that answers the prompt.
Student provides at least two pieces of evidence that support his/her claim (evidence may include quotations, facts, and/or personal experiences; however, one piece of evidence MUST be from a literary source).
Student includes reasoning for each piece of evidence that shows critical thinking.
Student has explained ideas in a logical order.
Style and Fluency
Sentences are fluent and easy to understand.
Student transitions between ideas smoothly.
Evidence is introduced sufficiently.
Student uses vocabulary and a writing style that is appropriate for the audience that he/she is addressing.
Language Usage
Few, if any, spelling and grammatical errors.
Writing is readable and shows evidence of proofreading.
Evidence is correctly documented.
Step
Important Questions
Evidence
Claim
What is your claim?
Your stance,
your opinion.
Stance
Opinion
Hypothesis
Proposition
Belief
Argument
Topic sentence
Thesis
Main idea
Main Statement
Evidence
Evidence is the reading and observations,
it is what we look at
to draw our conclusions.
Support
Proof
Experiment Results
Data
Background
Knowledge
Behavior
Quote
Chart
Reasoning
Reasoning EXPLAINS how we see the evidence and how it ties back to the claim.
How do you SEE the evidence?
How does your evidence PROVE your point?
What does the evidence MEAN?
Why does the evidence MATTER?
Interpret it! Connect it! Move it to the
bigger picture!
