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Evidence


When making a claim or an argument, the audience is really interested in hearing proof that the claim or argument is accurate.  Once they have the information and believe that the claim is true, then they can decide if they want to adapt the claim.  In order to prove a claim or argument accurate, we need evidence.  The book gives us three types of evidence that may be useful:  examples, statistics, and testimony.  I think that all three have merit, but I would argue that the best arguments use elements from all types of evidence.  First, a personal testimony always has some power.  I know that when someone is trying to convince me of something and they have a personal anecdote, I believe they are at least coming from a good place.  If they have experienced a problem and either want other people to realize the problem, or they have a solution, I think that it is at least important to try to understand where they are coming from.  Personally, I think statistics are very powerful.  If the person making the argument can say that a certain percentage of people have experienced a problem or they can make a claim about a product and back it up with numbers, it makes the argument a lot stronger.  However, it is also important to note that the evidence must also come from a credible source.  We have talked about the importance of credibility of the person making an argument, but we must also be sure that the sources the person uses are credible.  If someone is citing an example or a story from someone else, I do not think trusting a blog post or simple online review is the best.  Or, if someone is using statistics from a third party, I think that it should be from a peer reviewed study or at least a reputable organization. 

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