Writing Spaces 3

Evaluating an Argument’s Support
How authors put arguments together and what support they use to bol-
ster their arguments can affect the credibility of the source. If an author 
makes an argument that remains logical and consistent from beginning to 
end, then readers are likely to be persuaded. When an author presents an 
illogical argument or an argument that seems to change as it develops, the 
author’s credibility and persuasiveness is damaged. For instance, in John 
Freyer’s “All My Life for Sale” some readers might sense that the stated 
purpose of the essay doesn’t seem to match up with its tone. Telling his 
story, Freyer reflects on a project where he set up a Web site and sold all of 
his belongings over the Internet. He kept track of where many of his be-
longings went and attempted to visit his old belongings and the people who 
purchased them. While the reader might appreciate the author’s creativity 
and a sense of adventure, deriving further “gains” from the initial project 
and publishing an essay might appear to some as merely a promotional 
campaign. A cautious reader might even suspect a hidden agenda behind 
the Freyer’s project in which personal attachments were mined for mon-
ey-making opportunities.
Despite Freyer’s disclaimer that his motivations were more complex 
than just to make some money, readers who believe that his project as a 
whole and his essay in particular is an attempt at self-promotion will be 
questioning the essay with the following:
5. Is the support for the argument appropriate to the claim?
6. Are all the statements believable?
7. Is the argument consistent and complete?
Like questions 1-4, questions 5, 6, and 7 also can help you to determine 
whether an author is credible; these three questions address whether the ar-
gument is logically acceptable. The more logical an argument is, the more 
likely the reader will be persuaded. 
When you evaluate a piece of writing using these seven questions, you 
are using critical reading and thinking skills. These are the same skills 
you will use when you are evaluating sources for the research essay you are 
preparing. You are going to want to establish your own credibility in your 
writing. If you use sources that aren’t credible, then your own credibility 
will suffer.

---

Kate Warrington, Natasha Kovalyova, and Cindy King
194
W
R
IT
IN
G 
SP
AC
E
S 3