DEFENDING A STAND AND

PRESENTING REASONABLE
ARGUMENTS BY PROPERLY
CITED EVIDENCE
English for Academic and Professional Purposes
 WHAT IS EVIDENCE?
Evidence may include the claims, facts and
figures, graphs, statics, surveys, experiment,
etc. as the core sources to support your
opinion. Adding evidence in your opinionated
write-up helps the student to conceptualize and
textually imply in writing. It serves as the base
to convince the readers of your opinion backed
up by evidence.
Using Factual Text: Using factual text that is
verified and authentic is the key to
convince your reader. The persuasive text
that supports your opinion and helps
readers to relate and get answers to the
raised questions/concerns is the perfect use
of text evidence. It may include a diagram,
chat quotation, chart, quotation, image,
graphics, etc.
Using Factual Text:
• "According to NASA, the planet's average
surface temperature has risen about 2.12
degrees Fahrenheit (1.18 degrees Celsius)
since the late 19th century, a change
driven largely by increased carbon dioxide
emissions into the atmosphere and other
human activities."
Rhetorical Questions. A text that helps to
nourish the debate on your topic and
emphasize readers to think is another best
form of captivating your reader. The
rhetorical question serves as another
example of using evidence when you can
connect a past event and ask your reader
to comprehend the opinion based on the
current situation.
Rhetorical Questions.
Example: When discussing the
importance of education funding, you
might ask:
"If we fail to invest in our children's
education today, what kind of future
are we creating for our society
tomorrow?"
Work on Multiple Perspectives: Supporting
your opinion write-up with multiple
perspective evidence is the way forward
technique to persuade your readers.
Multiple perspective evidence may include
quotations, statements, before and after
analysis, etc.
Work on Multiple Perspectives:
• Example: When debating the pros and cons of
social media, you could present:
• A psychologist's perspective: "Dr. Jane Smith
argues that social media can lead to increased
feelings of loneliness and depression in young
adults."
• A business perspective: "Marketing expert John Doe
claims that social media has revolutionized how
companies connect with their customers, leading to
more personalized experiences."
Sufficient Evidence and Proper Citation: An
author should include multiple pieces of
evidence from various sources to reflect
authenticity and relevance. Use proper
citation to ensure that your reader knows
that the evidence is legitimate.
Sufficient Evidence and Proper Citation:
Example: In an essay about the effects of
exercise on mental health:
"Regular physical activity has been shown to
reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry found that participants who
engaged in aerobic exercise three times a
week for 30 minutes experienced a 47%
reduction in depressive symptoms (Johnson et
DEFENDING A STAND ON AN ISSUE BY PRESENTING
REASONABLE ARGUMENTS SUPPORTED BY
PROPERLY CITED FACTUAL EVIDENCES.

• Usage of Evidence to support Opinion Write-Ups: Like a

debate, defending a stand presents one side of an arguable
opinion about an issue. The goal of is to convince the
audience that your opinion is valid and defensible. Ideas that
you are considering need to be carefully examined in
choosing a topic, developing your argument, and organizing
your paper. Defending a stand tends to increase an
author's thinking and persuasive capabilities. It requires an
author to butter the context with evidence to back up his
 WHEN SHOULD YOU INCORPORATE
EVIDENCE?
• Once you have formulated your claim, your thesis, you
should use evidence to help strengthen your thesis and any
assertion you make that relates to your thesis. Here are
some ways to work evidence into your writing:
• Weak and Strong Uses of Evidence
• 1.State your claim.
• 2.Give your evidence, remembering to relate it to the claim.
• 3.Comment on the evidence to show how it supports the
claim.
 WEAK USE OF EVIDENCE
• Today, we are too self-centered. Most families no longer sit
down to eat together, preferring instead to eat on the go
while rushing to the next appointment (Gleick 148).
Everything is about what we want
• This is a weak example of evidence because the evidence is
not related to the claim. What does the claim about self-
centeredness have to do with families eating together? The
writer does not explain the connection.
 STRONGER USE OF EVIDENCE
• Today, Americans are too self-centered. Even our families
don't matter as much anymore as they once did. Other
people and activities take precedence. In fact, the evidence
shows that most American families no longer eat together,
preferring instead to eat on the go while rushing to the next
appointment (Gleick 148). Sit-down meals are a time to
share and connect with others; however, that connection
has become less valued, as families begin to prize individual
activities over shared time, promoting selfcenteredness over
group identity.
 STRONG AND WEAK USE OF EVIDENCE

• Weak example: "Social media is bad for society. People

spend too much time on their phones."
• Strong example: "The excessive use of social media has
negative impacts on society. A 2021 study by the Pew
Research Center found that 48% of Americans aged 18-29
report feeling anxious when they don't have access to social
media, indicating a concerning level of dependency (Smith &
Anderson, 2021). Furthermore, a meta-analysis of 43 studies
published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology
concluded that there is a significant correlation between
increased social media use and decreased well-being,
including higher rates of depression and loneliness (Liu et
al., 2020)."
 USING QUOTATIONS: A SPECIAL TYPE OF
EVIDENCE
• One effective way to support your claim is to use quotations.
However, because quotations involve someone else's words,
you need to take special care to integrate this kind of
evidence into your essay. Here are two examples using
quotations, one less effective and one more so.
 INEFFECTIVE USE OF QUOTATION
• Today, we are too self-centered. "We are consumers-
on-the-run . . . the very notion of the family meal as
a sit-down occasion is vanishing. Adults and children
alike eat . . . on the way to their next activity" (Gleick
148). Everything is about what we want. This
example is ineffective because the quotation is not
integrated with the writer's ideas. Notice how the
writer has dropped the quotation into the paragraph
without making any connection between it and the
 A MORE EFFECTIVE USE OF QUOTATION
• Today, Americans are too self-centered. Even our families
don't matter as much anymore as they once did. Other
people and activities take precedence, as James Gleick says
in his book, faster. "We are consumers-on-the-run . . . the
very notion of the family meal as a sit-down occasion is
vanishing. Adults and children alike eat . . . on the way to
their next activity" (148). Sit-down meals are a time to share
and connect with others; however, that connection has
become less valued, as families begin to prize individual
activities over shared time, promoting selfcenteredness over
 A MORE EFFECTIVE USE OF QUOTATION
• Example: When arguing for the importance of
arts education in schools:
"The value of arts education extends far beyond
the art room. As renowned educator Sir Ken
Robinson states, 'Creativity now is as important
in education as literacy, and we should treat it
with the same status' (Robinson, 2006). This
perspective challenges us to reconsider the role
of arts in our educational system and its impact
on developing well-rounded, innovative
 CITING YOUR SOURCES
• Evidence appears in essays in the form of quotations and
paraphrasing. Both forms of evidence must be cited in your
text. Citing evidence means distinguishing other writers'
information from your own ideas and giving credit to your
sources. There are plenty of general ways to do citations.
Note both the lead-in phrases and the punctuation (except
the brackets) in the following examples: Quoting: According
to Source X, "[direct quotation]" ([date or page #]).
• Summarizing: In her book, Source P's main points are Q, R,
and S [citation]. Your job during your essay is to persuade
your readers that your claims are feasible and are the most
effective way of interpreting the evidence.
 EVIDENCE VS. CITATION
• Don’t confuse evidence with citation.
Evidence is the facts used to support the
claim. Citation tells the reader where the
writer got the facts. Just because a writer
does not cite her or his sources, does not
mean she or he has no evidence.
• ( The Trustees of Indiana University, 2020)

https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/usin
 EVIDENCE VS. CITATION
• Don’t confuse evidence with citation.
Evidence is the facts used to support the
claim. Citation tells the reader where the
writer got the facts. Just because a writer
does not cite her or his sources, does not
mean she or he has no evidence.
• ( The Trustees of Indiana University, 2020)

https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/usin