60 CHAPTER 3 | FRom IdEnTIFyIng ClAIms To AnAlyzIng ARgumEnTs(an inference), and offer an explanation based on that conclusion (an
interpretation).
So, for example, an academic writer will study the evidence on the
quantity of natural resources in Alaska and the rate that industries har-
ness those resources and process them into goods; only after the writer
makes an informed decision on whether Alaska’s resources are sufficient
to keep pace with the demand for them will he or she take a position on
the issue.
Another claim of fact is one that seeks to define or classify. For example,
researchers have sought to define a range of behaviors such as autism that
actually resist simple definition. After all, autism exists along a behavioral
spectrum attributed variably to genetics and environment. Psychologists
have indeed tried to define autism using a diagnostic tool to characterize
behaviors associated with communication and social interaction. However,
definitions of autism have changed over time, reflecting changing criteria
for assessing human behavior and the perspective one takes. So do we in
fact have a “crisis” in the over diagnosis of autistic behaviors as some have
claimed? For that matter, who gets to decide what counts as a crisis?
Let’s now come to the Sadkers’ claim of fact that female students are
“more likely to be invisible members of classrooms” and that teachers
interact differently with female students than they do with male students.
The careful reader will want to see how the Sadkers support these claims
of fact throughout the essay. Can they convincingly present their argument
about “the secret sexist lessons and the quiet losses they engender” in the
paragraphs that follow?■ (^) Identify Claims of Value
A claim of fact is different from a claim of value, which expresses an
evaluation of a problem or condition that has existed, exists, or will exist.
Is a condition good or bad? Is it important or inconsequential?
For example, an argument that developing the wilderness in Alaska
would irreversibly mar the beauty of the land indicates that the writer
values the beauty of the land over the possible benefits of development.
A claim of value presents a judgment, which is sometimes signaled by a
value-laden word like ugly, beautiful, or immoral, but may also be con-
veyed more subtly by the writer’s tone and attitude.
Sadker and Sadker make a claim of value when they suggest that
a “majority of our nation’s schoolchildren” have become “second-class
educational citizens” and point out that the consequences of treating
girls differently from boys in school has resulted in a “loss of self-esteem,
decline in achievement, and elimination of career options” for girls
(para. 2). Of course, the critical reader’s task is to question these evalua-
tions: Does gender bias in the classroom affect self-esteem, achievement,
and career options? Both of these statements are minor claims, but they
03_GRE_5344_Ch3_055_079.indd 60 11/19/14 11:06 AM