Claims, Reasons, and Assumptions

Claims, reasons, and assumptions are the basic building blocks needed to create an argument. A claim is a belief or opinion a person makes known to others. A reason is a point or a fact used to back the claim. An assumption is a preconceived belief necessary for the reason and claim to be valid. I learned that by using the block method, or various other methods of choice, you can break down exactly what your claim is and from there you can determine what your reason and assumptions are specifically. I realized that this can be very useful to do before sitting down to write because it can help me clarify what exactly my assumptions are and separate them from my reasons in order to make my claim more rock solid. It can also help me to more easily think of possible counter arguments so that I may address them in my writing.