Academics · Study Skills

Claim, warrant, evidence,
impact. Then the answer.

Debaters lose rounds with good ideas because a part is missing: a claim nobody could write down, evidence with no date, an impact that just repeats the claim, no answer ready for the obvious response. Build each argument in its parts. The organizer scores how many are written, checks the length of the claim and the age of the evidence, and flags what a sharp opponent would attack first.

Add an argumentWhat you get
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Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Study skills kit, $29 for 21 items.

Your arguments

The worked example is made up: two arguments for and one against a four-day school week, with general sources described rather than named. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Academics · Study Skills$5

What you finish with
A record per argument: resolution, side, claim, warrant, evidence author, credentials, year and quote, impact, the other side’s best answer and your response. Counts claim words and evidence age and scores five parts; counts arguments for each side and lists scores; flags claims over 20 words, evidence with no author or year, evidence eight or more years old, no credentials, thin or repeated impacts and no prepared answer.
Who it is for
Middle and high school students in debate, speech or English classes, and the teachers and parents helping them prepare.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per argument. Prints one argument as a card, every argument in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Study skills kit ($29) and the Academics Suite pass ($149), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Study Skills space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write the resolution and pick a side.
  2. Say the claim in one line, then why it is true.
  3. Copy the evidence word for word, with author and year.
  4. Push the impact one step past the claim.
  5. Write their best answer and yours.

Add an argument

The parts

An argument a judge can followClaimWhat you say istrue, in one line.A four-day week cutslearning time.WarrantWhy it is true.Longer days do notadd back a wholeday.EvidenceWho else says so,and when.Author, credentials,year, the quote.ImpactWhy it matters morethan their point.Who is hurt, howmuch.An argument a judge can followClaimWhat you say is true, in one line.A four-day week cuts learning time.WarrantWhy it is true.Longer days do not add back a whole day.EvidenceWho else says so, and when.Author, credentials, year, the quote.ImpactWhy it matters more than their point.Who is hurt, how much.
Many debate programs teach this as claim, warrant, impact, or as assertion, reasoning, evidence. Both come from Stephen Toulmin’s model of an argument.

Read the citation out loud

Judges cannot see your sources. Say the author, why they are qualified and the year before the quote: “a 2021 study by education economists at a state university found...” Evidence without a date invites the question of whether it is still true.

Weigh the impacts

Most close rounds come down to whose impact matters more. Compare them directly: which affects more people, which happens sooner, which is more likely, which cannot be undone. A judge should not have to do the weighing for you.

Sources

  1. Toulmin, S. (1958). The Uses of Argument. Cambridge University Press.
  2. National Speech and Debate Association. Resources for argument construction and evidence ethics (speechanddebate.org).
  3. Snider, A. and Schnurer, M. (2006). Many Sides: Debate Across the Curriculum. International Debate Education Association.
  4. Morton, E., Thompson, P. N., and Kuhfeld, M. Studies of four-day school weeks and student achievement, as background for the worked example (2021 to 2024).

The worked example is made up and its sources are described in general terms, not quoted from real studies. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.