Academics · Study Skills

Every claim, backed
and explained.

Teachers write “needs more support” for three reasons: too little evidence, evidence with no source, or evidence with no explanation of why it matters. Lay out each claim with its evidence, sources and reasoning before you draft. The organizer counts sources and kinds, measures the explanation and flags the claims a reader would not yet believe.

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Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Study skills kit, $29 for 30 items.

Claims

The worked example is made up from an essay on later school start times: one claim with three sources and a full explanation, one resting on a single newsletter and one with an unsourced statistic and a one-word explanation. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Academics · Study Skills$5

What you finish with
A record per claim: paper, the claim, evidence as rows (what it says, kind, source, page), the reasoning and a counterclaim with an answer. Works out pieces of evidence, distinct sources and kinds, unsourced pieces and explanation length; counts claims that are well supported; flags single evidence, missing sources, one-source claims, thin explanations and no counterclaim.
Who it is for
Students in grades 6 to 12 and college writing arguments, research papers and essays.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per claim. Prints one claim as an outline, every claim in a table or a blank organizer; 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 claim in one sentence.
  2. Add each piece of evidence with its source and page.
  3. Explain in your own words how it proves the claim.
  4. Name the best objection and answer it.
  5. Fix the flags before you draft.

Add a claim

How an argument holds

Claim, evidence, reasoning1ClaimOne sentence a reader coulddisagree with.2EvidenceTwo or more pieces, fromdifferent sources.3SourceWho said it, where, and thepage.4ReasoningHow the evidence proves thisclaim.5CounterclaimThe best objection, statedfairly.6AnswerWhy the claim still holds.Claim, evidence, reasoning1ClaimOne sentence a reader could disagreewith.2EvidenceTwo or more pieces, from differentsources.3SourceWho said it, where, and the page.4ReasoningHow the evidence proves this claim.5CounterclaimThe best objection, stated fairly.6AnswerWhy the claim still holds.
Most weak paragraphs have evidence. What they are missing is the reasoning that connects it to the claim.

Two kinds are stronger than one

A statistic shows how much; an expert view or an example shows why or what it looks like. A claim supported by two kinds of evidence from two independent sources is much harder to wave away than three quotations from one article.

The explanation is the essay

Evidence does not speak for itself. The sentences after a quotation, saying what it shows and why that proves the claim, are where your own thinking is, and they are usually what teachers grade most heavily.

Sources

  1. Toulmin, S. (1958). The Uses of Argument. Cambridge University Press.
  2. Common Core State Standards. Writing standard 1: arguments supported with clear reasons and relevant evidence, grades 6 to 12 (corestandards.org).
  3. Graff, G. and Birkenstein, C. (2021). They Say / I Say (5th ed.). W. W. Norton.
  4. Purdue Online Writing Lab. Using evidence; argumentative essays (owl.purdue.edu).

The worked example is made up; its sources are real research areas named for illustration, so check any source before you use it. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.