Level 4 — Upper Intermediate · Argument Writing
Task 26: Building a Claim-Reason-Evidence Argument
Write a short argumentative paragraph with a claim, a reason, and evidence that actually earns the claim — the writing side of Lesson 26's argument skeleton.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this task, you should be able to:
- Write a claim, a reason, and evidence that matches the size of the claim
- Attach a counterargument and a rebuttal to a claim, rather than presenting only one side
- Avoid overgeneralizing from a single example
Introduction
Lesson 26 taught you to find a claim, a reason, and evidence inside someone else's paragraph — and to notice a counterargument being answered by a rebuttal. This task flips the direction: you build that same skeleton yourself, from nothing, and you get to decide how much evidence a claim this size actually deserves.
The Rule, for Writing
Core Concept
Start with a claim you can actually defend in four or five sentences — not "remote work is good" (too broad to support briefly) but something narrow enough that one piece of evidence and one counterargument can carry it. Then build outward: claim → reason (why should I accept this?) → evidence (what actually backs it up?) → counterargument (what would a skeptic say?) → rebuttal (how do you answer them?).
Example
Small companies should adopt cloud-based inventory systems. (claim) Manual stock tracking causes frequent counting errors as a business grows. (reason) A 2023 survey of small retailers found that businesses using cloud inventory systems cut stock discrepancies by nearly a third. (evidence) Some owners argue that the monthly subscription cost isn't worth it for a small operation. (counterargument) However, the cost of a single major stock error usually exceeds a year of subscription fees. (rebuttal)
Your Turn
Your Turn
Write a five- or six-sentence argument on a topic of your own choosing (work, technology, a habit, a local issue — anything you can genuinely defend). It must contain, in order: a claim, a reason, one piece of evidence, a counterargument, and a rebuttal. Keep the claim narrow enough that your one piece of evidence is actually enough to support it — don't let "some employees" quietly become "all employees" by your last sentence.
Vocabulary in Context
rebuttalnounformal
a response that answers a counterargument without necessarily disproving it entirely (প্রতিউত্তর)
Often with offer a rebuttal, strong rebuttal, rebuttal to
“The letter offers a rebuttal of the claim that the delay was avoidable.”
overgeneralizeverbformal
to stretch a narrow piece of evidence into a much broader claim than it can support (অতি-সাধারণীকরণ করা)
Often with tend to overgeneralize, risk overgeneralizing, overgeneralize from
“To say every supplier is late from one case is to overgeneralize.”
Model Answer
Show a model answer
Port operators should invest in real-time container tracking software. Manual tracking often leaves staff unsure exactly where a container sits in the yard, which slows down loading schedules. A 2024 review of three mid-sized terminals found that real-time tracking cut average retrieval time by nearly twenty percent. Some terminal managers argue that the software is too expensive for smaller operations to justify. However, the recurring labor cost of manual searches, repeated every single day, usually outweighs the software's one-time setup cost within the first year.
Self-Check
Self-Check
- Is your evidence actually matched to the size of your claim — not a single anecdote propping up a universal statement?
- Did you include a real counterargument, not just a weak objection you immediately dismiss?
- Does your rebuttal answer the counterargument's actual concern, rather than changing the subject?
- Did you write this directly in English, without composing it in Bangla first?
Next: Writing 27 — Comparison, Contrast & Concession: joining two ideas with although, despite, and whereas without losing the point you're actually trying to make.