Based in Aristotle’s syllogism, a warrant is a universally accepted truth that can be used to defend a claim without extensive proof (Lunsford et al., 2013, p. 136). His assertion is that “claims and reasons should be based on assumptions that readers will likely accept” (Lunsford et al., 2013, p. 150). The key in that assertion is the audience, the readers. Students will need to pay attention to the fact that certain warrants are globally accepted, while others may simply be culturally or more specifically accepted. They must make the connection between themselves and their audience, since the assumption of a warrant being true must apply to the audience in order for the argument to be effective. This requires students to identify not only the argument but also the audience, and for students to fully understand who their audience is and what they know and accept.
Activity #1: Prove Them Guilty Source: George Hillocks, Teaching Argument Writing Students will receive a photograph of a crime scene and a statement from a witness. The goal is to figure out whether the witness is telling the truth based on the evidence. Immediately, the students will jump to conclusions, and the teacher's job is to walk them back through the process of why. Specifically, why the images that they saw led them to make the conclusions that they did, or the assumptions (warrants) they hold that allows them to make conclusions. For example, if a suspect has a large knife in his pocket, students will likely assume he is the killer. The students will be asked why they think this, and will likely respond that a person generally does not carry around a knife in their pocket unless they are going to kill someone.
While this specific thought likely did not occur in most of the students’ minds initially, they will all accept it as true because it was part of how they got to their conclusion. They can safely assume that everyone in the room knows that people do not carry deadly knives around in their pockets, and that should a person carry one, this creates legitimate grounds for suspicion. The students can trust that their claims of suspect will be accepted by their audience since both the students and the audience will accept the warrant that a person carrying a large knife in their pocket around the scene of a crime is evidence for that person’s guilt.
Activity #2: Prove Them Guilty...Somewhere Else Source: My Brain One of the most important things to note about warrants when students are writing is that their audience will not always accept them, depending on who their audience is. In the second part of this activity, students will receive a similar crime scene picture as before, only this time, they will also receive a list of cultural norms (warrants) for an imaginary country that the student will be trying to convince of the killer's identity. The more out-of-the-ordinary, the better. For example, one of the assumptions could be that carrying a huge knife in a person's pocket is a symbol of friendship, and that anyone who carries a giant knife should always be trusted. While the student assumes that the knife is clear grounds for suspicion, the audience will not because of the differences in what warrants they accept. The teacher could also add a warrant that the student does not think makes sense, such as wearing the color blue automatically makes a person seem guilty. In small groups, one student will play the detective and the rest will play citizens.
The goal of the one student is to use the warrants they are given to convince their audience that the person is guilty. Everyone can have a discussion afterwards, talking about how it was different from the first time around. The goal is to help the students realize that although this may be an extreme case, their audience will not always accept every warrant that they try to use. They can avoid misusing warrants by learning to identify them - such as the knife - and figuring out whether they need to explain why the audience should accept their claim, or whether they can assume that they and the audience share a common belief.