1. Making a Claim Grounds for Claim Evaluation Beyond Brainstorm

2. Making a Claim definitely true probably true no verdict probably false definitely true not evaluated

3. Grounds for Claim Common Knowledge what “everybody knows”, usually with reference to the community in which the term is used just because everyone believes something is true does not make it so there are many things which many people believe to be true which actually are true sometimes the assertion that something is “common knowledge” is merely another way of saying that someone is ignoring an obvious fact, or should have known about it had they been paying attention

4. Own Personal Knowledge something that you know because you have experienced it things you have found out for yourself you have seen it you were there when it happened it has happened to you Grounds for Claim

5. Expert Opinion someone widely recognized as a reliable source of knowledge, technique, or skill, whose judgment is accorded authority and status by the public or their peers an expert differs from the specialist in that a specialist has to be able to solve a problem and an expert has to know its solution the opposite of an expert is generally known as a layperson a person may well be an expert in one field and a layperson in many other fields. Grounds for Claim

6. Testimony an account of first-hand experience an ‘eye-witness’ to an event Grounds for Claim

7. Considered Plausibility reasonable and likely to be true you have thought seriously about it and believe it to be true there are some reasons for believing it Grounds for Claim

8. Necessary Truth something that cannot fail to be true can be demonstrated through an analysis of terms, so that in the end they become identities “All squares have four sides,” is a necessary truth, since anything with five sides is not a square. The word ‘square’ is defined by its having four sides, such that ‘five-sided square’ is a contradiction in terms a claim is said to be a necessary truth if, (roughly), it is true in all possible worlds or situations, (including the actual world) Grounds for Claim

9. No Grounds Apply none of the other grounds relate to this idea other grounds don’t help us evaluate the claim none of the grounds apply Grounds for Claim

10. Not Evaluated the statement has not been evaluated a claim has been made but there has been no reason given for us to think it is true an idea has been put forward without any assessment the claim is just that - a claim - this is its only status Grounds for Claim

11. conclusive support strong support weak support no support not evaluated Evaluation of Reason