Evaluating Arguments in Literary Nonfiction

Why Do We Analyze Arguments in Nonfiction?

Every day, you're surrounded by people trying to convince you of something. Advertisers want you to buy their product. Politicians want your support. Even your friends try to persuade you to see a certain movie. The ability to evaluate arguments (figure out if someone's reasoning actually makes sense) is one of the most powerful skills you can develop. It doesn't just help in English class — it protects you from being tricked and helps you form your own strong opinions.

Literary nonfiction (writing about real events, ideas, or people that uses storytelling techniques) is where you'll encounter some of the most persuasive arguments. Think of speeches, memoirs, essays, and investigative articles. These texts don't just state facts — they make claims (statements the author believes are true) and back them up with evidence (facts, examples, or reasoning that support the claim). Your job is to figure out how well those claims hold up.

The big question this lesson answers: When you read a piece of literary nonfiction, how do you figure out whether the author's argument is strong, weak, or somewhere in between?

Core Skills: The Building Blocks of Argument Analysis

Before you can evaluate an argument, you need to understand its parts. Every argument in literary nonfiction is built from a few key pieces. Let's break them down.

When you delineate (trace or outline) an argument, you're identifying these four pieces. When you evaluate (judge the quality of) an argument, you're asking whether the evidence is relevant, the reasoning is logical, and the claims actually follow from the proof provided.

Visual Map: Anatomy of an Argument

The diagram below shows how the parts of an argument fit together. Notice that the central claim sits at the top, supported by supporting claims, which are each backed by evidence and held together by reasoning.

When you read literary nonfiction, you're essentially working from the bottom up. You start by finding the evidence, then see how the author connects it through reasoning, then identify the supporting claims, and finally arrive at the central claim. Once you've mapped all of this out, you're ready to judge whether the whole structure holds together.

How to Delineate and Evaluate: A Step-by-Step Process

Here's the cool part: there's a repeatable process you can use every time you encounter an argument in literary nonfiction. Follow these steps, and you'll never feel lost.

Let's go deeper on Step 5 — Evaluate, because this is where the real critical thinking happens. When you evaluate, you're asking yourself several key questions:

Types of Evidence and How Strong They Are

Not all evidence is created equal. Some types of evidence are much stronger than others. When you evaluate an argument, it helps to know what kinds of evidence the author is using and how reliable each type tends to be.

Here's the important thing to remember: a great piece of literary nonfiction usually uses multiple types of evidence. An author who relies only on personal stories is making a weaker argument than one who combines statistics, expert opinions, and real-world examples. When you evaluate, notice which types of evidence the author uses most.

Worked Example: Evaluating an Argument

Let's walk through a complete example. Below is a short passage from a literary nonfiction essay. We'll follow our five-step process to delineate and evaluate the argument.

Common Strengths and Pitfalls in Arguments

As you practice evaluating arguments, you'll start noticing patterns. Some moves make arguments stronger, while others are red flags. Here's a quick comparison to keep in mind.

You should also watch out for logical fallacies — these are tricks in reasoning that can make a weak argument seem strong. Here are a few common ones you might encounter in literary nonfiction:

Beyond 8th Grade: Where This Skill Takes You

The argument analysis skills you're building right now are the foundation for everything you'll do in high school English, debate class, history courses, and even science. As you move forward, these skills get deeper and more sophisticated. Here's a preview of how things evolve.

Notice how the 8th-grade skills are the exact same skills — just applied at a more basic level. You're not learning something that will become irrelevant. You're learning the beginner version of a skill that professionals use every day. Lawyers evaluate arguments in court. Journalists evaluate claims from public figures. Scientists evaluate evidence in research papers. What you're doing right now is the start of all of that.

Practice Problems

Time to put your skills to work! Try each problem on your own before clicking "Show Answer."

Putting It All Together