College Composition / Unit 17 CMP 0408 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Representative Evidence
Captions available
The idea
Evidence is representative when the cases it draws on reflect the larger group the claim is about.
In practice
A paper arguing that a welfare system is widely abused cannot rest on one cousin's behavior; statistics show the pattern, and the personal example can then illustrate it.
Where people slip
Drawing a broad conclusion from limited experience is a logical error, covered with fallacies in unit thirty.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for College Composition