Franson - Professional Writing Example

Best, Joel. 2013. Social Problems. 2nd Edition. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

“If we ask people to explain why racism is a social problem, they are likely to emphasize justice or fairness. It is, they will explain, unjust to discriminate against people simply because they belong to a particular race. Some may add that racism also harms society in that victims of racial discrimination are blocked from making all of the contributions they might make to the larger society, so that not only are those victims harmed, but the larger society is damaged because it misses out on what the victims could contribute; moreover, society is harmed further because racial tensions create conflict that makes the society less productive and harmonious. In other words, it is easy to argue that racism is a harmful condition and should be recognized as a social problem” (Best 2013:5).

This excerpt from Best (2013) provides a good example of making a claim, providing evidence to support the claim, and using an evidence based approach to further the argument, in this case that racism is harmful to society as a whole.