The Role and Structure of Warrants

What is a Warrant?

You’ve likely heard the term “warrant” used in cop procedural shows or true crime podcasts. But this chapter focuses on another type of warrant, one that connects a source’s idea back to your own.

Warrants follow your use of a source to provide a logical connection between your thesis statement and reasons and the ideas of the source. It’s an opportunity to say “here’s how I see this source supporting my own ideas.”

Why is a Warrant Needed?

Including a logical, well-developed warrant helps ensure that your reader’s focus stays on your ideas, rather than focus on your source.

Warrants can also help you establish a source’s connections to your ideas through the use of carefully selected verbs and transitions.

Constructing a Warrant

The key to composing a clear, meaningful warrant lies in your word choice. Think about the specific relationship you want to create between your argument and the source you cite.

Example

Thesis statement 

Social media sites based in the United States should implement a stricter age authentication process to ensure every individual creating an account on their platform is over the age of 16.

Reason 

Creating and implementing a stricter authentically process will help minimize the risk of adolescent users developing mental health problems stemming from online harassment.

Evidence

Smith and Adams found that adolescent social media users cited a significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety than their peers who did not have any active social media accounts (35).

Warrant 

Their work illustrates the consequences of unfettered access to social media sites can have on younger users, suggesting that stricter protocols for age verification would be beneficial in mitigating mental health problems among younger individuals.