Arguable — English definition
Defined in 2 courses:
- Describes a claim that reasonable people could genuinely disagree about — not an obvious fact or a pure matter of taste. (English 10: Choices, Conscience & Consequences)
- Open to more than one reasonable answer, so an informed claim about it can be genuinely debated rather than simply looked up. (English 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory)
Where it is taught
- Claims & Counterclaims — Argument, Rhetoric & Tragic Choices, English 10: Choices, Conscience & Consequences, Grade 10
- Developing a Research Question — Research & Source-Based Writing, English 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory, Grade 11
In use
A real claim has to be arguable: a thoughtful person, looking at the same facts, could genuinely disagree with it.
Claims & Counterclaims
Every sustained research project stands or falls on its research question, and at this level the single feature that separates a strong question from a weak one is whether it is arguable.
Developing a Research Question
Questions using arguable
Problem 1
- What year was the printing press invented?
- What is a printing press?
- To what extent did the printing press cause the Reformation, rather than only accelerating changes already under way?
- Tell me about the printing press.
Answer and explanation
To what extent did the printing press cause the Reformation, rather than only accelerating changes already under way?
Only this option is both arguable (informed people could disagree about how much the press caused) and scoped to a specific, researchable relationship; the others are factual, definitional, or not even questions.
Problem 2
Answer and explanation
A factual question has one correct answer you can simply look up, like a date or a definition, while an arguable question stays open to more than one reasonable answer, so informed people could disagree. A research project needs an arguable question because there must be something genuine to investigate, weigh, and defend — a factual question is answered and finished in a single sentence.
Problem 3
Answer and explanation
Answers vary; accept any specific, debatable question, such as, 'Should schools be allowed to use AI systems to grade student essays, given concerns about fairness and bias?' The question must name a specific relationship and stay open to more than one reasonable answer.