Boxes
Conclusion
Reasoning step
Premise
Citation or source
Definition, method, or assumption
No source in the paper
Lines
supports
inferred from
relies on
quotes source
SAFE AuditSM · Example argument map
Which claims hold up the conclusion, and which have no source
This example maps a published position paper in which a taxpayer organization opposes a city's proposed tax on long-vacant homes. Every box is a statement from the paper, and the arrows show which statements lean on which. Click any box to trace its chain, or use the toggles to see what happens to the conclusion when a supporting argument is removed.
How to use the map
Authors use these views to find thin spots before a document is published. Organizations answering another party's document use them to decide what to address.
Plan a response to an opposing document
The conclusion rests on a few direct supports. Pick one to see every claim and source beneath it, so a response can address the argument at its base.
Find statements with no support
A dashed red border marks a claim with no source anywhere in the document. These are the first places to ask where a figure or assertion comes from.
See what fails if a condition changes
Some claims hold only while an outside condition stands, such as a court ruling still on appeal. Remove the condition and see which claims fall and whether the conclusion survives.
See what rests on a single source
Click a source to light up every claim that depends on it. If that source is wrong or out of date, these are the claims at risk.
About this example
The source is a public position paper. Names, places, and figures have been removed, and each statement is paraphrased. The structure of the argument, its sources, and the claims with no source are as they appear in the paper.
The map shows the paper's argument. It does not judge whether the paper's position is right.
How to read this map
The map flows bottom to top and ends at the dark box, the paper's conclusion. The chips under the toolbar name the arguments that feed the conclusion directly.
Click a chip, or any box, to light up that argument's chain: everything it stands on and everything it feeds, up to the conclusion. The full statement appears at the bottom of the map. Click the box again, or the background, to clear it.
Colors sort the boxes. The dark box is the conclusion. Blue boxes are reasoning steps. White boxes are premises the paper takes as given. Tan boxes are source material: citations, definitions, methods, and assumptions. A white box with a dashed red border is a claim with no source anywhere in the paper.
A solid blue arrow means one statement supports another. A teal arrow means a statement is inferred directly from another, so it falls if its source falls. A dashed grey line means a statement relies on data, a definition, or an assumption. Hover a line or a box to read it in full.
The toggles test resilience. Remove the outside court ruling, or the claims with no source, and watch what greys out. "Show full graph" adds supporting detail that is hidden by default.
Direct supports