A claim,or assertion,is a statement that could be put into the form of a declarative sentence. It can be in the form of a factor judgment,although the distinction between these two is often a matter of social consensus.

A premiseis a claim that supports another claim.

An argument, at its simplest, is a claim that is supported by a premise. In full texts, the main claim, or conclusion,is often supported by many premises, which are themselves supported by simple arguments (sometimes called sub-arguments). The main claim, or conclusion of the argument, will be the answer to the issue question.

An issue is a topic people have more than one perspective on. It can be expressed as a question that has more than one answer OR as a "whether" statement: "The issue is whether . . ." In a perfectly clear argument, the conclusion (or the conclusion plus the main premise) will be the answer to the issue question.

PREMISE CHECKLIST
___ Is it a claim?
___ Does it provide a reason or evidence in support of another claim?

ARGUMENT CHECKLIST
___ Is there a claim?
___ Is there a reason or evidence in support of that claim?

ISSUE CHECKLIST
___ Can it be expressed as an interesting question or as a "whether" statement?
___ Could the question have more than one possible answer?