Understanding an Argument Essay

  

The Audience:  Knowing your audience is crucial in argument writing. Of course, it is best if you can anticipate the position your audience already takes on your subject. The language and tone of your essay may change depending on whether you have a friendly audience who already supports your position, or if you have either a neutral or hostile audience.

It is imperative that you do not insult or judge your reader by suggesting that he/she is somehow less intelligent or knowledgeable if he/she does not accept your position.

Avoid making absolute statements that could somehow exclude your particular reader (“Anyone with even a high school education must believe . . .”).

Try to anticipate your audience’s objections to your position. Acknowledge these opposing arguments and, if you can, refute them.

The Opposition: It is always best in an argument that you consider all sides of your issue. If you show your audience that you have considered all opposing points of view before you chose your own side, you look as if you have made an impartial, fair evaluation of your whole subject.

When writing, it is often effective to let the audience know you are aware of opposing arguments—we call this bowing to the opposition. There are a few ways to do this:

--You may list in the introduction the opposing arguments before advancing your own.

--You may present an opposing position and refute it within each paragraph.

--You may present your entire argument logically and effectively (paragraph by paragraph), and then bring up and refute opposition paragraph at the end of the essay. This is the most common way of clarifying your argument, supporting it, acknowledging opposition, refuting it, and ending by reaffirming your argument is the most logical.

Introduction: You must accomplish two important tasks in the introduction of argument writing—defining your issue and making your stance clear.

The HOOK: Some writers try to engage the audience by offering compelling statistics, an intriguing statement, or a rhetorical question. These are excellent tools to draw the reader into the argument, but do not over-rely on gimmicks to engage the audience. Your job is not to ask rhetorical questions, though; your job is to anticipate and answer audience questions. In fact, except for your opening HOOK sentence of the Introduction, you will not use questions anywhere in the body of the essay.

The General Overview: In a few sentences, you will move from the HOOK by providing the audience with some general information to understand the issue.  This will not contain any source materials since you are simply declaring your opening statement.  You are not supporting the argument.  You are working to provide background for the argument in this section of the Introduction.

The THESIS: When you first begin to craft a thesis statement for argument writing, think of creating a mathematical equation. Let your reader know that by considering a + b + c + d, he or she will be able to accept your conclusion. This equation offers you a good example of how to give your reader both your argument and its direction early in the essay. The equation will also serve as a good check during revision for the writer; that is, the writer can go back and see whether he/she has actually done effective paragraphs on all parts of the equation promised in the introduction. Many writers know this strategy as the essay map.  The essay map plots out the steps of argument for the reader.  The Thesis will come as the last sentence in the Introduction paragraph, and it is best to read this sentence all by itself and see if the issue, argument (proposal, ethical, cause/effect), and direction (essay map) is clearly stated  

The Overall Argument: Good argument writing is critical, assertive, and with-proof writing. It should reflect a serious attempt on the writer’s part to have considered the issue from all angles—to have analyzed and synthesized all arguments on the subject, and having done so, chosen the most logical and reasoned position. From this logical position, the writer can articulate each of the THESIS sub-points in the first 4 or 5 sentences of a body paragraph.  In this way, the writer clearly establishes authority on the issue at hand, and only once it is firmly asserted does the ‘with proof’ part of the paragraph begin.

Paragraphing: Every paragraph should begin with a clear topic sentence—one that specifically considers one aspect of the argument. Every sentence in the paragraph should relate to the TOPIC SENTENCE. The legitimacy of any argument depends on the evidence offered for each point the writer advances. While you will need to begin the body paragraph with your own argument and assertions on the issue, these sentences must be followed by logical support that will defend your view of the issue.  However, you want to make sure that the sources do not dominate.  They are not there to create an argument for you.  You need to create the argument first.  They are there to defend the argument that you have asserted through the TOPIC SENTENCE and the handful of sentences that followed.  Each point should be fully explained in your own words, followed by substantial, convincing detail and evidence. The clearer the initial explanation of the argument in the first few sentences of the body paragraph, the better the reader will accept the source content that follows to prove the argument is sound.  Choose your evidence carefully.  More is not better: better is better. The better the experts you cite, the more winning the argument will be for your audience. If you are doing secondary research, try to have at least one source per body paragraph to defend your overall argument; however, you do not have to rely on just one outside source for evidence—the more experts you consider as support for the argument (you made early on in the body paragraph), the more well-rounded your argument will be in the end.

Organization: Try to outline your argument before you begin writing. This will help you discover the most effective plan of organization. Should you go from strongest point to weakest or from simplest to most complex? Remember, by nature, the reader usually remembers what he/she reads last. No matter what the order you decide to present your points, you must create a logical progression and smooth transitions between paragraphs.

Conclusion: Be sure to remind the audience what you were trying to prove in the essay (your overall THESIS).  You will also want to include the main points that you argued that led to them ultimately agreeing that your viewpoint must be correct.  Finally, you will include some kind of final statement that gives the reader a sense of closure to your argument. Some writers use the conclusion to encourage the audience to take some action, but you must remember not to introduce new, unsubstantiated arguments in the conclusion. This is the place to remind the reader of the position they must now take on the subject.

Reasoning: Before completing your final draft, you will want to check each of your arguments for sound reasoning. Below is a list of common logical fallacies (taken from Axelrod and Cooper’s The Concise Guide to Writing) that can jeopardize the soundness of your argument and can alienate your audience. Be careful to avoid them.

Failing to accept the burden of proof: when the writer asserts a claim but provides no support for it.

The prophet Ezekiel’s encounter with a U.F.O. is paraphrased in the first chapter of Ezekiel. This is not the only encounter in the Bible but the most obvious one to be recognized by modern man as an alien encounter.

Hasty generalization: when the writer asserts a claim on the basis of an isolated example.

Bob is left-handed. He is very creative. Left-handed people are creative.

Sweeping generalization: when the writer fails to qualify the applicability of the claim and asserts that it applies to “all” instead of to “some.”

All people are bad drivers.

Overgeneralization: when the writer fails to qualify the claim and asserts that “it is certainly true” rather than “it may be true.”

It is certainly true that men perform better in high stress jobs.

Begging the question: when the believability of the support itself depends on the believability of the claim—circular reasoning.

Women do not belong in military schools because they were designed exclusively for men.

False analogy: when two cases are not sufficiently parallel to lead readers to accept the claim.

What the police force did to frame O.J. Simpson was exactly like what the Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust.

False use of authority: when the writers invoke as an expert in the field being discussed a person whose expertise or authority lies not in the given field but in another.

If Oprah recommends She’s Come Undone, it must be a great novel!

Non sequitur—“it does not follow”: when one statement is not logically connected to another.

Many people question the legitimacy of the stories in The National Enquirer—but they must hold some truth since over 3 million people buy it every week.

Red herring: when a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the central issue. 

Marijuana smoking is not very harmful. I’d rather ride in a car driven by a pot smoker than someone under the influence of alcohol.

Post hoc—“after this, therefore because of this”: when the writer implies that because one event follows another, the first caused the second. Chronology does not equal causality.

Before uniforms were introduced at Will Rogers Middle School, Rogers ranked 14^th out of 19 district schools on a statewide algebra test, but the following year when they wore uniforms, their ranking jumped to 4^th.

Slippery Slope: when the writer argues that taking one step will lead inevitably to a next step, one that is undesirable.

The legalization of euthanasia will ultimately lead to our killing the homeless, the handicapped, and the elderly.

Equivocation: when a writer uses the same term in two different senses in an argument. To equivocate is to use ambiguous words purposely to mislead or deceive or hedge.

People say that sexism and racism are forms of discrimination. But what’s wrong with discrimination? We discriminate all the time in our choices of food, homes, and friends.

Oversimplification: when an argument obscures or denies the complexity of the issue.

The welfare system’s problems can be solved if we enroll its recipients in job training programs.

Either/or reasoning: when the writer reduces the issue to only two alternatives that are polar opposites.

Either we choose democracy or we choose anarchy.

Ad hominem—“against the man”: when the writer attacks his or her opponents personally rather than arguing the issues.

The president, who was little more than a draft dodger, sent our troops into Iraq yesterday.

Some of the content came from… Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles Raymond Cooper. The Concise St. Martins Guide to Writing. Bedford/St. Martins, 2015. “Writing an Argument.” Writing an Argument: The Purpose of Argument Writing, Belmont University, webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BQfOnPHMkE4J:www. belmont.edu/english/pdf/Writing an Argument.pdf &cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.