9-Making an Argument
Making an argument in an essay, term paper, blog post or other college writing task is like laying out a case in court. Just as there are conventions that attorneys must adhere to as they make their arguments in court, there are conventions in arguments made in research assignments. Among those conventions is to use the components of an argument.
Note: This section on making an argument was developed with the help of “Making Good Arguments” in The Craft of Research, by Wayne Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joseph Williams, University of Chicago Press, 2003.
The arguments you’re used to hearing or participating in with friends (about something that is uncertain or that needs to be decided) contain the same components as the ones you’ll need to use in academic writing. Arguments contain those components because those are the ones that work—used together, they stand the best chance of persuading others that you are correct.
The components of an argument include the question, which gets things started off. The claim, or thesis, answers the question and tells people what you consider a true way of describing a thing, situation, relationship, or phenomenon or what action you think should be taken. You acknowledge and respond to the reservations, alternatives, and objections that someone else brings up in your sources (or that you imagine your readers logically might have). This allows you to demonstrate how your reasons and evidence overcome that kind of thinking—and (you hope) your claim/thesis comes out stronger for having withstood that test. Occasionally, you must justify, or warrant, how your reasons are relevant to the claim.