Arguing & Persuading

What you need to know as you write your research paper.

It’s not exactly an argument….

An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be

• an opinion or interpretation

• a cause & effect statement

• an evaluation• a policy proposal

But it does have a goal.

The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

Thesis should do some things.

• A thesis statement should be specific & clear.

• A thesis statement should take a stance.

• A thesis should appear at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

• Note: A thesis may need revision as the paper.

A thesis shouldn’t do certain things.

• A thesis is never a question.

• A thesis is never a list.

• A thesis should never be vague, combative, or confrontational.

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The thesis must be debatable.

Pollution is bad for the environment.

• At least twenty-five percent of the federal budget should be spent on limiting pollution.

• America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars.

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The thesis needs to be narrow.

Drug use is detrimental to society.Illegal drug use is detrimental because it encourages gang violence.

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A good thesis needs to be both.

Example of a narrow thesis:

At least twenty-five percent of the federal budget should be spent on limiting pollution.

Narrowed debatable thesis:

At least twenty-five percent of the federal budget should be spent on helping upgrade business to clean technologies, researching renewable energy sources, and planting more trees in order to control or eliminate pollution.

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A good thesis needs to be both.

Example of a narrow thesis:

America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars.

Narrowed debatable thesis:

America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars because it would allow most citizens to contribute to national efforts and care about the outcome.

Approach your paper with a claim.

Claims typically fall into one of four categories.

1. Claim of fact or definition

2. Claim of cause and effect

3. Claim about value

4. Claim about solution or policy

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Claims of fact or definition

These claims argue about what the definition of something is or whether something is a settled fact.

What some people refer to as global warming is actually nothing more than normal, long-term cycles of climate change.

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Claims of cause and effect

These claims argue that one person, thing, or event caused another thing or event to occur.

The popularity of SUV's in America has caused pollution to increase.

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Claims about value

These are claims made about what something is worth, whether we value it or not, how we would rate or categorize something.

Global warming is the most pressing challenge facing the world today; governments needs to acknowledge this and take steps to minimize it.

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Claims about solution or policies

These are claims that argue for or against a certain solution or policy approach to a problem.

Instead of drilling for oil in Alaska, we should be focusing on ways to reduce oil consumption, such as researching renewable energy sources.