Writer's Guidelines: Argument

1. Ask yourself the following question; then consider which parts of th persuasive statement or argument you should include in your essay.

Background: What is the historical or social context for this controversial issue?

Proposition (the thesis of the essay): What do I want my audience to believe or to do?

Qualification of proposition: Can I limit my proposition so that those who disagree cannot easily challenge me with exceptions?

Refutation (taking the opposing view into account, mainly to point out its fundamental weakness): What is the view on the other side, and why is it flawed in reasoning or evidence?

Support: In addition to sound reasoning, can I use appropriate facts, examples, statistics, and opinions of authorities?

2.The basic pattern of a paragraph or an essay of persuaion or argument is likely to be in this form:

Proposition (the topic sentence of the paragraph or the thesis of the essay)

I. Support 1
II. Support 2
III. Support 3