Argument
Writing Workshop
Dr. Carolyn Fortuna, IDigItMedia
Writing Lively Argument Statements
Start by taking a strong individual position.
Would someone disagree with you? If not, it’s not a claim.
What’s the difference between a thesis statement and an argument statement?
expository = explanatory
descriptive
thesis statement
argumentation =
controversial
taking a position
Writing Lively Argument Statements
Assume a contemporary stance (not grounded in a historical time period). Is your argument statement about today’s world through theory?
Use sophisticated vocabulary.
Did you resort to the Language of Interpretation Glossary as you wrote? If not, maybe you should. And check out these abstracts.
Writing Lively Argument Statements
Make sure you have universal appeal.
Will all people who read your claim find a part which which they can identify (either for or against)?
Writing Lively Argument Statements
No first person narrator. (But you already knew that, right?)
Your voice carries authority; it’s understood that you are offering a point of view.
Writing Lively Argument Statements
Say everything in one paragraph
Your first sentence is your argument statement. Where do you go from there in your second sentence?
Refer to a text as evidence. “Ibsen creates the character of Nora in A Doll’s House as….” OR “In A Doll’s House, Ibsen manipulates his audience by…” OR “A Doll’s House, by Ibsen, uses X to establish Y” OR…. your own version...
Say everything in one paragraph
Your third sentence is another area of support.
Yes, refer to the text. No, don’t limit your discussion to plot.
Yes, describe behaviors and dilemmas that real people experience in real life.
Student sample from a 10-page research paper.
Say everything in one paragraph
Your fourth sentence is another area of support. However, it differs from the previous two sentences in that It also offers a nod to the opposition (i.e counterclaim).
How to Write a Rebuttal
The Final/ Concluding Statement
Elevate your entire argumentation with your concluding statement.
Language is especially important to a conclusion. Your goal in your final sentence is to leave your ideas resounding in your reader/ listener’s mind. Give him or her something to contemplate.
The Final/ Concluding Statement
Just as your argument statement transports your readers from their own lives into the situations posed by your analysis, your conclusion can provide a bridge to help your readers make the transition back to their daily lives.
Such a conclusion will help them see why all your analysis and information should matter to them after you’ve finished.
The Final/ Concluding Statement
Return to the definitions you posed in the introduction and point out how your theoretical analysis has added some new dimension to their meanings.
The Final/ Concluding Statement
Consider again the background of your textual evidence, and illustrate how your argument has shed new light on that information.
The Final/ Concluding Statement
Read your paragraph again from beginning to end so far.
Identify 6 phrases that are the foundation for your argumentation.
Mold them together into a new, transcendental sentence.