When you argue with friends about something that’s uncertain or that needs to be decided, the components that make up these discussions are similar to the ones you’ll use in your scholarly writing.

For instance, the question gets things started off. The claim, or thesis, tells people what you consider a true way of describing a thing, situation, relationship, or phenomenon or what action you think should be taken. The reservations, alternatives, and objections that someone else brings up in your sources (or that you imagine your readers logically might have) allow you to demonstrate how your reasons and evidence (maybe) overcome that kind of thinking—and (you hope) your claim/thesis comes out stronger for having withstood that test.

You can also look at this “Argument as Dialog” example by downloading it as a Word document.

Try this mini-quiz:

Adaptations

This section has been adapted from The Purpose of Academic Argument and Components of an Argument in Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

References

Booth W., Colomb, G. & Williams, J. (2003). The Craft of Research. University of Chicago Press.