Writing

Most often, what you see or hear, read or write, find on tv or hear in an Eminem song can be considered an argument. Maybe not the kind of argument you have with your roommate over who left the moldy pizza under the bed, but an argument nevertheless.

Below you'll find:

• an overview of argumentation
• argument components
• ways to use argumentation in your reading and writing
• an example
• and some other writing links

But, what is an argument?

Basically, you can think of arguments like legal cases:

• Like legal cases, arguments are events that take place before a judge (or audience, reader, cd-shopper, etc.)
• Like legal cases, arguments involve different parties taking different perspectives on the same set of evidence
• Like legal cases, arguments include claims, or assertions about what the evidence means
• Like legal cases, arguments are supported with specific grounds, or evidence

Okay, but what does thinking about arguments as cases get me?

Actually, thinking in terms of arguments or argumentation gets you a lot as a student, a reader, a writer, a tv viewer, a voter, etc. Since we all already have a sense of how legal cases work, applying the language and logic of legal cases to what you read, see, etc., gives you a built-in system for understanding the arguments that are made around you.

Even more importantly, talking and writing in terms of arguments also gives you a built-in system for communicating what you understand about the arguments around you. You can use this framework to make your own more powerful arguments.

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Argument components

Claims are the substantive assertions made to advance an argument and/or the conclusions drawn from reviewing grounds. Note: unlike a thesis, of which there is usually only one and which is usually tied to its placement in an introduction, a single argument is likely to be built of many claims (both grounded and ungrounded) which may occur at any place throughout the text.

Grounds are the evidence used to support particular claims. Grounds may include statistical or historical data, case studies, close readings, etc.

Aims are the primary (and often, but not always, stated) goals of an argument.

Stakes are the (subtle or obvious) reasons for an author’s investment in making a particular argument. Stakes are sometimes quite difficult to identify, so consider: whose needs would be served if the argument at hand is accepted, whose needs would be threatened if the argument at hand is accepted, what you know about the stakes of those the author expresses an affiliation with, what you know about the stakes of those the author expresses a disaffiliation to.

Warrants are the (often unwritten) assumptions that must be held for a given argument to be "bought." They often represent the connection the author assumes between the claim and the grounds. Like stakes, warrants are quite difficult to identify, so consider what specific details of the author’s vision of the world must be held to make the argument at hand.

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How do I use this framework?

Reading, listening, viewing: As you read an article for school, a new government proposition, an email from a friend; as you listen to a radio call in show or a rap song; as you watch a new movie or the evening news, thinking in terms of argumentation can help you work through complexity and subtlety to the underlying structure of an argument. This can help you avoid being manipulated by gut-level reactions and emotional appeals. It can help you read and understand more quickly. It can help you remember what you read or see.

• Identifying the component parts of the case will help you understand the argument with more nuance.
• Taking notes on these argumentation components (say in the margins of an article) will also add to your understanding, will speed rethinking/rereading, and will help prepare you to respond to the argument.
• Using a single vocabulary to discuss the components of all the arguments you run across will help you: feel more fluent in the terms, analyze different and increasingly complex arguments more quickly, understand the relationships between different arguments, and communicate with others about these arguments.

Speaking, writing, making arguments: Arguments occur as part of a larger discourse or conversation. Once you understand and have a vocabulary for talking about the arguments that surround you, you're in a better position to join in that conversation with authority. Typically, to do that, you're going to want to tell your listener at least three things:

1. Who else is involved in this conversation and what positions have they taken so far? Here, people want a summary from you, but not any summary. They want an argumentation summary.

   An argumentation summary: represents the keystone of any academic argument. An author’s ability to summarize a text demonstrates that they are aware of and caught up with the current state of the conversation, that they are trustworthy, fair, and accurate, (via fairness and accuracy), and the “take” on the conversation that informs their contribution.

2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of those positions? Here, people want your most judicious, even-handed, and informed evaluation of an argument.

   An evaluation of an argument: rests on the same argumentation terms you're already familiar with. Your careful analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of those specific component parts of an argument is a valuable contribution to the conversation.

3. What do you have to add? Here, based on your understanding and careful and grounded evaluation of the converrsation as it stands, you are ready to put in your two cents. And you will have readers/listeners who trust you enough to care.

   Your two cents: If you didn't enter this argument knowing what you wanted to say, you might want to work out from your evaluative observations. If you think a particular argument is not sufficiently grounded, your two cents might include finding new grounding that would flesh it out. Or, if you have noticed that some people have a lot at stake in an argument and are really disserved by the argument as it stands, you might want to pose a counter-argument. Whatever you do, those argumentation building blocks can help you do it.

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An example:

Imagine this scenario: After checking out this website, you hit Email Me and send the following email:

Subject: You're brilliant!

Dear Engaged Intellectual,

I checked out your website and I think it's the most fabulous thing I've ever seen. It is attractive, clever, useful, and a wonderful contribution to the world at large.

Thanks,

A fan

How could argumentation help make sense of this email "argument"?

Claim: This website is "the most fabulous thing."

Grounds: "It is attractive, clever, useful, and a wonderful contribution."

Now for the nitty gritty, the aims, stakes, and warrants:

For more on argumentation, check out:

Richard Penticoff and Linda Brodkey’s “Writing About Difference: ‘Hard Cases’ for Cultural Studies,” in Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only. Linda Brodkey. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. 228-45.

Stephen Edelston Toulmin. The Uses of Argument. NY: Cambrige UP, 1958.

Nancy V. Wood. "The Essential Parts of an Argument: The Toulmin Model." Writing Argumentative Essays. Nancy V. Wood. Second ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. 122-57.

And these websites:

Welcome to LEO: Literacy Education Online

Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue

Professor Will Hochman's Writing Resources