Constructing argumentative thesis

They struggle to let go of certain assumptions about how an academic paper should be. The essay portion of the SAT is a representative artifact of the writing skills that K education imparts. Some students who have mastered that form, and enjoyed a lot of success from doing so, assume that college writing is simply more of the same.

Assistant Professor Kenneth Paul A. The suggestion takes the form of a model that highlights what one might expect to find in the three main parts of a good argumentative essay. As a model to help you reflect on what you are doing well and what you should be doing differently, it is necessarily categorical and systematic.

In trying to master the model, you should not inadvertently become a slave to it. Otherwise, your essays will become rigid and sterile. Instead, use this as a mental checklist that you can build upon and even be playful with, developing in the process a confident, independent and original voice.

Identify and state your objects of analysis. The topic or question will often ask you to discuss central texts, key ideas or concepts, issues, or a combination of these.

Provide some background to the thesis and reveal the motive for arguing it. An effective description of the context, situation or problem can demonstrate why the thesis is interesting and worth arguing. Here is your Constructing argumentative thesis to convince your readers including the marker that your essay is worth reading—something not to be taken for granted!

Formulate and state your thesis. A thesis is a clearly articulated general idea that expresses the main point you want to argue in your essay. Define the key terms, state the assumptions, and describe the methodology. You will often find terms in the question, topic or your thesis itself whose meanings are essentially contested or indeterminate or ambiguous because of colloquial misuse.

These terms may be crucial in your larger analysis and, if for no other reason than this, must be defined even tentatively before you can hinge your arguments on them.

This is sometimes done in the interest of intellectual honesty and to indicate to the reader where you might be coming from ideologically. You may want to describe your main analytical approach e.

If your thesis tells the readers where you want to take them in the journey that is your essay, a roadmap will tell them how they will get there—which main roads, turning points, and detours they can expect to take.

To develop your thesis, you will need to construct a series of smaller supporting arguments that are relevant to the thesis. While every argument should be directed to the thesis, the individual arguments should not simply be linked together as a random chain of implicitly related but distinct reasons.

Constructing a Thesis Statement

Instead, they should follow a coherent and logical sequence that builds up, often dramatically, to a convincing and satisfying restatement of the thesis in the conclusion.

Using clear topic sentences that state the main point of each paragraph can help you to be sensitive to the shape of your arguments. You should also think about how the arguments can come together to produce a dramatic build-up, going through various twists and turns, and allowing for conflicts, negotiations, and resolutions to play out.

Other related considerations include a sense of timing e. Support your arguments with evidence. Broadly speaking, you can support your arguments with empirical evidence in the form of facts, data, statistics, examples, controlled observations, and so on.

You should not simply mention them; you should instead elaborate on them by giving details to be connected deliberately with the arguments being made. Also, you should try to give an indication of the reliability of your evidence.

You can also support your arguments with academic and professional expertise that you cite or quote directly. To avoid plagiarism, you must cite your sources. You will also need to imagine and anticipate reasonable objections to your thesis and the arguments developed around it.

You will need to describe these objections fairly i.Constructing a Thesis Statement A thesis statement is that sentence or two that asserts your position on a given issue, specifically, the position that you will be arguing for in your paper.

This thesis statement should appear somewhere in the introduction to your paper. Constructing an argument. When writing an essay, for example, the thesis statement will appear in your introduction and conclusion.

Each premise is usually in a separate paragraph, supported by the evidence for that premise.

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Massey University Private Bag 11 Palmerston North To develop your thesis, you will need to construct a series of smaller supporting arguments that are relevant to the thesis.

While every argument should be directed to the thesis, the individual arguments should not simply be linked together as a random chain of implicitly related but distinct reasons.

Constructing an Argument Student Learning Advisory Service. What is an Argument? •In popular usage, an argument means: What is an Argument? Example: Thesis statement (or claim): “Protons are positively charged particles •Construct an argument.

Creating an Argument Outline. Although there is no set model of organization for argumentative essays, there are some common patterns that writers might use or that writers might want to combine/customize in an effective way. A thesis statement is a sentence in which you state an argument about a topic and then describe, briefly, how you will prove your argument.

This is an argument, but not yet a thesis: "The movie ‘JFK’ inaccurately portrays President Kennedy.".