Chapter twelve

Chapter twelve: Developing Your Argument

Chapter twelve of the Bedford Researcher indicates the two key questions in regard to developing the argument are how to support a thesis statement and how to assess the integrity of the argument.

In order to have a good argument, the writer must find compelling reasons to support the thesis, evidence to support the reasoning and how to appeal to readers. An effective argument is the one that takes into account the writer’s purpose and role as well as reader’s interests.

Document type determines the type of reasons that writers use to guide readers to accept their argument, whether it is a reflective document - blog post and an academic essay, information documents - reports, essays and articles in newspapers, or analytical documents – i.e. in the New York Times and others. To meet the expectations of readers, the writer generally should be well acquainted with the type of documents and his readers - what and how much they know about the issue, and what they want to learn more from it; moreover, help them to understand more about the issue.

            The next step in supporting the thesis is valid evidence that includes details, facts, personal observations and expert opinions. The writer can collect evidence from the published sources of information or their own interviews and observations.

            Appealing to the audience is an important consideration for the writer when developing an argument. The writer can rely on an appeal to authority, emotion, principles, values and beliefs, character or to logic in order for his readers to accept his argument. Appeal to authority is a call on experts, leaders or people who were affected by an issue. Appeal to emotion is a call for a response on an emotional level leading readers to view an issue in a specific way. Appeal to principles, values and beliefs are a call to a set of mores held dear by the readers. Appeals to Character call on a “trust me” strategy to i.e. politicians, celebrities, people of science etc. Appeal to Logic is a call on the logical presentation of evidence supporting the considered conclusion.

The second key question in regard to developing an argument is how to assess the integrity of the writer’s argument. To ensure the integrity of the argument, the writer has to be introduced with common logical fallacies, so his writing doesn’t fall under them. Fallacies can be deceptive and the readers who recognize i.e. errors in logic or the use of inappropriate emotional appeals are likely to refute that type of argument. There are four categories of general fallacies:  fallacies based on distraction – a red herring, ad hominem attacks, irrelevant history; fallacies based on questionable assumptions - sweeping generalizations, straw-man attacks, citing inappropriate authorities, jumping on a bandwagon; fallacies based on misrepresentation – stacking the deck, base-rate fallacies, questionable analogies; fallacies based on careless reasoning – post hoc fallacies, slippery slope arguments, either/or arguments, non sequiturs, circular reasoning.