Developing an Argument: Essay

Many university essays expect you to develop an argument. This is not the everyday sort of argument where you, often emotionally, just present your generally biased viewpoint. It is one where you try and convince the reader of your point of view by presenting a wellreasoned and supported justification for your point of view.

How do I develop an argument?

In order to develop an argument and be persuasive and credible you need to: analyse the assignment task carefully to determine exactly what is being asked of you. undertake your research so that you can find out about this topic, statement, concept or idea. weigh up all of this research and formulate your point of view or opinion / position / answer to the question. structure the essay so that it clearly states that viewpoint/position and has a clear line of reasoning to justify that viewpoint/position remember that it is important to have words that act like a thread to lead the reader through the essay.
Dont be tempted to sit on the fence! You cannot develop an argument if you do not have one!

How do I structure my essay to develop an argument?

To develop an argument, you need to have:

an introduction which contains a statement of your position, viewpoint or answer (thesis) together with an outline of the reasons for your position. This outline should also represent the order of the ideas presented in the essay. paragraphs within the body to convince the reader that your viewpoint is credible you develop paragraphs by stating the particular point in your argument and (a) using the ideas of others (and acknowledging these ideas) to justify your viewpoint and (b) using examples to support your point of view, if appropriate. These examples can come from the literature but may also come from your experience. alternate views/evidence. You include the alternate views then explain why those views are not as credible or do not fit with the position you have taken. Remember that it strengthens your viewpoint if you show you have considered alternative viewpoints as part of deciding your viewpoint. paragraphs that are ordered logically to help develop your line of reasoning. a strong conclusion that sums up or draws together the evidence to substantiate your thesis.

Other useful ASDU information guides: Interpreting the Assignment task Introductions and Conclusions

Writing Essays Connecting your Ideas

Writing Paragraphs

15/02/2010

Example: Structural elements from an essay that develops an argument

Assignment task (in brief): Discuss the role of places in whole tourism systems with examples from places in Australia and/or abroad. (700-1200 word essay) Students Introduction: A common view would be that a place refers to the destinations in the study of tourism. However, if a whole tourist system is defined as consisting of five elements: a tourist, a generating region, a transit route, a destination region and the tourism industry (Leiper 1990, p.3), it can be seen that there are three types of places in whole tourist systems. These are the traveller generating regions (TGRs)P1, the transit routes (TRs)P2 and the tourist destinations (TDRs)P3. This essay argues that each of these three places plays a different but vital role in the system. This is because they are the places where tourism originates, the places along the route taken to the destination and the places at the end of the journey i.e. the destination. They are all integral to the whole tourist system none can exist without the other. Students first (topic) sentence of each paragraph in the essay:
Note how P1(a), P2, P3(a) present the line of reasoning i.e. the argument, to the reader.
P1(a)

In this introduction, note the statement of argument i.e. answer to assignment task (underlined), together with the plan of argument (P1, P2, P3) in the introduction.

Traveller generating regions (TGRs)P1(a) play a vital role in whole tourist systems because they are the places where the tourism originates.
P1(b)

There are many characteristics of TGRsP1(b) and it is these that determine the number and type of departures from a region.
P2

Likewise the Transit routes (TRs)P2 play a vital role in whole systems because they comprise the places on the route taken to and from the TGRs to the TDRs.
Note how paragraphs P1(b) & P3(b) add more information about P1(a) & P3(a) respectively
P3(a)

Note the reuse of the words from the assignment task. This ensures an explicit connection to the assignment task. Note too how the order of presentation P1 P2 and P3 mirrors the order of P1 P2 and P3 in the introduction.

The third types of place, the destination place (TDRs)P3(a) also have a crucial part to play as this is where a traveller becomes temporarily a tourist (Leiper 1995).
P3(b)

There are a number of factors that shape a place in to a tourist destinationP3(b).

Students Conclusion: All three places are a vital part of the whole tourism system. Although attention is often given to the destination as the place in tourism, there are actually three places in a tourism system. All three places: the traveller generating region, the transit route and the tourist destination region, have vital roles in the whole tourism system. In order to have a whole tourism industry, it is necessary for travellers (the first element in the system) to be generated from a place (TGR), and arrive by way of a transit route (TR) at the final place i.e. the destination (TDR). A whole tourism system would simply not exist without each element. The roles of these places are different because of their function in the whole tourism system and so there are differing implications for businesses in each place. It is important therefore, for businesses in all three places to be aware of the roles of each of the other places so that they can work together to promote the whole tourism system.

Note how the conclusion restates the thesis together with an overview of the reasons for this position.

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