Writing to argue or prove Defending Claims, Building Cases

The Argumentative Aim

If I tell you students are smoking and drinking less these days, I'm giving you neutral information — without comment. If I tell you students are smoking and drinking less because such habits have fallen out of favor or because newer generations are paying more attention to health warnings, I'm giving information with supporting analysis or explanation. But if I tell you that students, or anyone else, should avoid cigarettes and immoderate amounts of alcohol because they poison the body and can cause illness and death, I'm using explanation to support an argument — an attempt to convince you that you should change your opinions or actions. Essays with an argumentative aim always include information, analysis, or explanation, but they put these to service in the attempt to convince, they go beyond informing or explaining to advocacy, to supporting claims or assertions (the thesis of the argu­ment) with sound reasoning and evidence.

With arguments we attempt to show the certainty or prove the validity of our claims. We can argue for the validity of our assertions, or we can argue against others' claims, but in either situation we take a position and try to defend it. We try to build a case that seems logically undeniable — as convincing as a mathematical proof or an attorney's summation in court.

People can find themselves in dispute about almost anything, of course, from the choice for president to belief in God to the pressing matter of who lost the car keys. Most arguments, however, address basic issues and form a few general categories: disputes over facts (such as attempts to prove whether a crime has been committed); disputes over ideas, beliefs, or values (the morality or immorality of capital punishment); and disputes over actions or policies (the proper course for dealing with terrorists).

Whatever the issue or dispute, authors of argumentative essays must be especially aware of their audience. All writers must consider their readers, as we'll continue to see, but in argument—and in any persuasive writing—the audience is a sort of target. We're aiming to move our readers in some way, and to do so requires that we know where they stand. In general, this aim means trying to gauge the distance the argument is meant to bridge, assessing the amount of common ground, or lack of it, between writer and reader. When you and your audience share values or opinions, basic assumptions about the nature of things, you stand on ample common ground, and you may want to use such points of agreement to bolster your case. When common ground is less, when your differences are more fundamental, you may need to first establish what is shared before mounting your cause. When you and your reader share little or no agreement, a successful argument will depend on how well you demonstrate the validity of your assumptions or evidence and the conclusions you draw from them.

Whether defending your own position or attacking another, however, remember that your goal is to convince your readers, not to turn them away. Your assertion must be limited or qualified, able to be reasonably supported—not sweeping, unlimited generalities that no one will take seriously.

We find written argument in all walks of life — government, law, business, journalism, academia—wherever people seek to influence others with reasoned discourse. As citizens, moreover, we're the target of argumentative writing and speaking, as politicians, editorial writers, activists, and our fellow citizens try to rally our support or opposition for seemingly endless decisions, attitudes, and policies. Becoming more adept at constructing sound arguments, and learning better to evaluate those of others, then, may be one of the most useful tasks in anyone's writing education.

Argument in a Paragraph

In this brief example, the author claims that women should not be exempt from a military draft. He supports his assertion with a deductive appeal to reason—that if women and men truly are to be viewed as equals, neither group can have grounds for exemption. Notice also that to make this unpopular position more acceptable, he qualifies or limits his claim at the end of this passage.

The question of women's service is the most emotionally troubling aspect of this generally emotional issue, but the prog­ress of domestic politics over the last ten years suggests that the answer is clear. If any sexual distinctions that would deny a woman her place as a construction worker or a telephone pole climber have been forbidden by legislators and courts, what possi­ble distinction can spare women the obligation to perform similar functions in military construction units or the Signal Corps? President Carter recognized this reality in deciding to include women in his initial draft registration order. If women are drafted, they have an ironclad case for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. If they are not, their claim for equal treat­ment elsewhere becomes less compelling. At the same time, it is troubling to think of women in combat, or of mothers being drafted, and a sensible draft law would have to recognize such exceptions.

-James Fallows, "The Draft: Why the Country Needs It"

Argumentative Strategies

We may think of arguments as strongly voiced opinions — that one argument is as good as another — but good arguments are much more than this. We have a right to our opinions, of course, but some may be illogical or even silly, unable to pass the test of rationality. Good arguments, by contrast, are attempts at proving our claims valid. We go about building such proofs with two basic ways of reasoning: induction and deduction. Although either induction or deduction may be used alone to support an argument, they complement each other and are usually combined in everyday writing and speaking.