Creating a structure

organize ideas

It’s easy to sketch a standard structure for arguments: one that leads from claim to supporting reasons to evidence and even accommodates a counterargument or two.

The problem is that you won’t read many effective arguments, either in or out of school, that follow this template. The structure isn’t defective, just too simple to describe the way arguments really move when ideas matter. You won’t write a horrible paper if you use the traditional model because all the parts will be in place. Thesis? Check. Three supporting reasons? Check. Counterarguments? Check. But you will sound exactly like what you are: A writer going through the motions instead of engaging with ideas. Here’s how to get your ideas to breathe in an argument — while still hitting all the marks.

Make a point or build toward one. Arguments can unfurl just as reports do, with unmistakable claims followed by reams of supporting evidence. But they can also work like crime dramas, in which the evidence in a case builds toward a compelling conclusion — your thesis perhaps. This is your call. (order ideas) But don’t just jump into a claim: Take a few sentences or paragraphs to set up the situation. Quote a nasty politician or tell an eye-popping story or two. Get readers invested in what’s to come.

Spell out what’s at stake. When you write an argument, you initiate a controversy, so you’d better explain it clearly — as Stefan Casso does in “Worth the Lie” earlier in this chapter. Do you hope to fix a looming problem? Then describe your concern and make readers share it. Do you intend to correct a false notion or bad reporting? Then tell readers why setting the record straight matters. Appalled by the apathy of voters, the dangers of global warming, the infringements of free speech on campus? Explain why readers should care. (develop a statement)

Address counterpoints when necessary, not in a separate section. Necessary is when your readers start thinking to themselves, “Yeah, but what about . . . ?” Such doubts will probably surface approximately where your own do — and, admit it, you have some misgivings about your argument. So take them on. Strategically, it rarely makes sense to consign all objections to a lengthy section near the end of a paper. That’s asking for trouble. Do you really want to offer a case for the opposition just when your readers are finishing up? On the plus side, dealing with opposing arguments (or writing a refutation itself) can be like caffeine for your prose, sharpening your attention and reflexes.

Save your best arguments for the end. Of course, you want strong points throughout the paper. But you need a high note early on to get readers interested and then another choral moment as you finish to send them out the door humming. If you must summarize an argument, don’t let a dull recap of your main points squander an important opportunity to influence readers. End with a rhetorical flourish that reminds readers how compelling your arguments are. (shape an ending)

A pithy phrase, an ironic twist, and a question to contemplate can also lock down your case. Here’s Maureen Dowd, bleakly — and memorably — concluding an argument defending the job journalists had done covering the Iraq War:

Journalists die and we know who they are. We know they liked to cook and play Scrabble. But we don’t know who killed them, and their killers will never be brought to justice. The enemy has no face, just a finger on a detonator.

— “Live from Baghdad: More Dying,” New York Times, May 31, 2006