instructor: Jentery Sayers 
~ classroom: smi 309 
& ougl 101 ~ TTh: 9:30-11:20
Organizing an Argument (and Introductions and Conclusions As Well!)
The practice of organizing an argument is a practice in thought organization. But not just big thoughts—small thoughts, too.
For instance, when writing your major papers for this course, think in terms of both a line of inquiry, which leads from your introduction to your conclusion, and the topic sentences and/or main ideas for each of your paragraphs.
The big thoughts:
- What’s purpose of your argument? Its logic? How would you communicate the gist of your argument to a friend or family member? How does your claim express your argument’s purpose and logic?
- What is your reader expecting when she/he sits down to read your argument? How does the genre of academic argument differ from other writing genres? What are the conventions of academic arguments (e.g., level of formality, complexity of sentences, vocabulary, style, and citations system)?
- Who is your audience? What is your relationship with them?
- When all’s said and done, what do you want your reader to walk away thinking, saying, and even believing?
- What’s your evidence? Can you unpack and explain it?
- How can you connect your evidence using a persuasive logic?
- What transitions would help the reader move along?
- How could you occasionally recognize counter evidence?
- Do your topic sentences give the reader an idea of what is to come? How do they relate to your main claim? Or, how are the topic sentences also sub-claims?
Your argument should follow a line of inquiry. That is, it should be driven by something that you want to prove and how you are proving it (again, the big thoughts) and also be sewn together by smaller stitches or moves (the small thoughts).
Starting it off, or the introduction:
- Catch the reader’s attention—and do so quickly. Don’t give her/him a bunch of banal, introductory information. They aren’t reading a manual for a TV set.
- Indicate the subject of your argument.
- Include your main claim.
- Be specific. Your paper cannot tackle the world in five to seven pages. As such, mention how your subject is directly related to a particular object of inquiry.
- Think of your introduction as a doorway, not an umbrella. It should allow your reader to enter your paper instead of telling them everything that they are about to read. Be suggestive. Even ask a question or two, if need be.
- Your conclusion should not repeat your introduction. Don’t end up where you started.
- Save a strong point. Give the reader something to think about at the end.
- New information or quotes are ok at the end. Really!
- Answer the question: “So what?”
- A question, as along as it’s interesting (and hasn’t already been answered in your paper).
- A quotation, but make it short, cited, and provocative.
- A personal moment, perhaps? But please, no sap or tangents.
- A call to action! Move your argument into the realm of a broader, social or political context.
- A warning for your audience that is based upon your claim and argument.
But how to get from the introduction to the conclusion?
- Your paragraphs should be developed and driven by evidence.
- Try not to hop from one idea to the next. Take an idea per paragraph and unpack it before continuing to the next idea.
- Although not a steadfast rule by any means, 250 words is a good length for an academic paragraph. That formalist rule of thumb might help you support your ideas.
- Each paragraph should create a tension. As such, you might articulate a point through evidence and then, about three-quarters of the way through, complicate that point by providing contrary evidence or a new perspective. "However," "although," "nevertheless," and "nonetheless" are helpful words when creating tension.
Now let us construct this textual thing.
uw english | jentery at u.washington.edu
