Students are often asked to write arguments beginning in their English classes, but don’t realize that argumentation strategies can be used in many different disciplines, such as defending research, creating proposals, writing cover letters, or telling a convincing narrative.

Using critical thinking from different perspectives is a base strategy that can help prove your point. These techniques can be used not just in argumentative or “take a stand” papers but will also likely apply to all writing assignments as you progress through upper division courses.

Devil’s advocate

Playing devil’s advocate with a friend or writing consultant at the Writing & Speaking Center can help you answer deeper “why” questions and elaborate on the significance of your claim.

• You or your peers may be forced to consider a perspective you don’t necessarily believe in.
• Can be challenging and uncomfortable (Ayers, 2014)

For example, when making an argument that climate change is bad, you can consider if there are any benefits of climate change.

• Some scientists argue that climate change will shift agricultural growing regions around the world and provide new resources to communities currently living without the ability to subsistence farm.

Thinking about these different perspectives, even if they are disagreeable, forces you to refute the argument while justifying your original claim.

Impact analysis

Another strategy to help when thinking about the significance of you claim is to analyze the “impact” or explain why the reader should care about an event.

We know that global warming is bad, but to make a powerful argument, the author needs to explain the impact global warming has on certain communities; this helps to humanize populations we don’t often think about from our Western perspective.

• Global warming is bad because it will hurt marginalized communities most severely and immediately by damaging their food-based economies, housing, and resources.

Weighing mechanisms

Now that you have identified the impacts of your argument, you may want to “weigh” the impacts using familiar standards such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, utilitarianism, the social contract theory, or cost-benefit analysis. These methods help you to compare and contrast impacts and can increase the ethos of your argument.

Continuing from the previous example, Maslow’s hierarchy explains that people need to satisfy biological needs before they can focus on education or self-actualization (Lester, 2013).

• This means that if food and shelter are suddenly the first priority of displaced populations, an entire generation of people will be unable to focus on higher-level aspirations articulated by Maslow, such as education, which is critical to self-advocacy and agency. If a community is unable to self-advocate, they become at risk of exploitation.

You could also use this as an opportunity to refute the counter argument you thought of earlier.

• Although there are myriad populations who will benefit from shifting climate zones, the threat of flood, habitat loss, mass extinction, and release of captive ancient bacteria are on balance more harmful to global populations than they are helpful.

This analysis uses both cost-benefit analysis and the utilitarian model.

Timeframe, probability, magnitude

These three factors can be used to compare the severity of events occurring:

• If an event would have immediate consequences and affect millions of people, but is not likely to actually occur, then you can argue that a more probable event should have greater priority when creating policy changes.

This tool can be both offensive and defensive.

• Can show that your advocacy will have the greatest impact
• Can analyze the counter argument to show how their impacts are less immediate, probable, or severe
• May be a good strategy for creating rebuttals in argumentative papers
  • Provides a way to acknowledge that other arguments are legitimate but yours is the greatest concern right now.

Callback to history

Using empirical historical examples is a strong way to provide imagery and credibility to your argument. Keep in mind that examples should be well-known rather than obscure, so that you can briefly remind readers of them without the need to elaborate and distract from your main point.

• When people are displaced due to rising sea levels, they are forced to relocate and often become refugees for other nations. Historically, refugees have been mistreated by their host countries, are abused and otherized by citizens, and lose their cultural ties as they attempt to assimilate: look at the abuse we see today among Syrian refugees in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Thinking about using these techniques throughout your brainstorming, drafting, and revising process can help…

• Make more persuasive arguments
• Expand on arguments you already have
• Consider different perspectives

You can even use these techniques in a variety of disciplines.

• Writing a research paper
  • Gives you the opportunity to elaborate on the impact of your research in the introduction and discussion sections
  • Allows you to ask yourself who will benefit from your research and in what ways your research will provide the benefit
• Cover letter for a job
  • You are “arguing” that you are the best candidate for the position
    • What impact will you have on the company?
    • How have your previous experiences uniquely impacted you and prepared you for the position?

References

Ayers, R. 2014. Critical discomfort and deep engagement needed for transformation. Democracy & Education, 22(2), 1-4. Retrieved from https://democracyeducationjournal.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1158&context=home

Lester, D. (2013). Measuring Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Psychological Reports, 113(1), 15- 17.doi:10.2466/02.20.PR0.113x16z1