Walden University Writing Center

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Scholarly Persuasion: How To Make an Academic Argument

Whether we think about it consciously or not, our lives revolve around persuasion. Whenever someone watches an advertisement, argues with a friend about the merits of a book or movie, or leaves a contrary comment on a blog post, that person is engaging in the act of persuasion. With that said, formalizing an argument in the classroom can seem difficult, so many writers dread the idea of taking a stance in a persuasive assignment. However, whether the goal is to produce a persuasive paragraph or a 20-page persuasive essay, most persuasive assignments contain similar elements.



Before looking at the basic structure of an argument, it’s important to consider that scholarly arguments are not combative or based on opinion. Rather, a scholarly argument is a stance or a position on a topic that can be argued. Scholars create academic arguments based on evidence within research articles or other scholarly sources rather than assumptions and opinions about a topic.

As an example, could I make a scholarly argument that chocolate is very tasty? Probably not, because whether or not chocolate is tasty depends on personal preference and opinion (spoiler alert: Chocolate is tasty). However, could I make an argument that chocolate helps students improve their grades? Now I’m on the right track, as long as I can find scholarly evidence that eating chocolate improves focus or leads to better test grades in a controlled study (wishful thinking, I know). In other words, in order to make an argument, a writer must first choose a debatable topic rooted in evidence and create a position on that topic that others could respond to with counterarguments and evidence.

When writing a persuasive assignment, the first step is to choose a topic that you can argue. If you have a choice of topics, try not to choose on instinct. Instead, try some brainstorming exercises for each possible topic and see which topics lead to the most writing and critical thinking. You might find that one of the topics produces more content during your brainstorming session, even though you originally preferred another topic. Using prewriting techniques such as brainstorming can help you ensure that you meet the assignment length guidelines.

Once you have chosen a topic and a position on the selected topic, you can separate the persuasive assignment into a few different elements:

Context/Background: Your readers should know why this topic is an issue. In other words, why is there a debate about this topic? What makes this topic important to debate? Is there any background information or history that readers need to know about the topic to understand the argument? Providing context for your argument can help readers better understand your position.

Thesis statement/Main idea: The thesis statement is the main argument of your paper. Although the placement of the thesis statement varies, scholars in the United States often place the thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph. If the goal is to write a persuasive paragraph, however, the thesis statement might be the very first sentence of the paragraph. Where the thesis statement belongs in your paper depends on the overall length and goals of the assignment.

Evidence: In order to support your thesis statement, you’ll want to include evidence from scholarly sources. Generally, evidence from scholarly publications is more credible than personal anecdotes and experience because other scholars can access this information and draw conclusions about it, whereas they’re unable to access the experiences of other scholars. However, some assignments will call for use of personal experience, so your course instructor is always your best resource if you’re unsure of what kind of evidence to include.

Counterargument: When writing a persuasive essay, writers will generally consider the counterarguments ahead of time, which means that they will consider how other scholars might argue against the thesis statement and respond to those counterarguments in the paper. A counterargument template for my chocolate argument might look like this: Although some may argue that eating too much chocolate contributes to poor health, limiting the amount of chocolate consumed to X amount can help students reap the benefits of chocolate in their schoolwork while avoiding health issues. While adding counterarguments might not be necessary for a persuasive paragraph, considering the counterarguments can help you ensure that you have created a sound argument.

Conclusion: After you finish adding evidence, the next step will be to conclude the argument. For a persuasive assignment, the conclusion generally contains a summary of the argument for readers and the next steps. In other words, what do you want readers to know or do overall? Answering this question can help you wrap up your argument, whether you’re writing a persuasive essay or paragraph.

Now that you know the elements of a scholarly argument, let’s look at an example persuasive paragraph about the aforementioned (delicious!) topic:

Context/Background: Chocolate is generally regarded as junk food rather than health food in the court of public opinion. Thesis statement: However, consuming small amounts of chocolate can help students improve their focus and concentration in their studies. Evidence: According to Doe (2016), students who consumed chocolate before a test scored higher than students who did not consume chocolate. Students who want to improve their coursework might benefit from consuming chocolate before studying or taking exams. Counterargument: Although some may argue that eating too much chocolate contributes to poor health, limiting the amount of chocolate consumed to X amount can help students reap the benefits of chocolate in their schoolwork while avoiding health issues. Conclusion: Overall, consuming chocolate in large quantities is not recommended for a balanced diet, but small amounts of chocolate may help students improve the quality of their schoolwork.

Although the amount and type of evidence and the inclusion of counterarguments might vary based on the specific assignment, most persuasive assignments contain the above elements. Once you have added the above elements to a persuasive paper, you have created a scholarly argument!

Using prewriting techniques and considering all angles of your argument can help you persuade your audience to think the way you do about a given topic. In addition, the background information, thesis statement, scholarly evidence, counterargument, and conclusion provide the structure of a strong scholarly argument. I hope that this discussion provides insight into persuasive assignments, but if you want more information and a chance to practice creating scholarly arguments, I recommend watching our Writing Center webinar Building and Organizing Academic Arguments. In the meantime, we’d love to know what you find most difficult about completing persuasive assignments in the comments.




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Thursday Thoughts: Thinking about Word Choice

• Commonly misused words

• Catch your reader’s ear: A five part blog series on scholarly tone and voice   

• Revision by subtraction: Creating clear ideas by considering word choice

• The art of imprecise word choice: Using pronouns for clarity and concision

• For the good of all humanity, imperatives must be abolished!

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Put Away the Salt Shaker: Avoiding Unnecessary Commas in Writing

In sum, it is as important to know where commas don’t belong as where they do belong! The above list is not exhaustive, but it includes some of the most common unnecessary commas that I see in my work with students at the Walden University Writing Center. Learning the above rules can encourage you to feel confident as you revise your papers for comma usage and can help you put away the comma salt shaker for good. If you’re hungry for more information about using commas, I recommend testing your knowledge with one of our quizzes and letting us know in the comments how you approach adding commas to your writing! 




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WriteCast Episode 46: Inclusive Language: Gender-Neutral Pronouns and Identity-First Language

In today's episode of WriteCast, we're testing the social change capabilities of language itself. Staff in the Walden University Writing Center support the research of Walden's scholar-practitioners in the areas of social change, and we also seek to support positive social change in how we think about and practice language. With that in mind, Max and Claire are joined by two very special guests in today's episode. 

Director of the Writing Center, Brian Timmerman and Associate Director of the Writing Center, Amber Cook chat about two new language policies enacted by the Writing Center. These special guests discuss the new Gender-Neutral Pronouns policy and the Identity-First Language policy that Walden students, faculty, and staff will be interested to note. 

You can find this episode by visiting the WriteCast show page on our website, or by searching for WriteCast in your favorite podcast app. Visit the Writing Center's WriteCast page for our episode archive and transcripts. 

Keep Writing. Keep Inspiring.



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Advice for Writers: Write First, Write Every Day

If you, like me, are hungry for academic writing advice, two suggestions will come up again and again: write first, and write every day. Today, I’d like to think through how that advice might apply to Walden students, many of whom are caring for family members and working in their fields while completing their studies.



Write First
In her book Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day, Joan Bolker explains a piece of advice given to her by her own adviser: “write first.” She outlines two different meanings for this advice. First, put your writing first. Make earning your degree a priority in your life rather than something that you squeeze in around the edges. Second, write first thing in the morning, before the rest of your life has a chance to get in the way.

I recommend interpreting this advice loosely and “writing first” by thinking about what time of day you have the most energy and the best ability to focus and, if possible, blocking that time off on your calendar for your writing. If that’s not a possibility because of your other obligations, that’s just fine, but try to avoid sitting down to write at your lowest energy times of day. You’ll likely find that you are able to produce much more writing—and probably better writing at that—if you write during a time of day when you feel energized.

As I examined the daily rhythms of my own energy levels, I found that I was best able to focus on my writing either first thing in the morning, before the chaos of the day had begun, or after my son had gone to bed and my work was finished for the day. However, when I tried to write in the evenings, I was simply too tired to accomplish much. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I now wake up early to write before my son wakes up and I need to go to work. I have to go to bed early to make this schedule work, but it’s worth it to me to have some dedicated time to focus, and I love beginning my day with a sense of accomplishment.

Write Every Day
The other piece of advice you’ll often see is to write every day. Write at least X number of words or pages each day. Write even if you don’t feel like it. Don’t worry if it’s bad; just write.

Some writers take a very narrow interpretation of this advice. They sit down at their desk at the designated time each day, and they don’t leave until they reach their target number of words or pages. Depending on your circumstances and the kind of project you are working on, this may work for you.

Other writers use a broad definition of the term “writing,” thinking of it as an umbrella that covers researching, reading, brainstorming, prewriting, outlining, drafting, revising, editing, and anything else that relates to a writing project. If you’ve ever felt down on yourself because you don’t think you’re a very productive writer, a definition like this might be good for your relationship with writing: maybe you haven’t written any new words today, but what have you done to move your writing project and your degree forward?

Writing every single day might not be a possibility for you right now, and again, that’s okay. The important thing here is consistency. If you can manage to do a little something on your writing project or coursework each day, that will keep it fresh in your mind. If not, schedule consistent times to work, and make sure that you show up for them (unless you’re sick or have an emergency, of course).

I find that working on my writing project every day helps me feel like I’m always moving forward, but that doesn’t always mean new words on the page. For example, on a recent morning, I only had half an hour to write, so I spent my time thinking through next steps on my project and ordered some library books. These weren’t glamorous tasks, but they needed to get done. When I have a longer stretch to work this weekend, I’ll be able to take full advantage of it because I will have a plan and the resources I need.

How might you adjust your schedule to write first and write every day? We’d love to hear how you make space for your writing in your busy life.

If you’re interested in learning more about writing strategies like these, we recommend checking out Joan Bolker’s Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day.

Thursday Thoughts: Connection and Flow

Are you writing with your readers in mind? There are many aspects to strong scholarly writing, such as solid claims, using reputable sources, and clear, solid analysis to support your argument. However, readers may not be able to fully appreciate your argument if they don’t “see” the connection among your points. 



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