Organization

My wife is a terrible storyteller.^[1] To be fair to her, she knows it, and she owns it. Her expressions are helpful, her voice modulations are excellent, her pacing is fine. So what is the problem?

Organization. My wife cannot tell a story from beginning to end; she must stop, go back, add details, change details, explain tangents, and even then, she will reach the conclusion and realize she has forgotten to mention the central character was holding a duck the whole time. You may know someone like this; you may even be someone like this. It will, therefore, not surprise you to learn that careful and clear organization is enormously important to achieve the rhetorical effect you intend. You cannot simply throw all the argumentative pieces into a word food processer and expect the resulting chum to form a convincing case. To secure your goals, you need to have a plan and be able to put it in place.

The good news for you is that arguments are not much different than many other writing assignments, including the ones you presumably wrote in Composition I. All well-constructed arguments will have the basic essay structure of a distinct introduction, body, and conclusion. Each piece has functions that must be performed for the whole to be effective. The sequence and position of the functions might vary a bit, though, so to have a default, we will begin with what is normally called the Classical Argument model. With some modification, this pattern has been employed since Cicero (106-43 BCE), so you know it is built to last.

Classical Argument: Introduction

Depending on the length and complexity of your argument, an Introduction might be one to several paragraphs long.

• It will begin with “exigency” or urgency – this is the attention-getter designed to get the audience to want to read on; there are many strategies for exigency, including telling stories, making bold statements, asking an interesting and relevant rhetorical question, or others you probably learned in Comp I.
• The second element may answer the famous “So what?” question; here you provide background and context and explain why this issue deserves your readers’ time; make sure you do so in a way that is audience-based, not writer-based.
• At this point, you offer your thesis; your claim and reasons that forms the basis of your argument; in the Classical Argument, your thesis will always be made explicit; this is not a mystery for your reader to have to puzzle out.
• As a last function, your introduction will likely provide some sense of organizational preview or forecast; here you tell the readers where they will be going and in what order and make your transition into the Body.

Classical Argument: The Body

• This is where the actual argument will take place; all the information, research, etc., will go in here; there is no magic number of paragraphs – you will create and use as many as necessary for your goals.
• The Body of an argument has two main parts: your half of the argument, called the confirmatio, and the opposition half of the argument, called the confutatio.
  • The “positive” or “confirmatory” part of the body is where you lay out your reasons and support in a way likely to be appealing to your audience through authority, logic, and emotion.
  • The “negative” or “contradictory” part of the body also has two parts: the summary and the response.
    • In the summary, you fairly and neutrally present the primary claims of the opposition – remember, all argument will have opposition, so what do they have to say?
    • In the response, you must explain why these claims do not obtain, are inaccurate, or do not rise to the level of your claims.
• While the two parts are here presented as separate or sequential, remember you can toggle back and forth between them, mingling them as necessary to make your argument clear; if they are clearer separately, do that – if it would be better to mix, do that; just make sure your reader always knows “where” they are in the pattern.

Classical Argument: The Conclusion

In the Classical Argument model, a conclusion has three things to do:

• First, you need to sum up what the readers have learned in the course of your argument; be creative so you are not merely repeating yourself.
• Second, now that the readers know what they know, what happens next? What is the next step, or what is the larger issue to address? Where do the readers go from here?
• Third, just as you began in some way to compel the readers’ attention, you want to end vividly to be memorable; the strategies here are largely the same as for creating exigency: story, bold statement, and so on.

As detailed above, one of the alternatives to the Classical Argument Model is called the Delayed Thesis Model. The rough basics are essentially the same, but the internal elements are re-ordered and different aspects are emphasized.

Delayed Thesis: The Introduction

• Most of the work is the same as the traditional introduction (get the readers’ attention, for example), but rather than an argumentative thesis which lays out a disputable claim, the preview statement suggests the nature of the problem you will attempt to explain.

Delayed Thesis: The Body

• Here, you will want to examine the question from several different vantage points; be sure to fairly summarize and avoid disparaging other views.
• You also want to demonstrate whatever shared values you can address; try to establish some sense of common purpose or common ground (this is the work of both logos and pathos).
• Use evidence strategically to build a sense of where the argument is “naturally” taking you.
• Having established your foundation, offer your thesis as a reasonable one drawn from the evidence.

Delayed Thesis: The Conclusion

• Summarize what you have learned about the issue.
• Remind the readers of the best solution the evidence suggested.
• End in some vivid way that is memorable and positive for the readers.

However you decide to arrange your argument, you must ensure the pattern is helpful to the readers and designed for maximum efficiency, and is according to the assignment expectations.