ARGUMENT

Sometimes a writer may deliberately assert a thesis that defys accepted fact in order to attract attention or highlight an unexplored aspect of his topic. For example, "America did NOT win its independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War" is a factual statement, but it is both contrary to observable fact and historical record. But even though on its face it is untrue, it still might also be a thesis statement that you could defend by citing evidence of Great Britain's continued influence in American culture, politics, and economic life following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In making your argument, you would have to make these qualifications clear. Such a sentence would be both a thesis statement and a rhetorical device intended to capture the attention of the reader by challenging common knowledge. But this example does not negate the general admonition that statements of fact do not make good thesis statements for arguments.

In the preceeding examples of thesis statements, the relevant facts are established, and when tested against the evidence, there is no question about whether the statements are true or false. However, sometimes there is an argument about what the facts of the case really are. Informed people would agree that it is useless to argue against the idea that the universe is expanding or that the earth revolves around the sun. Although these two statements are now accepted as fact based on objective evidence, it was not always so. Many factual statements were first uttered as theories or conjectures and did not move into the realm of accepted fact until they had been proven by scientific observation and experiment. And even today, an idea that some people would claim to be fact, others would assert to be unproven. For example, many people still argue with the assertion that humans evolved from lower organisms.

Some examples of thesis statements are given in this document. Not all of the thesis statements shown are for argumentative essays, but those that are reveal their persuasive intent with a word or phrase that indicates the writer's opinion. For example, the writer asserts superiority of one thing over another ("better than" or "superior to"), or indicates a necessity ("must' or "calls for").

Thesis: The effects of the attack on the World Trade Center have been personal, economic, political, social, and military.

I. One effect of the attack on the World Trade Center has been the personal suffering of the relatives of victims, the survivors, and the witnesses.

II. A second obvious effect of the attack has been to damage the nation's economy.

III. Another effect of the attack has been to strengthen the Republican party on the city, state, and national level.

VI. A fourth effect of the attack has been to make our society more fearful.

V. A final effect of the attack has been to motivate military action against Afghanistan and Iraq.

Each of these sentences is related to the thesis by the repetition of the key terms: personal, economic, political, social, and military. In addition, the relationship between the topic sentences and thesis ( and among the topic sentences themselves) is emphasized by parallel sentence structure. As a general rule, you should express like things in like ways, so each topic sentence begins with a transition followed by the subject with its prepositional modifier and then by the verb: "effect of the attack has been." Some people might object that this repetition is clumsy and monotonous. However, you should remember that these sentences do not appear adjacent to one another in the essay. You will have a lot to say about each point, and so the sentences will be separated by several pages, and the longer the essay, the more important the repetitions become because they clearly signal readers that a new point is being introduced that is coordinate with the idea that precedes it.

Facts are things that are objective and real. They can be demonstrated to exist by reference to direct experiment, established data, or historical record. The number of facts is as limitless as the number of physical manifestations and the processes that govern them. You can never run out of facts. They form the bedrock of any argument, and so you should make use of as many facts as is appropriate for your audience and purpose of writing. If you find that you don't have the facts to support your argument, that is a fair sign that you need to reexamine your position on the issue.

Statistics are facts expressed in numbers. Remember that factual statements are subject to verification, and this is especially important where statistics are concerned because it is possible to convey a false impression through the manipulation of numbers. Depending on what raw data are selected, what statistical tests are conducted, and what results are reported, different pictures can be presented based on the same numerical data.

The words of authorities are usually found in textbooks and professional journals. When using the words of authorities, you need to consider two factors. First, you need to ask if the person you are quoting is indeed an authority on the topic. Don't confuse celebrity or notoriety with authority. Someone who is well known may be an authority in their special field, but that does not mean that their word should be taken as evidence about matters wherein they are not expert. For example, Michael Jordan might be an authority on basketballs and basketball shoes, but that does not mean he can be cited as an expert on healthy eating or life insurance. Authority can usually be determined by the credentials of the writer (academic degrees, teaching or research experience, and real world accomplishments), and by institutional affiliation. If you want to quote an authority on cloning, you would do better to use a professor at MIT than a member of the Ralian sect.

In the second case, a person may well be an expert in their field, meaning that they are in command of the facts involved and have the necessary credentials, nevertheless, their value as an authority may be diminished because of their bias. This is particularly true in the social sciences where the facts are often more difficult to establish and where motivations for actions are disputed. For example, in dealing with such a contentious issue as the middle east conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, potentially strong bias by experts may be a factor in spite of academic credentials or public record of accomplishments.

Examples should be used as evidence whenever possible because they make abstract concepts concrete by illustrating actual effects. If you characterize the welfare system as inefficient or harmful, you are stating abstractions. However, if you use the example of a specific individual ( e.g Jennifer, a unemployed, single, welfare mother with two children) and tell her story, then you can show the inefficiencies and harmful effects of the system in a concrete and specific way.

Personal experiences can provide powerful examples because you can not only relate an experience but comment on the effects from a first hand point of view. You can tell the story from the inside.

Here is another example taken from an essay by William Lutz entitled "Doublespeak" that also deals with using language to manipulate. Lutz's thesis is that doublespeak is "language that conceals or prevents thought; rather than extending thought, doublespeak limits it . . . ." (191).