How to Write a Strong Argument
Written by Quinn Gilman-Forlini
Your argument is one of the most important elements of your paper. Why?
It’s your paper’s purpose—it’s why you’re writing this paper in the first place (other than that you have to). Your argument addresses the central question your paper sets out to explore, the reason why everything else in your paper—evidence, main ideas, analysis, research—exists. Everything should be working together to build and support your argument.
So in this guide, we’re going to talk through what you can do to build stronger, clearer, more effective arguments.
What is a thesis statement?
Your thesis statement is a distilled version of your argument that’s both easily identifiable and comprehensible. Usually the thesis should appear early in the paper in order to give your reader a sense of clarity and direction regarding what the paper will argue. Ideally, your reader will point to your thesis and say, “This is why I should keep reading. I want to find out more about how they will demonstrate this compelling idea.” (Okay, maybe they won’t sound exactly like that, but you get the idea.)
The Elements of a Thesis
Your thesis should aim to meet all the requirements on this checklist:
☐ Concise
The essence of your argument should be contained in one sentence for shorter papers, and two for longer or more complex papers. (If you’re writing a book, your argument may be longer than two sentences, but that’s probably somewhere down the road.)
☐ Clear
It should immediately be clear to the reader precisely what you’re arguing and where the paper is headed. Any context you need to set up for this clarity should come in the introductory paragraph (or intro section, for much longer papers) before the thesis.
☐ Specific
Your thesis should provide the essential details for understanding your argument, which could include things like specific elements of the text you’re focusing on and the significance of your claim.
☐ Debatable
Someone should reasonably be able to argue against your thesis. If that would be tough and most people would agree with your stance (see various examples in next section), your paper will lack purpose.
☐ Insightful
Your thesis should be interesting and compelling, ideally something that readers may not have considered before. Think of your paper as adding something new and thought-provoking to the wider conversation about your topic. It’s insight that turns a good argument into a great one.
What to Avoid In a Thesis (With Examples)
Before we look at how to write a thesis that checks all those boxes, let’s consider what not to do when developing an argument. To offer a concrete example that many readers will be familiar with, we’ll use the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast as source material for these … less-than-stellar theses.
A summary statement of your paper.
Example: This paper will talk about Belle’s choices in Beauty and the Beast.
Analysis: A thesis needs to make a claim, and this doesn’t take a stance regarding Belle’s choices (also: what choices?).
An obvious observation.
Example: In Beauty and the Beast, Belle’s love for the Beast develops slowly over the course of the movie.
Analysis: Anyone who watches the film could make this observation.
A statement of fact.
Example: Beauty and the Beast is an animated film released in 1991.
Analysis: A fact is not an argument, since facts can’t be argued.
An observation that’s on the fence.
Example: While some might say that the Beast was cruel to Belle and some might say that he was kind, really he was a little bit of both.
Analysis: If you take everyone’s side, no one can argue against you.
Something virtually everybody would agree on.
Example: Gaston does not have Belle’s best interests in mind when he asks her to marry him.
Analysis: This is technically a claim. But you’d be hard pressed to find someone who’d argue that Gaston does have Belle’s best interests in mind, so there’s little point in arguing something we can all agree on.
Something that has no grounding in the text(s).
Example: Beauty and the Beast is about the effects of growing up with divorced parents.
Analysis: It’d be pretty impossible to back up this claim considering there’s no mention of divorce in this story.
A cliché.
Example: Beauty and the Beast shows us to follow your heart and find true love.
Analysis: If we’ve heard an idea or phrase a million times, there’s nothing interesting or insightful about it.
What Makes a Strong Thesis?
A strong thesis checks each box on the list above, with special attention to these two elements:
it’s debatable enough that it would spark an interesting discussion
and it’s insightful enough that it makes people think about your topic/text(s) in a new light.
And in just a bit we’ll discuss specific ways to further strengthen these aspects. But first, to illustrate what we mean by debatable and insightful (and continuing to use Beauty and the Beast as an example), here’s a thesis that incorporates these elements:
Although some would argue that Belle is a feminist character because she portrays independence by refusing Gaston’s aggressive advances, her main role in the story becomes changing the Beast’s violent and controlling behavior, showing that Belle ultimately follows the traditional gender role of women nurturing and “fixing” aggressive men.
— — —
Analysis
This thesis is clear and specific, providing details about what the essay will be about (what Belle’s behavior towards the Beast suggests about the film’s portrayal of gender roles) and what the writer is trying to convince the reader of (that Belle is ultimately not a feminist character). It’s debatable because not everyone might hold this viewpoint (many people view Belle as a feminist character, and there is textual evidence to support that side, as the thesis itself points out by conceding a counter-point via Belle’s refusal to marry Gaston). It also provides additional insight into the text by pointing out the theme of aggressive male characters and drawing an unexpected parallel between Gaston (the villain) and the Beast (the hero). Finally, all that content is concisely worded in only one sentence.
How to Write a Working Thesis Statement in 4 Steps
A strong thesis likely won’t appear fully-formed when you sit down to write. Let’s take a look at how you might develop the above thesis step by step by answering the four questions below.
Step 1: Topic
What theme(s), idea(s), or topic(s) do you want to focus on in your essay? What are the broader concepts you want to write about?
Example 1: I want to write about gender roles in Beauty and the Beast.
Example 2: I want to write about Belle’s behavior towards the male characters in Beauty and the Beast.
Either of these examples could eventually lead to the thesis above. If you start off with a more specific topic here, your final claim will likely be more specific, too!
Step 2: Problem
What is a specific aspect of your topic that you want to explore further? What is the problem, question, or interesting element that you observed about your topic in the text(s)? If there’s something strange you noticed in the text or something you’re intrigued by, that’s a great place to start.
Example: I want to explore why Belle nurtures the Beast even though he’s controlling over her, which makes me question whether she is as untraditional as the beginning of the film leads viewers to believe.
Step 3: Purpose
It’s important to consider what the significance of your argument is. In other words, what do you want to convince your reader of? What do you hope to show your reader through your paper?
Example: I want to convince my reader that Belle fits into a traditional gender role by “fixing” (and falling in love with) an aggressive male character, showing that Belle is not a feminist character.
Step 4: Claim
Time to make a claim. Remember that this should be debatable: You’re writing an argument that some people might reasonably disagree with.
Example: Belle’s main role in Beauty and the Beast is to change the Beast’s violent and controlling behavior, showing that Belle is not a feminist character because she follows the traditional gender role of women nurturing and “fixing” aggressive men.
Why This Is a “Working Thesis”
Note that the counter-point about Gaston hasn’t yet made it into this thesis. What emerged from this 4-step generative exercise is a working thesis, also known as a provisional or preliminary thesis. Through the act of writing, research, and further analysis of your ideas, your working thesis will likely be refined, specified, shifted, or even changed completely. (And that’s okay! In fact, that’s usually how people build good arguments.)
Allow your argument to develop naturally through the writing process. Often, we may not be sure exactly what we want to say about a topic until we begin working. Sometimes, you’ll find that you start to disagree with your original premise (maybe as you research, you find evidence that shows your initial argument was actually flawed or wrong, for example) and want to argue the opposite instead. Or maybe a more specific topic emerges through further research and you want to narrow the scope of your thesis.
A key takeaway:
Don’t feel as though once you’ve written your working thesis that it’s set in stone. Smart students adapt and refine arguments as they go. (Corollary: Be wary of becoming too attached to your argument.)
In the case of our Beauty and the Beast example, the working thesis’ claim remains the same, but the revised version adds another layer of insight by pointing out a similarity between Gaston and the Beast.
Strengthening Your Thesis By Adding Insight
What sets a stronger argument apart is insight. That is, going beyond the surface-level of your topic, showing deeper thought, and introducing an observation or idea that not everyone who has studied the same text(s) would necessarily consider.
Insight might develop naturally as you work on your paper. Be on the look-out for patterns and new observations, and follow your curiosity as you conduct and analyze your research.
Here are some techniques for actively considering and developing insight in your argument:
Find a similarity between things that seem different.
Gaston and the Beast are foils to one another, and represent different things to Belle and the story. But by observing the similarity of aggression in Gaston and the Beast, the thesis example above adds insight to its claim about gender roles.
Find a difference between things that seem similar.
At first glance, Belle and Cinderella have a lot in common: They both enter unfamiliar worlds, fall in love with a prince, and become princesses by the end. But Belle comes from a loving home and encounters the Beast when rescuing her father, whereas one of Cinderella’s main motivations for marrying the Prince is to escape her stepmother.
Question an underlying assumption.
It may seem like Belle isn’t a feminist character because she’s reliant on the men in her life and ends up marrying at the end, but that stance assumes that Belle would have other options. When Gaston hatches his plan to lock Belle’s father up in an asylum, it’s implied that Belle would have to marry him at that point, since no one would be able to support her—showing that women in her world weren’t able (or allowed) to support themselves.
Observe something that is true, but isn’t immediately apparent.
Although the symbolism of the curse placed on the Beast can be interpreted to mean that inner beauty is more important than looks, the fact that one of Belle’s main character traits is physical beauty suggests that this message may not be applied in the same way to women.
Continually ask yourself: “Why does this matter?” or “Why is this important?” In other words, what is the significance of your claim?
The deeper you can dig into the “so what?” of your argument, the more insight you’ll find. Why does it matter that the film suggests that masculinity needs to be “tamed” by women? What’s important about the differences between Belle’s and Cinderella’s motivations? Linking your observation to its larger significance will add more insight and purpose to your argument (and will set you up for more interesting, complex conclusions).
Questions to Help You Revise Your Thesis
After you’ve written your argument, imagine you’re encountering it for the first time. Ask yourself these questions to see where you might need improvement. Better yet, swap your thesis with a classmate’s and carefully and critically answer these questions for one another:
Is it specific? Do you understand exactly what the paper will be arguing?
Is it debatable? Could somebody reasonably argue against it?
Is it grounded in the text(s) and/or evidence? Do you understand the specific aspect(s) of the evidence or text that the paper will be focusing on?
Is it surprising? Does it bring up something in a new way? Are you intrigued to read how the paper will demonstrate the argument?
With the framing and approach above, you should have the tools to construct a solid argument. Time to ponder some insights and dive into writing!
Special thanks to Quinn Gilman-Forlini for writing this post and contributing to other College Writing Center resources
Quinn Gilman-Forlini (she/her) loves helping students discover more about themselves through writing. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Virginia and her BA in English from Ursinus College, where she later taught creative writing and composition. Now she coaches students one-on-one with personal statements and applications for college and graduate school. She loves books, TV, and movies in equal measure, as long as they tell a great story.
Top Values: Creativity, Curiosity, Balance
