Argument

How it is used

Central to academic writing: you make, develop, present or support an argument, and readers find it convincing, weak or persuasive. Supervisors often ask 'What is your main argument?' when a draft only describes sources.

Example sentences

1. The central argument of this paper is that urban gardens strengthen local communities.

2. Your argument would be stronger with more recent evidence.

Common collocations

• main argument
• develop an argument
• support an argument
• convincing argument
• line of argument

Related terms

• argueTo state a position and give reasons and evidence to show why it is right; in academic writing it also reports what an author claims.
• claimA statement that something is true, which may or may not yet be supported by enough evidence.
• evidenceFacts, data or findings that show whether a claim or idea is true or likely to be true.
• counterargumentAn argument against your own position, which a writer presents fairly and then answers or weakens to make the main argument stronger.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• argument · Software Engineering
• argument · Philosophy

More terms: Argument and Hedging

• hedging
• suggest
• to some extent
• stance
• it could be argued that
• acknowledge
• arguably
• tentative
• plausible
• tend to
• it is worth noting that
• assert