Let's unpack some of the key terms involved in argument analysis. On this page, you'll find some of the terminology you'll need to get started, along with explanations and examples.
Contention
A contention is the main point of view or opinion the writer is wanting to convey to the reader, usually supported by the claims.
An author's contention is the main claim they're trying to prove throughout their article.
Placing their contention at the beginning is the most direct method, and has the effect of positioning the reader to the author's beliefs from the outset.
A contention placed at the end of an article can have the effect of seeming like a valid, logical conclusion to a well-thought through discussion.
The contention can also be repeated throughout the article. The author may have chosen to present it in this way in order to continue reiterating their main point in the audience's minds, aligning them to their views.
Excerpt from a sample article
Read these two paragraphs from an article titled 'The Hidden Costs of Free Tertiary Education' by Professor Charmaine Lee from the University of South State.
The highlighted section indicates the contention of the article.
Screen reader users, this text uses visual highlights to indicate the different elements of an argument. Each highlight is explained for your convenience.
1 Contention
The proposal for free tertiary education for all, while seemingly noble, is fraught with significant economic and quality-related challenges. Proponents argue that removing tuition fees will make higher education accessible to everyone, but they fail to consider the financial burden this will place on universities. As anyone with experience in the tertiary sector will tell you, without the revenue generated from tuition fees, universities will no be able to maintain the high standards of education and research that they currently uphold. The quality of education is likely to suffer as institutions will be forced to cut costs, potentially leading to larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, and diminished resources for students. This not only undermines the academic experience but also jeopardises the global competitiveness of our universities.1Screen reader users, this is the contention.
Moreover, the concept of free tertiary education does not address the underlying issues of equitable access and student success. Studies assert that simply eliminating tuition fees does not necessarily result in higher enrolment or completion rates among disadvantaged students. For instance, data from the National Centre for Education Statistics shows that targeted financial aid and support services are more effective in helping these students succeed. By reallocating funds from tuition revenue to cover the costs of free education, universities may be unable to provide the necessary scholarships, mentorship programmes, and academic support that are crucial for student retention and success. Consequently, the push for free education could inadvertently and irresponsibly widen the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, contrary to its intended goal.
Argument
This is a key message that a writer wants to convey to the readers to support their contention. The writer will use of range of key arguments to support their contention. The writer will use language and evidence to try to persuade you to a particular point of view.
Having determined the contention of the overall argument you are making, you will need to identify key arguments (can be called sub-arguments) to support the overall contention of the article. This argument should take a strong stance so readers understand exactly what your claim is.
In this example, the same excerpt from Professor Lee's article has the argument highlighted.
Screen reader users, this text uses visual highlights to indicate the different elements of an argument. Each highlight is explained for your convenience.
2 Argument
The proposal for free tertiary education for all, while seemingly noble, is fraught with significant economic and quality-related challenges. Proponents argue that removing tuition fees will make higher education accessible to everyone, but they fail to consider the financial burden this will place on universities. As anyone with experience in the tertiary sector will tell you, without the revenue generated from tuition fees, universities will no be able to maintain the high standards of education and research that they currently uphold. The quality of education is likely to suffer as institutions will be forced to cut costs, potentially leading to larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, and diminished resources for students. This not only undermines the academic experience but also jeopardises the global competitiveness of our universities.
Moreover, the concept of free tertiary education does not address the underlying issues of equitable access and student success. Studies assert that simply eliminating tuition fees does not necessarily result in higher enrolment or completion rates among disadvantaged students. For instance, data from the National Centre for Education Statistics shows that targeted financial aid and support services are more effective in helping these students succeed. By reallocating funds from tuition revenue to cover the costs of free education, universities may be unable to provide the necessary scholarships, mentorship programmes, and academic support that are crucial for student retention and success. Consequently, the push for free education could inadvertently and irresponsibly widen the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, contrary to its intended goal.2Screen reader users, this is the argument.
Claims
These are the key points of the argument. Each key argument should have a central claim. This is often presented as the topic sentence for the key argument.
A Claim is a statement asserted within the argument that can be assessed to be true or false.
Each claim can be supported by a number of sub claims, arguments or evidence.
The claim may contain additional contextual material, for example explaining terms used and scope.
In this example, the same excerpt from Professor Lee's article has the claim highlighted.
Screen reader users, this text uses visual highlights to indicate the different elements of an argument. Each highlight is explained for your convenience.
3 Claim
The proposal for free tertiary education for all, while seemingly noble, is fraught with significant economic and quality-related challenges.3Screen reader users, this is the claim. Proponents argue that removing tuition fees will make higher education accessible to everyone, but they fail to consider the financial burden this will place on universities. As anyone with experience in the tertiary sector will tell you, without the revenue generated from tuition fees, universities will no be able to maintain the high standards of education and research that they currently uphold. The quality of education is likely to suffer as institutions will be forced to cut costs, potentially leading to larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, and diminished resources for students. This not only undermines the academic experience but also jeopardises the global competitiveness of our universities.
Moreover, the concept of free tertiary education does not address the underlying issues of equitable access and student success. Studies assert that simply eliminating tuition fees does not necessarily result in higher enrolment or completion rates among disadvantaged students. For instance, data from the National Centre for Education Statistics shows that targeted financial aid and support services are more effective in helping these students succeed. By reallocating funds from tuition revenue to cover the costs of free education, universities may be unable to provide the necessary scholarships, mentorship programmes, and academic support that are crucial for student retention and success. Consequently, the push for free education could inadvertently and irresponsibly widen the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, contrary to its intended goal.
Evidence
Evidence is information that an author weaves into the writing in order to substantiate claims. Supports the claims and arguments and can include support for the claim, such as examples, statistics, quotes etc. In academic writing, evidence used from other sources must be referenced.
Evidence is presented in support of the claim and argument. All evidence provides some level of relevance. Always analyse the quality of each piece of evidence being presented to you as the reader. You need to be able to determine the quality of evidence as being strong or weak. Also consider whether the writer adequately presents evidence that contradicts their argument. This can indicate a writer that is present a balanced perspective.
Strong evidence: Sufficient evidence, high quality evidence.
A contention needs to be supported by relevant, reliable, credible, sufficient and current evidence.
If there is no evidence, it isn't an argument - it is only an opinion, a description, or an explanation.
Question the evidence the author has used.
Does the evidence provided support the argument?
How credible (trustworthy) is the evidence?
Has enough evidence been presented?
Does it come from different sources?
Are there any missing links between the evidence and the author's contention?
Is the evidence current?
Is there other evidence available that might challenge the evidence used?
Take notice of linking words and phrases which demonstrate cause/reason, effect/results, to help identify the evidence used to support the argument.
In this example, the same excerpt from Professor Lee's article has the evidence highlighted.
Screen reader users, this text uses visual highlights to indicate the different elements of an argument. Each highlight is explained for your convenience.
4 Strong evidence
5 Weak evidence
The proposal for free tertiary education for all, while seemingly noble, is fraught with significant economic and quality-related challenges. Proponents argue that removing tuition fees will make higher education accessible to everyone, but they fail to consider the financial burden this will place on universities. As anyone with experience in the tertiary sector will tell you, without the revenue generated from tuition fees, universities will no be able to maintain the high standards of education and research that they currently uphold. The quality of education is likely to suffer as institutions will be forced to cut costs, potentially leading to larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, and diminished resources for students. This not only undermines the academic experience but also jeopardises the global competitiveness of our universities.
Moreover, the concept of free tertiary education does not address the underlying issues of equitable access and student success. Studies assert that simply eliminating tuition fees does not necessarily result in higher enrolment or completion rates among disadvantaged students. For instance, data from the National Centre for Education Statistics shows that targeted financial aid and support services are more effective in helping these students succeed.4Screen reader users, this is strong evidence. By reallocating funds from tuition revenue to cover the costs of free education, universities may be unable to provide the necessary scholarships, mentorship programmes, and academic support that are crucial for student retention and success. Consequently, the push for free education will inadvertently and irresponsibly widen the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, contrary to its intended goal.5Screen reader users, this is weak evidence.
Assumption
Assumptions are nformation the writer believes the readers will already know. Assumptions are embedded in the arguments. They are seldom explicit and therefore can be difficult to identify.
Sometimes we assume the answer or reason we have given is ‘obvious' or ‘common sense'. This is because we believe (often incorrectly) that other people think and feel the same as we do. Assumptions come from our personal beliefs and values; they may be justified, or not. Often assumptions are also unstated or ‘hidden' because the writer feels it is unnecessary to explain.
Weak or false arguments are based on incorrect assumptions and are not well-supported by credible evidence.
In this example, the same excerpt from Professor Lee's article has an assumption highlighted.
Screen reader users, this text uses visual highlights to indicate the different elements of an argument. Each highlight is explained for your convenience.
6 Assumption
The proposal for free tertiary education for all, while seemingly noble, is fraught with significant economic and quality-related challenges. Proponents argue that removing tuition fees will make higher education accessible to everyone, but they fail to consider the financial burden this will place on universities. As anyone with experience in the tertiary sector will tell you,6Screen reader users, this is an assumption. without the revenue generated from tuition fees, universities will no be able to maintain the high standards of education and research that they currently uphold. The quality of education is likely to suffer as institutions will be forced to cut costs, potentially leading to larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, and diminished resources for students. This not only undermines the academic experience but also jeopardises the global competitiveness of our universities.
Moreover, the concept of free tertiary education does not address the underlying issues of equitable access and student success. Studies assert that simply eliminating tuition fees does not necessarily result in higher enrolment or completion rates among disadvantaged students. For instance, data from the National Centre for Education Statistics shows that targeted financial aid and support services are more effective in helping these students succeed. By reallocating funds from tuition revenue to cover the costs of free education, universities may be unable to provide the necessary scholarships, mentorship programmes, and academic support that are crucial for student retention and success. Consequently, the push for free education could inadvertently and irresponsibly widen the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, contrary to its intended goal.
Persuasive language
Using persuasive language is a deliberate choice of words which are intended to influence or to trigger a response.
This refers to a range of different persuasive language techniques used by writers in their texts to trigger a particular effect on the reader.
Persuasive language includes:
Ridicule, attacks: The writer attacks an opponent or idea. This is an assertion of the writer's viewpoint, and is used to prove the writers point by using attacking and putting down persuasion techniques against the opponent or idea. These methods are often effective in placing the reader in a position of agreement with the writer.
Emotional language:: Words used to deliberately create an emotional impact or response from the audience. The effect of using emotive language as a persuasive technique is to appeal to people's emotions and trigger an emotional response.
Hyperbole: A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point for emphasis. They are not meant to be taken literally. By using a hyperbole, a story can quickly become interesting or sound more convincing. Hyperboles are comparisons, but are exaggerated and often ridiculous.
In this example, the same excerpt from Professor Lee's article has persuasive language highlighted.
Screen reader users, this text uses visual highlights to indicate the different elements of an argument. Each highlight is explained for your convenience.
7 Persuasive language
The proposal for free tertiary education for all, while seemingly noble7Screen reader users, this is persuasive language., is fraught7Screen reader users, this is persuasive language. with significant economic and quality-related challenges. Proponents argue that removing tuition fees will make higher education accessible to everyone, but they fail to consider the financial burden this will place on universities. As anyone with experience in the tertiary sector will tell you, without the revenue generated from tuition fees, universities will no be able to maintain the high standards of education and research that they currently uphold. The quality of education is likely to suffer as institutions will be forced to cut costs, potentially leading to larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, and diminished resources for students. This not only undermines the academic experience but also jeopardises the global competitiveness of our universities.
Moreover, the concept of free tertiary education does not address the underlying issues of equitable access and student success. Studies assert that simply eliminating tuition fees does not necessarily result in higher enrolment or completion rates among disadvantaged students. For instance, data from the National Centre for Education Statistics shows that targeted financial aid and support services are more effective in helping these students succeed. By reallocating funds from tuition revenue to cover the costs of free education, universities may be unable to provide the necessary scholarships, mentorship programmes, and academic support that are crucial for student retention and success. Consequently, the push for free education could inadvertently and irresponsibly widen the gap7Screen reader users, this is persuasive language. between advantaged and disadvantaged students, contrary to its intended goal.
