Refine your argument
Once you have structured your argument, and written a draft, reflect on whether you have adequately addressed the issue or problem you were initially faced with. Consider what new challenges may have arisen from your critical thinking process. Then take a step back and consider how your thinking might apply to a broader context than the one you initially considered.
Strategies for refining your argument
Return to the original question or problem you set out to address and ask yourself:
- Does my main argument address the problem or question in a clear, logical way?
- Do my claims logically connect to each other, or are there any unsupported or contradicting claims that can confuse the reader?
Consider your argument from the perspective of a person arguing against your position.
- If you were to argue against the argument you have created, which claims could you invalidate?
- What claims might be missing or lacking reliable and credible evidence?
- If you were asked to refute the claims you have made, how would you do it?
Often you will be asked to apply your critical thinking to a very specific topic. You can strengthen your argument by considering the implications of your argument.
- Imagine what would happen if your readers began to act in agreement with main claim of your argument (e.g. if they believed that even collecting depersonalised data leads to breaches of privacy)?
- What would be the implications of your argument for academic or scientific knowledge, health, law, business, education, culture or society in general?
Explicitly connect your argument to the broader context
The final step in refining your argument is connecting it to the broader context. This way the argument will not only provide a response to your specific question or problem, but also consider how the argument applies more generally and how it fits into the big picture.
A useful way to connect your argument to the broader context is to ask the following questions:
- How does my argument address important issues or challenges in the discipline?
- What implications can my argument have for other related questions and problems?
- What aspects of my argument (e.g. evidence, reasoning or claims) could be useful in addressing other questions or problems?
Examples of connecting arguments to the broader context
The examples below show different ways of connecting arguments to the broader context in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM), in humanities and social sciences (HASS) and in business and economics.