What is an argument



POLS 442/JSIS A 408: Government & Politics of China

Prof. Susan Whiting

Good papers always include the following components:

Introduction with thesis statement & roadmap,

Evidence & argument,

Counter-argument with any disconfirming evidence,

Conclusion

1) An Introduction

A student once said that if the introduction is clear enough, one should be able to hand the assignment off to another person who has done all the same reading, and s/he would be able to complete the assignment as planned.

a) A clear statement of the paper’s focus (“The growth of the internet in China has succeeded in shaking the stability of the CCP regime.” v. “All people yearn for freedom.”)

b) Brief references to the specific events or arguments under discussion (“With the advent of Weibo in 2009, China’s rulers faced a new problem: …” v. “The rise of new technologies is always difficult for authoritarian regimes.”)

c) A thesis statement (“This paper argues that although the Chinese regime is responding quickly and efficiently to new technologies (as demonstrated by their crackdown on blah blah on this date, they cannot control information flows or processes as quickly as these processes change and adapt because X, Y, and Z.”)

d) A roadmap (“The first section will review two instances of the regime’s information management: one which was successful, and one in which dissidents were able to evade regime surveillance for quite some time. The second section will…Finally, using…, the paper will demonstrate that…”)

2) A Thesis Statement/Statement of the Argument

a) An assertion, backed by evidence, which is falsifiable. (This is what Prof. Whiting means by “debatable.”)

Not open for debate/YAWN: “The CCP is an authoritarian regime.”

Open for debate/INTERESTING: “Although the CCP is an authoritarian regime, there are virtual spaces where citizens engage in political activism that effectively undermines regime stability.”

b) The thesis statement answers the question that animates the paper. So if the question is “What is the effect of the internet on regime stability?” your thesis statement should answer that question: something along the lines of “New communication technologies do/do not undermine the CCP’s stability because X, Y, and Z.”

c) The thesis statement is NOT a statement of fact: “Weibo is becoming increasingly common in China with 368 million users” or opinion “The internet is a democratizing force.”

3) Evidence

Evidence supports your argument. You are being asked to evaluate actual events and their impacts, rather than make normative claims about what actors should have done or should do in the future: you should stay in the land of empirical causal claims. You may draw some examples from the media, but your assessment must be grounded in the analysis of scholarly, peer-reviewed articles.

4) The argument

a) Each premise and assumption of the thesis is shored up by supporting evidence, and the whole is analyzed.

1) What is analysis? A clearly written analysis will indicate how key points relate to one another and consider relevant assumptions. Often, analysis requires judgment or evaluation of sources or claims.

b) Each chunk of the thesis statement should be argued for (rather than merely asserted)—by which I mean evidence and/or logical inference should be used to persuade the reader of the statement’s correctness—in a way that is logically coherent. Paragraphs should come in the correct order and have clear and strong topic sentences.

1) What counts as evidence of stability/instability? How is it related to internet usage?

c) The argument should, in fact, argue for something rather than describing things. It is crucial that your paper NOT merely describe the situation, but instead analyze and make an argument about the situation.

5) Counterarguments

Counterarguments demonstrate to the reader that the author is taking an opposing point of view seriously. What evidence might convince you that you’re wrong? The author should give voice to those who oppose her thesis, and should make those objections credible (not a “straw man”). Although addressing counterarguments is optional, doing so well is usually the sign of a strong, thoughtful paper.

6) Conclusion

a) The conclusion is essentially a rear-view mirror: here’s what I’ve done and here’s the route I’ve taken.

b) It introduces no new evidence, but it may highlight implications for theory, implications for policy, set up a future research agenda, or identify limitations:

“although I have limited my discussion to X, this paper points to the following important new questions.”

c) Conclusions remind the reader why this question is important: the ‘so what/who cares’ question should absolutely be clear.

Final Tips/Considerations

• You may use whatever citation style you wish, but all citations must be internally consistent. That is, if you use Chicago 16th for all but one citation which is in MLA format, that is not internally consistent.

• Cite everything you did not know before you started studying China.

o It’s always better to over-cite than under-cite.

o This does not mean every sentence has a citation, but it does mean that whenever you rely on the insights offered or evidence gathered by someone else, you give them credit.

• Start early and keep plugging! Plagiarism is often the result of procrastination or confusion about the assignment: the best way to avoid that is to start early. Then, you can work through confusion or points of frustration BEFORE the paper is due.

• Give yourself deadlines for intermediate steps.

o Nov.8: Hand in Preliminary Bibliography.

o Nov 28: Rough Outline with Provisional Thesis and Topic Sentences. If you are dissatisfied with one of the sections, go back and find different sources.

o Nov 30-Dec 2: Crank out a Rough Draft.

o Dec 3: Get someone who is NOT YOU to read your draft.

o Dec 4-5: Revise.

o Dec 6: Turn it in and do a dance of joy.



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