Revising an Argument

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Once you've got a working draft of your argument, you want to make sure that you have adequate support for all your claims. The best way to do this is to go through your argument, sentence by sentence, circling all the claims you have made. List them on a sheet of paper and ask whether it is a claim with which any member of your audience might disagree.

Under each claim, list what evidence you offer in its support. If none is offered, perhaps further research is in order: If only one piece is offered, judge whether it is authoritative enough to support the claim and whether it should be included at all.

As you review each piece of evidence, consider the following:

• When relying on sources with which the audience is familiar
• When relying on one key piece of evidence to make a point
• When relying on evidence from original field research to support your point
• When original field research is only one of many forms of evidence
• When only a small part of someone else's work is relevant
• When multiple sources support a single point in your argument
• When tangential evidence is relevant but not exactly on point