Ten Steps to an Argument

Here's an exercise that might help you outline the argument of a paper or prepare a conference presentation. I'm going to be trying it out soon to write an abstract for an upcoming conference.

Step 1: articulate your main point (thesis) in a single, simple declarative sentence. Call it T.

Step 2: decide what you want your audience to do with that sentence. Do you want your audience to believe it, or agree with it, or understand it?

Step 3: write three sentences that state why your audience is not able to do this. That is, describe, in three sentences, the background assumptions against which the sentence is unbelievable, controversial, or incomprehensible. (These sentences describe your audience's mind before having read your paper.) Number them 1, 2, 3.

Step 4: write three sentences that state the background assumptions against which the sentence can be believed, agreed with, or understood. (These three sentences describe your mind on this issue, and your ideal audience's mind after having read your paper.) Number them 13, 14, 15.

Step 5: write three sentences that state your direct evidence for T. Number them 7, 8, 9.

Step 6: write three sentences that explain how someone whose mind looks like 1,2,3 would be convinced of 7, 8, 9. Number them 4, 5, 6.

Step 7: write three sentences that explain why someone who knows 7, 8, 9 will henceforth assume 13, 14, 15. Number them 10, 11, 12.

Step 8: Write the sentences down in order (following the numbering).

Step 9: Insert sentence T between sentence 12 and 13.

Step 10: Have an epiphany.

I don't know how well this will work yet. But I'll report back when I've tried it.