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Click to edit Master title styleBuilding an argument:PhD students session
Dr Robert WapshottCentre for Regional Economic and Enterprise Development
Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship @RobertWapshott @UoS_Management
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• Why you need an argument• One approach…• Starting points – the essentials• Building your arguments• Counter arguments?• Discussions and conclusions
Session Structure
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• It is your job to persuade your reader(ship) to see things your way
• You can attempt this through assertion but this can be easily dismantled in the academic context
• it’s a safer bet to achieve this through ordered persuasion with supporting logic and / or evidence
Why you need an argument
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• This is a reflection on how I think I go about building an argument
• I will highlight key points and ideas
• It is not the only way to build an argument• It is, ultimately, a practical skill that you develop
through applying yourself and seeing what works for you and your ideas
One approach
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• As obvious as it may sound, before you can start building your arguments you need your raw materials!
• There’s no substitute for intelligent reading and building understanding
• Read, read, read – copy & paste, NVivo, other• Reflect – what do you think? (your informed opinion)
Starting points – the essentials
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• As obvious as it may sound, before you can start building your arguments you need your raw materials!
• There’s no substitute for intelligent reading and building understanding
• Read, read, read – copy & paste, NVivo, other• Reflect – what do you think? (your informed opinion)
Building your arguments
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• Once you know what you think, you need to consider carefully why you think that – what are the most persuasive texts and arguments in your view?
• Identify the essence of those key points and identify what makes them so persuasive
• Summarise the key points and why you find them so persuasive
Building your arguments
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• There’s a good chance that to make your contribution you need to synthesise several areas of literature
• Taking each key area of literature, as it relates to your research topic or study, consider the key points and how they link between those areas
• What is the best order to link those points together?
• If pieces don’t fit … does your argument work? Do you need to conduct further reading? Are you overloading your points?
Building your arguments
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• Plan your paragraphs – one point per paragraph • Work with key literature and focus on making your
point – you’re aiming to persuade here so make a case
• (see introductory sections of papers in your field)
Building your arguments
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• While you need an appreciation of alternative explanations and literature that contests the viewpoint you find persuasive, you don’t need to give all points equal weighting
• Make your case first• If alternative explanations must be addressed, then
you need to kill them off as you go – building your argument and showing why your view is better than the (limited) alternatives
• Do not get into ‘flip flopping’ with ‘on the one hand…but on the other hand…’ say something!
Counter-arguments?
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• Draw together your arguments from the first part of the paper / document
• Link with the empirical evidence you have presented to reinforce the point you are making
• Hammer home the point in the conclusion
Discussion and conclusions
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