Argumentation Resources
An introduction to argumentation
Argumentation is a skill that underpins every aspect of university study. In most written and spoken work students are required to produce a reason or set of reasons that they use to persuade other people to support their views. Argumentation is the process of reasoning in support of an idea or theory.
​
The resources below act as a good introduction to argumentation and to discursive writing. Discursive writing is a genre that requires you to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner. Your aim in writing a discursive essay is to persuade your reader that your position (your argument) is a valid one. In it you make a claim about a topic and defend this claim with evidence. The Academic Writing Guide (see the main menu) is a teaching resource that develops the skill of discursive writing and argumentation.
​
​A resource on argumentation, published by the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education
This is a PowerPoint with accompanying worksheet that offers practice in forming a position on a topic based on prompts and some preliminary reading. It is one of LearnHigher's 20 most popular resources.
​
If you are a student you can work through the slides and complete the worksheet by yourself, or it can be used as an in-class activity. It works well as the basis for a discussion about the research process, and as an introduction to the sample essay and tasks in the Arts & Humanities version of the Academic Writing Guide (accessed via the main menu) on the topic of eugenics.
A Google form with video and comprehension questions
This is a video comprehension task that gives you more information about how to construct an argument in your academic writing or speaking.
You can find other introductory argumentation tasks in the Academic Writing Guide section in the main menu. These tasks introduce the skill of argumentation and feature the same topics as those developed in the different versions of the Academic Writing Guide.