Explaining Arguments

The basics

An argument is a process of reasoning which is supposed to establish a conclusion. The conclusion is the position which the author wants to convince you is true.

Put more simply: an argument is a “line of thought” which anyone is supposed to be able to follow and agree with. If you agree with all the steps in the line of thought, you must agree with where this line of thought leads – you must agree with the conclusion! This is how the author of an argument tries to convince you of the conclusion – by leading you through a series of steps such that, if you agree with each step, you must agree the conclusion is true. The “steps” in an argument are called the reasons.

Explaining VS summarizing

Explaining an argument is NOT the same as summarizing an argument! When you summarize an argument, you simply outline the “steps” (the reasons) of the argument without going into further detail. To fully explain an argument, you must explain why each of the reasons makes sense, at least to the original author. What is compelling about each of the reasons such that the author believes them – and thinks that we should believe them too?

In other words, do not just state THAT an author believes something; explain WHY they believe this!

Explaining why

Every argument you come across will at the very least require you to (1) explain in detail why each of the reasons makes sense. You need to do this for every reason, even if it seems obvious! Some reasons will only require short explanations; some will be much more involved.

Some arguments you come across will require an additional step: you may need to (2) explain how the reasons fit together to lead to the conclusion. In other words: how does one reason lead to the next? How do the reasons rely on or inform one another? How do they "work together" to prove the conclusion? (2) becomes necessary when the reasons for the conclusion are not separate or independent points, but are more deeply connected to or reliant on each other.

NOTE: Often, an argument will make use of key terms (for example, "identity politics" or "tribalism"). When you are explaining an argument like this, you must make sure that you clearly define each of the key terms for your readers! (You may even need to devote a whole paragraph to defining these key terms.)

Why do I need to explain why?

There is much value to be found in thoroughly explaining another person’s argument. This is because in order to explain an argument you must first thoroughly understand it. You must understand why the reasoning made sense to the person who originally gave it, even if you disagree with it! When you develop this kind of understanding, it causes your intellect to expand, your capacity for empathy to increase, and it allows you to appreciate truths you might otherwise have been blind to.

. . . And perhaps best of all, understanding an opponent’s argument puts you in a better position to argue for what you believe! If you understand the argument of your opponent, you will be able to argue against it much more effectively.

Ok, but how do i actually write this?!

One solid structure for explaining an argument is this:

1) First, take a single paragraph to simply state all the reasons and the conclusion of the argument. This will serve as an overview or introduction to the argument and will give the reader a basic understanding to build on.

Just like it can be easy for you to get lost in the details when you are reading a complex article, it can be confusing for your readers if you simply jump into explaining the details of an argument! Giving an overview paragraph allows the reader to comprehend more fully the details you will be talking about, because it gives them the "bigger picture" first.

You may notice that this is basically a summary! This is the one time where summarizing is acceptable -- and the reason is because you will be going on to explain more.

2) Then, take however many paragraphs you need to thoroughly explain each of the reasons. (See "Explaining Why" above.) In general, each reason will equal ONE Big Idea, and therefore should be given its own paragraph.

As with all Big Ideas, if you find one of the reasons simply will not fill up a full paragraph, you may combine it with one of the other reasons: but make sure that they make sense together!

Alternatively, you can decide to reverse the order of 1 and 2: explain each of the reasons first, and then give a summary paragraph of the entire argument at the end. In general, I think it's easier for the reader if you start with the overview, but either structure can work well.

Remember: the goal of explaining an argument is to give the best, most convincing version of the argument possible. Often, essay prompts will ask you to give an “impartial”, “unbiased”, or “objective” presentation of an argument: this simply means giving the best version of the argument.

Giving the "best version" of an argument also means your explanation is not biased in favor of the argument! The best version of an argument will be able to convince people who did not originally agree with it. It will only be able to do this if it is impartial.