Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010

An argument assembled
Planning your argument
Writing your paper

Here is a small argument that pulls together all five parts:

TV aimed at children can aid their intellectual development, but that contribution has been offset by a factor that could damage their emotional development—too much violence._claim Parents agree that example is an important influence on a child's development. That's why parents tell their children stories about heroes. It seems plausible, then, that when children see degrading behavior, they will be affected by it as well._warrant In a single day, children see countless examples of violence._reason Every day the average child watches almost four hours of TV and sees about twelve acts of violence (Smith 1992)._evidence Tarnov has shown that children don't confuse cartoon violence with real life (2003)._{acknowledgment of alternative point of view} But that may make children more vulnerable to violence in other shows. If they only distinguish between cartoons and people, they may think real actors engaged in graphic violence represent real life._response We cannot ignore the possibility that TV violence encourages the development of violent adults._{claim restated}

Most of those elements could be expanded to many paragraphs.

Arguments in different fields look different, but they all consist of answers to just these five questions:

✵ What are you claiming?

✵ What are your reasons?

✵ What evidence supports your reasons?

✵ But what about other points of view?

✵ How are your reasons relevant to your claim?

Your storyboard should answer those questions many times. If it doesn't, your paper will seem thin and unconvincing.