Skip to the content
Learning at Lincoln
  • Academic skills
  • Teaching
  • Assessments
  • Support
  • Academic skills
  • Teaching
  • Assessments
  • Support
  • Academic skills
    • Learning approaches introduction
    • Active learning
    • Collaborative learning
    • Independent learning
    • Blended learning
    • Inquiry-based learning
    • Problem-based learning
    • Authentic learning
    • Peer-to-peer learning
    • Introduction to independent learning
    • Engaging with your learning
    • Goals & action planning
    • Using to-do lists
    • Mastering your independent learning
    • Dealing with stress
    • Reflection
    • Managing your time effectively
    • Time saving strategies
    • Managing procrastination & distractions
    • Staying motivated & creating a routine
    • Attendance
    • Time commitments for mature students
    • Time management & employability
    • Introduction to note-taking
    • Making notes in lectures
    • Making notes when studying
    • Paraphrasing and summarising sources
    • Note-taking methods
    • Introduction to academic reading
    • Reading techniques
    • Improving your reading speed and comprehension
    • Reading lists
    • Finding what to read
    • Research skills
    • Critical reading and research
    • Research opportunities
    • Introduction to academic writing
    • Sentence structure
    • Genres of academic writing
    • Academic writing style
    • Structure and argument
    • Critical writing
    • Paraphrasing and summarising sources
    • Academic writing skills: Hedging
    • Academic writing support
    • Introduction to critical thinking
    • What is critical thinking?
    • An activity in critical thinking
    • Critical thinking and the internet
    • Developing a line of argument
    • Developing the structure of an argument
    • Flaws in an argument
    • Activity: Argument or not?
    • Evaluating evidence
    • Critical analysis
    • Introduction to critical analysis
    • Critical reading and research
    • Critical reflection
    • Critical reflection activity
    • Bloom’s Taxonomy
    • A critical checklist
    • Introduction to communication
    • Cross-cultural communication
    • Email communication
    • Setting up email & Microsoft Teams
    • Active listening
    • Contacting your student rep
    • Maths & stats support
    • Introduction to online learning
    • Digital literacy
    • Studying online
    • Your online identity
    • Digital accessibility
    • WordPress
    • Intro to Generative AI
    • Strengths and limitations of AI
    • AI guidelines
    • AI exploration
    • Using AI for learning
    • How to ask AI questions?
    • Using CoPilot
  • Academic skills
    • Learning approaches introduction
    • Active learning
    • Collaborative learning
    • Independent learning
    • Blended learning
    • Inquiry-based learning
    • Problem-based learning
    • Authentic learning
    • Peer-to-peer learning
    • Introduction to independent learning
    • Engaging with your learning
    • Goals & action planning
    • Using to-do lists
    • Mastering your independent learning
    • Dealing with stress
    • Reflection
    • Managing your time effectively
    • Time saving strategies
    • Managing procrastination & distractions
    • Staying motivated & creating a routine
    • Attendance
    • Time commitments for mature students
    • Time management & employability
    • Introduction to note-taking
    • Making notes in lectures
    • Making notes when studying
    • Paraphrasing and summarising sources
    • Note-taking methods
    • Introduction to academic reading
    • Reading techniques
    • Improving your reading speed and comprehension
    • Reading lists
    • Finding what to read
    • Research skills
    • Critical reading and research
    • Research opportunities
    • Introduction to academic writing
    • Sentence structure
    • Genres of academic writing
    • Academic writing style
    • Structure and argument
    • Critical writing
    • Paraphrasing and summarising sources
    • Academic writing skills: Hedging
    • Academic writing support
    • Introduction to critical thinking
    • What is critical thinking?
    • An activity in critical thinking
    • Critical thinking and the internet
    • Developing a line of argument
    • Developing the structure of an argument
    • Flaws in an argument
    • Activity: Argument or not?
    • Evaluating evidence
    • Critical analysis
    • Introduction to critical analysis
    • Critical reading and research
    • Critical reflection
    • Critical reflection activity
    • Bloom’s Taxonomy
    • A critical checklist
    • Introduction to communication
    • Cross-cultural communication
    • Email communication
    • Setting up email & Microsoft Teams
    • Active listening
    • Contacting your student rep
    • Maths & stats support
    • Introduction to online learning
    • Digital literacy
    • Studying online
    • Your online identity
    • Digital accessibility
    • WordPress
    • Intro to Generative AI
    • Strengths and limitations of AI
    • AI guidelines
    • AI exploration
    • Using AI for learning
    • How to ask AI questions?
    • Using CoPilot
  • University of Lincoln
  • The Library
  • Student Life
  • Student Services
  • ICT
Home Academic skillsDeveloping the structure of an argument

Developing the structure of an argument

When writing an essay, firstly tell us what you are going to say (intro), then say it (main body), then tell us what you’ve said (conclusion)!

To construct a well-developed argument…

  • Writing needs to be divided into logical paragraphs
  • Each paragraph should have a central topic or idea
  • Each paragraph should have a topic sentence to set the theme of the paragraph
  • The paragraph should develop the theme (add information, explanation, examples, support)
  • The theme of one paragraph should follow from the previous one
  • Each paragraph should contribute to your overall argument – if it doesn’t, it shouldn’t really be there.

Topic sentences

Example topic sentence: ‘The consequences of not moderating the intake of fast food are rather alarming.’

The paragraph will then develop:

  • What are the consequences?
  • Why are they alarming?
  • Provide sources

Everything within the paragraph relates to the topic sentence.

Conclusions

Conclusions should include…

  • Summary of main ideas
  • Any recommendations you might want to make
  • Final thoughts/deductions from your argument
  • NO new information
  • Return to thesis statement
  • Confirmation that you have achieved the purpose of the text

Think before you begin:

  • What is your position? What are your arguments? What conclusion are they leading to?
  • Then start with your conclusion – if you’re not sure of your conclusion, this will weaken your whole essay.
  • Often indicated by signpost words such as ‘in conclusion’, ‘in summary’, ‘therefore’, ‘finally’, ‘on this basis’.
  • If you have your conclusion planned, you can make sure your points are leading to it – everything you write should be leading to your conclusion.
  • If your conclusion is clear, your argument or line of reasoning is also likely to be clear.
  • If you find your position changes as you do more research, you can then re-write it
Developing a line of argument Flaws in an argument
Learning
at Lincoln

More from the University of Lincoln

  • Link: University Accessibility information.Accessibility
  • Link: Contact University of Lincoln. Contacting the University
  • Link: University of Lincoln Accessibility information.Legal
  • Link: University of Lincoln Privacy information.Privacy & Disclaimer
  • Link: University of Lincoln Freedom information.Freedom of Information

©2025 University of Lincoln Learning at Lincoln

Launch university accessibility information
Viewing Message: 1 of 1.
Notice

We use cookies to understand how visitors use our website and to improve the user experience. To find out more, see our Cookies Policy.