Structuring the Argument of Your Essay: How to Structure Your Argument

In order to structure the argument of your essay, it is vital to understand what a literary argument is.

According to dictionary.com, a literary argument is “a summary of the subject or plot of a literary work”. For example, it may be an essay about a “play or movie”. The word summary suggests “a brief statement that presents the main points in a concise form.” 

A well-constructed essay consists of an argument (literary argument), further development of the argument in terms of literary content, your interpretation of the argument and previous content, as well as your closing summary, or conclusion with respect to your argument.

For Internet publication of an essay, search engine optimization (SEO) or focusing on key words and phrases, will help to simplify the structuring of your argument.

The content of your essay will still consist of a further development of your argument. Your personal reflections, thoughts or feelings will expand the horizon of the essay further. Your conclusion should always be relevant and compatible with your original argument.

Structuring the argument of your essay can be difficult at times, particularly if the topic of your essay is too broad in scope.

For examples, instead of creating an argument for an essay about artists in general, reducing the topic further to that of a specific artist like Caravaggio, in conjunction with introducing his “illumination of form out of deep shadow” will intrigue or entice a reader.

The whole point behind structuring the argument of your essay properly has to do with its clarity and readability, which in turn will lead to increased readership, potential publication, marketability and sales.

When you have key words and phrases, placing them in the appropriate order for your argument is important.

For example, “Caravaggio’s ‘illumination of form out of deep shadow’ is ‘a hallmark of Baroque painting’…” would be an appropriate argument for an essay. Including appropriate sources of the information in your argument is vital in essay writing, so that as a writer, you avoid plagiarism. If your sources have internal links within the content of your essay, your readers may be intrigued to do further research.    

Arguments in essays can be strictly literary, philosophical in nature or a combination of both. As a writer, you have the literary privilege or option to determine the direction you want to take with respect to further exposition of the argument of your essay. Beginning your essay with a well-structured argument is always important.