The Writing Wizard: Expository Writing & Crafting your Argument

English expository writing

describe the imageThe Writing Wizard is back again with a strange but useful tip for breaking through your mental blocks and clearing the cobwebs from the furthest reaches of your brain when you prepare to write.  Other people may think that you are a crazy person for doing this, or perhaps you do it already, but here it is: have a nice, long conversation with yourself. 

If you live in a major city like New York or Boston, chances are that you have encountered people on the street, walking alone, who seem engrossed in animated dialogue…with themselves.  “Oh, they’re just on a Bluetooth device,” you’ve told yourself reassuringly.  Or maybe upon further review, you’ve decided, “Nah, they’re just weird.”  Perhaps, however, they pertain to that elusive third category of auto-conversationalists – people trying to write good papers on deadlines.

So, why is it that walking around and talking to yourself like a crazy person and/or a telecommunications maven can help you clarify your ideas?  Well, it’s quite simple.  As a writing tutor, I can tell you that every good argument deserves a counter-argument, and every good argument deserves to be pushed as far as it can go. 

More often than not, we need to actually articulate our arguments to see and hear what they really do.  Oftentimes, when we sit down to write, we panic because we feel that the task at hand cannot possibly provide enough time and space for us to say something of value – “how can I prove the existence of God in this 4-5 page paper?!” or “how can I possibly explain how much I want to go to this college in only 450 words?!”  Our stress at the outset comes from assuming that we could talk for hours and hours, and then feeling that we’ll never make it to the good stuff, in the space provided.  It is likely true that we could go on and on about a topic we’re passionate about – and that’s why we need the intervention of a good editor and a good interlocutor.  Yet, we shouldn’t immediately assume that we can’t play these two roles ourselves; in fact, most people are very good at debating themselves – we do it subconsciously all day, every day.

The idea of talking to yourself while writing a paper is essentially the idea that if we stage a debate with our own persons, we can generate clear arguments that hold up to serious scrutiny. 

The trick is to commit fully to playing both sides – being the paper-writer and the paper-critic in equal measure.  The debate ought to take place out loud because both content and language are in play.  This is not simply an exercise to clarify ideas but also an opportunity to hear how they sound, and to sense how far they can be pushed; for this to work, they have to be experienced in real time, with the force of the spoken word. 

So the notion of holding this mock debate with yourself is meant to do a number of things simultaneously: first, get you out of your chair and away from the blinking cursor of doom; second, allow you to hear your ideas out in the world and not simply in your head; third, afford you the flexibility of conversation instead of the stricture of “polished” language that has to get nailed down right away on the page; fourth, give you an opportunity to extend your argument, challenge it, and exploit its strengths and weaknesses to see how it fares when met by opposing claims; and fifth, let you troubleshoot any problems in your thinking without having to get other people involved, which can sometimes be embarrassing and tedious.

We really are great critics of our own work, you don't need as much writing help as you might think, whether we like to admit that or not, and sometimes, letting ourselves poke holes in our own arguments can be a useful skill both on the page and off. 

The mock-debate is certainly not something that you should bring out for every idea in every life situation (then you really will be one of those crazy people on the street), but from the comfort of your living room, when you get hung up on how to make the pieces of a complex statement fit together, or when you’re searching for the right word to really make an argument pop, don’t be afraid to play devil’s advocate with yourself out loud. 

Your toughest and worthiest opponent – and ally – is you. 

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