Hedging: a trick to making your arguments more persuasive

academics expository writing writing

I’ve taught expository writing in the Ivy League for several years now, and one of the most common problems I see is student papers that overstate their argument. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to fix this issue—a trick that makes pretty much all argumentative claims much more convincing. 

Before we get to the solution, though, let’s try to better define the problem. 

What’s an overstated argument or claim?

An argument is overstated when it lacks the necessary supporting evidence. Often, for example, students will claim that something is always true—or, conversely, that something is never true. 

I can understand why students make claims like these. After all, they’re trying to make an argument that sounds confident and authoritative, and they likely think that refusing to make any concessions will help. 

Unfortunately, however, overstating the claim often does the opposite: it makes the reader doubt the truth of what you’re saying. 

Why are overstated claims a problem? 

In everyday life, we are free to make very large generalizations with little or no supporting evidence (e.g., “Purple is the most awful color in the history of the world!”). In expository writing, however, you always need to show the reader the evidence for your claims, so they can assess the evidence themselves and see if they agree with your interpretation. 

To borrow a legal term, the standard of proof is much higher with expository writing—and your claims should reflect your awareness of those heightened standards.

The solution to overstated claims: hedging

This is where the small, surprising trick of the title comes in. You can fix overstated claims by hedging them. Hedging an argument means adjusting the certainty of your claims to reflect the amount of evidence you have. 

For example, if you were to write, “Idealized images of the past always trigger nostalgia in viewers,” the reader would expect you to support this huge claim with a similarly huge amount of evidence. You would need to provide evidence that this claim is always true for all people in all circumstances—a tall order for any writer, much less a student writing a short expository essay! 

By contrast, if you hedge the claim—making it into something like, “Idealized images of the past often trigger nostalgia in viewers”—you now have a much smaller (and therefore more manageable) claim to support. 

Summing it all up

Hedging an argument effectively makes it more persuasive by tempering the kinds of overstated claims that will make the reader doubt your argument. 

This is true, moreover, for more than expository essays—any kind of writing that makes an argument can benefit from hedging. (Blog posts are no exception. Check out the list of hedging words below, then reread this entry. How many hedged claims can you find?)

Hedging words

Can, could, may, might, seem, tend, likely, generally, seldom, often, occasionally, presumably, probably, some, etc.

Adapted from teaching materials developed in the Harvard College Writing Program. 

Brian holds a PhD in English Literature at Rutgers University, where his research was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Modern Language Association, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. His prize-winning personal essays have appeared in Avidly, Literary Hub, TriQuarterly, and Electric Literature.

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions writing LSAT strategy GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions ACT academic advice interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning MBA admissions premed career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules Common Application test prep summer activities computer science history philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics mathematics supplements PSAT admissions coaching grammar research 1L law statistics & probability legal studies psychology ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE Spanish calculus mentorship parents Latin case coaching verbal reasoning DAT PhD admissions excel political science AMCAS English literature French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese medical school Anki DO STEM Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra astrophysics biochemistry business classics diversity statement genetics geometry kinematics letters of recommendation mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning skills study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs adjusting to college algorithms art history artificial intelligence athletics business skills careers cold emails data science first generation student functions gap year international students internships linear algebra logic poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry 3L AAMC Academic Interest DMD EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Sentence Correction Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases amino acids analysis essay architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets cell biology central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dental school dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism enrichment escape velocity european history evolution executive function finance freewriting fun facts genomics graphing harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law induction infinite information sessions institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis music music theory networking neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems organization outlining pedagogy