Creating an effective argument in different academic genres

This chapter aims to identify the knowledge and skills that writers need in order to create an argument, explains why they may encounter issues with argument creation. It describes some of the pedagogical approaches that have been recommended and presents a seven-stage scaffolded approach that supervisors, English for Academic Purposes teachers and instructors can follow to help their students create effective arguments. Creating an effective argument in different academic genres can sometimes be a challenge for second language (L2) writers. An understanding of the difficulties that L2 writers might encounter in the creation of an academic argument presupposes an understanding of what constitutes an academic argument and an awareness of how it may vary from genre to genre. The creation of a mind-map on which key ideas/headings are is a very effective means of developing an understanding of the relationship between key ideas.