Sample Argument

Argument being made involves women’s involvement in the military.

Claim: “The United States Military should allow women to serve in all the military duties they are qualified to perform.”

Issues:

  • Is there currently a problem in the military with important positions going unfilled?
  • Can the military lower the standards needed for the unfilled positions so more men can qualify without decreasing military readiness?
  • Would the increase in women in military positions weaken the readiness of the military?

Contentions

  • There is currently a problem in the military with important positions going unfilled.
  • The military cannot lower the standards needed for the unfilled positions without decreasing military readiness.
  • An increase in women in military positions would not weaken the readiness of the military.

Argument  — This example will just show the argument of one contention. Yours will use all three of your contentions.

There is currently a problem in the military with important positions going unfilled. According to Major General Turgidson, “The military is facing a crisis in that key positions are going unfulfilled because we simply do not have the manpower to staff them.”1 This crisis described by the general is only going to get worse as more and more members of the armed forces are deciding to leave the military. Navel Commander, Admiral Nemo explains, “In the last years we have seen an increase number of quality service men leaving the military instead of continuing their careers in the service as they had done in previous years.”2  One possible solution to this problem would be to recruit more manpower into the military, but this approach does not appear to be feasible. As recruiter Major Hummel observes,

“We are seeing fewer and fewer qualified recruits enlisting in the military. as their ranks decrease, we have a smaller and smaller pool of qualified servicemen to place in important military occupations.”3

Important positions in the military are not only going unfilled, but the problem will increase in severity as time goes on unless something is done.