9 Arguing Your Case: The Argumentative Essay as Jury Trial

Writing an argumentative essay can be challenging. Students often struggle with several key components. While source use is a frequent hurdle, other areas, like understanding your audience, can also pose difficulties. It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing to your instructor, trying to anticipate their opinions or preferred phrasing. But in an argumentative essay, your instructor isn’t the intended audience—just as the judge in a jury trial isn’t the one being convinced.

Understanding Your Audience: The Jury Analogy

Think of your argumentative essay as a case presented before a jury. While some trials focus on convincing a judge, we’re focusing on jury trials because the jury is composed of your peers. The judge’s role is to ensure everyone follows the rules of the court—just as your instructor’s role is to ensure you follow the rules of essay writing, from grammar and MLA format to thesis statements and topic sentences. The jury, on the other hand, decides whether they agree or disagree with the arguments presented. Similarly, your instructor isn’t deciding whether they personally agree with your stance; they’re assessing how effectively you’ve constructed and presented your argument.

Beyond the Opposing Side: Focusing on Persuasion

Another common misconception is that you must convince the opposing side. This idea often stems from our everyday experiences with verbal arguments, where the goal is to change someone’s mind—a feat that rarely succeeds. In academic argumentation, you’re not trying to win over the opposing side any more than the lawyers in a trial are trying to convince each other. You are both presenting your cases to the jury. The jury weighs the evidence and makes a decision. This shift in perspective can alleviate some of the pressure students feel.

Writing at Your Level: Addressing Your Peers

Both the opposing side and the judge are assumed to have a deeper understanding of the subject matter. This can lead students to use overly complex vocabulary or attempt to sound more knowledgeable than they are. However, writing for an audience of your peers allows you to write at your own level, your best level. This doesn’t mean writing as if you’re addressing elementary students, nor does it mean writing for experts with PhDs. It means writing for individuals with a similar age and education level—your peers.

Source Use as Evidence: The Expert Witness

The most helpful aspect of the jury trial analogy relates to source use. In a trial, information isn’t presented based on what the lawyers want to say or their personal opinions. They can’t just tell family anecdotes. While they have some leeway for emotional appeals in opening and closing statements, the core of their presentation must be based on evidence. If they stray from the evidence, the judge will intervene. The same principle applies to your essays. Your arguments must be organized around the evidence you present.

In a trial, lawyers call witnesses—eyewitnesses, expert witnesses—to the stand. Think of your sources as your expert witnesses. The lawyer’s job is to ask the right questions, frame the witnesses’ statements, and explain to the jury the significance of what they’ve heard. The opposing side also gets to cross-examine these witnesses, attempting to spin the testimony to their advantage. A lawyer would never simply present a witness and then remain silent, because the other side is ready to use that testimony to support their own agenda.

Don’t Be a Lazy Lawyer: Explaining Your Evidence

This is where many students fall short. They present quotes and paraphrases, assuming the significance is self-evident. But simply presenting evidence without discussing it is like handing the case over to the opposing side. You’re essentially telling the jury, “Here’s some information—do with it what you will.” Don’t be a “lazy lawyer!” You must explain the importance of your evidence.

Analysis and Synthesis: Breaking Down and Connecting the Pieces

Often, when students try to “discuss” their evidence, they simply paraphrase it. A paraphrase is not a discussion; it’s a restatement. Choose either a quote or a paraphrase, but don’t use both. And don’t paraphrase the same point multiple times. The discussion is where analysis and synthesis come in.

Analysis involves breaking down the evidence into smaller parts and applying meaning to each piece. Think of it as over-analyzing a date—you’re considering every word, tone, facial expression, and action, trying to understand the underlying meaning. While this might be unhealthy in a dating context, it’s precisely what’s needed for academic analysis. What did the author mean by this word? This phrase? This example? If you’re working with a long quote, you’ll have plenty to analyze. Some suggest dedicating as much space to discussing a quote as to presenting it. While this isn’t a strict rule, it highlights the importance of in-depth analysis. Focus on the meaning derived from the evidence. How does this information enhance your understanding of the topic?

Synthesis, on the other hand, involves connecting the evidence to other pieces of information. After analyzing each piece individually, you broaden your perspective and consider how they fit together. You might not have the entire puzzle, but you should aim to assemble a significant portion. Discuss the meaning of your evidence and how it fits into the broader context of your argument. Just as lawyers connect witness testimonies and other evidence for the jury, you must connect your evidence for your reader. You are prompting specific thoughts and guiding the reader’s understanding.

Organizing Your Argument: Strategy and Structure

Every body paragraph should include evidence. Avoid organizing your essay around individual sources (“Source 1,” “Source 2,” etc.). This often leads to a disjointed and choppy essay, where each source is used for a single quote in a single paragraph. Instead, organize your essay around themes and arguments. Think strategically, like a lawyer. How can you best convince the jury (your reader) to accept your claim? This strategic thinking should drive the organization and order of your paper. Unlike a narrative, an argumentative essay isn’t chronological. The order of your paragraphs matters because it impacts how effectively your audience follows your argument and makes the necessary connections.

Introduction and Conclusion: Setting the Stage and Closing the Case

Your introduction and conclusion, like the opening and closing statements in a trial, don’t require sources. The introduction sets the stage and prepares the reader for what’s to come. What context do they need? What background information is essential? How will you establish the tone? A weak introduction is like a defense lawyer arriving late—the prosecution has already shaped the jury’s thinking. Your introduction tells your audience what to think about.

However, avoid taking the jury trial analogy too literally. Your paper shouldn’t address the jury directly. And avoid phrases like “In this paper, I will…” Strive for a more sophisticated and persuasive approach. Think of yourself as a successful lawyer, not a court-appointed one. These skills are highly transferable and valuable in many well-paying professions.

Reading Questions:

1. Remembering: According to the chapter, what is the role of the instructor in an argumentative essay, as compared to the role of the jury?
2. Understanding: Explain the analogy used in the chapter to describe the importance of source use in an argumentative essay.
3. Application: In the chapter, the author warns against being a “lazy lawyer.” What does this phrase mean in the context of writing an argumentative essay?
4. Analysis: Why does the chapter emphasize the importance of analysis and synthesis when discussing evidence, rather than simply paraphrasing it?
5. Synthesis: How does the chapter suggest organizing an argumentative essay, and why is this method preferred over organizing it around individual sources?
6. Evaluation: Based on the information in the chapter, what conclusions can you draw about the importance of understanding your audience when writing an argumentative essay?