Formulation of An Argument

One of the difficulties in writing up research is the formulation of an argument. The writing-up of research should be organized around an argument that links all aspects of the research process from problem formulation, through literature review and the presentation of research methods, to the discussion and conclusion. Too often, we tend to make a series of points without asking what the contribution of those points to the overall arguments that we are trying to present. Try to avoid tangents and irrelevant material that may mean that your readers will lose the thread of your arguments. If you are not able to supply a clear argument, you are very vulnerable to the 'so what?' question. 

The argument is a thread that runs through your dissertation. These are commonly used phrases in formulating an argument in dissertation chapters.

Dissertation Chapters	Commonly used phrases for argument
Introduction	This thesis is concerned with... This thesis will explore/ examine... The growing adoption of... has attracted a lot of interest in the mass media but there is a dearth of research into its actual use.
Literature review	Recent research on X has shown that... Therefore, much of the existing research suggests... By contrast,... found/argued/suggested... In this thesis, I will build on (name3)'s suggestion that... In exploring this issue, the following research questions are proposed... ... although the findings are somewhat inconsistent...
Research methods	Research method 1 was employed to answer the research questions because... The research followed (name3)'s approach to studying X by... A mixed methods approach was adopted so that it would be possible to...
Results / findings	In exploring the research questions, three main themes were identified... The findings suggest that... This theme is exemplified by interviewee's comment that... By contrast, interviewee X pointed out that...
Discussion	The aim of this study was to... Overall, these findings confirm/fail to provide support for the suggestion that... Four main themes relating to the research questions emerged. These themes have implications for the investigation of X...
Conclusion	A key findings of this research for Z theory is that... The concepts that have been used to research X have been shown to be of some utility but the results are somewhat mixed in that... The main contribution(s) of this research is(are)... Through this research it has been demonstrated that... The implications of these findings for the study of X are that...

References

Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods (4th ed.), New York: Oxford University Press.