Whatever case you may make for or
against any subject, you should test your argument against the following questions:
1. Have you defined the terms?
2. Have you established exactly what the argument is about? That is, have you stated the proposition clearly and indicated precisely what issues are to be defended and refuted?
3. Are facts and assumptions correct?
4. Have you offered sufficient evidence--facts, statistics, illustrations, testimony--that will further illuminate and substantiate each point as well as the overall position?
5. Are generalizations fair and reliable?
6. Do conclusions follow logically from the premises?
7. Have you cited reliable authorities?
8. Have you been as precise as possible in the treatment of the subject?
9. Is the presentation "artful," rhetorically effective, clear, well-organized? (It is well to remember that in no form of writing is it more important to use the strengths of language "to the best possible effect." Failings in style, such as undefined terms that create ambiguity, confusing grammatical constructions, vague allusions, and pompous, clumsy, overlong sentences are guaranteed to alienate those who might otherwise be convinced. Bad writing, in other words, can kill a case as surely as lack of evidence or fallacious reasoning.)
10. Is the tone (whether serious or satiric) appropriate to the subject, the audience, the occasion, and the purpose you are trying to achieve?
11. Have you examined every important aspect of the case? Aristotle maintained that we should be able to argue on either side of a question--not because we are without personal conviction or commitment, but because only then can we feel certain that no aspect of the case has escaped us. Only then can we anticipate readers' (or listeners') objections and by anticipating them either avoid them or prepare an advance refutation.
12. Is the approach reasonable rather than dogmatic, rigid, unnecessarily (and irritatingly) disputations?