Original arguments do not necessarily need reference.

Students must read it.

Q:      Researcher needs to support his argument with evidence and not just assertions. Evidence means reference? Somebody has said something to support what researcher is saying? If my opinion is original (I mean no body has thought or said anything in this regard) so it will be rejected because no one else has said anything like this before? I think that opinion becomes reference or evidence but only when one's article is published and other scholars examine it and then accept it’

Answer:     Evidence doesn't just mean references to what others have said. If you are making an original argument where you evidence comes from is through detailed analysis of the object or idea you are challenging. A statement in and of itself is not sufficient to prove a point. Thus, if I asserted "I argue the sky is blue not because of the sea being reflected but because aliens dropped some dye into it" I would need to have evidence to support that. If citing others was included: "This can be proven by considering two things: firstly that the sea is not blue (as identified by Brown, 2014) and that scientists have found chemicals in the ozone which are not from earth (Smith, 2007)." I know it's ridiculous example but it's just to make the point.  If not citing others "This can be proven through my analysis of the colours within the sky using prisms, the evidence which I discuss in further detail below".

If one for example, is writing about both McLuhan's work as a piece of writing but also in terms of how some of the ideas don't work, what he needs to do, for non-referenced evidence, is to support his discussion of the original work by providing his own examples and discussing in detail what they prove and the extent to which those examples represent what is happening more generally to prove that McLuhan was wrong. He also needs to consider that his comments now reflect now so it may be that he needs examples from different eras to address the framing of how McLuhan got something wrong. All that will help his ideas gain acceptance, without then it's just opinion.

 Dr E. Anna Claydon
Department of Media and Communication
University of Leicester
Bankfield House
132 New Walk
Leicester
LE1 7JA
0116 252 2089
Email: eac14@le.ac.uk/e.anna.claydon@gmail.com