A seminar was held in England in 1981 to come up with a systematic, detailed analysis of argument and with suggestions on how it should be taught on the secondary level. Within a framework of questions designed to distinguish types and purposes of argument, members of the seminar analyzed four essays paragraph by paragraph. Their comments clustered under the following five headings, which they concluded offer teachers and examiners guidelines for assigning and evaluating arguments: How logical--how complex a rationale? How coherent? What quality of evidence--personal or public? What significance in the stance to the topic and tone to the reader or opponent? What control of language and form? The major conclusions of the seminar were that (1) tasks should arise out of the experience of the pupils; (2) students write best when they are operating as experts, are given a clear context within which to write, and are allowed to create their own titles; (3) teachers should give a focus, not titles; (4) audience requirements and context must be clearly defined; (5) one of the major aims in developing an argument ought to be clarification of the thinking process; (6) arguments do not always have to be in essay form; and (7) empty structures should not be given priority over content. (JL)