Crafting a cohesive argument with a unified thesis is difficult. In this article for Tortoise: A Journal of Writing Pedagogy, I reconsider one of my less successful academic papers — a critical analysis of the United Nation’s World Heritage Committee’s definition of cultural landscapes — an argument which morphed into a discussion of the role of buffalo in shaping the landscape of the Great Plains. The dual arguments caused some issues, and then I talk about some potential solutions. Read the article, as well as numerous student excerpts and analyses, here.