This study developed a scale to capture the conscious use of writing strategies that undergraduate students employ when they write argumentative essays. The questionnaire survey was conducted with 202 undergraduate students. The factor analysis of the responses to the questionnaire indicated four factors: Reader Awareness, Consideration of Opposing Views, Flow of Composition, and Expressing One's Position. The content validity of this structure was examined by comparing the score for the strategy between those with high and low subjective frequency for writing essays, as well as groups separated by high and low levels of student expectations of effectiveness and values towards writing essays. Scores for the Flow of Composition strategy were higher among students reporting a high frequency of writing essays. Additionally, scores for the strategies of Reader Awareness, Consideration of Opposing Views and Flow of Composition were higher for students with greater expectations of effectiveness and values toward writing essays. This indicated a degree of content validity for the scale.