Argumentative Writing 05/19/16

Argumentative Writing Purpose: to convince others to agree with our facts and ideas Parts: Claim- Which side are you on? Evidence to support the claim- factual information either from research or from events in a novel. Counter-argument- the anticipation of your reader’s objections, this makes you sound reasonable

Introduction Hook your reader in Give them some background State your claim

Claims A claim is the main argument of an essay Defines your paper’s goals and direction and is supported by evidence, quotations, argumentation, expert opinions, statistics, and details. Must be your opinion statement, argumentative and specific. This is similar to your thesis statement because this one sentence sets up the rest of your paper.

Essential Questions Who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? To what extent are we responsible for our own actions? Are we governed by fate or free will? ***Are love and hate the same thing? How so society and external forces impact our lives? How do societal forces impact group dynamics?

Now It’s Your Turn Look at your Essential Question: Turn it in to an opinion statement. It helps to have an idea of what you will discuss in your paper. For Example: If you were answering the question “who is to blame?” and you choose Lord Capulet, you might wish to discuss three points about his blame: 1. His decision to allow Romeo to stay at the party, 2. his irrational decision to rush the marriage between his daughter and Count Paris, 3. his lack of knowledge in his daughter. Using those bullet points for evidence, your claim will look like this...

Claim Statement The events that bring about the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are the fault of none other than Lord Capulet, who allows for this love to take place right under his nose without the proper parenting skills necessary to protect his daughter. (sets up the body paragraphs and the argument)

Introductions Feedback Hook, background, claim- stick to this order until you master it! Don’t use “I” pronoun- formal writing is written in 3rd person NOT 1st person Don’t reveal too much background in the introduction or then it might sound like you are summarizing the articles or the story.

So your intro will end up looking somewhat like... William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet leaves readers analyzing a complicated web of blame and wondering who exactly held the brunt of this accountability. This intricate plot line begins before the lovers meet and accelerates due to key characters’ actions and reactions. The events that bring about the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are the fault of none other than Lord Capulet, who allows for this love to take place right under his nose without the proper parenting skills necessary to protect his daughter.

Evidence All evidence supports your claim. Make sure the evidence is in direct quotes! Make sure you have internal citations. AND YES, your body paragraphs will definitely be in the same format as the rest of the paragraphs we’ve written throughout the semester.

BUT How many paragraphs? You should have AT LEAST 2 body paragraphs with evidence for your side! Present evidence that supports your claim AND one paragraph providing evidence against your side in the COUNTER-ARGUMENT

Counter- What? You need your argument to sound logical...as if you have considered all sides and all scenarios... Your counter does this...but be careful. You need to present the evidence as ... “Some might think that...” but then your analysis and transition sentence refutes the evidence and brings it quickly back to your side of the argument. Like this....

Counter- Example Other characters within Romeo and Juliet could be blamed for the demise of these two lovers. Many could blame Romeo for being too quick to fall in and out of love with girls, or Juliet could be blamed for her immature response to the forced marriage between her and Count Paris. Others state that Friar Lawrence is the main culprit by which he “gives [Juliet] remedy” to “[t]ake ...this vial” and drink it to fake her death (Shakespeare 4.1). Friar Lawrence sets in motion a plan to fix what was started by Lord Capulet’s rush to marry Juliet to Count Paris. Juliet would have never gone to these measures had Lord Capulet been patient. Furthermore, were it not for the initial feud between these lovers’ parents, these children might have had their happily ever after.

Conclusion Flip the order of the introduction... Restate Claim Restate background Hook Out...

Collecting the right evidence... Your evidence needs to relate to each other and solidly support your claim. Take the offered evidence organizer to begins collecting your evidence and organize your thoughts for the writing assessment Monday and Tuesday/Wedensday.