Argumentative Essay Section 2 – Your Argument Section 3 – Refuting Your Opponent Section 4 – Conclusion

Paragraph 2 – Developing Your Argument Now that you have filled in the general points of your topic and outlined your stance in the Intro, it’s time to develop the argument.

The exact number of claims you choose isn’t important (unless of course you are prompted or specified to do a certain number). The most important thing is that you develop your argument as thoroughly as possible.

What is a Claim? A claim is a statement you make to support your argument. Ex: “Bugs are highly nutritious and eating them can fix the problem of hunger and malnutrition in the United States.” Well…now you have a claim, but who is going to believe you? You need….

Evidence For each claim you make, you need to provide supporting evidence. Evidence is factual information from reliable sources. NOT personal knowledge or an anecdote Ex: “Researchers at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United States state that ‘Termites are rich in protein, fatty acids, and other micronutrients. Fried or dried termites contain 32–38 percent proteins. Once you have gathered your evidence to support your claims, it’s time to add the next important element of your argumentative essay which is…

Paragraph 3 – Refuting your “Opponents’” Arguments Your opponent is the imaginary person who takes the opposite stance to your argument In a sense they support the thing you arguing against. Ex: “Opponents of insect eating from the Beef Council of America say that it is too difficult and time consuming to catch crickets, so it is not easy to gather enough food for a meal, whereas a cow is large and contains a lot of meat for many meals.” We are calling out the beef companies that do business with McDonalds (for example) The Beef company (fictional) wants us to keep eating beef for business reasons ***disclaimer: this is made up, just to illustrate my point.

Refuting your Opponents’ Argument – continued It’s time to set the opponents straight with a refutation that is full of hard evidence. Ex: “According to researchers Cerritos and Cano-Santana, the best time to harvest crickets is to catch them in the hour just before sunrise when they are least active. What’s more, it is easy to develop the infrastructure to farm crickets in a way that is more sustainable than cattle farming.” Booyah! The Beef Council just got served (crickets) After you have refuted your opponents’ viewpoints, it’s time to sail to the finish line with your conclusion.

Topic Sentences Topic Sentences: A topic sentence is a sentence that captures the meaning of the entire paragraph or group of sentences. It tells what the passage is mainly about. The topic sentence is the most important sentence in your paragraph. topic sentence is the most important sentence in your paragraph. Carefully worded and restricted, it helps you generate and control your information. An effective topic sentence also helps readers grasp your main idea quickly. Put your topic sentence first Be sure your topic sentence is focused. If restricted, a topic sentence discusses only one central idea.

Checklist for Topic Sentences introduce the topic of a paragraph without announcing it hook the reader plant questions in the readers' mind use thought-provoking words are usually the first sentence; however, it can occur anywhere in the paragraph or it can be implied provide a transition from the previous paragraph

Examples of flawed topic sentences Introduces multiple topics: Teens often take drugs because they are depressed, and there are many health risks associated with drugs. Too broad: Drugs have bad things linked to them. Too specific, what will come next?: John Belushi is a famous actor who died from drugs.

Examples of Good Topic Sentences Depression triggers many teens to take drugs. Hard drugs such as Meth, Cocaine, or Heroin carry serious health risks. Even some of America's brightest stars have fallen victim to drug addiction.

Transitions In academic writing, your goal is to convey information clearly and concisely. Transitions help you to achieve these goals by establishing logical connections between sentences, paragraphs, and sections of your papers. If you have done a good job of arranging paragraphs so that the content of one leads logically to the next, the transition will highlight a relationship that already exists by summarizing the previous paragraph and suggesting something of the content of the paragraph that follows. A transition between paragraphs can be a word or two (however, for example, similarly), a phrase, or a sentence. Transitions can be at the end of the first paragraph, at the beginning of the second paragraph, or in both places.

Types of Transitions A transition can be a single word, a phrase, a sentence, or an entire paragraph. In each case, it functions the same way: first, the transition either directly summarizes the content of a preceding sentence, paragraph, or section or implies such a summary (by reminding the reader of what has come before). Then it helps the reader anticipate or comprehend the new information that you wish to present.

Conclusion There are two important things to accomplish when writing your conclusion: Restate the importance of your issue. Paint a picture of the world if your argument is (or is not) implemented.

Conclusion – Restate the importance of your issue. Similar to what you did in your introduction, you want to restate why this topic is so critical. Ex: “Simply by incorporating insects into their diets, U.S. citizens can improve the sustainability and nutrition of the American diet.”

Conclusion – Paint a picture of the world if your argument is (or isn’t) implemented. In the final part of the conclusion, make your audience think about the ramifications of your argument. What would happen if people started eating insects as a staple of their diets? Ex: “The world would be a better place if more people ate insects as a part of their diets. Fewer people would go hungry, more people would get the vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients they need to live healthy lifestyles, and our planet would be relieved of the burden of an unsustainable food system.” Closing with a clear picture of the world as you would like it to be can leave the reader convinced that your argument is valid.