Argumentative Writing What is it? How do I write it? How is it organized?

What Is an Argumentative Essay? An argumentative essay is a type of writing that involves research, your opinion, a counterclaim, and a rebuttal. Argumentative essays are different from persuasive essays because argumentative papers have a counter argument. Argumentative essays are stronger than persuasive because you let your audience know that you have considered all sides of your argument. However, the purpose of an argumentative essay and a persuasive essay is the same: TO PERSUADE! You are trying to get your audience to agree with you!

Parts of an Argument Claim—This is your opinion/what you are supporting Evidence—This is the research you have gathered. Your claim must be based off your research. Warrant—This is your explanation of how your evidence supports your topic sentence. For every piece of evidence, you must provide a warrant Backing—This is common sense information that supports your warrant. Here, you are explaining how your warrant also supports your thesis. Counter argument—This is where you bring up a point the opposing side might bring up. Rebuttal—Once you bring up a point the opposition might say, you WEAKEN their argument by proving your own even more. **IMPORTANT NOTE** Avoid absolutes (words like ALWAYS, NEVER, EVERYONE, ALL)

The Introduction Topic + Opinion/Claim + Points of discussion You must start with a hook to grab the audience’ attention. It must be related to your topic. You could use a statistic, an interesting fact, a quote, a question, or a strong statement. You must provide some background information regarding your topic. This is just like in your expository essay. You provide the most basic information the audience would need to have a better grasp of your chosen topic. This information is NOT the points of discussion. You must end your introduction with a thesis statement. This is one sentence in length and follows the following formula: Topic + Opinion/Claim + Points of discussion Your thesis must be clear and parallel. You do NOT bring up the counter argument at all in this statement—you only focus on YOUR side of the argument.

Supporting Body Paragraphs You must start every body paragraph with a topic sentence. This is one sentence in length, and it states what the paragraph will discuss. Every body paragraph must be in the order you listed in your thesis statement. You, then, provide evidence. This is the quotes you found. Use direct quotes because you will be less likely to accidentally plagiarize. You must use an in-text citation after EVERY piece of evidence you use/end of the sentence where the evidence is used. After every piece of evidence you provide, you must provide the warrant. Here, you explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence. Once you explain how the quotes support your topic sentence, you must provide the backing. So, you must explain how all of this information supports your thesis. Once you have finished providing your evidence, warrants, and backings, you end each body paragraph with a clincher. Here, you summarize (in one sentence) the paragraph’s point and transition into the next idea. This will help your essay flow.

The Counter Argument Your counter argument paragraph must start with a topic sentence. Here, you state what the other side might argue. This is only ONE point they could use against you. Next, you provide the rebuttal. Here, you provide evidence (that you have NOT used already) to WEAKEN the opposing side’s point. For every piece of evidence, you must provide a warrant and backing—just like your supporting body paragraphs. The only difference here is that you are showing how your argument is stronger. Once you are done with your rebuttal, you end the paragraph with a clincher sentence. This is done the exact same way as your supporting body paragraphs.

How Do I Organize My Essay? Your essay must always start with the introduction. After your introduction paragraph, you could do ONE of TWO things: You can start with your supporting body paragraphs OR you can state your counter argument paragraph. MOST people tend to save their counter argument paragraph for last (after their supporting paragraphs and right before the conclusion). How does it look? EX: Intro Intro Support 1 Support 2 Support 3 Counter Argument Conclusion

Things to Remember You must WEAKEN the other side’s point. You must have transitions at the start of each body paragraph AND throughout your body paragraphs. This helps your essay flow. Your paper is written FORMALLY—no first or second person pronouns allowed!! You MUST stick to ONE side of an argument and support that side ONLY! You cannot be in the middle. Sometimes, it’s easier to support the side you found the most evidence for rather than trying to argue your feelings. You are arguing using FACTS—AVOID supporting your points using only opinions and/or religion Your topic MUST be debatable. It cannot simply be a fact. You cannot argue facts.

Reliable Sources You must evaluate your sources. Not everything you read/find is going to be reliable. Your audience needs to trust you; therefore, you need to have facts/information from trusted sources.

How Do I Know If It’s a Reliable Source? Who is the author? –Reliable/credible sources are written by authors respected in their fields of study. Responsible/credible authors will cite their sources so you can check the accuracy of and support for what they’re written (this also lets you springboard to other sources for your own research!) How recent is the source?—The choice to seek recent sources depends on your topic. History may not need recent sources. Sources discussing technology/medicine need to be more current as they are ever-changing

BE CAREFUL WHEN EVALUATING INTERNET SOURCES BE CAREFUL WHEN EVALUATING INTERNET SOURCES!! NEVER use websites where an author cannot be determined, unless the site is associated with a reputable institution such as a respected university, a credible media outlet, government program or department, or well-known non-government organizations. Beware sites like Wikipedia, which are collaboratively developed by users. Because anyone can add or change content, the validity of information on such sites may not meet the standards for academic research.

What Are Good Databases I Can Use? Ebso is great, and it’s free for you to use through the school. Everything in that database is reliable. There’s no guessing involved! Google Scholar is another free database that is always reliable for you. However, you cannot filter your searches like you can with Ebsco.