1. Of all the books you’ve read, which character
deserves the “Bravery Award”?
Why?

2. Teaching Argumentative Essay
What’s working?
Share your successful techniques,
resources, ideas.

3. Persuasive vs. Argumentative Essay
Ex:
I’m old enough to baby-sit.
I should have more privacy.
I should have a dog.
The school bus should pick me up
closer to my house.
Cheerleaders’ uniforms are too
skimpy.
Cheerleaders’ uniforms are not
skimpy enough.
There should be a national holiday
honoring gay pride.
Our school should change its mascot.
Every family should have a disaster
survival plan.
Most people who criticize Pres. Obama do
so out of racism.
Tofu is delicious.
Ex:
Increasing the minimum wage
will improve the economy.
Eleanor Roosevelt was America’s
greatest First Lady.
NYC should disallow horse & carriage
rides in Central Park and elsewhere.
Aspertame is dangerous.
Violent video games promote violent
behavior.
Youth football is more/less dangerous
than youth hockey.
Genetically modified organisms are
safe/unsafe in the food supply.
Charter schools are superior, overall,
to traditional public schools.
The income gap will prove to be the
undoing of America as we know it.
Sources?
Audience?
Tone?
Perspective?

4. Etymology Illuminates Meaning

5. What would be a good question for an argumentative essay?
Criteria:
1. Must require data (evidence)
2. Must be controversial

6. Toolbox for Teaching the
Argumentative Essay
1. Analysis of well-written arguments (models)
2. Knowledge about the world (evidence)
3. Basic organizational layouts (structures)
4. A few sentence frames (containers)
5. Generic Academic Vocabulary
(language register)

7. Acknowledgement of the opposing side (Counterclaim)
Quotations and paraphrases (references to authority)
Anecdotes (little stories)
Comparisons
A combination of objective (academic) and subjective (emotional) language
If…then statements
Working definitions
Rhetorical questions
Facts and figures
Summaries
Cause and effect statements
Bedrock values (justice, liberty, public health & safety, personal responsibility,
do unto others…, etc.) (Warrant)
Variety of perspectives (I, we, you, he, she, they)

8. A good argument refers to all or some of the following values:
Note: These are overlapping:
Democratic Principles: Personal freedom, expression of individuality,
promotion of democracy, the right to be left alone, civil liberties,
honoring the past
Sense of Community: Helping others, sharing resources,
considering future generations; establishing sense of belonging;
caring for loved ones
Desire for safety and security: Protection against enemies, protection of resources,
having sufficient food and shelter, avoiding and responding to natural
disaster, maintaining health
Economics: Maintaining sufficient resources for now and the future,
protecting personal fortunes while offering
opportunities to everyone
Beauty, Pleasure, Convenience

9. Scaffolding the Writing Task for
Sentence Frames:
Scaffolding the Writing Task for
Special Education Students, English Language Learners, and Everyone Else

10. To write, you need three things:
Something to Say
Sentences to Hold
the Words
The Words to Say It

11. Why scaffold a writing task with a sentence frame?
Provides models
Focuses the writer on content: “training wheels”
Allows the writer to be clear and concise
Is appropriate differentiation: Frames can be offered in increasing levels of
language complexity
Forms a mental template that will grow into the writer’s technique
Gives reluctant writers access to acceptable forms

12. We will be learning frames for that hold these types of skills:
Comparing
Linking cause to effect
Evaluating
Predicting

13. Sentences that Compare and Contrast:
1. (Simplest) _____________ and _________________ both __________________.
2. (More Complex) Both ______________ and ________________ both
____________________; however, _______________________________
3. (More complex) Although _______________ and ______________both
____________________, ____________________(is, has)(more,less)__________
4. (More Complex) Despite having _______________in common, _____________
is different from ___________________because____________________________.

14. Sentences that Link Cause and Effect:
1. (Simplest) _____________ , so ________________.
2. (More Complex) As a result of _______________, ________________(happened,
occurred, grew, lessened, began, ended, developed, increased, decreased…)

15. Sentences that evaluate: (opinion)
(Simplest) In my opinion, I think______________________________
because________________________________________________
(More complex) I don’t think the evidence supports the belief that
____________________________ because____________________________.

16. Sentences that predict
(Simplest) I think______________________________will happen
because________________________________________________
(More complex) Even though_____________________________,
I know that______________________________________________.
Therefore, I predict that________________________________________.

17. A good argument answers these questions:
Why am I provoked to make this argument?
Why is this issue important right now?
Why is this issue controversial?
What are others saying on this issue?
Who is on my side? What are their credentials?
Who is on the other side? Why are they wrong?
How are they right?
Adapted from They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.
Gerald Graff and Kathy Birkenstein. Norton

18. A good argument is a response to opposition:

19. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use these frames at the outset of your argument to establish what others have
been saying on this topic:
In recent __________, we have been hearing a great deal about
__________________________ by ______________________.
_______________________ has been in the news recently
because ________________________________________.

20. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use this frames at the outset of your argument to introduce an ongoing
debate:
In discussions of _____________, one controversial issue has been
___________________________. People who believe____________
claim that________________________________. On the other hand,
those who believe _____________________________ assert that
______________________________________________________.
My own view is __________________________________________.

21. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use this frame to establish common ground on a controversial issue:
When it comes to the topic of ______________________, most of us
would agree that ____________________________. Where this
agreement ends, however, is on the question of _____________________.
Whereas some are convinced that _______________________________.
others maintain that___________________________________________.
My own view is that____________________________________________.

22. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use these frames as you acknowledge that the opposing side has a certain
degree to validity:
While at one time it may have been true that__________________,
we can now state that____________________________________.
___________________ makes sense when he/she/they say________
________________, but _____________________________________.
Despite the validity of ______________________’s claim about ____________,
he/she/they miss the mark when it comes to________________________
because___________________________________________________.

23. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use these frames to establish working definitions of key terms:
For the purpose of this discussion, I will define _______________________
as __________________________________________________________.
Although you might think of ______________________as being just
another_________________________, I define it as_______________________
_________________________________________________________________.

24. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use these frames to establish or deny a comparison:
_______________________ is like ___________________________.
They both _______________________________________________.
__________________________(s) may say that ___________________
is like _______________________________, but the comparison is
false because while _________________________________________
is______________________________, it is not as ________________
as they claim.

25. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use these frames to establish the importance of this topic:
______________ is important because__________________.
We should care about______________because if_____________,
then_________________________.
Ultimately, what is at stake here is____________________________.
My discussion of _________________ addresses the
larger matter of _____________________.

26. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use these frames to trace the development of your own views
on the subject:
I’ve always believed that____________________________________
When I was a child, I used to think that______________________________,
but/and now I realize that____________________________________________.
At the same time that I believe____________________,
I also believe__________________________________.
After careful consideration and as a result of my
experience, I have/have not changed my mind
about__________________________________.

27. Sentence Frames for Argumentation
Use these noun phrases to negatively characterize your opponents:
those who disregard those who take a narrow view
pessimists people who live in the past
naysayers people who are unaware
those who would have us believe those on the sidelines
those who live only for the moment
hardliners
Use these noun phrases to positively characterize your supporters:
progressive thinkers prudent thinkers
those who think about proactive people
those who care about civic-minded people
those who know about serious people
those who understand people with regard for
optimists realists

28. Part One: Defining Plagiarism
Plagiarism: The “kidnapping” of the unique
words and ideas of another; the
deliberate attempt to mislead the
reader into thinking that the unique words
and/or ideas of another are those of the
writer
Forms of:
Word-for-word copying
Using statistics without attribution
Paraphrasing without attribution

29. Forms of:
Word-for-word copying
The “five-word” rule:
If you lift more than five consecutive words
from a source, then you have to cite.

30. Forms of:
Using statistics without attribution
The “numbers” rule:
You always have to say where you found
your statistics.

31. Forms of:
Paraphrasing without attribution
The “not my idea” rule:
If it’s an idea (not a fact) that someone else
developed, you need to attribute the idea to
them.

32. Part II: Avoiding Plagiarism
Frame writing tasks that require thought and
integration, rather than cut-and-paste.
Easily cut-and-pastable tasks:
Write a report about an author’s life and works.
Explain photosynthesis.
Discuss three reasons for the Civil War.
Summarize Chapter 5 of The Scarlet Letter.

33. Part II: Avoiding Plagiarism
Frame writing tasks that require thought and
integration, rather than cut-and-paste.
Not so easy to cut-and-paste:
Compare and contrast two authors, focusing on how their works reflect their
lives. Consider:
The time and place in which they lived: Are the settings in their works
similar to those in which the authors themselves lived?
Their personal challenges and losses: Do their characters face personal
challenges and losses that are similar to those of the authors?
Their family lives: Do the authors write about families that are similar to
their own?
Word Bank: environment, reflect, recreate, setting, characters, similar to,
different from, conflict, challenge, relationship

34. Outline: Elementary Middle Sch I. A. B. C. II. III. High Sch
1._____
2.______
a._____
b._____
c._____
B.__________
II.____________
A.__________
1._______
2._______
3._______
C.__________
Boxes & Bullets
Main idea
Main idea
Main idea

35. Part II: Avoiding Plagiarism
Frame writing tasks that require thought and
integration, rather than cut-and-paste.
Not so easy to cut-and-paste:
Summarize Chapter 5 of The Scarlet Letter as an in-class writing task.

36. The following writing tasks and writing conditions are difficult to plagiarize:
Comparison-contrast
Writing that involves making a personal connection: (What does
________ remind you of? Why?)
Non-traditional formats: dialogues, lists, labeled diagrams, raps, scripts, information expressed within a graphic organizer
Outlines
In-class writing tasks

37. Paraphrase Example
Original: Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one
learned in school Albert Einstein
Not-so-good Paraphrase: Education is what is left after a person no longer
remembers what that person learned when that person went
to school. That is what Albert Einstein said.
Better Paraphrase: According to Albert Einstein, true education outlives
the forgettable details that we learn in school.

38. Original Source Looks Like This:
Bloomfield, N.J.—On Monday morning, a few hundred
students will file into classrooms at Bloomfield Middle
School, open laptops and begin a new standardized test,
one mandated across New Jersey and several other
states for the first time this year.
Paraphrase 1: Is this an acceptable paraphrase?
Bloomfield, N.J.— On Monday morning, a few hundred
Bloomfield Middle School students will walk into classrooms,
sit in front of laptops, and start a new standardized test, one
required in New Jersey and other states for the first time
this year.

39. Original Source Looks Like This:
Bloomfield, N.J.—On Monday morning, a few hundred
students will file into classrooms at Bloomfield Middle
School, open laptops and begin a new standardized test,
one mandated across New Jersey and several other
states for the first time this year.
Paraphrase 2: Is this an acceptable paraphrase?
Bloomfield, N.J.— For the first time this year, on Monday
morning, at Bloomfield Middle School, a few hundred
students will file into classrooms, open laptops and, along
with students across New Jersey and several other states,
begin a new standardized test.

40. Original Source Looks Like This:
Bloomfield, N.J.—On Monday morning, a few hundred
students will file into classrooms at Bloomfield Middle
School, open laptops and begin a new standardized test,
one mandated across New Jersey and several other
states for the first time this year.
Paraphrase 3: Is this an acceptable paraphrase?
Bloomfield Middle School in Bloomfield, New Jersey, will be administering a new standardized test.Students will be using laptops to take these tests on Monday morning, not only
across New Jersey, but in several other states as well.

41. Try it:
About a dozen of their classmates, however, will be elsewhere. They will sit in a nearby art room, where they will read books, do a little drawing, and maybe paint. What they will not do is take the test, because their parents have flatly refused.

42. does not oppose teacher evaluations. The union was motivated to get
Running Acknowledgment: (the attribution is in the sentence—
no citation necessary)
Steve Wollmer, director of communications for the union, said the group
does not oppose teacher evaluations. The union was motivated to get
involved, he said, because true teaching is being replaced by test
preparation. He also said union members were concerned that poor
students would be at a disadvantage because the tests will be taken
on computers, and those students might have less experience with
keyboards.

43. The examples in this presentation are taken from A Pocket Style Manual, Fourth
Edition by Diana Hacker published by Bedford/St. Martin’s 2004.