1. The Argumentative Essay Planning

2. Planning your argumentative essay… You will need to ◦ Brainstorm ◦ Outline ◦ Draft ◦ Revise ◦ Edit ◦ Final copy

3. Craft your thesis (central claim) Your thesis is a statement of your claim – a strong statement of your opinion, the point that you are trying to prove. The rest of your essay will support your thesis.

4. Write your hook Hook your reader’s attention. You can do this is in many ways – ◦ Anecdote: describe a personal experience with the sport. Do you know anyone who plays? Have you seen a player get injured during a game? ◦ Surprising Fact: Look through the article to find something that surprised you. ◦ Rhetorical Question: Ask your reader a question that reflect your point of view about kids playing football. You could structure your question like this: “Is football important enough to risk …?” ◦ Quote : a quote that applies to your thesis

5. Summarize the issue Let the reader know a little about the issue that you will be writing about. This is NOT your point of view; it’s a very brief summary of the issue – which in this case is that people disagree over whether kids should play football.