How to Write an Argumentative Essay

[Music] often in writing assignments you're asked to write an argumentative essay in this video we're going to talk about how to write an argumentative essay first let's talk about what an argumentative essay is an argumentative essay takes a position or an opinion on a certain topic and tries to convince the reader that their point of view is true or correct the essay will provide evidence and reasons to support their point of view so how do you write an argumentative essay when developing an argument it is good to remember that there are always at least two sides to an argument in your essay you will need to present each of these two sides or more if there are multiple arguments then in the introduction paragraph of your essay you will need to introduce the different sides and give your opinion about which side you believe has the strongest evidence the introduction paragraph should include a hook some background information and a thesis statement the hook is something that will interest the reader to continue reading your essay the background information would be information about your topic that would be helpful to the reader and the thesis statement will state clearly what you plan to write in your essay after the introduction paragraph there should be at least three body paragraphs explaining the main points that support the thesis statement you may have more than three body paragraphs but you should have at least three each body paragraph will give evidence examples and explanations for each of the points presented in the thesis statement the argumentative essay needs to have evidence to prove your points the final paragraph is the conclusion paragraph the thesis statement is restated and the writer gives his reasons why he believes his opinion is the correct one and appeals to the reader to agree with his argument in the essay so your format for an argumentative essay looks something like this the introduction paragraph with a thesis statement the opposing claims about your topic your viewpoint about the topic and then the conclusion that gives your reasons for why you believe your viewpoint is correct the object of the argumentative essay is to convince those who object to your main argument this is what you need to do in an argumentative essay so try to choose the strongest of the objections and show why that objection is flawed or not true the order of the argument can be presented in two ways you can present the side you do not agree with followed by the side you believe is better or you can present your side first and then present the opposing side next in your final paragraph or paragraphs you will want to discuss why you believe there's more evidence for the side you think is stronger or true the argumentative essay is slightly different from the persuasive essay the persuasive essay only presents your side or your point of view and gives evidence for that the argumentative essay looks at both of the points of view and also gives evidence for both so you need to consider both sides of an argument in an argumentative essay we sometimes call these counter arguments so be sure to present the other side and their reasons for their point of view now one good way to write the argument in their essay is to predict the consequences of their point of view so this would include your ideas of what would happen if this situation continues let's look at a possible argumentative essay assignment higher education should be free for everyone present the different arguments about this topic and defend your opinion now the first thing you should do is to brainstorm for some ideas or do some research to find reasons why people believe that higher education should be free thinking of at least three ideas is a good idea then you should brainstorm for ideas of the other side of the argument about higher education should not be free the structure for your essay may look something like this you decide to first write about the ideas that argue that higher education should be free in the next paragraph you would talk about the reasons why some believe that higher education should not be free in your conclusion you would write why your point of view is correct so after some research or brainstorming maybe you decide on these ideas for your essay you would develop each of these paragraphs with evidence and examples to prove that point of view now evidence that you can use in an argumentative essay include experts opinions factual information or statistics be sure to reference any of these facts in your writing by using a citation method either the apa or the mla now all of these types of evidence can add credibility to your argument and prove your point so when writing your support paragraph be sure to make your point and then give further details maybe an example or some type of evidence to back it up do this for both sides of the argument for example you need to find a quote or some kind of an example from the opposing point of view to show how they see the topic so to review what an argumentative essay is an argumentative essay takes a position on a topic it presents both sides of the argument or multiple sides if there are more than two sides and then it attempts to convince the reader that the writer's opinion is correct try using these strategies the next time you need to write an argumentative essay happy writing you

Channel: Writing Better

Views: 93,449

Keywords: argumentative essays, how to write an argumentative essay, Writing Better, argumentative essay format

Id: v_D6K42DTSA

Length: 7min 46sec (466 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2020