How to Write a Convincing Argumentative Essay with Examples

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Readers will more likely be convinced to side with the writer’s position or agree with their opinion if it is backed up by verifiable evidence. Concrete, relevant, and reasonable examples or anecdotes can enhance the writer’s idea or opinion. They can be based on observations or from the writer’s personal experience. Accurate, current, and balanced information adds to the credibility of persuasive writing.

  1. In conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination and the analysis involves quantifying and counting its presence.
  2. Even the smallest typo can derail the most carefully planned argument.
  3. Examples of credible evidence include examples, quotes, facts, and statistics.
  4. Of course, to be truly effective, Myrtle will want to include the source of her evidence.

One of the major struggles the students have is with the concept of argumentation. Many students do not know that they are expected to develop arguments in their essays or they have difficulty with developing an argument in their essays (Davies, 2008; Bacha, 2010; Wingate, 2012). Andrews , for example, states that students acquire quite different concepts of argumentation in secondary school. https://cmosaj.com.br/how-do-i-put-a-quote-in-my-paper/ At university, the students are given general guidelines on argumentative writing and they are left to apply them in their argumentative essays. As mentioned, teachers also participated in semi-structured interviews which aimed to identify the kind of difficulties the students faced in argumentative writing. The teachers’ comments were grouped into six categories as shown in Table 3 below.

Body Paragraphs

Think about how you talked your parents into letting you borrow the family car. Did you present them with lots of instances of your past trustworthiness? Did you make them feel guilty because your friends’ parents all let them drive? Did you look up statistics on teen driving and use them to show how you didn’t fit the dangerous-driver profile?

  1. For this type of writing assignment, you have to explain what you are refuting first, and then you can expand on your new ideas or perspectives.
  2. This fragmented body of knowledge fails to delineate different linguistic and non-linguistic aspects of argumentative writing.
  3. An Argumentative essay relies on evidence and logic to prove that a viewpoint is valid or invalid or to convince an audience to take action.
  4. By providing counters, too, Myrtle is defeating arguments from the other side, which makes her essay even more convincing.
  5. For more information on objectivity and bias and on reading sources carefully, read our handouts on evaluating print sources and reading to write.

To use this form in an argumentative essay, the first thing to do is introduce the argument. Next, explain and refute the opposing viewpoint, then provide proof. Being one of the most common types of essay, the argumentative essay is fairly simple to write. There are various rules that one should follow when writing this type of essay and in this article, we have shown you some useful ways of doing this.

Five Types of Argument Claims in Essay Writing

The common thread of all these attempts is the fact that developing argumentative writing as the milestone of academic writing includes a body of linguistic, cultural, commentary writing definition pedagogical and contextual factors. However, as passed above, the existing studies in the literature have focused on individual aspects of argumentative writing.

argumentative writing definition

Wingate also found that the students had only partial or incorrect concepts of argument. They were also mostly unaware of the requirements of the argumentative essay, particularly the need to develop their own position in an academic debate. Teachers were also uncertain about the concept of argument as they equaled it with the critical analysis and the expression of opinion. In the study by Lea and Street , academic instructors despite acknowledging the argument as the central element of an essay could not explain the nature of a well-developed argument. In addition, it was found that the instructors had conceptual uncertainties with regard to the nature of argument as they could not differentiate between the argument as individual claims and development of a position. The research has also shown the learners’ difficulties with different components of developing an argument as stated above.

There are three typical structures for argumentative essays:

In writing, facts are presented logically and faulty logic is avoided. This aims to convince the audience by appealing to human emotions. Emotions such as sympathy, anger, and sadness motivate humans; using pathos will get the audience emotionally invested in the subject of the writing. The third body paragraph includes the counterargument and rebuttal. Providing a counterargument adds credibility to the essay and helps gain the reader’s trust.

argumentative writing definition

An argument is a reason for either supporting or challenging a topic under discussion. The Rogerian method of argument does not try to convince the audience of their stance, and instead looks for common ground. Qualifying the other side means parts 500 word essay how many pages of the opposing argument can’t be dismissed entirely. In this case, list concessions that recognize their validity but focus on the areas they are incorrect. Words like “but” and “except” are commonly used in connection with concessions.

Data Collection

The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. With this type of writing, you need good lead ins for quotes to propose a solution to a problem. First, you must establish a clear problem and then propose a specific solution to that problem.

Argumentative essays focus more on concrete empirical data, whereas persuasive essays appeal more to the reader’s emotions. In other words, argumentative essays favor quantitative support, while persuasive essays favor qualitative how to properly cite a website in an essay support. The introduction to your argumentative essay should engage your readers. Let’s say your topic is about social media; you might say that it has changed the world, and then follow up with some statistics that support that.

Example #1: Put a Little Science in Your Life by Brian Greene

By using the skills you’ve gained while working on it, you can, for instance, persuade potential investors that your business is worth being funded. Findings of the present study also provide new directions for future research projects. For example, comparing the https://budavarivasbolt.hu/2023/02/16/how-to-write-a-commentary-sentence/ results of the present study with ESL and ENL contexts would reveal to what extent the context may affect the academic writing. In sum, the study would also call for more studies on the EFL academic writing in general and argumentative writing in particular.

Creating threads isn’t easy, and coming up with new ideas is definitely where the task gets challenging. Let’s dive in to what it takes to create awesome Twitter threads. An argument with false evidence falls apart pretty quickly, so check your facts to make yours rock solid. I like to step away from what I’ve written for a day before attempting to revise.

How To Write An Argumentative Essay

Further, the source of some evidence can be questionable. Imagine that she has an article about how kids with later curfews spend more time at the library, but it was written by someone who, like Myrtle, is trying to convince his parents to let him stay out later. In this case, the article might not be completely accurate and true. In order to convince her parents, then, Myrtle also needs to include reasons, or why the author believes the way he ending an essay with a question or she does. For example, Myrtle could support her position by offering reasons like the fact that she’s responsible, she’s older than she used to be, and that a later curfew will allow her to study at the library for longer. This thesis asserts a claim that is plausible and can be proven or refuted using factual evidence and logical reasoning. When structuring your essay, place the part where you address their views after your argumentation.

Do your best to stay focused on gathering information that is directly relevant to your topic. Depending on what your essay is for, you may reference academic studies, government reports, or newspaper articles. Rhetorical organization types in students’ argumentative essays in this study. There are three aesthetic features to persuasive writing. It convinces the audience of the credibility of the writer. The writer’s expertise on their subject matter lends to such credibility.

Basic argumentative essay structure

By offering these reasons, Myrtle has made her letter more convincing. She can take this even further, however, by supporting her reasons with evidence, or facts and data that support reasons. For example, remember that one of Myrtle’s reasons is that a later curfew will allow her to study at the library for longer. Maybe she has scientific articles that show that studying at the library is more effective than studying at home. Or perhaps she has data showing that kids with later curfews spend more time in the library. Both of those pieces of evidence could support her reason.

In fact, the inclusion of two sides in an argument shows that the students fail to consider multiple resources in developing an argument. It can be inferred that they did not know that evaluating and analyzing the resources is indispensable in developing a robust argument in English.

Causal Arguments

As you think through your argument and examine your evidence document, consider which structure will serve your argument best. Sketch out an outline to give yourself a map to follow in the writing process. You could also rearrange your evidence document again to match your outline, so it will be easy to find what you need when you start writing. This is an early form of your thesis and the basic logic of your argument. You’ll want to iterate on this a few times and develop a one-sentence statement that sums up the thesis of your essay.

  1. In particular, the conceptual content analysis as the particular content analysis method was used.
  2. Qualifying the other side means parts of the opposing argument can’t be dismissed entirely.
  3. In academic writing, an argument is usually a main idea, often called a “claim” or “thesis statement,” backed up with evidence that supports the idea.
  4. It presents two sides of a single issue, and covers the most important arguments for and against.
  5. To start, you need to identify an issue that well-informed people have varying opinions on.
  6. To write an argumentative essay begin by researching a topic.