How To Write An Argumentative Essay: A Comprehensive Guide

WHAT IS AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY?

The core feature of an argumentative essay is that you will be writing so as to support a given position associated with an issue of import to society or any other phenomenon. Writing an argumentative essay is based on taking a position regarding an issue, for example arguing that climate change exists as a result of human activity or that climate change does not exist as a result of human activity and supporting the position that you have taken with academic or logical evidence. When writing an argumentative essay, it is important that you consistently provide support for all of the points that you are making in terms of supporting the point of view that you have taken regarding the issue that you are writing on.

Writing an argumentative essay often involves building on an expository essay that you have already written. Given that writing an expository essay is based on objective description, writing an argumentative essay is premised on subjective argumentation in relation to an issue or phenomenon of importance. Keeping with the example of anthropogenic climate change, your professor might first ask you to write an expository essay on humans and climate change, and then, in a subsequent assignment, ask you to write an argumentative essay on climate change. While the purpose of the expository essay is to describe the phenomenon objectively, the purpose of writing an argumentative essay is to defend one position in the debate around the subject.

In writing an argumentative essay, you must provide logical or academically supported reasons for the position that you are arguing in favor or. When you write an argumentative essay, it is thus important that you do not engage in too much description. Engaging in too much description when you write an argumentative essay can lead you to lose a large number of points when your professor grades it. Because the point of an argumentative essay is in fact to argue in favor of one position regarding a specific issue, you should not spend more than 10 percent of your essay, excluding the introduction and the conclusion, engaging in description. Rather, you should only describe technical terms through definitions and provide a brief description of the issue you are taking a position on at the beginning of your argumentative essay.

Ultimately, writing an argumentative essay is a process in which you apply sources and critical thinking to take a position on an issue or argue in favor of an opinion regarding a phenomenon. Critical thinking about the issue, based on logic or secondary sources, is critical for providing a sound opinion on the topic or issue you are writing about. You cannot invent facts or make illogical arguments when you write an argumentative essay. Your professor will be grading your argumentative essay for coherence and this is one of the most important elements of being successful when you write an argumentative essay.

HOW TO WRITE AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

The first step in writing an argumentative essay is to choose the position that you will take on the issue that is assigned to you. If you have the opportunity to choose your own issue to write an argumentative essay on, you should choose something that you know and care about as this will make it much easier to write a cohesive argument in favor of a position on this issue. If you do not have this choice, write an argumentative essay on the prompt that you are most familiar with. From there, and before writing the thesis of your argumentative essay, do some research on the topic to find sources that will make it easy for you to take a position on one side of the issue or the other when you write your argumentative essay.

Once you have chosen and elaborated your position and thesis, it is time to build the body paragraphs of your argumentative essay. Each of your body paragraphs should use a different type of information so as to support the argument that you are making when you write an argumentative essay. Do not repeat the same reasons across the different paragraphs of your argumentative essay’s body. Instead, it is important that you write an argumentative essay by segmenting your different lines of reasoning in separate paragraphs by either using good topic sentences or headings.

Finally, and to provide an example of how an argumentative essay might look, let us return to the subject of anthropogenic climate change. The thesis of such an essay could be that anthropogenic climate change is real and a result of human activity. Writing the first body paragraph of the argumentative essay would then focus on the various ways that humans produce carbon emissions and how these exceed our planet’s carbon budget. The second body paragraph can then discuss how a clear and linear relationship exists between the onset of human industrial activity and the worsening of climate change. Finally, the third body paragraph can focus on how today’s dynamics of climate change are historically unprecedented and are thus necessarily a consequence of human action. In writing an argumentative essay on this topic, you could then conclude by elaborating why the other position is wrong.

HOW TO FORMAT AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

When writing an argumentative essay, you are most likely to be asked to use MLA style for formatting and referencing. This is because most argumentative essays are assigned in English classes. If your professor does not provide you with an MLA template, use Purdue’s online MLA style guide and sample paper to write your paper. Make sure that you follow the stylistic guidelines to not lose any points. Additionally, do not forget to cite any of your sources as you may lose a large number of points or, even worse, be accused of plagiarism in writing an argumentative essay.

Once you have formatted and referenced your argumentative essay in line with the style guide that has been assigned to you, look back at all of the different paragraphs and make sure that there is no overlap between them in terms of how they support your position. While you should have strong transitions between paragraphs, all of the evidence for one element of support for your position should be located in the same paragraph. As writing an argumentative paper means that you will partially be graded on structure and cohesiveness, these are critical steps to take to ensure that you get an A+ the next time you write an argumentative essay.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY AND A TRADITIONAL ESSAY?

The main difference between writing an argumentative essay and writing a traditional academic essay is that you will be taking a position in relation to an issue of social import. This typically minimizes the range of freedom that you have in choosing a topic when you write an argumentative essay. The possible topics and theses that you can make use of when writing a traditional academic essay are far broader than those available to you when writing an argumentative essay. Because you are bound by the obligation to take a positive or negative position on an issue when you write an argumentative essay, you will not have as large a range of potential topics as when you write a traditional academic essay.