Argumentative Writing

The argumentative essay follows the same general outline that we have been using all quarter. In truth, most of the writing you do in life, whether in the classroom or in "real life" is argumentative.  You are trying to get the reader to agree with your point of view.  In an in-class essay, you want me to agree that you have not only answered the prompt correctly; but, that the argument you build in your body paragraphs is so strong that I have to give you a good grade.  The same is true for research papers, essay examinations, or lab reports.  In the real world, you are always writing arguments as well.  However, the stakes may be much higher.  You may be trying to construct a powerful enough argument, in a love letter, to convince the love of your life, to "run away with you."  Or you may be building the perfect argument for why you should get the perfect job on that cover letter.  Not to mention performance evaluations, reports, I think you get the drift.

Like all good reader-oriented writing; the argumentative essay begins with an AGD, Thesis and Preview. This is followed by three to five body paragraphs and a paragraph that restates the preview and thesis while tying into the AGD. In Argumentative writing, the difference comes in either the makeup of the body paragraphs OR the makeup of the individual paragraphs.

The goal of argumentative writing is to convince your reader to change their beliefs, opinions, or actions. To accomplish this, the writer must create a comprehensive and cogent argument. This persuasive process begins with your claim.

A claim is the statement that you are trying to get your reader to accept.. The thesis statement is most often a claim, as it is telling the reader what the writer wants them to think. The claim is then supported by the evidence, your proof that the claim is true. The final step is the argument where the writer takes the reader through the mental leap necessary to link the evidence to the claim.

The claim-evidence-argument chain may be used in two ways. In simple essays, you may use three body paragraphs to explain each section. Then, your first paragraph (after the thesis/preview) would explain the claim, the second would list the evidence, and the third would explain your argument.

The second way is more common, as it houses a claim, evidence, and argument in each body paragraph. In order to do this, the claim in the thesis must be divided into three to five parts.

EXAMPLE
I pulled this topic from the Regent=s list. I composed the essay in about 20 minutesY. The topic is AIf you could ban anything in the world, what would it be and why?@

[AGD] There is an old saying that holds, AWe live in a world of our own creation.@ While the statement is metaphoric, I often wonder if I can make a positive change in today=s society. (Yes, that's a wimpy AGD) [Thesis] If I had the power, the one quality I would ban, would be Ignorance. [Preview] In order to show you why this would make the world a better place to live, I will explain how banning ignorance would lead to better government, better relationships, and better quality of life for everyone.

[Claim} By ridding society of ignorance, government would have to improve. [Evidence] Currently, the American form of Democracy (we aren=t a democracy, but that=s another essay), relies on the population to choose to be ignorant. The system requires us to surrender our day to day knowledge of what state, federal, and local government is doing to us and with our money. We elect representatives who, knowing we choose to be ignorant, lie to us and then cheat us once they are elected. [Argument] If we banned ignorance, everyone would have to take part in government. We would have to know what our city, state, and country are doing. This knowledge of political actions would force us to act in everyone=s best interest and thus improve government.

[Claim] Ridding society of ignorance would also force us to have better relationships. [Evidence] Most problems between groups, races, genders, religions, is based on ignorance. One of the current best selling books is @Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus.@ The title alone demonstrates that most of the gender based conflict is due to our ignorance about others. Many studies have demonstrated that if an individual is educated about a group that they resent, then they stop hating that group. [Argument] From this, it should be evident that by removing ignorance the quality of all relationships will improve.

[Claim] If we have better government and relationships once ignorance is banned, it should not be at all surprising that our quality of live will improve in all areas. [Evidence] The biggest problems most of us face are a direct result of some sort of ignorance. Whether the difficulties are caused by our ignorance or the ignorance of others; removing that ignorance will only make our lives better. In fact, the more we know about the world around us, the better we can relate to it. [Argument] Thus, it should be evident that the removal of ignorance will improve our lives.

[Review & Restate] After having looked at how removing ignorance will improve our government, relationships, and quality of life; hopefully you can see why I believe that this is the one aspect of American society that we must remove. If we truly live in a world of our own creation, perhaps we should exclude ignorance from that world.

 OF COURSE YOU WOULD NEED CONCRETE EXAMPLES IN EACH OF THOSE PARAGRAPHS

Other approachesY.

You may also choose to break an essay down so that each paragraph is one part of the argument. If that is the case then the 1^st body paragraph would be the Claim, the second the Evidence, and the third the Argument.

In argumentative writing it is important that you do not assume that the reader understands what you are leaving out. For a strong argument, make sure you clearly and completely explain each part of the argument.

Another perspectiveY

Perhaps the easiest way to understand Claim, Evidence, Argument is to think about those old word problems from math.

In that case, the claim is your answer. The evidence is the numbers you glean from the problem. The argument is what you are to do with the numbers. For instanceY.

Bobby has 8 green apples. He picks 9 more green apples on his way to class. Bobby eats 15 of those green apples before he gets violently ill. How many apples will Bobby have to give Suzy?

OKYEvidenceY.8, 9, 15

Argument + -

Claim Y8+9-15=2