Imagine that you are having a debate with one of your friends on any issue. For example, about the legalization of marijuana. You believe that it has to be legalized for medicine purposes, while your friend argues that it is still a drug that should not be used for any purpose. You are going to have this battle forever, unless one of you comes up with strong arguments in favor of his opinion and convinces the other one in his rightness. Writing an argumentative paper is a lot like having any other debate, although it has to be expressed in a written form in accordance with requirements of argumentative essay format and the instructions of your professor. The core of writing this kind of essay is the ability to persuade other people in your rightness while appealing to undoubtable proofs and structuring your thoughts in such a way that it will just lead your reader to an obvious conclusion. This requires following certain writing techniques, which we are going to share with your in this article. Apart from that, please consider our professional writing assistance. We can provide you with an excellent writing service for affordable price any time. Just contact our consultant to get to know more about the opportunities that we are to offer, or just make an order right now and let us take care of your assignment quickly, professionally and for reasonable price. Expert writing service has never been so available as it is now. So why wasting your time and nerves if you can just rely on our professionalism?
Essentials to know about argumentative writing
First of all, let us highlight the difference between argumentative and persuasive writing. Sometimes students don't see any difference between them and this leads to a confusion and thus, they are not able to accomplish their assignment appropriately. Although both kinds of writing serve to prove someone's point of view, the main difference is in the techniques of persuasion. While argumentative writing appeals to undoubtable facts, persuasive writing gives an opportunity to use ethical, moral, religious reasoning and appeal to human emotions. And here, it is very important to keep in mind that in argumentative writing appealing to emotions is completely inappropriate and will lead to getting low grades. Take a look at the common requirements to argumentative essay format:
- It has to start with a clear and understandable statement and show the importance of the opinion provided in the paper in the context of the analyzed issue.
- In order to make a strong argument and sound as an expert, lots of information in regard to the discussed issue has to be researched and analyzed.
- All the information provided in the essay must be absolutely reliable and originate in trustworthy sources.
The structure of an argumentative paper
Just like any other essay, an argumentative paper needs to be structured appropriately. This is an ultimate requirement for all writing assignments. Proper structure allows readers to follow your thoughts and ideas and makes it easier to comprehend the key message of your entire writing. Here is the commonly accepted structure of argumentative essay format:
- The intro part. This is an opening paragraph where you are to introduce the topic of discussion and your point of view in regard to it. This should be done by means of a thesis statement and provided within one paragraph.
- Previous discussion of the problem. You should give a brief overview of the discussed issue and explain why you find it important and worthy of research.
- The purpose of the discussion and the possible consequences of the problem if it is not solved by means of what you are offering in your essay.
- Providing your thoughts, ideas and solutions of the problem supported by strong arguments, which include facts, evidences, examples etc.
- Making logical links between the arguments and supporting facts. In other words, you should reveal the obvious connection between your personal opinion in regard to the discussed issue and the arguments you provided to support it.
- Summarizing of everything provided above. You have to lead your readers to a logical conclusion, while also giving a summary of all the points and restating the thesis statement provided in the opening paragraph.
How to choose a topic for argumentative writing
The first step towards writing an effective argumentative paper is choosing a good topic. The topic has to reveal an important issue and be specific enough to be discussed fully so that there were no unanswered questions left. Unless you are already given a problem to discuss, you will have to choose a topic on your own. Here are some tips how to come up with a good topic for your paper:
- First of all, think about something that seems interesting and important to your personally. Is there anything you wanted to discuss or to prove your rightness about for a long time? Well, this is your opportunity to do it.
- Don't settle on a shallow issue for the conversation. Pick something that really matters. Shallow conversations are of no help if you want to make a good impression on your professor and receive a high mark.
- Before you give the preference to a certain topic, make sure there is a lot of information to do research on it. Since you will have to find strong arguments, you need to know where to look for them before you start writing.
- Make sure the topic is arguable. If the answer or the solution to a problem you are going to discuss is already obvious, there will be no use of your essay. You have to choose a controversial issue, where there are at least two opposite points of view.
- Pay attention to the counterarguments. You need to be aware of what other people think about this matter in order to defend your point of view in case of need. Also, it is a good idea to provide a couple of counterarguments in your essay and to prove them wrong. This will make your paper much stronger.
Topics for an argumentative paper
- Animal testing: violence against necessity. Does the necessity of testing animals is a good excuse for making them suffer?
- Death penalty as a means of justice. Do people have a right to take one's life on a legal basis?
- Higher education and its role in the contemporary society. Is it so essential to graduate from a college in order to get a good job? Does being successful necessarily mean to have a degree?
- War as a means of solving international issues. Pros and cons.
- Everybody needs to become rich and famous to realize this is not the answer. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
- The case about immigrants. Do they need to have more rights or less rights? Is it a duty of Western countries to take care of immigrants?
- The new rise of feminism. Do you think feminism as a social phenomenon is still of current importance?
- Finally, the legalization of marijuana. Taking into consideration that more and more countries in the world are beginning to legalize marijuana, do you personally think this is a good idea?
These are examples of good topics that are socially important, have many information to do research on and are controversial at the same time. You can choose one of them or just use as an example to come up with your own. However, our advice is not to procrastinate with your choice and make it as soon as possible. The earlier you begin to work on your argumentative essay, the sooner you will get it done.
More tips on argumentative writing
- Write the opening paragraph in the end. Since you will have to provide a summary there, you will not be able to do that unless you already have what to summarize.
- Take a break before you proofread and edit your essay. This will allow you to make more objective judgement for your paper and just to take a fresh look on it.
- Ask for a feedback. This is important because sometimes it is hard to notice your own mistakes and errors. So in order to improve your essay, ask someone else to read it and make a couple of comments.
- Make it unique. The best way to make your essay stand out is to keep your own writing style. The ability to develop a personal writing style appears when you just go with the flow and are yourself. This excludes repeating after someone else and includes stating things exactly the way you want them to be stated.
- Work hard on the last paragraph. This is going to make the last impression on your reader, which is as important as the first one. You can provide a motivational sentence or an inspiring quote.
- Take breaks during writing. Once you feel tired, have a little break to just refresh your mind and return with renewed inspiration.
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