How to Write an Effective

Argument Essay:
PRE-WRITING
M. REYES
• Choose an appropriate, focused topic (ex: Airport
Security)
• Explore and decide your position for this topic
• Predict opposing arguments
• Consider your audience and occasion
• Decide on which points you will argue (ex: Safe Traveler
Card, etc.)
• Decide on which points you will refute in the
concession (ex: Loss of privacy, etc.)
• Write a thesis that is focused, arguable, and
opinionated (ex: If every US citizen had a Safe Traveler
Card, airlines could screen for terrorists more
effectively than they do now and avoid procedures that
single out individuals solely on the basis of race.)
 Research & Evidence
• Offer evidence that effectively supports the
claims through evidence like
– personal experiences (in this instance, it's okay to use
the 1st person point of view—I, me, etc. to briefly
give the personal evidence, then return back to 3rd
person point of view; t
– the experiences of others,
– facts,
– statistics from current, reliable sources,
– hypothetical examples, and testimony from
authorities and experts .
 Consistency: Point of View

• 1st Person �I� � Narrative Essays

• 2nd Person �you� �Avoid! Replace
�You� withwords like �society�,
�people� or �one�.
• 3rd Person �He/She� - Professional &
Formal essays (i.e. argumentative)
 Decode Evidence
• Analyze the evidence for effectiveness.
– Select which of all the different gathered evidence you
will use.
– Highlight and annotate your evidence. This will help
you decide which parts of your evidence are
strongest, and therefore appropriate for your essay.
– Decide what pieces of evidence you’d like to quote
directly.
• Summarize and paraphrase the other pieces of
evidence.
 Drafting

• Create an argumentative outline

 EXAMPLE OF AN OUTLINE
• Introduction/Thesis-Claim
• Body Paragraph 1: Present your 1st point and
supporting evidence.
• Body Paragraph 2: Present your 2nd point and
it's supporting evidence.
• Body Paragraph 3: Refute your opposition's first
point.
• Body Paragraph 4: Refute your opposition's
second point.
• Conclusion/Restate Thesis
 Revising
• Rethink the essay by:
– Evaluate purpose/thesis/audience
– Arguments in the body paragraphs
– Style, clarity, and evidence
• Edit the essay
– Spelling
– Punctuation
– Mechanics
• Holistic Approach
– Read it
– Again
• and again
Framing Your Argument
by using Different
CLAIMS
 Claims for written Argument:
• The thesis for your argument needs to be
opinionated or debatable. The thesis will usually fall
into 4 different categories or claims.
You SHOULD make sure that your thesis fits one of the
following types of claims. Sometimes, an arguable thesis
may overlap and use 2 or even 3 different claims.

Remember, the more claims you incorporate into your

thesis, the longer your essay will be.

Be sure that you construct a focused and narrow thesis-

claim that will allow you enough room to write a full
essay on your topic.
 Thesis Statements
• A thesis statement manages to encapsulate an
essay's main argument in a succinct, one-
sentence comment.

• Beginner writers often times find it useful to

create an essay map thesis,where the thesis
briefly lists the areas that will be discussed in
the essay.
 A Thesis Statement:
has a clearly stated opinion,
but does not bluntly announce the opinion ("In this
essay I will..."),
is narrow enough to write a focused essay,
but is also broad enough to write at least 3 body
paragraphs,
is clearly stated in specific terms,
is easily recognized as the main idea,
is forceful and direct,
is not softened with token phrases ("in my opinion"
or "I think"), and
can list the 3 main points that will be made.
 DIFFERENT CLAIMS:
1) Claims of Fact or Definition
2) Claims About Cause & Effect
3) Claims About Solutions or Policies
4) Claims About Value
 1) Claims of Fact or Definition
• If you choose to make a claim of fact or
definition, be sure that you choose a DEBATABLE
fact or definition.

• For example, if a student claimed that the

Brazilian Samba was a slow graceful dance, it
would only take a few moments of research for
me to find that it is actually a fast-paced,
rhythmic, and lively dance.
So clearly, this claim would not be debatable;
there is no argument.
 One debatable claim :
• Whether or not student grades really measure
achievement.
• Another claim is whether or not a lie-detector
test is really accurate
 2) Claims About Cause & Effect
• Similar to the claims about fact or definition,
claims about cause and effect need to
be opinionated or debatable.

For example, that smoking causes lung cancer,

but one could debate whether or
not secondhand smoke causes lung cancer.
Other more typical controversial
cause-and-effect topics range
from the effect television has on
teens to the effect testing has on
the quality of education.
3) Claims About Solutions or Policies

• This claim is a perfect example of

how 2 different claims can overlap
each other.

• Claims about solutions or policies

usually work hand in hand with
claims about fact or definition.
• For example, because the healthcare system
does not adequately assist Americans (argue
that this is a fact), they should be reformed
(argue for the solution/policy).

• Also, any policy relating to under-aged minors

is always controversial because it is difficult to
define when an adolescent is capable of
making a deliberate decision, just as an adult
would.
 4) Claims About Value
• Claims about value generally lead to essays that
evaluate. Anytime a writer places value on
someone or something as "the best" or
"superior", that writer is making a claim about
value.

• While writers should always anticipate how to

respond to the opposing viewpoint, it is
particularly crucial to do so when dealing with a
claim about value.
For example,
People who are blind have a unique culture
of blindness, and many believe that living a
visionless life is better than living a seeing-
life. But to properly address this topic and
claim, one must anticipate and respond to
the opposing viewpoint, that seeing-life
has significant benefits.
Another example is that,

Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC).

One could argue that UFC is a
dehumanizing sport. The anticipated
opposing viewpoint could be that UFC
fighters undergo extensive training and
skill-based martial arts, thus making it a
viable athletic competition.
PRE – WRITING:
INTRODUCTION
BODY
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
 INTRODUCTION Paragraphs
The introductory paragraph of any paper, long or
short, should start with a sentence that peaks
the interest of readers.
In a typical essay, that first sentence leads into
two or three other statements that provide
details about the writer's subject or process.
All of these sentences build up to the essay's
thesis statement.
The introduction paragraph
typically has:
• Attention-Getter (Lead-in)
• Set Up for the Thesis
• Thesis/Essay Map
 Attention Getters & Lead-ins
• To get a paper off to a great start, writers should
try to have a first sentence that engages their
reader. This first sentence should be broadly
related to the topic of the essay.

Ways writers can begin:

Paradoxical or Intriguing Statement
Shocking Statement or Statistic
Rhetorical Question
Anecdote
Statement of the Problem
Proverb, Maxim, or Strong Statement
 Set Up for a Thesis
• After the attention getter or lead-in, writers
need to gradually narrow the broad subject
towards the thesis.

Gradually narrowing can:

provide background information,
explain underlying information,
describe the complexity of the issue,
introduce various layers of the subject, and
help transition from these more broad ideas to
the narrow thesis.
 Thesis Statements

has a clearly stated opinion,

but does not bluntly announce the opinion ("In this
essay I will..."),
is narrow enough to write a focused essay,
but is also broad enough to write at least 3 body
paragraphs,
is clearly stated in specific terms,
is easily recognized as the main idea,
is forceful and direct,
is not softened with token phrases ("in my opinion"
or "I think"), and
can list the 3 main points that will be made.
 In the Introduction Paragraph
NEVER EVER EVER. . .
• bluntly announce the essay's intent ("In this
essay I will...)

• make unreasonable statements,

apologize for the material that is being written
("In my humble opinion..."),
• go into a detailed account of the writing,
include random information that has
nothing to do with the essay

• use an encyclopedia or dictionary

definition ("According to Webster's...)

• dilly-dally. Get to it. Move confidently

into the essay
Question: How is this a graphical
representation of an introduction
Paragraph?
 Answer:

Because it starts broad, and gradually

narrows towards a focused, but not
overly specific thesis.
The thesis is specific enough to fully
explore the essay, but it's not so
specific that there is nothing more to
write about.
 Sample Introduction Paragraph
• ........[Attention-Getter] After the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York's World
Trade Towers and the Pentagon, the debate
surrounding racial profiling in airports
intensified. Many people believed that
profiling was the best way to identify possible
terrorists, but many others worried about
violations of civil liberties. While some
airports began to target passengers based
solely on their Middle Eastern origins, others
instituted random searches instead.
[Begin setting-up the
thesis] Neither of these techniques
seems likely to eliminate terrorism.
Now many experts in the
government and in airport security
are recommending the use of a
national ID card or Safe Traveler
Card.
[Thesis] If every US citizen had such a
card, airlines could screen for terrorists
more effectively than they do now and
avoid procedures that single out
individuals solely on the basis of race.
*Taken from College Writers pg. 727
BODY
BODY Paragraphs
Each body paragraph will have basic
structure.
Body paragraphs are the middle
paragraphs that lie between the
introduction and conclusion.
The key building blocks of essays are
the paragraphs as they represent
distinct logical steps within the
whole argument .
The body paragraphs typically have:

• Topic Sentence & (possibly)

Transition
• Supporting Information
• Conclusion Sentence & (possibly)
Transition
Topic Sentences & (possible) Transitions
• Readers like to know why they're reading a
particular passage as soon as possible. That's
why topic sentences are placed at the
beginnings of paragraphs.
• A topic sentence should contain the main
idea of the paragraph, and should follow the
same rules as the thesis statement. Writers
should start by writing down one of the main
ideas, in sentence form; the topic sentence
should frame the paragraph.
• Transitions are a crucial part of every body
paragraph, but not all topic sentences require
a transition. If writers are composing their 1st
body paragraph, a transition within that first
topic sentence will probably be useful.
• But if writers are composing their 2nd or 3rd
body paragraph, a transition may not be
necessary because the previous paragraph
might have been concluded with a transition.
Writers will have to decide where a
transitional word or phrase fits best.
• Transitions that Introduce New Ideas:
•
First...second...third
Finally,
Moreover...
________ is also...
In addition,
Next...then...after...
Furthermore
Previously
 Supporting Information & Evidence

• Paragraphs should be constructed with

some sense of internal order, so after
the topic sentence, writers will need to
deliver their first supporting detail.
• Supporting details should be facts,
statistics, examples, quotes, transitions,
and other sentences which support the
topic sentence.
To support the topic sentence, writers should:
explain the first supporting detail, then
give an example of this detail

next writers should unpack this example in a

sentence or two, and then

repeat this three-step process about two more

times

Writers should remember to transition

between new supporting details within the
paragraph.
Good Transitions for Giving Examples:
For instance
Specifically
In particular
Namely
Another
Other
In addition
To illustrate
 USEFUL TRANSITIONS: Between
Paragraphs and between major ideas
within paragraphs
•Therefore
Showing •Thus
•Consequently
Results
•As a result
•For example
•Another
•For instance
Giving •Other
•Specifically
•In addition
Examples •In particular
•To illustrate
•Namely
 •Similarly
Comparison •Not only…but also
•In comparison
•However
•Although
•Though
•But
•On the other
•While
hand
•In contrast
•Nevertheless
•On the contrary
Contrast •Contrarily
•In spite of
•On one
•Notwithstanding
hand...but on the
•Or
other hand
•Conversely
•Rather than
•Nor
•At the same time
 Sample Body Paragraph

• ........[Topic Sentence] Perhaps the cheapest

and most efficient security method is a so-
called Safe Traveler Card or national ID
card. [Support Information] A Safe Traveler
Card or national ID card would be about the
size of a credit card, contain a computer
chip, and cost little to produce. In some
ways, these cards are like the EZ Pass devices
that enable people to drive on highways,
bridges, and tunnels without having to stop
and pay tolls (Dershowitz 590).
[Unpack Supporting Info] By scanning
the card, airport security officials
would be able to obtain background
information from government
databases for every passenger: flying
history, residence, credit-card
spending, travel habits, phone records,
criminal background, and fingerprint
and iris patterns (Safire 587).
 [Concluding Statement] It is easy to
see how such a card could expedite
security checks at airports one could
tell at a glance whether a person
should be searched or let through.

*Taken from College Writers pg. 729-730

 INTRODUCE THE
OPPOSING ARGUMENT
The writer summarizes the
opposition's viewpoint openly and
honestly.
Ignoring the opposition is futile in that
the audience is aware of the opposing
arguments and will doubt the
credibility of a presentation that
chooses to ignore the opposition
rather than deal with it.
 Ways writers can begin:

But _______ is not completely

inaccurate.
It is often argued that...
It is true that...
Opposing views claim...
Acknowledge parts of the opposition
that are valid
The writer acknowledges that some of the
opposition's claims may be valid, but the
writer still shows that his own claims are
stronger.
The strength of the writer's claims are more
convincing than the opposing viewpoints.
A writer might explain the opposition's
weakest points, contrasting them with his
argument's strongest points.
Ways writers can begin:

Admittedly,
Certainly,
Of course,
One cannot deny that...
At the same time...
COUNTER THE ARGUMENT
Introduce the rebuttal of the concession
argument. The writer refutes the opposition's
claims showing they are incorrect or
inconsequential--not a real problem.
Ways writers can begin:
Nevertheless,
However,
On the other hand,
But...
CONCLUSIONS
 Conclusions & (possibly) Transition
Statements
• Some writers may want to include a summary
sentence concluding each paragraph.
• Conclusions for each paragraph are not
generally needed, however, because such
sentences can have a tendency to sound
stilted, therefore writers are cautioned about
using them.
 If a conclusion statement is deemed
necessary, writers might
consider setting up for the next body
paragraph by means of a transition
statement.
But again, writers will have to make a
discretionary decision on whether or
not such sentences are required.
 If writing a conclusion statement,
writers may also want to flag that
they're concluding the paragraph
by offering a concluding transition.
Transitions for Concluding Statements:
Therefore,
Thus,
Consequently,
As a result,

• Transitions to set-up the next paragraph:

Another...
__________ is not the only...
 CONCLUSION Paragraphs
Writers have just taken the reader through a
organized and convincing essay. Now readers
seek satisfaction by reading a conclusion
statement that wraps up all the main
points nicely.

Frequently, the ideas in the body of an essay

lead to some significant conclusion that can be
stated and explained in this final paragraph.
Writers should also provide the reader with
a fresh new outlook on the subject, leaving
them thinking about the issue.

In other words, the conclusion can go beyond

the requirements of the assignment as it allows
writers to consider broader issues, make fresh
connections, and elaborate on the significance
of the findings.
Good conclusions can even have
a striking ending. It should evoke
supportive emotions in the reader,
reflecting the same emotions the
reader felt throughout the essay.

Nothing is more disappointing to a reader

than reaching a flat and boring ending.
 Concluding statements which refer
back to the introductory paragraph
(i.e. the attention-getter) are
appropriate here; it offers a nice
stylistic touch which brings the essay
full circle.
The conclusion paragraphs typically:

• Revisits the Value of the Essay

• Restates the Thesis
• Reviews Main Points
• Considers unexplored areas
• Leaves the reader thinking
 Sample Conclusion Paragraph

........[Restate Thesis & Revisit Value of

Essay] It is clear that the only
acceptable way of ensuring the safety
of airline passengers is to begin a
program to issue Safe Traveler Cards or
national ID cards to United States
citizens.
[Review Main Points] These cards would
screen out those who are unlikely to be
terrorists and would also eliminate the
delays that currently characterize air travel.
Most important, they would help prevent
terrorists from high jacking American
Planes. At the same time, by making racial
profiling unnecessary, these cards would
help protect personal and civil liberties of
Americans.
[Leave Reader Thinking] Only by
instituting a national ID card
system can the U.S. make certain
that the terrorists who attacked
the United States did not hijack the
liberties that are so precious to us.

Taken from College Writers pg. 733-734

Thank you for listening!