argument helping students understand what essay writing is about

'Argument!' Helping students understand what essay writing is about

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• School of Education, Communication & Society
• The Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication (LDC)

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• 10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.001

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T1 - 'Argument!' Helping students understand what essay writing is about

AU - Wingate, Ursula

PY - 2012/6

Y1 - 2012/6

N2 - Argumentation is a key requirement of the essay, which is the most common genre that students have to write. However, how argumentation is realised in disciplinary writing is often poorly understood by academic tutors, and therefore not adequately taught to students. This paper presents research into undergraduate students’ concepts of argument when they arrive at university, difficulties they experience with developing arguments in their essays, and the type and quality of instruction they receive. A three-part definition which describes argumentation by what students need to learn was used as the framework for analysis. The findings show that students have only partial or incorrect concepts of argument. Many problems they encounter are caused by their lack of knowledge of what an argumentative essay requires, particularly of the need to develop their own position in an academic debate. The advice they receive does not make the requirements explicit and refers to argumentation inconsistently and vaguely. An ‘essay writing framework’, based on the three-part definition, is proposed for improving the teaching of writing. This approach puts argumentation at the centre of instruction and explains other aspects of writing according to the function they have in the development of argument.

AB - Argumentation is a key requirement of the essay, which is the most common genre that students have to write. However, how argumentation is realised in disciplinary writing is often poorly understood by academic tutors, and therefore not adequately taught to students. This paper presents research into undergraduate students’ concepts of argument when they arrive at university, difficulties they experience with developing arguments in their essays, and the type and quality of instruction they receive. A three-part definition which describes argumentation by what students need to learn was used as the framework for analysis. The findings show that students have only partial or incorrect concepts of argument. Many problems they encounter are caused by their lack of knowledge of what an argumentative essay requires, particularly of the need to develop their own position in an academic debate. The advice they receive does not make the requirements explicit and refers to argumentation inconsistently and vaguely. An ‘essay writing framework’, based on the three-part definition, is proposed for improving the teaching of writing. This approach puts argumentation at the centre of instruction and explains other aspects of writing according to the function they have in the development of argument.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.001

DO - 10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.001

M3 - Article

JO - Journal of English for Academic Purposes

JF - Journal of English for Academic Purposes

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10 Ways to Teach Argument-Writing With The New York Times

By Katherine Schulten

• Oct. 5, 2017

Updated, Feb. 2020

How can writing change people’s understanding of the world? How can it influence public opinion? How can it lead to meaningful action?

Below, we round up the best pieces we’ve published over the years about how to use the riches of The Times’s Opinion section p to teach and learn.

We’ve sorted the ideas — many of them from teachers — into two sections. The first helps students do close-readings of editorials and Op-Eds, as well as Times Op-Docs, Op-Art and editorial cartoons. The second suggests ways for students to discover their own voices on the issues they care about. We believe they, too, can “write to change the world.”

Ideas for Reading Opinion Pieces

1. Explore the role of a newspaper opinion section.

How would your students describe the differences between the news sections of a newspaper and the opinion section? What do they have in common? How do they differ? Where else in newspapers are opinions — for instance, in the form of reviews or personal essays — often published?

Bring in a few print copies of a newspaper, whether The Times or a local or school paper, and have your students work in small groups to contrast a news page with an opinion page and see what they discover.

Though this piece, “ And Now a Word From Op-Ed ,” is from 2004, it still provides a useful and quick overview of The Times’s Opinion section, even if the section then was mostly a print product. It begins this way:

Here at the Op-Ed page, there are certain questions that are as constant as the seasons. How does one get published? Who chooses the articles? Does The Times have an agenda? And, of course, why was my submission rejected? Now that I’ve been Op-Ed editor for a year, let me try to offer a few answers.

This 2013 article, “ Op-Ed and You ,” also helps both readers of the section, and potential writers for it, understand how Times Opinion works:

Anything can be an Op-Ed. We’re not only interested in policy, politics or government. We’re interested in everything, if it’s opinionated and we believe our readers will find it worth reading. We are especially interested in finding points of view that are different from those expressed in Times editorials. If you read the editorials, you know that they present a pretty consistent liberal point of view. There are lots of other ways of looking at the world, to the left and right of that position, and we are particularly interested in presenting those points of view.

After students have read one or both of these overviews, invite them to explore the Times’s Opinion section , noting what they find and raising questions as they go. You might ask:

• What pieces look most interesting to you? Why?

• What subsections are featured in the links across the top of the section (“Columnists”; “Series”; “Editorials”; “Op-Ed”; “Letters”; etc.) and what do you find in each? How do they seem to work together?

• How do you think the editors of this section decide what to publish?

• What role does this section seem to play in The Times as a whole?

• Would you ever want to write an Op-Ed or a letter to the editor? What might you write about?

If your students are confused about where and how news and opinion can sometimes bleed together, our lesson plan, News and ‘News Analysis’: Navigating Fact and Opinion in The Times , can help.

And to go even deeper, this lesson plan from 2010 focuses on a special section produced that year, “ Op-Ed at 40: Four Decades of Argument and Illustration .” It helps students understand the role the Op-Ed page has played at The Times since 1970, and links to many classic pieces.

2. Know the difference between fact and opinion.

In our lesson plan Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion , you’ll find activities students can use with any day’s Times to practice.

For instance, you might invite them to read an Op-Ed and underline the facts and circle the opinion statements they find, then compare their work in small groups.

Or, read a news report and an opinion piece on the same topic and look for the differences. For example, which of the first paragraphs below about the shooting in Las Vegas is from a news article and which is from an opinion piece? How can they tell?

Paragraph A: After the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, the impulse of politicians will be to lower flags, offer moments of silence, and lead a national mourning. Yet what we need most of all isn’t mourning, but action to lower the toll of guns in America. (From “ Preventing Mass Shootings Like the Vegas Strip Attack ”) Paragraph B: A gunman on a high floor of a Las Vegas hotel rained a rapid-fire barrage on an outdoor concert festival on Sunday night, leaving at least 59 people dead, injuring 527 others, and sending thousands of terrified survivors fleeing for cover, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. (From “ Multiple Weapons Found in Las Vegas Gunman’s Hotel Room ”)

3. Analyze the use of rhetorical strategies like ethos , pathos and logos.

Do your students know what ethos , pathos and logos mean? The video above, “ What Aristotle and Joshua Bell Can Teach Us About Persuasion ,” can help. We use it in this lesson plan , in which students explore the use of these rhetorical devices via the Op-Ed “ Rap Lyrics on Trial ” and more. The lesson also helps students try out their own use of rhetoric to make a persuasive argument.

In the post, we quote a New Yorker article, “The Six Things That Make Stories Go Viral Will Amaze, and Maybe Infuriate, You,” that explains the strategies in a way that students may readily understand:

In 350 B.C., Aristotle was already wondering what could make content — in his case, a speech — persuasive and memorable, so that its ideas would pass from person to person. The answer, he argued, was three principles: ethos, pathos, and logos. Content should have an ethical appeal, an emotional appeal, or a logical appeal. A rhetorician strong on all three was likely to leave behind a persuaded audience. Replace rhetorician with online content creator, and Aristotle’s insights seem entirely modern. Ethics, emotion, logic — it’s credible and worthy, it appeals to me, it makes sense. If you look at the last few links you shared on your Facebook page or Twitter stream, or the last article you e-mailed or recommended to a friend, chances are good that they’ll fit into those categories.

Take the New Yorker’s advice and invite them to choose viral content from their social networks and identify ethos , pathos and logos at work.

Or, use the handouts and ideas in our post An Argument-Writing Unit: Crafting Student Editorials , in which Kayleen Everitt, an eighth-grade English teacher, has her students take on advertising the same way.

Finally, if you’d like a recommendation for a specific Op-Ed that will richly reward student analysis of these elements, Kabby Hong, a teacher at Verona Area High School in Wisconsin, who will be our guest on our “Write to Change the World” webinar, recommends Nicholas Kristof’s column “ If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die? “

4. Identify claims and evidence.

The Common Core Standards put argument front and center in American education, and even young readers are now expected to be able to identify claims in opinion pieces and find the evidence to support them.

We have a number of lesson plans that can help.

First, Constructing Arguments: “Room for Debate” and the Common Core Standards , uses an Opinion feature that, though now defunct, can still be a great resource for teachers. Use the archives of Room for Debate , which featured succinct arguments on interesting topics from a number of points of view, to introduce students to perspectives on everything from complex geopolitical or theological topics to whether people are giving Too Much Information in today’s Facebook world .

We also have two comprehensive lesson plans — For the Sake of Argument: Writing Persuasively to Craft Short, Evidence-Based Editorials and I Don’t Think So: Writing Effective Counterarguments — that were written to support students in crafting their own editorials for our annual contest . In both, we first introduce readers to “mentor texts,” from The Times and elsewhere, that help them see how effective claims, evidence and counterclaims function in making a strong argument.

Finally, if you’re looking for a fun way to practice, we often hear from teachers that our What’s Going On in This Picture? feature works well. To participate, students must make a claim about what they believe is “going on” in a work of Times photojournalism stripped of its caption, then come up with evidence to support what they say.

5. Adopt a columnist.

This Is What a Refugee Looks Like

If elena, 14, is sent back to her country, she may be murdered..

VISUAL AUDIO Nick debarks plane B-roll streets of Mexico, B-roll rural Mexico, on truck, train passing Nick [VO]: We’re in Southern Mexico on the Guatemala-Mexico border, an area where you have hundreds of thousands of Central Americans, in many cases aiming to get to the US. B-roll people getting on bus Nick [VO]: These are not economic migrants. These are people who are fleeing gangs and sexual violence. Nick talking to women outside refugee agency INTV Nick B-roll Tapachula sky Nick [VO]:The homicide rates in Central America are some of the highest in the world. If you or I were there, we would be fleeing this as well. INSERT TITLE CARD Nick greeting Brenda Nick walks up steps to apartment Nick: Hola Brenda, Buenos dias. Brenda: Buenos dia, que tal? Nick [VO]: One of the people we met, Brenda, has applied for refugee status for her and for her daughters and she’s waiting. Nick meets Brenda’s children Translator: Hello. What’s your name? Kimberly: Kimberly. Nick: Kimberly, okay. Translator: She’s Kimberly. Brenda: Nestor Nick: Nestor! How are you? Inside Brenda’s apartment Nick talking to Elena Brenda: She’s Zoila Elena Nick: Elena, you are 14? Is that right? Translator: You’re 14 years old, right? Elena: Si. Nick: Kimberly… once? Elena: Doce. Nick: Doce! Translator: It’s twelve now. Nick: Okay. ElenaB-roll washing up in apartment, preparing chicken feet Her mother joins her INTV Elena on stairs Elena: My family calls me Elena. The house where I lived was in Honduras. Before, in our neighborhood, you could go out at whatever time you wanted, you could go out to play. But now these gangs arrived, the men from the 18th Street Gang, they started to establish rules. Everything was different, and that’s when our mother brought us here. Nick interviewing Elena inside house CU Brenda crying Nick: There’s special dangers for girls growing up from the maras . Did you have any girlfriends who were attacked by boys, did you worry about that happening to you? Elena: Yes I know someone. She was dating someone from the 18th Street Gang. They forced her by saying that if she didn’t join them… they would kill her whole family. So that nothing would happen to her family she had to do it. So they arranged to meet at the river. And she went to the river. She ended up getting raped. And when she left the river. she came out with a bullet in here and had to walk naked to her house. Well from then on we didn’t hear from her again. Nick: So you saw her coming from the river, naked, bleeding from a gunshot wound in the stomach? Elena: I was just like this, and I was shocked. But I couldn’t do anything because the gangsters were there and… if they would see us helping her, something could have happened to us. Nick: Did the gang members ever pay attention to you in ways that made you feel dangerous, that they might do the same thing to you? Elena: And there was one that told me that if I didn’t go out with him, he was going to kill my mom and dad. So I sent him a text message saying yes, agreeing to it. Nick: And how old were you when he wanted you to be his girlfriend? Elena: Eleven and a half years old. Translator: Eleven years. Nick: And you were able to say no to him then? Elena: No... because if I didn’t agree... he would have killed my family. Because he forced me.... even though I did not want to. So, I had to say yes... in order to protect my family. B-roll border checkpoint INTV Nick Nick [VO]: The United States and Mexico together have sent back 800,000 adults over the last 5 years, and 40,000 children to just those 3 countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Brenda and her kids inside apartment Brenda: I think I’m moving forward, whether or not I have to go through, what I already went through. I don’t have anywhere else to go. Nick [VO]: If they’re sent back, her daughters will be perhaps killed and preyed upon by the gangs. Nick in taxi Brenda’s family in apartment Nick [VO]: What would you do if you were Elena? Stay in Honduras and be forced into a relationship with a gang member? I doubt it. Elena in apartment with family INTV Elena Elena: And now we are moving from one place to another, and people think we are less important because we are immigrants. But they don’t know what we are running from.

We have heard from many teachers over the years that a favorite assignment is to have students each “adopt” a different newspaper columnist, and follow him or her over weeks or months, noting the issues they focus on and the rhetorical strategies they use to make their cases. Throughout, students can compare what they find — and, of course, apply what they learn to their own writing.

One teacher, Charles Costello, wrote up the details of his yearlong “Follow a Columnist” project for us. If you would like to try it with The Times, here are the current Op-Ed columnists:

Charles M. Blow

Jamelle Bouie

David Brooks

Frank Bruni

Roger Cohen

Gail Collins

Ross Douthat

Maureen Dowd

Thomas L. Friedman

Michelle Goldberg

Nicholas Kristof

Paul Krugman

David Leonhardt

Farhad Manjoo

Jennifer Senior

Bret Stephens

6. Explore visual argument-making via Times Op-Art, editorial cartoons and Op-Docs.

The New York Times regularly commissions artists and cartoonists to create work to accompany Opinion pieces. How do illustrations like the one above add meaning to a text, while grabbing readers’ attention at the same time? What can students infer about the argument being made in an Op-Ed article by looking at the illustration alone?

In this lesson plan , students investigate how art works together with text to emphasize a point of view. They then create their own original illustrations to go with a Times editorial, Op-Ed article or letter to the editor. We also suggest that they can illustrate an Opinion piece or letter to the editor that does not have an illustration associated with it.

Recently, Clara Lieu, a teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design, told us how she uses that very idea to help her student-artists to create their own pieces. To see some of their work, check out “ Finding Artistic Inspiration in The New York Times’s Opinion Section .”

If your students would like to go further and create their own editorial cartoons, we offer an annual student contest . Invite your students to check out the work of this year’s winners for inspiration. We also have a lesson plan, Drawing for Change: Analyzing and Making Political Cartoons , to go with it.

Another way to use visual journalism to teach argument-making? Use Op-Docs , The Times’s short documentary series (most under 15 minutes), that touches on issues like race and gender identity, technology and society, civil rights, criminal justice, ethics, and artistic and scientific exploration — issues that both matter to teenagers and complement classroom content.

Every Friday during the school year, we host a Film Club in which we select short Op-Docs we think will inspire powerful conversations — and then invite teenagers and teachers from around the world to have those conversations here, on our site.

And for a great classroom example of how this might work in practice, check out Using an Op-Doc Video to Teach Argumentative Writing , a Reader Idea from Allison Marchetti, an English teacher at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, Va. She details how her students analyzed the seven-minute film “China’s Web Junkies” to see how the filmmakers used evidence to support an argument, including expert testimony, facts, interview, imagery, statistics and anecdotes.

Ideas for Writing Opinion Pieces

7. Use our student writing prompts to practice making arguments for a real audience.

Does Technology Make Us More Alone?

Is It Ethical to Eat Meat?

Is It O.K. for Men and Boys to Comment on Women and Girls on the Street?

Are Some Youth Sports Too Intense?

Does Reality TV Promote Dangerous Stereotypes?

When Do You Become an Adult?

Is America Headed in the Right Direction?

Every day during the school year we invite teenagers to share their opinions about questions like these, and hundreds do, posting arguments, reflections and anecdotes to our Student Opinion feature. We have also curated a list drawn from this feature of 401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing on an array of topics like technology, politics, sports, education, health, parenting, science and pop culture.

Teachers tell us they use our writing prompts because they offer an opportunity for students to write for an “authentic audience.” But we also consider our daily questions to be a chance for the kind of “low-stakes” writing that can help students practice thinking through thorny questions informally.

We also call out our favorite comments weekly via our Current Events Conversation feature. Will your students’ posts be next?

8. Participate in our annual Student Editorial Contest.

What issues matter most to your students?

Every year, we invite teenagers to channel their passions into formal pieces : short, evidence-based persuasive essays like the editorials The New York Times publishes every day.

The challenge is pretty straightforward. Choose a topic you care about, gather evidence from sources both within and outside of The New York Times, and write a concise editorial (450 words or less) to convince readers of your point of view.

Our judges use this rubric (PDF) for selecting winners to publish on The Learning Network.

And at a time when breaking out of one’s “filter bubble” is more important than ever, we hope this contest also encourages students to broaden their news diets by using multiple sources, ideally ones that offer a range of perspectives on their chosen issue.

This school year, as you can see from our 2019-20 Student Contest Calendar , the challenge will run from Feb. 13 to March 31, 2020. You can find the submission form and all the details here .

To help guide this contest, we have published two additional ideas from teachers:

• In “ A New Research and Argument-Writing Approach Helps Students Break Out of the Echo Chamber, ” Jacqueline Hesse and Christine McCartney describe methods for helping students examine multiple viewpoints and make thoughtful, nuanced claims about a range of hot-button issues.

• In “ Helping Students Discover and Write About the Issues that Matter to Them ,” Beth Pandolpho describes how she takes her students through the process of finding a topic for our annual Student Editorial Contest, then writing, revising and submitting their final drafts.

9. Take advice from writers and editors at the Times’s Opinion section.

How can you write a powerful Op-Ed or editorial?

Well, over the years, many Times editors and writers have given the aspiring opiners advice. In the video above, for instance, Andrew Rosenthal, in his previous role as Editorial Page editor, detailed seven pointers for the students who participate in our annual Editorial Contest.

In 2017 Times Op-Ed columnist Bret Stephens wrote his own Tips for Aspiring Op-Ed Writers .

And on our 2017 webinar , Op-Ed columnist Nicholas Kristof suggested his own ten ideas. (Scroll down to see what they are, as well as to find related Op-Ed columns.)

Finally, if you’d like to get a letter to the editor published, here is what Tom Feyer, the longtime head of that section, recommends. Until Feb. 16, 2020, that section is offering a special letter-writing challenge for high school students . Submit a letter to the editor in response to a recent news article, editorial, column or Op-Ed essay, and they will pick a selection of the best entries and publish them.

10. Use the published work of young people as mentor texts.

In 2017, five students of Kabby Hong, the teacher who joined us for our Oct. 10 webinar, were either winners, runners-up or honorable mentions in our Student Editorial Contest.

How did he do it? First, he helps his students brainstorm by asking them the questions on this sheet . (The first page shows his own sample answers since he models them for his students.)

Then, he uses the work of previous student winners alongside famous pieces like “ Letter from Birmingham Jail ” to show his class what effective persuasive writing looks like. Here is a PDF of the handout Mr. Hong gave out last year, which he calls “Layering in Brushstrokes,” and which analyzes aspects of each of these winning essays:

•“ In Three and a Half Hours, an Alarm Will Go Off ”

•“ Redefining Ladylike ”

•“ Why I, a Heterosexual Teenage Boy, Want to See More Men in Speedos ”

Another great source of published opinion writing by young people? The Times series “ On Campus .” Though it is now discontinued, you can stil read essays by college students on everything from “ The Looming Uncertainty for Dreamers Like Me ” to “ Dropping Out of College Into Life .”

Update: Links from Our 2017 Webinar

On our 2017 webinar (still available on-demand), Nicholas Kristof talked teachers through ten ways anyone can make their persuasive writing stronger. Here is a list of his tips, along with the columns that relate to each — though you’ll need to watch the full webinar to hear the stories and examples that illustrate them.

Nicholas Kristof’s Ten Tips for Writing Op-Eds

1. Start out with a very clear idea in your own mind about the point you want to make.

Related: Preventing Mass Shootings Like the Vegas Strip Attack

2. Don’t choose a topic, choose an argument.

Related: On Death Row, but Is He Innocent?

3. Start with a bang.

Related: If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die?

4. Personal stories are often very powerful to make a point.

Related: This is What a Refugee Looks Like

5. If the platform allows it, use photos or video or music or whatever.

Related: The Photos the U.S. and Saudi Arabia Don’t Want You to See

6. Don’t feel the need to be formal and stodgy.

Related: Meet the World’s Leaders, in Hypocrisy

7. Acknowledge shortcomings in your arguments if the readers are likely to be aware of them, and address them openly.

Related: A Solution When a Nation’s Schools Fail

8. It’s often useful to cite an example of what you’re criticizing, or quote from an antagonist, because it clarifies what you’re against.

Related: Anne Frank Today Is a Syrian Girl

9. If you’re really trying to persuade people who are on the fence, remember that their way of thinking may not be yours.

Related: We Don’t Deny Harvey, So Why Deny Climate Change?

10. When your work is published, spread the word through social media or emails or any other avenue you can think of.

Related: You can find Nicholas Kristof on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , his Times blog , and via his free newsletter .

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• Online Guide to Writing

Writing Arguments

Purposes of Argument

Why do we write argument essays? This form of writing may be challenging but it will strengthen your writing skills. An argument has two purposes:

change people’s points of view or persuade them to accept new points of view

persuade people to a particular action or new behavior

Because people don’t always agree on a single point of view, an effectively worded argument helps us arrive at what is fair or true. It is used to settle disputes and discover truth. Instructors assign argumentative writing so students can learn to examine their own and others’ ideas in a careful, methodical way. 

Argument teaches us how to evaluate conflicting claims and judge evidence and methods of investigation. Argument helps us learn to clarify our thoughts and articulate them accurately. Arguments also consider the ideas of others in a respectful and critical manner.

Mailing Address: 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783 This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . © 2022 UMGC. All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.

Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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• Writing Tips

How to Write an Argumentative Essay

4-minute read

• 30th April 2022

An argumentative essay is a structured, compelling piece of writing where an author clearly defines their stance on a specific topic. This is a very popular style of writing assigned to students at schools, colleges, and universities. Learn the steps to researching, structuring, and writing an effective argumentative essay below.

Requirements of an Argumentative Essay

To effectively achieve its purpose, an argumentative essay must contain:

●  A concise thesis statement that introduces readers to the central argument of the essay

●  A clear, logical, argument that engages readers

●  Ample research and evidence that supports your argument

Approaches to Use in Your Argumentative Essay

1.   classical.

●  Clearly present the central argument.

●  Outline your opinion.

●  Provide enough evidence to support your theory.

2.   Toulmin

●  State your claim.

●  Supply the evidence for your stance.

●  Explain how these findings support the argument.

●  Include and discuss any limitations of your belief.

3.   Rogerian

●  Explain the opposing stance of your argument.

●  Discuss the problems with adopting this viewpoint.

●  Offer your position on the matter.

●  Provide reasons for why yours is the more beneficial stance.

●  Include a potential compromise for the topic at hand.

Tips for Writing a Well-Written Argumentative Essay

●  Introduce your topic in a bold, direct, and engaging manner to captivate your readers and encourage them to keep reading.

●  Provide sufficient evidence to justify your argument and convince readers to adopt this point of view.

●  Consider, include, and fairly present all sides of the topic.

●  Structure your argument in a clear, logical manner that helps your readers to understand your thought process.

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●  Discuss any counterarguments that might be posed.

●  Use persuasive writing that’s appropriate for your target audience and motivates them to agree with you.

Steps to Write an Argumentative Essay

Follow these basic steps to write a powerful and meaningful argumentative essay :

Step 1: Choose a topic that you’re passionate about

If you’ve already been given a topic to write about, pick a stance that resonates deeply with you. This will shine through in your writing, make the research process easier, and positively influence the outcome of your argument.

Step 2: Conduct ample research to prove the validity of your argument

To write an emotive argumentative essay , finding enough research to support your theory is a must. You’ll need solid evidence to convince readers to agree with your take on the matter. You’ll also need to logically organize the research so that it naturally convinces readers of your viewpoint and leaves no room for questioning.

Step 3: Follow a simple, easy-to-follow structure and compile your essay

A good structure to ensure a well-written and effective argumentative essay includes:

Introduction

●  Introduce your topic.

●  Offer background information on the claim.

●  Discuss the evidence you’ll present to support your argument.

●  State your thesis statement, a one-to-two sentence summary of your claim.

●  This is the section where you’ll develop and expand on your argument.

●  It should be split into three or four coherent paragraphs, with each one presenting its own idea.

●  Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that indicates why readers should adopt your belief or stance.

●  Include your research, statistics, citations, and other supporting evidence.

●  Discuss opposing viewpoints and why they’re invalid.

●  This part typically consists of one paragraph.

●  Summarize your research and the findings that were presented.

●  Emphasize your initial thesis statement.

●  Persuade readers to agree with your stance.

We certainly hope that you feel inspired to use these tips when writing your next argumentative essay . And, if you’re currently elbow-deep in writing one, consider submitting a free sample to us once it’s completed. Our expert team of editors can help ensure that it’s concise, error-free, and effective!

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• 16 Argument Writing

Start-Up Activity

Display the following proposition on the board: High-school students should carry school ID cards with built-in tracking devices.

Split your class into two equal teams and instruct one team to argue in favor of the proposition and the other team to argue against it. Provide time for both teams to brainstorm reasons and evidence to support their position and to nominate a captain to defend their position in front of the class. Set a time limit for each team's argument. Afterward, instruct the teams to choose a different person to counter the opposing team's statement. Set a brief time limit for counterarguments. Point out good arguments made by both teams, focusing on the use of logic and reasoning, not the volume of voices.

Let students know that the effectiveness of their argument writing will hinge on the same criteria, and they will need to make the same kinds of decisions when building their own arguments throughout the chapter. The guidelines to come will help them along the way.

Think About It

“A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.”

—Nelson Mandela

State Standards Covered in This Chapter

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.5
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.A
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.B
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.C
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.D
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.E
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.6
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.10
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.5
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.6
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.3
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.4

LAFS Covered in This Chapter

Lafs.1112.w.1.1, lafs.1112.w.2.4, lafs.1112.w.2.5, lafs.1112.w.2.6, lafs.1112.w.4.10, lafs.1112.ri.1.1, lafs.1112.ri.1.2, lafs.1112.ri.2.5, lafs.1112.ri.2.6, lafs.1112.ri.1.3, lafs.1112.ri.2.4, teks covered in this chapter, 110.38.c.10.c, 110.39.c.10.c, 110.38.c.9.a, 110.38.c.9.c, 110.38.c.9.d, 110.39.c.9.a, 110.39.c.9.c, 110.39.c.9.d, 110.38.c.5.j, 110.39.c.5.j, 110.38.c.9.b, 110.39.c.9.b, 110.38.c.9.e, 110.39.c.9.e, 110.38.c.10, 110.39.c.10, 110.38.c.4.f, 110.38.c.5.c, 110.38.c.7.d.i, 110.39.c.4.f, 110.39.c.5.c, 110.39.c.7.d.i, 110.38.c.4.g, 110.38.c.5.d, 110.39.c.4.g, 110.39.c.5.d, 110.38.c.7.d.ii, 110.38.c.7.e.i, 110.39.c.7.d.ii, 110.39.c.7.e.i, 110.38.c.8.d, 110.39.c.8.d, page 188 from write for college, quick guide: argument writing.

Let students know that some forms of argument writing in this chapter rely on persuasion, while others rely on argumentation, so it's important to understand the difference between the two. Persuasive writing sets out to make the reader do or believe something, while argumentation attempts to show that a point of view has validity and deserves consideration—whether or not the reader ultimately adopts the position is besides the point. Persuasive writing usually begins by identifying a topic and stating a position about it, while argumentative writing begins with researching all sides of a topic and aligning with one side. Both types of writing mirror each other in that they use reasons and evidence to support a position. But while persuasive writing may appeal to readers' emotions (pathos), argumentation appeal to logic (logos) and sound evidence (ethos).

After your discussion, lead students through the PAST questions and trait-based analysis of argument writing.

Using PAST to Understand Assignments

Teach students to analyze writing assignments.

Distinguishing Argumentation from Persuasion

Study argumentation/persuasion.

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Page 189 from Write for College

Debatable issues.

Introduce the list of general subjects. Have students practice going through the process of choosing a general subject, narrowing it into a specific topic, and forming an opinion about it. Model the process, perhaps using the example below. Then have students choose two or three subjects and complete a similar process.

• General subject: Environment
• Specific topic: The impact of hunting on the environment
• Opinion statement: Despite the protests of some conservationists, most hunters are friends of the environment.

Selecting Topics with the Basics of Life

Use broad subjects to find specific topics.

Page 190 from Write for College

Thinking through an argument.

Lead students through the parts of an argument, supplementing instruction with the following infographic: 7 Steps to Building a Rock-Solid Argument .

Making Claims

Discuss how the claim statement, also referred to as the proposition or opinion statement , is the heart of an argument. It serves as the argument's thesis, identifying the topic and main argument the writer wishes to make. Students can use the following formula to create effective claim statements.

• Topic + claim of truth, value, or policy = claim statement
• High-stakes test scores should not factor prominently into college admissions .

Young writers often struggle to differentiate factual statements from opinion statements.

• A factual statement can be definitively checked: "Most four-year colleges require applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores."
• An opinion statement is debatable: "High-stakes tests are an ineffective measure of college aptitude." (This opinion may appeal to test-averse students but not to those who score well. The claim needs to be supported and proved; it can't just be checked.)

Using Qualifiers

The second half of the page helps students state their opinions while avoiding absolutes. For example, "High-stakes test questions are biased in favor of students from high-income communities" is an absolute that would be difficult to defend. If students use qualifiers, the position is much easier to defend, "Often, high-stakes test questions are biased in favor of students from high-income communities."

Adding Support

The claim statement should express an opinion rather than a fact. However, students must then support their claim statements with factual evidence as well as the other types of details identified on this page.

Making Concessions

Of course, argument writing deals with arguable topics. In other words, the reader may disagree. Help students realize that addressing the readers' disagreements does not weaken their arguments, but in fact strengthens them. Students can give a counterargument or concede the objection and move on. Both approaches show that the writer has considered the reader's point of view.

Developing an Opinion Statement

Develop a main claim.

Elaborating with Supporting Details

Use a variety of details.

Making Rhetorical Appeals

Appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos.  

Answering Objections in Arguments

Answer key objections to an argument.

Page 191 from Write for College

Using evidence and logic.

As with the rest of rhetoric, logical fallacies have been with us since the Greeks. In fact, many of them still carry Latin names. For example, bandwagoning also goes by the name argumentum ad populum . However, these problems with thinking persist to this day. With the prevalence of social media and fake news, students need to be equipped to recognize shoddy thinking and avoid it in their own writing.

Lead them through the types and examples of logical fallacies on this page. Move to the next page and perform the activity below.

Recognizing Logical Fallacies 1

Learn to spot logical fallacies.

Recognizing Logical Fallacies 2

Page 192 from Write for College

Using evidence and logic (cont.).

Use this page to help students understand other common logical fallacies. Then show a political advertisement or attack ad. Ask students to identify different types of logical fallacies demonstrated in the ad. You can complete this activity as a class or let students discuss the ad in small groups and report on their findings. 

Page 193 from Write for College

Guidelines: writing an editorial.

In editorials, writers add their viewpoint to a public discussion on a current issue—aiming to raise the awareness or change the minds of readers. For students, the process of writing an editorial refines their thinking skills and builds their awareness of current events and their right to respond. In a sense, students join the press, becoming, in Douglass Cater’s phrase, “the fourth branch of government.”

Before your students begin writing their own editorials, discuss these keys:

• Consider the publication and its readers (the rhetorical situation) in order to “target” your editorial.
• Offer a thoughtful but boldly stated opinion supported with solid evidence and reasoning.
• Get to the point in about 750 to 900 words. Paragraphs and sentences should be short and the writing style concrete. Open by grabbing attention, follow with a sound argument, and close with energy.
• Enhance social dialogue by stating a clear position on a current issue.
• Raise the levels of intelligence, civility, and commitment in public discourse. Avoid writing editorials that offer a knee-jerk opinion or merely sound off.

To help students discover topic ideas, share current newspapers, magazines, or news sites. Ask them to find two articles that sparked their interest and respond to this prompt: "What's the issue? Who should care, and why?" Encourage them to consider their responses when they are searching for topics for their own editorials.

Next, lead students through the writing guidelines. Recommend they also review "Thinking Through an Argument" on page 190 as they create their editorial.

When students complete their editorials, help them submit their writing to appropriate publications, such as any school or local media.

Page 194 from Write for College

Editorial (point).

Before reading the two sample editorials, you can share the three basic appeals that the ancient Greeks identified:

• The appeal to logos means using logic to persuade readers.
• The appeal to ethos means persuading readers by ethically using ideas and sources.
• The appeal to pathos means persuading readers by connecting with their emotions.

Ask students to identify the types of appeals the writers of the editorials make to support their positions. Then have volunteers read each paragraph of the first sample editorial. Let them know they will need to answer response questions about it after reading the "Counterpoint" editorial on the next page.

Page 195 from Write for College

Editorial (counterpoint).

Have volunteers read "Winning Wars or Hearts?" aloud. Then lead a discussion about it and the previous editorial, using questions like these:

• What position statement does each editorial make? (Point: By taking an aggressive stance against terrorism, the United States shows that it is a very real tiger. Counterpoint: The United States cannot combat extremists by becoming extremists.)
• Which editorial uses deductive reasoning? Which one reasons inductively? (Point: deductive; counterpoint: inductive)
• Can you identify an appeal to logos from each editorial? What about ethos?
• Does either editorial make an appeal to pathos? How so?
• What is the most convincing appeal or reason made in "A Tiger of Muscle and Claw"? What is the weakest?
• What is the most convincing appeal or reason made in "Winning Wars or Hearts?" What is the weakest?
• Which editorial did you find more convincing? Why?

Page 196 from Write for College

Guidelines: writing a personal commentary.

Like the editorial, the personal commentary allows students to join the public dialogue about current issues. However, while the editorial offers a boldly stated opinion in response to a current issue, the personal commentary reflects on an ongoing issue of daily life.

As you review the writing guidelines, make sure students know that a personal commentary can follow a more informal style than other academic argument writing. Students should feel free to use personal pronouns and stream of conscious thinking in their writing. However, the final product needs to follow the traditional conventions of English.

If students struggle to determine a topic, offer these focused topic options:

• The reality versus the appearance of a place (for example, school, hometown)
• The latest development in social media
• Your relationship with a specific law, rule, or expectation

Page 197 from Write for College

Personal commentary.

Have  volunteers read each paragraph of the sample personal commentary on this page and the next. Suggest students pay attention to how the writer intersperses narrative elements such as personal feelings and reflections with concrete evidence such as anecdotes, examples, and quotations.

Page 198 from Write for College

Personal commentary (cont.).

Complete the reading of the sample personal commentary. When students finish their reading, discuss the "Reading for Better Writing" questions.

Page 199 from Write for College

Guidelines: writing an argument essay.

Make sure students understand the goal of argumentation is not having the loudest voice or engaging in an intellectual fistfight; it's not even necessarily convincing others to take up a position. The goal is to make a clear and logical case for a position on a debatable issue.

Share these keys to writing this type of essay:  

• Start with an opinion but be open to changing your mind as you research the topic.
• Include (a) a carefully worded claim, (b) reliable supporting evidence, and (c) logical thinking throughout.
• Make sure your argument is fair and balanced. Readers should not feel forced into accepting the argument.

When your students are ready to write their own argument essays, support them with the material on this page. Help them select an interesting and timely topic, referring them to page 189 for more ideas. Next, assist them as they develop a proposition or claim statement, referring back to page 190 for more information.

When they begin to gather supporting reasons and evidence, recommend they start with what they already know about the topic but also conduct additional research to find more information.

When students are ready to begin drafting, discuss some effective opening strategies. For example, a compelling anecdote, intriguing background information, or a hypothetical scenario ("Imagine being let go from a job in place of a robot") could get readers' attention in the lead up to the proposition statement.

Also, provide support for developing the middle paragraphs. Tell students they should include reasons in support of their positions and back those reasons with evidence. They should also address the other side of the argument, either countering objections or making concessions. Remind them that the order of details should depend on whether the audience is receptive or resistant. Consider these strategies:

• If the audience is likely to be receptive to the argument, begin with the reasons and evidence before answering any objections.
• If the audience is likely to be resistant, address the other side of the issue up front before outlining your reasons and evidence for supporting your side.

Revising and Editing

To support students as they revise and edit, provide them the  Revising and Editing Checklist for Argument Essays and the Argument Writing Assessment Rubric . Also refer them to the revising and editing chapters in their handbooks.

Using Perspective Shifting to Persuade Readers

Help students see from readers' perspectives.

Evaluating with a Pro-Con Chart

Analyze good and bad with a pro-con chart.

Page 200 from Write for College

Argument essay.

Before reading the sample argument essay, you can share, again, the three basic appeals that the ancient Greeks identified:

Point out to your students that the writer of the sample relies mostly on logical and ethical appeals. Then have student volunteers read each paragraph of the sample argument essay, on this page and those that follow.

Page 201 from Write for College

Argument essay (cont.).

Have volunteers finish reading the sample essay aloud. Then lead a discussion about it, using questions like these:

• What strategy does the writer use to open the essay? (The writer uses a historical anecdote to illustrate the truth of her position.)
• What is the author's main claim or position? (Though economic sanctions appear to be a powerful peacetime weapon, they actually do more harm than good.)
• What reasons does the writer provide to support her claim? (See the topic sentences of the middle paragraphs.)
• What general organizational pattern does the author follow—chronological, order of importance, cause-effect? (Order of importance.)
• What is the author doing in the second to last paragraph? (Exploring and countering an objection to her opinion.)
• What makes the ending effective? (Answers will vary. The ending sums up the argument in terms all people can relate to, giving an everyday analogy to clarify the complicated issue.)
• Does the author make a compelling case for her position?
• Are the her reasons clear and logical? Is the evidence compelling? How so?

Page 202 from Write for College

Guidelines: writing a position paper.

A position paper stems from a writer’s stance on a meaningful issue. Developing a position paper gives students an opportunity to deepen their understanding and refine their thinking about their writing idea. Students should attempt to be thoughtful but bold, encouraging the reader to respect their line of thinking. Here are some key instructions for your students.

• Develop a reasonable stand on an issue and then build a pathway to that position for your reader. To convince the reader to follow your path, adopt a positive, thoughtful tone—not a “love it or leave it” attitude.
• Build on personal commitment, not abstract theory. Choose topics that affect one of your communities.
• Be willing to develop and modify your position through research.
• Soften your stance with qualifiers if necessary. Let the evidence weigh in your favor.

Review the writing guidelines with students before they begin the writing process. When they get to drafting, encourage students to experiment with the placement of their position statements. How does their paper change if they state their position at the start or delay until the middle or the end? A delayed statement allows the reader to trace the writer's line of thinking before he or she ultimately takes a definitive position. (For an example of argument writing that utilizes a delayed position statement, students should reread the "counterpoint" editorial on page 195.)

When students revise and edit their drafts, download and distribute the revising and editing checklist .

Page 203 from Write for College

Position paper.

Have volunteers read each paragraph of the sample position paper, on this page and those that follow.

Page 204 from Write for College

Position statement (cont.).

Continue reading the sample paper.

Page 205 from Write for College

Position paper (cont.).

Finish your reading of the sample position paper. Lead a discussion of the paper using the following questions:

• Is the opening part effective? What types of background information does the writer use to lead up to the position statement?
• Are the reasons for supporting the position convincing? Is one reason more convincing than another? How so?
• How does your position on the topic compare or contrast with the author's?

Page 206 from Write for College

Guidelines: response to an argument prompt.

Often, a high-stakes test will require students to respond to an argument prompt. They must read the prompt, quickly analyze it, and form a plan for writing—all within the first few minutes of the response time. The PAST strategy can help students quickly analyze the prompt and come up with an on-target response. Lead students through the writing guidelines.

As practice, assign students to write their own argument essays within a certain time period (often between 35 and 50 minutes). Give them the following prompt:

Each year in the United States, 9 billion animals are killed and used for food. The animal waste from factory farms causes water and air pollution, yet the demand for meat grows stronger. In an attempt to curb the use of factory farms while satisfying the population's demand for meat, food scientists have begun producing in vitro meat—muscle tissue that's cultured from animal cells and grown in a laboratory. How comfortable would you be eating test-tube meat? Write an essay that argues for or against in vitro meat.

When students use the PAST strategy to analyze the prompt, they should come up with answers like the following:

• P urpose: To argue for or against in vitro meat
• A udience: Classmates and test grader
• S ubject: Test-tube meat
• T ype: Argument essay

Afterward, have volunteers read the sample response, paragraph by paragraph.

Page 207 from Write for College

Prompt response.

Have volunteers read the sample response to the prompt from the top of the previous page. Lead a discussion that uses the assessment rubric on page 210 to analyze the response's use of the writing traits.

Page 208 from Write for College

Sample argument prompts.

Refer students to this page when they need to practice on-demand argument writing. Periodically assign different prompts from the page to help students become more comfortable with on-demand writing assessments.

Analyzing Writing Prompts

Practice studying the parts of a test prompt.

Page 209 from Write for College

Using graphic organizers.

Refer students to the sample graphic organizers when they are gathering details for their argument writing. The same organizers can also help students pick out key details in the argument texts they read. 

Page 210 from Write for College

Evaluating arguments.

When it comes time for students to evaluate their work, download and distribute the Assessment Rubric for Argument Writing . (You might also provide this rubric at the beginning of the writing process so that students know the target they are shooting for.) Assign a grading scale, such as 1 (Not at all) to 6 (Completely). To calculate a percentage, multiply the cumulative score by 3 (with a perfect score of 108—an A+, or 8 points of extra credit). As an alternative, you can add the scores and divide by 6 to create an overall score (6 = A+, 5 = A, 4 = B, 3 = C, 2 = D, 1 = F).

• 01 One Writer's Process
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• 10 Mastering Essays
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8.7: Tips for Writing Academic Persuasive Essays

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The previous chapters in this section offer an overview of what it means to formulate an argument in an academic situation. The purpose of this chapter is to offer more concrete, actionable tips for drafting an academic persuasive essay. Keep in mind that preparing to draft a persuasive essay relies on the strategies for any other thesis-driven essay, covered by the section in this textbook, The Writing Process. The following chapters can be read in concert with this one:

• Critical Reading and other research strategies helps writers identify the exigence (issue) that demands a response, as well as what kinds of research to use.
• Generate Ideas covers prewriting models (such as brainstorming techniques) that allow students to make interesting connections and develop comprehensive thesis statements. These connections and main points will allow a writer to outline their core argument.
• Organizing is important for understanding why an argument essay needs a detailed plan, before the drafting stage. For an argument essay, start with a basic outline that identifies the claim, reasoning, and evidence, but be prepared to develop more detailed outlines that include counterarguments and rebuttals, warrants, additional backing, etc., as needed.
• Drafting introduces students to basic compositional strategies that they must be familiar with before beginning an argument essay. This current chapter offers more details about what kinds of paragraphs to practice in an argument essay, but it assumes the writer is familiar with basic strategies such as coherence and cohesion.

Classical structure of an argument essay

Academic persuasive essays tend to follow what’s known as the “classical” structure, based on techniques that derive from ancient Roman and Medieval rhetoricians. John D. Ramage, et. al outline this structure in Writing Arguments :

This very detailed table can be simplified. Most academic persuasive essays include the following basic elements:

• Introduction that explains why the situation is important and presents your argument (aka the claim or thesis).
• Reasons the thesis is correct or at least reasonable.
• Evidence that supports each reason, often occurring right after the reason the evidence supports.
• Acknowledgement of objections.
• Response to objections.

Keep in mind that the structure above is just a conventional starting point. The previous chapters of this section suggest how different kinds of arguments (Classical/Aristotelian, Toulmin, Rogerian) involve slightly different approaches, and your course, instructor, and specific assignment prompt may include its own specific instructions on how to complete the assignment. There are many different variations. At the same time, however, most academic argumentative/persuasive essays expect you to practice the techniques mentioned below. These tips overlap with the elements of argumentation, covered in that chapter, but they offer more explicit examples for how they might look in paragraph form, beginning with the introduction to your essay.

Persuasive introductions should move from context to thesis

Since one of the main goals of a persuasive essay introduction is to forecast the broader argument, it’s important to keep in mind that the legibility of the argument depends on the ability of the writer to provide sufficient information to the reader. If a basic high school essay moves from general topic to specific argument (the funnel technique), a more sophisticated academic persuasive essay is more likely to move from context to thesis.

The great stylist of clear writing, Joseph W. Williams, suggests that one of the key rhetorical moves a writer can make in a persuasive introduction is to not only provide enough background information (the context), but to frame that information in terms of a problem or issue, what the section on Reading and Writing Rhetorically terms the exigence . The ability to present a clearly defined problem and then the thesis as a solution creates a motivating introduction. The reader is more likely to be gripped by it, because we naturally want to see problems solved.

Consider these two persuasive introductions, both of which end with an argumentative thesis statement:

A. In America we often hold to the belief that our country is steadily progressing. topic This is a place where dreams come true. With enough hard work, we tell ourselves (and our children), we can do anything. I argue that, when progress is more carefully defined, our current period is actually one of decline. claim

B . Two years ago my dad developed Type 2 diabetes, and the doctors explained to him that it was due in large part to his heavy consumption of sugar. For him, the primary form of sugar consumption was soda. hook His experience is echoed by millions of Americans today. According to the most recent research, “Sugary drink portion sizes have risen dramatically over the past forty years, and children and adults are drinking more soft drinks than ever,” while two out of three adults in the United States are now considered either overweight or obese. This statistic correlates with reduced life expectancy by many years. Studies have shown that those who are overweight in this generation will live a lot fewer years than those who are already elderly. And those consumers who don’t become overweight remain at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes (like my dad), known as one of the most serious global health concerns (“Sugary Drinks and Obesity Fact Sheet”). problem In response to this problem, some political journalists, such as Alexandra Le Tellier, argue that sodas should be banned. On the opposite end of the political spectrum, politically conservative journalists such as Ernest Istook argue that absolutely nothing should be done because that would interfere with consumer freedom. debate I suggest something in between: a “soda tax,” which would balance concerns over the public welfare with concerns over consumer freedom. claim

Example B feels richer, more dramatic, and much more targeted not only because it’s longer, but because it’s structured in a “motivating” way. Here’s an outline of that structure:

• Hook: It opens with a brief hook that illustrates an emerging issue. This concrete, personal anecdote grips the reader’s attention.
• Problem: The anecdote is connected with the emerging issue, phrased as a problem that needs to be addressed.
• Debate: The writer briefly alludes to a debate over how to respond to the problem.
• Claim: The introduction ends by hinting at how the writer intends to address the problem, and it’s phrased conversationally, as part of an ongoing dialogue.

Not every persuasive introduction needs all of these elements. Not all introductions will have an obvious problem. Sometimes a “problem,” or the exigence, will be as subtle as an ambiguity in a text that needs to be cleared up (as in literary analysis essays). Other times it will indeed be an obvious problem, such as in a problem-solution argument essay.

In most cases, however, a clear introduction will proceed from context to thesis . The most attention-grabbing and motivating introductions will also include things like hooks and problem-oriented issues.

Here’s a very simple and streamlined template that can serve as rudimentary scaffolding for a persuasive introduction, inspired by the excellent book, They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing : Definition: Term

In discussions of __________, an emerging issue is _____________________. issue When addressing this issue, some experts suggest ________________. debate In my view, however, _______________________________. claim

Each aspect of the template will need to be developed, but it can serve as training wheels for how to craft a nicely structured context-to-thesis introduction, including things like an issue, debate, and claim. You can try filling in the blanks below, and then export your attempt as a document.

Define key terms, as needed

Much of an academic persuasive essay is dedicated to supporting the claim. A traditional thesis-driven essay has an introduction, body, and conclusion, and the support constitutes much of the body. In a persuasive essay, most of the support is dedicated to reasoning and evidence (more on that below). However, depending on what your claim does, a careful writer may dedicate the beginning (or other parts of the essay body) to defining key terms.

Suppose I wish to construct an argument that enters the debate over euthanasia. When researching the issue, I notice that much of the debate circles around the notion of rights, specifically what a “legal right” actually means. Clearly defining that term will help reduce some of the confusion and clarify my own argument. In Vancouver Island University’s resource “ Defining key terms ,” Ian Johnston offers this example for how to define “legal right” for an academic reader:

Before discussing the notion of a right to die, we need to clarify precisely what the term legal right means. In common language, the term “right” tends often to mean something good, something people ought to have (e.g., a right to a good home, a right to a meaningful job, and so on). In law, however, the term has a much more specific meaning. It refers to something to which people are legally entitled. Thus, a “legal” right also confers a legal obligation on someone or some institution to make sure the right is conferred. For instance, in Canada, children of a certain age have a right to a free public education. This right confers on society the obligation to provide that education, and society cannot refuse without breaking the law. Hence, when we use the term right to die in a legal sense, we are describing something to which a citizen is legally entitled, and we are insisting that someone in society has an obligation to provide the services which will confer that right on anyone who wants it.

As the example above shows, academics often dedicate space to providing nuanced and technical definitions that correct common misconceptions. Johnston’s definition relies on research, but it’s not always necessary to use research to define your terms. Here are some tips for crafting definitions in persuasive essays, from “Defining key terms”:

• Fit the descriptive detail in the definition to the knowledge of the intended audience. The definition of, say, AIDS for a general readership will be different from the definition for a group of doctors (the latter will be much more technical). It often helps to distinguish between common sense or popular definitions and more technical ones.
• Make sure definitions are full and complete; do not rush them unduly. And do not assume that just because the term is quite common that everyone knows just what it means (e.g., alcoholism ). If you are using the term in a very specific sense, then let the reader know what that is. The amount of detail you include in a definition should cover what is essential for the reader to know, in order to follow the argument. By the same token, do not overload the definition, providing too much detail or using far too technical a language for those who will be reading the essay.
• It’s unhelpful to simply quote the google or dictionary.com definition of a word. Dictionaries contain a few or several definitions for important terms, and the correct definition is informed by the context in which it’s being employed. It’s up to the writer to explain that context and how the word is usually understood within it.
• You do not always need to research a definition. Depending on the writing situation and audience, you may be able to develop your own understanding of certain terms.

Use P-E-A-S or M-E-A-L to support your claim

The heart of a persuasive essay is a claim supported by reasoning and evidence. Thus, much of the essay body is often devoted to the supporting reasons, which in turn are proved by evidence. One of the formulas commonly taught in K-12 and even college writing programs is known as PEAS, which overlaps strongly with the MEAL formula introduced by the chapter, “ Basic Integration “:

Point : State the reasoning as a single point: “One reason why a soda tax would be effective is that…” or “One way an individual can control their happiness is by…”

Evidence : After stating the supporting reason, prove that reason with related evidence. There can be more than one piece of evidence. “According to …” or “In the article, ‘…,’ the author shows that …”

Analysis : There a different levels of analysis. At the most basic level, a writer should clearly explain how the evidence proves the point, in their own words: “In other words…,” “What this data shows is that…” Sometimes the “A” part of PEAS becomes simple paraphrasing. Higher-level analysis will use more sophisticated techniques such as Toulmin’s warrants to explore deeper terrain. For more tips on how to discuss and analyze, refer to the previous chapter’s section, “ Analyze and discuss the evidence .”

Summary/So what? : Tie together all of the components (PEA) succinctly, before transitioning to the next idea. If necessary, remind the reader how the evidence and reasoning relates to the broader claim (the thesis argument).

PEAS and MEAL are very similar; in fact they are identical except for how they refer to the first and last part. In theory, it shouldn’t matter which acronym you choose. Both versions are effective because they translate the basic structure of a supporting reason (reasoning and evidence) into paragraph form.

Here’s an example of a PEAS paragraph in an academic persuasive essay that argues for a soda tax:

A soda tax would also provide more revenue for the federal government, thereby reducing its debt. point Despite Ernest Istook’s concerns about eroding American freedom, the United States has long supported the ability of government to leverage taxes in order to both curb unhealthy lifestyles and add revenue. According to Peter Ubel’s “Would the Founding Fathers Approve of a Sugar Tax?”, in 1791 the US government was heavily in debt and needed stable revenue. In response, the federal government taxed what most people viewed as a “sin” at that time: alcohol. This single tax increased government revenue by at least 20% on average, and in some years more than 40% . The effect was that only the people who really wanted alcohol purchased it, and those who could no longer afford it were getting rid of what they already viewed as a bad habit (Ubel). evidence Just as alcohol (and later, cigarettes) was viewed as a superfluous “sin” in the Early Republic, so today do many health experts and an increasing amount of Americans view sugar as extremely unhealthy, even addictive. If our society accepts taxes on other consumer sins as a way to improve government revenue, a tax on sugar is entirely consistent. analysis We could apply this to the soda tax and try to do something like this to help knock out two problems at once: help people lose their addiction towards soda and help reduce our government’s debt. summary/so what?

The paragraph above was written by a student who was taught the PEAS formula. However, we can see versions of this formula in professional writing. Here’s a more sophisticated example of PEAS, this time from a non-academic article. In Nicholas Carr’s extremely popular article, “ Is Google Making Us Stupid? “, he argues that Google is altering how we think. To prove that broader claim, Carr offers a variety of reasons and evidence. Here’s part of his reasoning:

Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self. point “We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain . “We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” evidence Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged. analysis

This excerpt only contains the first three elements, PEA, and the analysis part is very brief (it’s more like paraphrase), but it shows how professional writers often employ some version of the formula. It tends to appear in persuasive texts written by experienced writers because it reinforces writing techniques mentioned elsewhere in this textbook. A block of text structured according to PEA will practice coherence, because opening with a point (P) forecasts the main idea of that section. Embedding the evidence (E) within a topic sentence and follow-up commentary or analysis (A) is part of the “quote sandwich” strategy we cover in the section on “Writing With Sources.”

Use “they say / i say” strategies for Counterarguments and rebuttals

Another element that’s unique to persuasive essays is embedding a counterargument. Sometimes called naysayers or opposing positions, counterarguments are points of view that challenge our own.

Why embed a naysayer?

Recall above how a helpful strategy for beginning a persuasive essay (the introduction) is to briefly mention a debate—what some writing textbooks call “joining the conversation.” Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein’s They Say / I Say explains why engaging other points of view is so crucial:

Not long ago we attended a talk at an academic conference where the speaker’s central claim seemed to be that a certain sociologist—call him Dr. X—had done very good work in a number of areas of the discipline. The speaker proceeded to illustrate his thesis by referring extensively and in great detail to various books and articles by Dr. X and by quoting long pas-sages from them. The speaker was obviously both learned and impassioned, but as we listened to his talk we found ourselves somewhat puzzled: the argument—that Dr. X’s work was very important—was clear enough, but why did the speaker need to make it in the first place? Did anyone dispute it? Were there commentators in the field who had argued against X’s work or challenged its value? Was the speaker’s interpretation of what X had done somehow novel or revolutionary? Since the speaker gave no hint of an answer to any of these questions, we could only wonder why he was going on and on about X. It was only after the speaker finished and took questions from the audience that we got a clue: in response to one questioner, he referred to several critics who had vigorously questioned Dr. X’s ideas and convinced many sociologists that Dr. X’s work was unsound.

When writing for an academic audience, one of the most important moves a writer can make is to demonstrate how their ideas compare to others. It serves as part of the context. Your essay might be offering a highly original solution to a certain problem you’ve researched the entire semester, but the reader will only understand that if existing arguments are presented in your draft. Or, on the other hand, you might be synthesizing or connecting a variety of opinions in order to arrive at a more comprehensive solution. That’s also fine, but the creativity of your synthesis and its unique contribution to existing research will only be known if those other voices are included.

Aristotelian argumentation embeds counterarguments in order to refute them. Rogerian arguments present oppositional stances in order to synthesize and integrate them. No matter what your strategy is, the essay should be conversational.

Notice how Ana Mari Cauce opens her essay on free speech in higher education, “ Messy but Essential “:

Over the past year or two, issues surrounding the exercise of free speech and expression have come to the forefront at colleges around the country. The common narrative about free speech issues that we so often read goes something like this: today’s college students — overprotected and coddled by parents, poorly educated in high school and exposed to primarily left-leaning faculty — have become soft “snowflakes” who are easily offended by mere words and the slightest of insults, unable or unwilling to tolerate opinions that veer away from some politically correct orthodoxy and unable to engage in hard-hitting debate. counterargument

This is false in so many ways, and even insulting when you consider the reality of students’ experiences today. claim

The introduction to her article is essentially a counteragument (which serves as her introductory context) followed by a response. Embedding naysayers like this can appear anywhere in an essay, not just the introduction. Notice, furthermore, how Cauce’s naysayer isn’t gleaned from any research she did. It’s just a general, trendy naysayer, something one might hear nowadays, in the ether. It shows she’s attuned to an ongoing conversation, but it doesn’t require her to cite anything specific. As the previous chapter on using rhetorical appeals in arguments explained, this kind of attunement with an emerging problem (or exigence) is known as the appeal to kairos . A compelling, engaging introduction will demonstrate that the argument “kairotically” addresses a pressing concern.

Below is a brief overview of what counterarguments are and how you might respond to them in your arguments. This section was developed by Robin Jeffrey, in “ Counterargument and Response “:

Common Types of counterarguments

• Could someone disagree with your claim? If so, why? Explain this opposing perspective in your own argument, and then respond to it.
• Could someone draw a different conclusion from any of the facts or examples you present? If so, what is that different conclusion? Explain this different conclusion and then respond to it.
• Could a reader question any of your assumptions or claims? If so, which ones would they question? Explain and then respond.
• Could a reader offer a different explanation of an issue? If so, what might their explanation be? Describe this different explanation, and then respond to it.
• Is there any evidence out there that could weaken your position? If so, what is it? Cite and discuss this evidence and then respond to it.

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, that does not necessarily mean that you have a weak argument. It means, ideally and as long as your argument is logical and valid, that you have a counterargument. Good arguments can and do have counterarguments; it is important to discuss them. But you must also discuss and then respond to those counterarguments.

Responding to counterarguments

You do not need to attempt to do all of these things as a way to respond; instead, choose the response strategy that makes the most sense to you, for the counterargument that you have.

• If you agree with some of the counterargument perspectives, you can concede some of their points. (“I do agree that ….”, “Some of the points made by ____ are valid…..”) You could then challenge the importance/usefulness of those points. “However, this information does not apply to our topic because…”
• If the counterargument perspective is one that contains different evidence than you have in your own argument, you can explain why a reader should not accept the evidence that the counterarguer presents.
• If the counterargument perspective is one that contains a different interpretation of evidence than you have in your own argument, you can explain why a reader should not accept the interpretation of the evidence that that your opponent (counterarguer) presents.
• If the counterargument is an acknowledgement of evidence that threatens to weaken your argument, you must explain why and how that evidence does not, in fact invalidate your claim.

It is important to use transitional phrases in your paper to alert readers when you’re about to present an counterargument. It’s usually best to put this phrase at the beginning of a paragraph such as:

• Researchers have challenged these claims with…
• Critics argue that this view…
• Some readers may point to…
• A perspective that challenges the idea that . . .

Transitional phrases will again be useful to highlight your shift from counterargument to response:

• Indeed, some of those points are valid. However, . . .
• While I agree that . . . , it is more important to consider . . .
• These are all compelling points. Still, other information suggests that . .
• While I understand . . . , I cannot accept the evidence because . . .

Further reading

To read more about the importance of counterarguments in academic writing, read Steven D. Krause’s “ On the Other Hand: The Role of Antithetical Writing in First Year Composition Courses .”

When concluding, address the “so what?” challenge

As Joseph W. Williams mentions in his chapter on concluding persuasive essays in Style ,

a good introduction motivates your readers to keep reading, introduces your key themes, and states your main point … [but] a good conclusion serves a different end: as the last thing your reader reads, it should bring together your point, its significance, and its implications for thinking further about the ideas your explored.

At the very least, a good persuasive conclusion will

• Summarize the main points
• Address the So what? or Now what? challenge.

When summarizing the main points of longer essays, Williams suggests it’s fine to use “metadiscourse,” such as, “I have argued that.” If the essay is short enough, however, such metadiscourses may not be necessary, since the reader will already have those ideas fresh in their mind.

After summarizing your essay’s main points, imagine a friendly reader thinking,

“OK, I’m persuaded and entertained by everything you’ve laid out in your essay. But remind me what’s so important about these ideas? What are the implications? What kind of impact do you expect your ideas to have? Do you expect something to change?”

It’s sometimes appropriate to offer brief action points, based on the implications of your essay. When addressing the “So what?” challenge, however, it’s important to first consider whether your essay is primarily targeted towards changing the way people think or act . Do you expect the audience to do something, based on what you’ve argued in your essay? Or, do you expect the audience to think differently? Traditional academic essays tend to propose changes in how the reader thinks more than acts, but your essay may do both.

Finally, Williams suggests that it’s sometimes appropriate to end a persuasive essay with an anecdote, illustrative fact, or key quote that emphasizes the significance of the argument. We can see a good example of this in Carr’s article, “ Is Google Making Us Stupid? ” Here are the introduction and conclusion, side-by-side: Definition: Term

[Introduction] “Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey . Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial “ brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. …

[Conclusion] I’m haunted by that scene in 2001 . What makes it so poignant, and so weird, is the computer’s emotional response to the disassembly of its mind: its despair as one circuit after another goes dark, its childlike pleading with the astronaut—“I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m afraid”—and its final reversion to what can only be called a state of innocence. HAL’s outpouring of feeling contrasts with the emotionlessness that characterizes the human figures in the film, who go about their business with an almost robotic efficiency. Their thoughts and actions feel scripted, as if they’re following the steps of an algorithm. In the world of 2001 , people have become so machinelike that the most human character turns out to be a machine. That’s the essence of Kubrick’s dark prophecy: as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.

Instead of merely rehashing all of the article’s main points, Carr returns to the same movie scene from 2001 that he opened with. The final lines interpret the scene according to the argument he just dedicated the entire essay to presenting.

The entire essay should use rhetorical appeals strategically

The chapter “ Persuasive Appeals ” introduces students to logos, pathos, ethos, and kairos. Becoming familiar with each of those persuasive appeals can add much to an essay. It also reinforces the idea that writing argumentative essays is not a straightforward process of jotting down proofs. It’s not a computer algorithm.

• Logos (appeals to evidence and reasoning) is the foundational appeal of an argument essay. Clearly identifying the claim, then supporting that claim with reasoning and evidence will appeal to the reader’s logos demands. As the previous chapter on argumentation mentions, however, what constitutes solid evidence will vary depending on the audience. Make sure your evidence is indeed convincing to your intended reader.
• Pathos (appeals to emotion) are a crucial component and should permeate should every section of the essay. Personal anecdotes are an effective way to illustrate important ideas, and they connect with the reader at an emotional level. Personal examples also cultivate voice .
• Ethos (appeals to character, image, and values) is essential to gaining the reader’s trust and assent. The tone of your essay (snarky, sincere, ironic, sarcastic, empathetic) is immensely important for its overall effect, and it helps build the reader’s image of you. A careful attention to high-quality research reinforces a sincere and empathetic tone. When supporting certain claims and sub-claims, it’s also important to identify implied beliefs (warrants) that your reader is most likely to agree with, and to undermine beliefs that might seem repugnant.
• Kairos (appeals to timeliness) impresses the reader with your attunement to the situation. This should be practiced especially in the introduction, but it can appear throughout the essay as you engage with research and other voices that have recently weighed in on the topic.

All of these appeals are already happening, whether or not they’re recognized. If they are missed, the audience will often use them against you, judging your essay as not being personable enough (pathos), or not in touch with commonly accepted values (ethos), or out of touch with what’s going on (kairos). These non-logical appeals aren’t irrational. They are crucial components to writing that matters.

Argument Outline Exercise

To get started on your argument essay, practice adopting from of the outlines from this Persuasive Essay Outline worksheet .

• Directories

Essay writing

At university, you will come across many different kinds of essay questions. The one thing to remember, no matter the question, is that academic essay writing is persuasive. This means that you are expected to take a position and present an argument in order to convince the reader of your views.

A position refers to taking a stance on a question or an issue. An argument is a list of reasons, supported by evidence, that are used to persuade readers of that position.

Arguing for a position goes beyond simple description or the presentation of a series of facts. It means understanding the question, engaging with the debate and using evidence critically.

These pages provide strategies you can use to help refine, structure and present your position and argument throughout a written essay. The principles of persuasive writing presented here apply to most forms of academic writing and can be adapted to all disciplines.

Find your argument >>

Find your argument

Develop your argument

Plan your essay

Write your essay

Polish your essay

Reference documents

• Essay writing booklet (PDF, 856.54 KB)
• Annotated student essay example (PDF, 1.67 MB)
• Writing for University slides (PDF, 1.11 MB)

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‘Argument!’ helping students understand what essay writing is about

2012, Journal of English for Academic Purposes

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The persuasive essays for rating, selecting, and understanding argumentative and discourse elements (PERSUADE) corpus 1.0

This paper introduces the Persuasive Essays for Rating, Selecting, and Understanding Argumentative and Discourse Elements (PERSUADE) corpus.The PERSUADE corpus is large-scale corpus of writing with annotated discourse elements. The goal of the corpus is to spur the development of new, open-source scoring algorithms that identify discourse elements in argumentative writing to open new avenues for the development of automatic writing evaluation systems that focus more specifically on the semantic and organizational elements of student writing

• • We introduce the PERSUADE corpus.
• • The corpus contains over 25,000 essays with annotated discourse elements.
• • The PERSUADE corpus can be used to assess writing quality.

1. Introduction

Writing is an essential skill for college and career success. Still, many students struggle to produce writing that meets college and career standards (NCES, 2012). One way to help students improve their writing is to provide students with more opportunities to write and receive feedback on their writing ( Graham & Perin, 2007 ). However, assigning more writing to students places a burden on teachers to generate timely feedback. One potential solution is the use of automated writing evaluation (AWE) systems, which can evaluate student writing and provide feedback independently. These kinds of systems can encourage students to write and revise more frequently and reduce the amount of time that teachers spend grading ( Strobl et al., 2019 ).

The feedback algorithms found in AWE systems rely on corpora of essays that have been generally hand-coded by raters for specific elements related to writing. These elements may include holistic scores of writing quality ( Shermis, 2014 ), analytic scores of quality that focus on specific text elements like organization, grammar, or vocabulary use ( Crossley & McNamara, 2010 ), or annotations of argumentative elements like claims ( Stab & Gurevych, 2017 ). However, large corpora that are annotated for argumentative elements are non-existent, thus making it difficult for AWE systems to provide accurate and reliable feedback on important elements of writing success.

Here, we introduce the Persuasive Essays for Rating, Selecting, and Understanding Argumentative and Discourse Elements (PERSUADE) corpus. The PERSUADE corpus is an open-source corpus comprising over 25,000 essays annotated for argumentative and discourse elements and relationships between these elements. In addition, the PERSUADE corpus includes detailed demographic information for the writers.

Our goal in releasing the corpus is to spur the development of new, open-source scoring algorithms that identify discourse elements in argumentative writing. Because the PERSUADE corpus also includes detailed demographic information, developed algorithms can also be assessed for potential bias to ensure they do not favor one population over another. Once developed, algorithms can be included in AWE systems to provide more pinpointed feedback to writers about their use of argumentative and discourse elements. Such feedback would open new avenues for the development of AWE systems that focus more specifically on the semantic and organizational elements of student writing.

The PERSUADE corpus was pulled from a larger corpus of student writing (N = ~500,000). The PERSUADE corpus comprises two sub-corpora consisting of source-based essays (n = 12,875) and independent essays (n = 13,121). Source-based writing requires the student to refer to a text while independent writing excludes this requirement. The source-based set was derived from seven unique writing prompts and related sources. The writing reflects students in grades 6 through 10. The independent set reflects writing where background knowledge of the topic was not a requirement, and no sources were required to produce the texts. The independent sub-corpus was collected from students in grades 8 through 12, and the collection was derived from eight unique writing prompts. All prompts and sources are available within the PERSUADE corpus.

The PERSUADE corpus was limited to essays with a minimum of 150 words of which 75% had to be correctly spelled American English words. These filters were used to ensure appropriate coverage of argumentative and discourse elements in the texts as well as to ensure the essays contained enough language from which to develop natural language processing (NLP) features to inform algorithm development ( Crossley, 2018 ). Additionally, the filters help to confirm that the essays were written in English and that the essays did not contain a large amount of gibberish. Descriptive statistics for number of words, number of sentences, and number of paragraphs per essay are reported in Table 1 .

Descriptive statistic for PERSUADE corpus.

The PERSUADE corpus was selected to reflect a range of writing from diverse student populations that was representative of the writing population in the United States. All essays in the PERSUADE corpus are linked to information on the student’s gender and race/ethnicity. A subset of the corpus (n = 20,759) also contains data on student eligibility for federal assistance programs such as free or reduced-price school lunch, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, which we broadly define as economic disadvantage. A large sub-sample of the essays in the corpus also includes information on English Language Learner status (n = 24,787) and disability status (n = 24,828). The racial, gender, and economic composition of the corpus collection closely resembles the U.S. secondary public school population using data from the National Center for Education Statistics as a benchmark. Descriptive statistics on demographic representation in terms of economic disadvantage and race/ethnicity are reported in Fig. 1 , Fig. 2 , Fig. 3 , Fig. 4 .

Economic composition of PERSUADE corpus authors, text-dependent essays.

Economic composition of PERSUADE corpus authors, independent essays.

Racial/ethnic composition of PERSUADE corpus authors, text-dependent essays.

Racial/ethnic composition of PERSUADE authors, independent essays.

Each essay in the PERSUADE corpus was human annotated for argumentative and discourse elements as well as relationships between argumentative elements. The corpus was annotated using a double-blind rating process with 100% adjudication such that each essay was independently reviewed by two expert raters and adjudicated by a third expert rater. All ratings were completed by an educational consulting firm in the United States and by raters with at least two years of experience. Prior to norming, raters received anti-bias training and anti-bias strategy instruction that was designed to address issues of bias that occur during scoring and are inherent to the use of standardized rubrics ( Warner, 2018 ). Raters used an annotation platform provided by a third-party commercial partner that allowed raters to highlight text segments of an essay, assign a discourse element category to each segment, and provide effectiveness ratings and hierarchical relations for that segment. Raters were trained on each prompt separately and on independent and source-based essays separately. Raters were provided with bridge sets for each prompt that included essays of varying quality. Ratings were spot-checked throughout the process to ensure rater accuracy.

The annotation rubric was developed to identify and evaluate discourse elements commonly found in argumentative writing. The rubric was developed in-house and went through multiple revisions based on feedback from two teacher panels as well as feedback from a research advisory board comprising experts in the fields of writing, discourse processing, linguistics, and machine learning. The discourse elements chosen for this rubric come from Nussbaum, Kardash, and Graham (2005) and Stapleton and Wu (2015) . Both annotation schemes are adapted or simplified versions of the Toulmin argumentative framework (1958). Elements scored and brief descriptions for the elements are provided below.

Lead. An introduction that begins with a statistic, a quotation, a description, or some other device to grab the reader’s attention and point toward the thesis.

Position. An opinion or conclusion on the main question.

Claim . A claim that supports the position.

Counterclaim. A claim that refutes another claim or gives an opposing reason to the position.

Rebuttal. A claim that refutes a counterclaim.

Evidence. Ideas or examples that support claims, counterclaims, rebuttals, or the position.

Concluding Statement. A concluding statement that restates the position and claims.

Relationships between the argumentative elements are illustrated through a hierarchical organization inspired by Rhetorical Structure Theory ( Mann & Thompson, 1988 ) and general tree structures. The purpose of the relationships is to examine organization and coherence among argumentative elements at the text level. Each argumentative element is marked as a parent, child, or sibling of another element. For example, a claim that supports a position is annotated as the child of the position. Supporting evidence for the claim is annotated as a child of the claim. If two pieces of evidence are provided for a claim, they will both be labeled children of the claim and siblings of one another. An overview of these relationships is depicted in Fig. 5 .

Prototypical Diagram for Relations Among Argumentation Elements.

2. Learning objectives and related research

Argumentation can be viewed as a logical appeal that involves stating claims and offering support to justify or refute beliefs to influence others ( Newell, Beach, Smith, & VanDerHeide, 2011 ). The ability to persuade with good argumentation skills lies at the core of critical thinking and has long been valued in personal, professional, and academic contexts. Given the important role of argumentation in students’ cognitive development and academic learning, the K-12 Common Core State Standards (2010) highlights the cultivation of argumentation skills in writing instruction and stipulates that students need to achieve proficiency in using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence to support claims. However, many students in the U.S. struggle to construct a solid argument in writing due to its cognitively demanding nature. According to the 2012 NAEP Writing Report Card, only about 25% of students' argumentative essays were competent. Thus, systematic analysis of the arguments in students' essays informed through in-depth understanding of informal reasoning and written argumentation affords tremendous pedagogical values.

Identifying the generic elements that compose an argument is the starting point for analyzing arguments in students' essays. Although argument has been interpreted and conceptualized differently depending on specific sets of theoretical assumptions ( Newell et al., 2011 ), research has generally indicated that Toulmin (1958) model of informal argument and its variations are effective in capturing the type of organizational structures in students' argumentative writing (e.g., Knudson, 1992 ). Toulmin's model of argument revolves around three key elements: a claim , or the assertion to be argued for, data that provide the supportive evidence (empirical or experiential) for the claim, and a warrant that explains how the data support the claim. To capture the different aspects related to the nature of human reasoning, Toulmin also added three other argument elements: backing that affords justifications for the warrant, qualifiers to signal the strength of the argument, and rebuttals that denote exceptions to the elements of the argument.

Whereas Toulmin's model lends itself well to the analysis and construction of single claims, it is less helpful to deal with the structure of arguments at the macro level ( Wingate, 2012 ). Therefore, modified versions of Toulmin’s model have been developed to attend to the macrostructure of written argumentation. For instance, Nussbaum et al. (2005) adapted Toulmin's model to feature an opinion or a conclusion on the main question ( final claim ) which is usually supported by one or more reasons ( primary claims ) or claims ( rebuttals ) refuting some potentially opposing opinions ( counterclaims ). Nussbaum et al. also included into the model supporting reasons or examples used to back up the stated claims. Similarly, Qin and Karabacak (2010) used a coding scheme based on Toulmin's model that comprised six elements: claim , data , counterargument claim , counterargument data , rebuttal claim , and rebuttal data to identify argument elements in argumentative essays.

There are many problems with relying solely on prototypical argumentative discourse schema like those laid out by Toulmin. One problem is that such approaches are not based on theories of text analysis and may thus lack construct relevancy ( Azar, 1999 ). Additionally, discourse schemas do not show relations at the text level, giving the impression that essays are static and making it difficult to understand how argumentative elements can shape an entire text ( Freeman, 2011 ). To address these problems, Mann and Thompson (1988) developed Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) which helps to arrange and connect parts of a text type to construct a whole. RST does this by focusing on relationships between discourse elements to demonstrate how a whole text functions. Specifically, discourse elements are connected through a small set of rhetorical relations that break texts into segments and develops relationships between segments to connect them coherently ( Azar, 1999 ). Azar concluded that RST was a useful tool for modeling argumentative text that complemented Toulmin’s approach. Green (2010) also adopted RST to model argumentative texts by using hierarchical trees to identify how evidence can link a claim with its argument and how a background relationship can link evidence with its warrant.

3. Connections

There are few currently available corpora that focus on assessing argumentation in persuasive writing and none that include rhetorical features like leads or concluding summaries. While existing corpora provide annotations for argumentative elements, the corpora are small, do not contain detailed argumentative features, do not focus on argumentative relationships, and do not contain demographic information.

The two best known corpora annotated for argumentative elements were released by Stab and Gurevych, 2014 , Stab and Gurevych, 2017 . Their initial corpus released in 2014 was small and consisted of 90 essays. The argument components annotated include major claims , claims , and premises . Major claims referred to sentences that directly expressed the general stance of the author that was supported by additional arguments. Claims were the central component of an argument, and premises were reasons that supported the claims. Stab and Gurevych also annotated the relationships between premises and major claims or claims in terms of whether they supported the claims or not. A follow up corpus followed the same annotation procedure and was released in 2017. This corpus contained 402 argumentative essays written by students (including the original 90 essays in the 2014 corpus). Both corpora were publicly released in order to increase access to annotated instances of argumentation in essays.

4. Limitations and future steps

The PERSUADE corpus was the foundation for the Feedback Prize competition hosted by Kaggle, an online community of data scientists. The Feedback Prize sought to develop machine learning models to best classify discourse elements in the PERSUADE corpus. Over 2000 teams participated, and the twelve top teams shared $160,000 in prize money. The winning model reported a classification accuracy for argumentative and discourse elements of just over 75%. All winning algorithms and the training portion of the PERSUADE corpus are freely available on the Feedback Prize Kaggle website (https://www.kaggle.com/c/feedback-prize-2021).

As a large-scale, open-sourced corpus of annotated discourse elements, the PERSUADE is unparalleled. However, it does have limitations. For instance, the corpus only focuses on 6–12th grade writers, leaving out younger writers developing proficiency and older, more proficient writers. The corpus also has a limited number of prompts (N = 15) and the current release of the PERSUADE corpus does not include quality ratings for the discourse elements or the essay as a whole. Lastly, the corpus only focuses on independent and integrated writing tasks (i.e., argumentative essays). Argumentative essays are overrepresented in secondary schools and first-year composition courses, especially when compared to the types of writing (e.g., explanatory writing) that students are exposed to in their post-secondary courses ( Aull and Ross, 2020 , Aull, 2019 ). In this sense, the PERSUADE corpus may lead to increased generalizations about the narrowness of academic writing that favors argumentation over other types of persuasion. This may be compounded if models to classify argument types based on PERSUADE are incorporated into AWE systems as planned. AWE systems, which have wide uptake, have the potential to further popularize the notion that academic writing is best represented through argumentation. Thus, future corpora would benefit from the inclusion of writing samples from compare-and-contrast essays, research reports, and analysis papers.

While the PERSUADE corpus was designed for machine learning, it is available to anyone, and we envision it will be used by writing researchers interested in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. We also presume that the PERSUADE corpus could be used for other pedagogical applications including student-centered assessment, the development of heuristics for explicit genre knowledge, descriptive feedback in peer-reviews, and other uses developed by classroom teachers and writing program administrators.

Our next steps are to collect quality ratings for the individual discourse elements and the essays. We will then host additional Kaggle competitions to develop algorithms to predict discourse element quality and holistic essay score. Once those competition are completed, the entire PERSUADE corpus will be released publicly on Kaggle and other websites.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Schmidt Futures for their support.

Scott Crossley is a professor of Applied Linguistics and Computer Sciences at Georgia State University. His primary research focus is on natural language processing and the application of computational tools and machine learning algorithms in language learning, writing, and text comprehensibility. His main interest area is the development and use of natural language processing tools in assessing writing quality and text difficulty.