Writing Academic Essays: Tips and Support: Argumentative Essay

Argumentative Essay.

Any time you try to persuade someone, you are doing argumentative writing - an argumentative essay can be cause and effect, persuasive, compare and contrast, etc.

In an argumentative or persuasive essay, you identify something that you think is a problem, then propose a solution.

You discuss several possible solutions to it, and then argue that one solution is much better better than the others.  

 Steps:

·         Identifying the problem.  Early in your essay, you will need to identify the problem under consideration.  This will require describing, defining and/or limiting the problem for background support.  For example, if homelessness is the problem in the book, you may want to focus on homelessness in the U.S., or perhaps even more narrowly, on homelessness affecting U.S. children.  In this part of the essay, it may also be necessary to establish the problem, to argue that it really exists and that it's really a problem. Before discussing solutions, you may have to argue that the problem is both real and worthy of our attention.

·        Discussing possible solutions.  Once the problem has been identified, you will turn to a discussion of possible solutions to the problem.  You should discuss at least two or three alternative solutions, and each should be plausible (believable) and feasible (workable).  Far-fetched or oversimplified solutions are of no use in this essay.  

·        Arguing that one solution is better than others.  Your discussion of possible solutions will consist of examining the pros and cons of each and, by the end of the essay, it should be clear that one solution is better than all the others.  As in the position paper, it is vital that you not only assert your own arguments, but also present and respond to counterarguments.  Once you have asserted that this one solution is the best, the bulk of your paper will be including reasons why it is the best, again incorporating research into this section whenever possible. (See video)

·     Including Counterarguments, to address the opposing viewpoint that the thing you are calling a problem may not be a problem for others. Due to the fact that all the solutions you discuss in the essay will be plausible and feasible, it is unlikely that you will be able to utterly and entirely refute all of them.  In fact, you may be tempted to suggest that all the solutions should be used at once.  Don't do this.  In order to pass this essay, your thesis must state that, even though all the solutions might be helpful, one solution is definitely better than the others.  However, this raises the question of what constitutes “better”?  There are a variety of criteria.  Perhaps one solution would solve the problem more thoroughly, more quickly, less expensively, or with less risk.  

Details: The essay should be approximately 500 words.  Please write about something you know about firsthand (meaning nothing that has to be researched by either you or me to be understood). Topics should come from your life and may be related to your job, family, or social situations.  Some off-the-top-of-my-head examples are how to get kids to do chores, how to lower the speed of cars through your neighborhood, getting children to nap, getting your college roommate to be neater, etc. Again, stick to topics you know. DO NOT USE OUTSIDE SOURCES FOR ANY REASON. Please also use MLA format, as your grade depends on it.  You must have a 25% or lower similarity score as usual; if not, you will be turned in as a violation of the Honor Code of Saint Leo University for plagiarism. Please ask me for help if you have questions.