How to Structure an Argumentative Essay

What is argumentative essay? What should be written there? What arguments should be provided and why? These and many other questions usually arise in students’ minds when they are given the assignment to compose an opinion paper. First of all, ask yourself if you usually win or lose when you start debating with your friends or family? If you have a skill of arguing in a logical way and can support your claims with facts or statistics, it will be easier for you to cope with the task, because you already have a great power of arguing and expressing it on the paper will not be a problem for you.

Judging from the name of the assignment, one needs to argue and to defend his point of view. From the first sight, the guidelines for writing an argumentative essay are pretty simple: one needs just to provide his own stance on a topic. However, here is a pitfall that many students face – they confuse such assignment with the expository one. Nevertheless, while the assignments do look similar, there are some principal differences.

In this article, we would like to explain how to write an argumentative essay step by step and how not to confuse it with other types of essays. Below, you will find useful tips on how to choose a winning topic, make strong beginning and ending of the work. Also, if you have troubles figuring out what is an argumentative essay outline and how to create it, we will explain how to complete it in the best way.

What Is an Argumentative Essay?

Argumentative/opinion essay is a type of writing in which you need to take a position on a controversial question and provide strong and convincing arguments to support your opinion. They are quite similar to the expository essays, however, there is a slight difference. In the expository paper, the author has to provide only his own thoughts, ideas, and impressions on a certain issue, using a neutral tone. Such works are shorter in length and require less research. On the contrary, the argumentative writing requires deep research, as the author's opinion should be supported by facts and evidence, obtained during the research. The research is quite useful since it allows to review different points of the same issue and to choose the position.

You can consult with your teacher or some of your classmates if you want to make sure that you have properly understood what is the meaning of argumentative essay. Once all the basic rules and peculiarities are clarified, it’s time to focus on the topic.

The Outline of an Argumentative Essay

 What are the parts of an argumentative essay? The structure of such a work is pretty clear, yet, there are some points one needs to pay attention to.

Parts of an argumentative essay:

1. The title. The peculiar feature of the title is that it should be very clear and detailed. Keep in mind that the title cannot be generalized.
2. The introduction. The introduction part, as a rule, includes few sentences related to the discussed question.
3. The body. Argumentative essay body paragraphs dwell on the arguments for the issue. They need to be carefully selected.
4. The conclusion. An argumentative essay conclusion sums up all the pros and cons of the provided arguments.

This is the basic structure; however, you can be given some specific instructions to follow. Hence, before developing an outline, consult with your peers or your professor, or visit the official website of your school in order to check the steps on how to write an argumentative essay.

How to Start a Hook for an Argumentative Essay?

The winning opening usually guarantees the success of your paper. The first reason for it is that while looking through the introduction, the person decides whether he or she is interested in reading the rest of the paper; the second reason is that people usually memorize the beginning and the end of the paper or speech.

Writing an introduction for an argumentative essay has several purposes. Firstly, it is needed to introduce the reader to the theme you are going to tell about. Secondly, the reader will need to have some information and materials in order to understand the topic and the main argument, so this information should be provided at the beginning according to the argumentative essay introduction format. The third purpose is making what you are writing about as clear as possible. The intro should actually serve as a roadmap.

Professionals recommend starting with the sentence that will evoke interest. Such sentence is called the hook. A good way to make argumentative essay introduction interesting is to start with an interesting story from your life, to present an interesting quote or question. Such trick will surely grab the reader's attention.

It is also very helpful to provide the background. This will be a quite useful part of the good introduction for argumentative essay since it gives the context and the history of the chosen topic, and explains your point to the reader.

Providing the thesis is an essential part of your work. In one concise sentence, you need to summarize your main point.

Argumentative essay introduction structure also presupposes including the following information:

• the author and the title – if you are discussing the book;
• director, year, and the title - if you are arguing about the movie;
• your claim – should be mentioned at the end of the paragraph.

There are common mistakes many students make while creating an introduction paragraph for argumentative essay. Quite often they make the opening unorganized and illogical. Moreover, the provided arguments are not always clear. To prevent such issues, make sure to organize your opening paragraph logically and with strong and clear arguments. Also, make sure that the arguments you've taken from the sources are not contradictive or out of context. Smooth transition to the main paragraph is also essential, because the transitions keep the whole text together, and your work will be hardly successful without the transitions.

However, while trying to figure out how to write an argumentative essay introduction, students tend to go through various instructions and miss the important requirements while writing. Therefore, such erroneous thoughts may appear in students’ minds, and almost always they will lead to a low grade: 1) "The reader doesn't need any preparation for my paper, and there is no need to provide the background info."2) "Both sides of the issue can be argued in my work."3) "I will put my claim only at the end of my writing."

That is why it is always better to concentrate on one reliable source of instructions or ask your professor or peers for help. Make sure that the requirements are clear and nothing distracts you from following them.

All these simple tips and tricks on how to write an opening paragraph for an argumentative essay will ease your life and improve your skills in writing engaging introductions, which are helpful for any type of writing.
If you are still not sure that you've coped successfully with the beginning of your work, or it lacks something important, but you don't know what exactly, feel free to contact Pro-Papers team. Our specialists are able not only to explain how to write a good introduction for an argumentative essay but also write the whole paper for you.

How to Start a Body Paragraph for an Argumentative Essay?

 In the body of the paper, you need to provide the data that will support your argument and the opposing point. Below you can find argumentative essay paragraph structure:

• Topic Sentence. Here you need to give the reader a fact or a detail that will help him understand your point better. This item is your topic sentence.
• Explanation of the topic sentence. Here you need to explain the sentence if it is needed.
• Introducing the evidence. Now you need to introduce your evidence. It can be done in either few words or a sentence.
• Providing the evidence. Here you need to state the fact or the quotation that will support your topic sentence.
• In this part, you should help the reader to interpret your evidence and state how it supports your point.
• State how this paragraph proves or helps to understand your claim.

While discussing the argumentative essay writing steps, it is vital to mention that the info that supports your position has to be accurate. For instance, you may use the facts or the statistics. While gathering the information, students need to take into account several points of view on the topic, since a perfect work has to include the opposing opinion. The student’s aim in such a case is not to show that the other points of view are wrong, but to show that they can be not up to date and poorly informed.

How to Write an Argumentative Essay Conclusion

A good conclusion for an argumentative essay is no less important than the introduction since the aim of the conclusion is to show how you have covered all the points of the work and to close the issue. You also need to convince the readers that your position should be supported. It is vital to mention that no new argument needs to be introduced in the concluding paragraph.

It is quite understandable when after doing so much work the student doesn’t have any desire to think how to conclude an argumentative essay and tries to finish the paper as soon as possible. However, the readers can start reading with the conclusion to understand the main point of your work, which is why you need to make an effort to compose a perfect ending.

As a rule, argumentative essay conclusion format presupposes two main parts. Although there are several basic rules one needs to stick to, it is always better to consult with the teacher about the conclusion format, as you may be given some special requirements to meet.
The first part is written to sum up everything. Here, you need to remind the readers of the arguments you have provided in your paper and to restate the claim.

The second part is much more extensive and is usually called a “So What?” part. In this paragraph, you should show your teacher that you are thinking critically about the issue and to demonstrate it in the best way, you need to restate the thesis.

A well-written conclusion paragraph for argumentative essay should also convince the readers that your work is significant. The strongest analytical points should be presented in the conclusion, and it should be made in a clear and concrete language.

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The Role of Proper Formatting in an Argumentative Essay

Finally, when everything is ready, you have figured out how to write an argumentative essay, structure is no longer a complex matter for you, and you’re sure that the work is perfect, it is vital to proofread the paper. This is the necessary step before submitting your writing.

To consider your paper complete, look through the document from top to bottom and make sure that it conveys the message. Check the opening paragraph, and to make sure it sounds appropriate, give it to your peers or family members to read. If the paragraph is not clear, it’s better to think of how to make a good introduction for an argumentative essay in a different way, more appropriate one.

After that, proceed to checking grammar, spelling, and punctuation. If the writing is improperly checked for such mistakes, the grade may be significantly lowered.

Another important point is verifying that the document meets the rules of specific formatting style. Carefully check how to write a good conclusion for argumentative essay in APA, MLA, Chicago or any other format, because each part of the paper has to adhere not only to essays writing rules but to formatting rules as well. Only after your paper is properly proofread and edited, it may be considered complete.

What Should You Avoid When Writing an Argumentative Essay

The main point of the opinion essays is to show your position and defend it. You cannot just go back and forth with different opinions. Remembering this will help to concentrate on your work and cope with it easier.

Let us list few more common mistakes students make, and what to remember to avoid them.

1. Students do not wish to take enough time for coming up with a good thesis statement which is actually a center of the writing. You don't need to rush with it because if you fail to provide a strong thesis statement, it will be hard to find supporting evidence for it. Just take your time to decide what you believe and how to defend it.
2. Failure to pick an interesting topic is also a common mistake that may result in a lack of supporting evidence and weak arguments. Choose the topic that interests you and the one you believe in since this is one of the ingredients of the successful paper.
3. Lack of concentration on the chosen topic. This point is related to the previous one, however, needs special attention. Sometimes students get off topic, and it happens because they do not reread the paper while working on it. Therefore, take your time to read the written work several times to make sure that you are on the right track and you will not confuse the readers.
4. Forgetting to cite the used sources is also a common mistake, although this is the simplest rule. You can take notes of all the sources you’ve used in order not to miss citing them.
5. Failure to state an opposing view and refute it may result in losing points as this is one of the essential things. It's really important to present both sides and make it clear for the reader which side you support and why.

Argumentative Essay Writing Tips

After all the important rules of writing an argumentative essay step by step have been discussed above, it will be still helpful to review some tricks that will enhance your chances to create a winning work.

First of all, forget about the emotions. It is better to think what the readers will feel after reading your piece of writing, but not about your own feelings on this or that matter. Emotions will not help when arguing. Try to concentrate on the facts or pieces of evidence and think logically.

Thinking from reader’s perspective is another tip worth mentioning. What would the reader expect to see in your work? Firstly, it is your position and your explanations of why it is worth choosing. Secondly, it is compelling evidence that leaves the reader no chance but to agree with you and take your stance. Hence, when the question “How to start my argumentative essay?” comes to your mind, think from the reader’s perspective, and it will help you to start in a right way.

And finally, the third useful trick sounds as follows: be clear. Pretty simple, but vital, since it is your job as a writer to state clear arguments and to defend them so that everyone could understand your point.

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