A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing
February 7, 2016
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For seven years, I was a writing teacher. Yes, I was certified to teach the full spectrum of English language arts—literature, grammar and usage, speech, drama, and so on—but my absolute favorite, the thing I loved doing the most, was teaching students how to write.
Most of the material on this site is directed at all teachers. I look for and put together resources that would appeal to any teacher who teaches any subject. That practice will continue for as long as I keep this up. But over the next year or so, I plan to also share more of what I know about teaching students to write. Although I know many of the people who visit here are not strictly English language arts teachers, my hope is that these posts will provide tons of value to those who are, and to those who teach all subjects, including writing.
So let’s begin with argumentative writing, or persuasive writing, as many of us used to call it. This overview will be most helpful to those who are new to teaching writing, or teachers who have not gotten good results with the approach you have taken up to now. I don’t claim to have the definitive answer on how to do this, but the method I share here worked pretty well for me, and it might do the same for you. If you are an experienced English language arts teacher, you probably already have a system for teaching this skill that you like. Then again, I’m always interested in how other people do the things I can already do; maybe you’re curious like that, too.
Before I start, I should note that what I describe in this post is a fairly formulaic style of essay writing. It’s not exactly the 5-paragraph essay, but it definitely builds on that model. I strongly believe students should be shown how to move past those kinds of structures into a style of writing that’s more natural and fitting to the task and audience, but I also think they should start with something that’s pretty clearly organized.
So here’s how I teach argumentative essay writing.
Step 1: Watch How It’s Done
One of the most effective ways to improve student writing is to show them mentor texts, examples of excellent writing within the genre students are about to attempt themselves. Ideally, this writing would come from real publications and not be fabricated by me in order to embody the form I’m looking for. Although most experts on writing instruction employ some kind of mentor text study, the person I learned it from best was Katie Wood Ray in her book Study Driven (links to the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon ).
Since I want the writing to be high quality and the subject matter to be high interest, I might choose pieces like Jessica Lahey’s Students Who Lose Recess Are the Ones Who Need it Most and David Bulley’s School Suspensions Don’t Work .
I would have students read these texts, compare them, and find places where the authors used evidence to back up their assertions. I would ask students which author they feel did the best job of influencing the reader, and what suggestions they would make to improve the writing. I would also ask them to notice things like stories, facts and statistics, and other things the authors use to develop their ideas. Later, as students work on their own pieces, I would likely return to these pieces to show students how to execute certain writing moves.
Step 2: Informal Argument, Freestyle
Although many students might need more practice in writing an effective argument, many of them are excellent at arguing in person. To help them make this connection, I would have them do some informal debate on easy, high-interest topics. An activity like This or That (one of the classroom icebreakers I talked about last year) would be perfect here: I read a statement like “Women have the same opportunities in life as men.” Students who agree with the statement move to one side of the room, and those who disagree move to the other side. Then they take turns explaining why they are standing in that position. This ultimately looks a little bit like a debate, as students from either side tend to defend their position to those on the other side.
Every class of students I have ever had, from middle school to college, has loved loved LOVED this activity. It’s so simple, it gets them out of their seats, and for a unit on argument, it’s an easy way to get them thinking about how the art of argument is something they practice all the time.
Step 3: Informal Argument, Not so Freestyle
Once students have argued without the support of any kind of research or text, I would set up a second debate; this time with more structure and more time to research ahead of time. I would pose a different question, supply students with a few articles that would provide ammunition for either side, then give them time to read the articles and find the evidence they need.
Next, we’d have a Philosophical Chairs debate (learn about this in my discussion strategies post), which is very similar to “This or That,” except students use textual evidence to back up their points, and there are a few more rules. Here they are still doing verbal argument, but the experience should make them more likely to appreciate the value of evidence when trying to persuade.
Before leaving this step, I would have students transfer their thoughts from the discussion they just had into something that looks like the opening paragraph of a written argument: A statement of their point of view, plus three reasons to support that point of view. This lays the groundwork for what’s to come.
Step 4: Introduction of the Performance Assessment
Next I would show students their major assignment, the performance assessment that they will work on for the next few weeks. What does this look like? It’s generally a written prompt that describes the task, plus the rubric I will use to score their final product.
Anytime I give students a major writing assignment, I let them see these documents very early on. In my experience, I’ve found that students appreciate having a clear picture of what’s expected of them when beginning a writing assignment. At this time, I also show them a model of a piece of writing that meets the requirements of the assignment. Unlike the mentor texts we read on day 1, this sample would be something teacher-created (or an excellent student model from a previous year) to fit the parameters of the assignment.
Step 5: Building the Base
Before letting students loose to start working on their essays, I make sure they have a solid plan for writing. I would devote at least one more class period to having students consider their topic for the essay, drafting a thesis statement, and planning the main points of their essay in a graphic organizer.
I would also begin writing my own essay on a different topic. This has been my number one strategy for teaching students how to become better writers. Using a document camera or overhead projector, I start from scratch, thinking out loud and scribbling down my thoughts as they come. When students see how messy the process can be, it becomes less intimidating for them. They begin to understand how to take the thoughts that are stirring around in your head and turn them into something that makes sense in writing.
For some students, this early stage might take a few more days, and that’s fine: I would rather spend more time getting it right at the pre-writing stage than have a student go off willy-nilly, draft a full essay, then realize they need to start over. Meanwhile, students who have their plans in order will be allowed to move on to the next step.
Step 6: Writer’s Workshop
The next seven to ten days would be spent in writer’s workshop, where I would start class with a mini-lesson about a particular aspect of craft. I would show them how to choose credible, relevant evidence, how to skillfully weave evidence into an argument, how to consider the needs of an audience, and how to correctly cite sources. Once each mini-lesson was done, I would then give students the rest of the period to work independently on their writing. During this time, I would move around the room, helping students solve problems and offering feedback on whatever part of the piece they are working on. I would encourage students to share their work with peers and give feedback at all stages of the writing process.
If I wanted to make the unit even more student-centered, I would provide the mini-lessons in written or video format and let students work through them at their own pace, without me teaching them. (To learn more about this approach, read this post on self-paced learning ).
As students begin to complete their essays, the mini-lessons would focus more on matters of style and usage. I almost never bother talking about spelling, punctuation, grammar, or usage until students have a draft that’s pretty close to done. Only then do we start fixing the smaller mistakes.
Step 7: Final Assessment
Finally, the finished essays are handed in for a grade. At this point, I’m pretty familiar with each student’s writing and have given them verbal (and sometimes written) feedback throughout the unit; that’s why I make the writer’s workshop phase last so long. I don’t really want students handing in work until they are pretty sure they’ve met the requirements to the best of their ability. I also don’t necessarily see “final copies” as final; if a student hands in an essay that’s still really lacking in some key areas, I will arrange to have that student revise it and resubmit for a higher grade.
So that’s it. If you haven’t had a lot of success teaching students to write persuasively, and if the approach outlined here is different from what you’ve been doing, give it a try. And let’s keep talking: Use the comments section below to share your techniques or ask questions about the most effective ways to teach argumentative writing.
Want this unit ready-made?
If you’re a writing teacher in grades 7-12 and you’d like a classroom-ready unit like the one described above, including mini-lessons, sample essays, and a library of high-interest online articles to use for gathering evidence, take a look at my Argumentative Writing unit. Just click on the image below and you’ll be taken to a page where you can read more and see a detailed preview of what’s included.
What to Read Next
Categories: Instruction , Podcast
Tags: English language arts , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , teaching strategies
58 Comments
This is useful information. In teaching persuasive speaking/writing I have found Monroe’s Motivated sequence very useful and productive. It is a classic model that immediately gives a solid structure for students.
Thanks for the recommendation, Bill. I will have to look into that! Here’s a link to more information on Monroe’s Motivated sequence, for anyone who wants to learn more: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/MonroeMotivatedSequence.htm
What other sites do you recommend for teacher use on providing effective organizational structure in argumentative writing? As a K-12 Curriculum Director, I find that when teachers connect with and understand the organizational structure, they are more effective in their teaching/delivery.
Hey Jessica, in addition to the steps outlined here, you might want to check out Jenn’s post on graphic organizers . Graphic organizers are a great tool that you can use in any phase of a lesson. Using them as a prewrite can help students visualize the argument and organize their thoughts. There’s a link in that post to the Graphic Organizer Multi-Pack that Jenn has for sale on her Teachers Pay Teachers site, which includes two versions of a graphic organizer you can use specifically for argument organization. Otherwise, if there’s something else you had in mind, let us know and we can help you out. Thanks!
Dear Jennifer Gonzalez,
You are generous with your gift of lighting the path… I hardly ever write (never before) , but I must today… THANK YOU… THANK YOU….THANK YOU… mostly for reading your great teachings… So your valuable teachings will even be easy to benefit all the smart people facing challenge of having to deal with adhd…
I am not a teacher… but forever a student…someone who studied English as 2nd language, with a science degree & adhd…
You truly are making a difference in our World…
Thanks so much, Rita! I know Jenn will appreciate this — I’ll be sure to share with her!
Love it! Its simple and very fruitful . I can feel how dedicated you are! Thanks alot Jen
Great examples of resources that students would find interesting. I enjoyed reading your article. I’ve bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Sheryl!
Students need to be writing all the time about a broad range of topics, but I love the focus here on argumentative writing because if you choose the model writing texts correctly, you can really get the kids engaged in the process and in how they can use this writing in real-world situations!
I agree, Laura. I think an occasional tight focus on one genre can help them grow leaps and bounds in the skills specific to that type of writing. Later, in less structured situations, they can then call on those skills when that kind of thinking is required.
This is really helpful! I used it today and put the recess article in a Google Doc and had the kids identify anecdotal, statistic, and ‘other’ types of evidence by highlighting them in three different colors. It worked well! Tomorrow we’ll discuss which of the different types of evidence are most convincing and why.
Love that, Shanna! Thanks for sharing that extra layer.
Greetings Ms. Gonzales. I was wondering if you had any ideas to help students develop the cons/against side of their argument within their writing? Please advise. Thanks.
Hi Michael,
Considering audience and counterarguments are an important part of the argumentative writing process. In the Argumentative Writing unit Jenn includes specific mini-lessons that teach kids how, when and where to include opposing views in their writing. In the meantime, here’s a video that might also be helpful.
Hi, Thank you very much for sharing your ideas. I want to share also the ideas in the article ‘Already Experts: Showing Students How Much They Know about Writing and Reading Arguments’ by Angela Petit and Edna Soto…they explain a really nice activity to introduce argumentative writing. I have applied it many times and my students not only love it but also display a very clear pattern as the results in the activity are quite similar every time. I hope you like it.
Lorena Perez
I’d like to thank you you for this excellence resource. It’s a wonderful addition to the informative content that Jennifer has shared.
What do you use for a prize?
I looked at the unit, and it looks and sounds great. The description says there are 4 topics. Can you tell me the topics before I purchase? We start argument in 5th grade, and I want to make sure the topics are different from those they’ve done the last 5 years before purchasing. Thanks!
Hi Carrie! If you go to the product page on TPT and open up the preview, you’ll see the four topics on the 4th page in more detail, but here they are: Social Networking in School (should social media sites be blocked in school?), Cell Phones in Class, Junk Food in School, and Single-Sex Education (i.e., genders separated). Does that help?
I teach 6th grade English in a single gendered (all-girls) class. We just finished an argument piece but I will definitely cycle back your ideas when we revisit argumentation. Thanks for the fabulous resources!
Glad to hear it, Madelyn!
I’m not a writing teacher and honestly haven’t been taught on how to teach writing. I’m a history teacher. I read this and found it helpful but have questions. First I noticed that amount of time dedicated to the task in terms of days. My questions are how long is a class period? I have my students for about 45 minutes. I also saw you mentioned in the part about self-paced learning that mini-lessons could be written or video format. I love these ideas. Any thoughts on how to do this with almost no technology in the room and low readers to non-readers? I’m trying to figure out how to balance teaching a content class while also teaching the common core skills. Thank you for any consideration to my questions.
Hey Jones, To me, a class period is anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour; definitely varies from school to school. As for the question about doing self-paced with very little tech? I think binders with written mini-lessons could work well, as well as a single computer station or tablet hooked up to a class set of videos. Obviously you’d need to be more diligent about rotating students in and out of these stations, but it’s an option at least. You might also give students access to the videos through computers in other locations at school (like the library) and give them passes to watch. The thing about self-paced learning, as you may have seen in the self-paced post , is that if students need extra teacher support (as you might find with low readers or non-readers), they would spend more one-on-one time with the teacher, while the higher-level students would be permitted to move more quickly on their own. Does that help?
My primary goal for next semester is to increase academic discussion and make connections from discussion to writing, so I love how you launch this unit with lessons like Philosophical Chairs. I am curious, however, what is the benefit of the informal argument before the not-so-informal argument? My students often struggle to listen to one another, so I’m wondering if I should start with the more formal, structured version. Or, am I overthinking the management? Thanks so much for input.
Yikes! So sorry your question slipped through, and we’re just now getting to this, Sarah. The main advantage of having kids first engage in informal debate is that it helps them get into an argumentative mindset and begin to appreciate the value of using research to support their claims. If you’ve purchased the unit, you can read more about this in the Overview.
My 6th graders are progressing through their argumentative essay. I’m providing mini lessons along the way that target where most students are in their essay. Your suggestions will be used. I’ve chosen to keep most writing in class and was happy to read that you scheduled a lot of class time for the writing. Students need to feel comfortable knowing that writing is a craft and needs to evolve over time. I think more will get done in class and it is especially important for the struggling writers to have peers and the teacher around while they write. Something that I had students do that they liked was to have them sit in like-topic groups to create a shared document where they curated information that MIGHT be helpful along the way. By the end of the essay, all will use a fantastic add-on called GradeProof which helps to eliminate most of the basic and silly errors that 6th graders make.
Debbi! I LOVE the idea of a shared, curated collection of resources! That is absolutely fantastic! Are you using a Google Doc for this? Other curation tools you might consider are Padlet and Elink .
thanks v much for all this information
Love this! What do you take as grades in the meantime? Throughout this 2 week stretch?
Ideally, you wouldn’t need to take grades at all, waiting until the final paper is done to give one grade. If your school requires more frequent grades, you could assign small point values for getting the incremental steps done: So in Step 3 (when students have to write a paragraph stating their point of view) you could take points for that. During the writer’s workshop phase, you might give points for completion of a rough draft and participation points for peer review (ideally, they’d get some kind of feedback on the quality of feedback they give to one another). Another option would be to just give a small, holistic grade for each week based on the overall integrity of their work–are they staying on task? Making small improvements to their writing each day? Taking advantage of the resources? If students are working diligently through the process, that should be enough. But again, the assessment (grades) should really come from that final written product, and if everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing during the workshop phase, most students should have pretty good scores on that final product. Does that help?
Awesome Step 2! Teaching mostly teenagers in Northern Australia I find students’ verbal arguments are much more finely honed than their written work.
To assist with “building the base” I’ve always found sentence starters an essential entry point for struggling students. We have started using the ‘PEARL’ method for analytical and persuasive writing.
If it helps here a free scaffold for the method:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Paragraph-Scaffold-PEEL-to-PEARL-3370676
Thanks again,
Thank you for sharing this additional resource! It’s excellent!
I’ve been scouring the interwebs looking for some real advice on how I can help my struggling 9th grader write better. I can write. Since it comes naturally for me, I have a hard time breaking it down into such tiny steps that he can begin to feel less overwhelmed. I LOVE the pre-writing ideas here. My son is a fabulous arguer. I need to help him use those powers for the good of his writing skills. Do you have a suggestion on what I else I can be using for my homeschooled son? Or what you may have that could work well for home use?
Hi Melinda,
You might be interested in taking a look at Jenn’s Argumentative Writing unit which she mentions at the end of the post . Hope this helps!
Mam it would be good if you could post some steps of different writing and some samples as well so it can be useful for the students.
Hi Aalia! My name is Holly, and I work as a Customer Experience Manager for Cult of Pedagogy. It just so happens that in the near future, Jenn is going to release a narrative writing unit, so keep an eye out for that! As far as samples, the argumentative writing unit has example essays included, and I’m sure the narrative unit will as well. But, to find the examples, you have to purchase the unit from Teachers Pay Teachers.
I just want to say that this helped me tremendously in teaching argument to 8th Graders this past school year, which is a huge concept on their state testing in April. I felt like they were very prepared, and they really enjoyed the verbal part of it, too! I have already implemented these methods into my unit plan for argument for my 11th grade class this year. Thank you so much for posting all of these things! : )
-Josee` Vaughn
I’m so glad to hear it, Josee!!
Love your blog! It is one of the best ones.
I am petrified of writing. I am teaching grade 8 in September and would love some suggestions as I start planning for the year. Thanks!
This is genius! I can’t wait to get started tomorrow teaching argument. It’s always something that I have struggled with, and I’ve been teaching for 18 years. I have a class of 31 students, mostly boys, several with IEPs. The self-paced mini-lessons will help tremendously.
So glad you liked it, Britney!
My students will begin the journey into persuasion and argument next week and your post cemented much of my thinking around how to facilitate the journey towards effective, enthusiastic argumentative writing.
I use your rubrics often to outline task expectations for my students and the feedback from them is how useful breaking every task into steps can be as they are learning new concepts.
Additionally, we made the leap into blogging as a grade at https://mrsdsroadrunners.edublogs.org/2019/01/04/your-future/ It feels much like trying to learn to change a tire while the car is speeding down the highway. Reading your posts over the past years was a factor in embracing the authentic audience. Thank You! Trish
I love reading and listening to your always helpful tips, tricks, and advice! I was wondering if you had any thoughts on creative and engaging ways to have students share their persuasive writing? My 6th students are just finishing up our persuasive writing where we read the book “Oh, Rats” by Albert Marrin and used the information gathered to craft a persuasive piece to either eliminate or protect rats and other than just reading their pieces to one another, I have been trying to think of more creative ways to share. I thought about having a debate but (un)fortunately all my kids are so sweet and are on the same side of the argument – Protect the Rats! Any ideas?
Hi Kiley! Thanks for the positive feedback! So glad to hear that you are finding value in Cult of Pedagogy! Here are a few suggestions that you may be interested in trying with your students:
-A gallery walk: Students could do this virtually if their writing is stored online or hard copies of their writing. Here are some different ways that you could use gallery walks: Enliven Class Discussions With Gallery Walks
-Students could give each other feedback using a tech tool like Flipgrid . You could assign students to small groups or give them accountability partners. In Flipgrid, you could have students sharing back and forth about their writing and their opinions.
I hope this helps!
I love the idea of mentor texts for all of these reading and writing concepts. I saw a great one on Twitter with one text and it demonstrated 5-6 reasons to start a paragraph, all in two pages of a book! Is there a location that would have suggestions/lists of mentor texts for these areas? Paragraphs, sentences, voice, persuasive writing, expository writing, etc. It seems like we could share this info, save each other some work, and curate a great collection of mentor text for English Language Arts teachers. Maybe it already exists?
Hi Maureen,
Here are some great resources that you may find helpful:
Craft Lessons Second Edition: Teaching Writing K-8 Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts and Mentor Texts, 2nd edition: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature, K-6
Thanks so much! I’ll definitely look into these.
I love the steps for planning an argumentative essay writing. When we return from Christmas break, we will begin starting a unit on argumentative writing. I will definitely use the steps. I especially love Step #2. As a 6th grade teacher, my students love to argue. This would set the stage of what argumentative essay involves. Thanks for sharing.
So glad to hear this, Gwen. Thanks for letting us know!
Great orientation, dear Jennifer. The step-by-step carefully planned pedagogical perspectives have surely added in the information repository of many.
Hi Jennifer,
I hope you are well. I apologise for the incorrect spelling in the previous post.
Thank you very much for introducing this effective instruction for teaching argumentative writing. I am the first year PhD student at Newcastle University, UK. My PhD research project aims to investigate teaching argumentative writing to Chinese university students. I am interested in the Argumentative Writing unit you have designed and would like to buy it. I would like to see the preview of this book before deciding to purchase it. I clicked on the image BUT the font of the preview is so small and cannot see the content clearly. I am wondering whether it could be possible for you to email me a detailed preview of what’s included. I would highly appreciate if you could help me with this.
Thank you very much in advance. Looking forward to your reply.
Take care and all the very best, Chang
Hi Chang! Jenn’s Argumentative Writing Unit is actually a teaching unit geared toward grades 7-12 with lessons, activities, etc. If you click here click here to view the actual product, you can click on the green ‘View Preview’ button to see a pretty detailed preview of what’s offered. Once you open the preview, there is the option to zoom in so you can see what the actual pages of the unit are like. I hope this helps!
Great Content!
Another teacher showed me one of your posts, and now I’ve read a dozen of them. With teaching students to argue, have you ever used the “What’s going on in this picture?” https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-whats-going-on-in-this-picture?module=inline I used it last year and thought it was a non-threatening way to introduce learners to using evidence to be persuasive since there was no text.
I used to do something like this to help kids learn how to make inferences. Hadn’t thought of it from a persuasive standpoint. Interesting.
this is a very interesting topic, thanks!
Hi! I’m a teacher too! I was looking for inspiration and I found your article and thought you might find this online free tool interesting that helps make all students participate meaningfully and engage in a topic. https://www.kialo-edu.com/
This tool is great for student collaboration and to teach argumentative writing in an innovative way. I hope this helps!
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How To Teach Argumentative Essay Writing
Teaching argumentative essay writing can be a real challenge. In addition to teaching writing, you’re also teaching skills like research and refutation. Luckily, this post includes the tips you need for effectively teaching argumentative essay writing.
I have great news for any of you gearing up to teach argumentative essay writing. Those students of yours love to argue. (Don’t believe me? Just ask their parents!) Students love to stand up for their opinion, proving their view is correct. The challenge, then, is getting them to look at the whole picture, find supporting evidence and understand the opposing viewpoints. Only then can they craft an argument that is both factually strong and persuasive. Overall, it’s about moving them beyond the blinders of their opinions and taking a more sound evidence-based approach.
Teaching argumentative essay writing doesn’t have to be such a painful experience for both you and your students. Follow the steps and strategies below to learn how to approach the dreaded argumentative essay more easily.
The Challenge with Teaching Argumentative Essay Writing
Why is teaching argumentative essay writing so difficult, you ask? I’ve been there. The truth is, when teaching argumentative essay writing, you’re teaching more than writing . You’re also teaching research skills and encouraging critical thought and analysis. You also need to explain how to evaluate sources and evidence and the difference between fact and opinion. In many ways, you’re teaching tolerance and perspective. (The list goes on.)
Long story short, it makes sense that it’s a challenge. The key is to not rush into it. Take it step-by-step, building upon what students already know.
Moving Beyond Persuasion
The good news? Many of your students have a foundational knowledge of persuasive writing that you can use as a springboard for teaching argumentative essay writing. However, it’s important to note that, while many use the terms interchangeably, they’re not quite the same. The main difference? Factual evidence. Your students might be used to persuasive writing, meaning writing to convince the reader of a claim rooted in their personal opinion . While it’s likely that students will argue something they are in favor of, argumentative essay writing involves using claims supported by factual evidence. Additionally, a hallmark of the argumentative essay is addressing the opposing viewpoint, a step that many students are unfamiliar with– and find rather challenging.
Consider the following steps as you move from persuasion to argumentative essay writing:
Step 1: Start with Casual Augmentation
Engage your students in a low-stakes debate before formally teaching argumentative essay writing. This approach will help get students in the right mindset as you begin to lay the foundation for effective argumentation. Don’t even mention the word essay at this point. Keep it fun and casual to break the ice.
There are many ways to approach casual argumentation in class. You can begin with an anticipation guide of controversial yet appropriate statements. After students fill it out, foster a group discussion in which students share their thoughts regarding each statement. Encourage them to move beyond simple opinions by asking why to get them to dig deeper as they support their stance.
To get your students up and moving, consider playing a game like Four Corners to get them to take a stance on a topic. Regardless of which activity you choose, spend time discussing the students’ stances. Small debates are likely to unfold right then and there.
Step 2: Add In Evidence, But Still Keep It Casual
You’ve causally engaged students in basic argumentation. However, before moving into a full-blown argumentative essay, dip students’ toes into the world of supporting evidence. Use the same activity above or write a simple yet controversial topic on the board for them to take a stance on. This time, give students a chance to gather supporting evidence. It might be worth quickly reviewing what makes a sound piece of evidence (research, studies, statistics, expert quotes, etc.). Then, once they pick their stance, allow five to ten minutes to gather the best piece of supportive evidence they can find. After, give them another five to ten minutes to work with the others in their corner/on their side to determine the strongest two or three pieces of evidence to share with the class. Once each team does this, have them take turns sharing their stance and supporting evidence. I like to leave room at the end for “final words” where they can respond to a point made by the other side.
During this simple activity, begin to unpack the importance of solid and relevant supporting evidence.
Step 3: Bring in the Opposing Viewpoints
Don’t stop there. One of the most challenging aspects of argumentative writing for students to grasp is acknowledging and responding to the opposition. They are often blinded by their experiences, perspectives, and opinions that they neglect the opposing side altogether.
Here’s what you can do: Repeat either activity above with a slight twist. Once students pick their side, switch it up. Instead of supporting the side they chose, ask them to research the other side and find the best supporting evidence to bring back to the class. Therefore, students will engage in a casual debate, supporting an opposing viewpoint. (For a simpler, more independent version of this, write a controversial statement on the board, have students take a stance, and then find evidence for the opposing side, putting it all into a written response.) While many students might complain at first, you’d be surprised how quickly they get into the task. Activities like these lay the groundwork for making evidence-based claims. Additionally, students will begin to recognize the role of perspective in argumentation.
Step 4: Introduce the Argumentative Essay
Now it’s time to introduce the argumentative essay. Many students will be tempted to jump right into writing. Therefore, make it clear that argumentative essay writing involves deeply investigating a topic before writing.
Next, explain how argumentative writing aims to take a stance on a topic and back it up with substantial supporting evidence. Additionally, include how argumentative essay writing requires acknowledging the opposing viewpoint. As for persuasion, explain that it must work in coordination with collected evidence rather than being rooted solely in one’s opinion.
When introducing the argumentative essay, it helps to outline the essay structure, showing students where it is both similar and different from the essays they are used to:
- Begin with an introductory paragraph. This is where the students will hook their readers and provide a summary of the issue, any relative background information, and a well-defined claim. (This is a great place to explain that claim is another word for a thesis statement used in argumentative writing.)
- Then comes the logically organized body paragraphs, each unpacking evidential support of the claim. While students are used to using body paragraphs to support their claim, remind them one body paragraph must reference and refute the opposing side.
- Finally comes the conclusion. Students are no strangers to writing conclusions. However, they should be moving beyond simply restating the thesis at the secondary level. Guide them through readdressing it in a way that acknowledges the presented evidence and leaves the author with something to think about.
Students will likely recognize the similarity between this and the traditional five-paragraph essay. Therefore, focus your teaching on the newer elements thrown into the mix that truly make it an argumentative essay.
Teacher Tip.
Incorporate various mentor texts to help students grasp the elements of argumentative essay writing. There are tons you can pull offline written by students and experts alike. ( The New York Times Learning Network has some great mentor text resources!) The more interesting your students find the subject matter, the better. Controversial topics always stir up an engaging conversation as well.
Teaching the Argumentative Essay Writing Process
Remember, students can quickly fall into old habits, neglecting some of the most imperative aspects of argumentative writing. Take it slow, walking students through the following steps – trust me, you’ll be thankful you did when it comes time to read a pile of these essays:
- Choose a topic. I recommend providing a list of argumentative essay writing topics for students to choose from. This prevents students’ classic “I can’t think of anything” roadblock. However, encourage students to choose a topic they are interested in or feel passionate about. With that said, I always give the option of letting students convince me (ha!) to let them use a topic they came up with if not on the list.
- Start the research. This is where students begin gathering evidence and is an opportunity to review what constitutes strong evidence in the first place.
- Understand the opposing side: Students are always confused about why I have them start here. One reason? It’s more challenging for students to see the other side, so this gets it out of the way first. Another? Some students never took the time to understand the other side, and in some cases, they switch their stance before writing their argument. It’s better to do so now than after you’ve done all your research and drafting. Lastly, I explain how understanding the opposing side can help guide your research for your side.
- Make a claim. While students may have an idea of their claim, the strongest claims are driven by evidence . Therefore, remind students that a claim is a statement that can be supported with evidence and reasoning and debated. Playing a quick game of two truths and an opinion (a spin on two truths and a lie) can reinforce the notion of facts vs. opinions.
- Write the body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should focus on supporting the claim with specific evidence. However, don’t forget to rebut the opposition! While they find it challenging, students learn to love this part. (After all, they love being right.) However, their instinct tends to be just to prove the other side wrong without using evidence as to why.
- Round out the intro and the conclusion, put it all together, and voila! An argumentative essay is born.
More Tips for Teaching Argumentative Essay Writing
- Begin with what they know: Build on the well-known five-paragraph essay model. Start with something students know. Many are already familiar with the classic five-paragraph essay, right? Use that as a reference point, noting out where they will add new elements, such as opposing viewpoints and rebuttal.
- Use mentor texts: Mentor texts help give students a frame of reference when learning a new genre of writing. However, don’t stop at reading the texts. Instead, have students analyze them, looking for elements such as the authors’ claims, types of evidence, and mentions of the opposing side. Additionally, encourage students to discuss where the author made the most substantial arguments and why.
- In [ARTICLE NAME/STUDY], the author states…
- According to…,
- This shows/illustrates/explains…
- This means/confirms/suggests…
- Opponents of this idea claim/maintain that… however…
- Those who disagree/are against these ideas may say/ assert that… yet…
- On the other hand…
- This is not to say that…
- Provide clear guidelines: I love using rubrics, graphic organizers, and checklists to help students stay on track throughout the argumentative essay writing process. Use these structured resources to help them stay on track every step of the way– and makes grading much easier for you .
The bottom line? Teaching argumentative essay writing is a skill that transcends the walls of our classrooms. The art of making and supporting a sound, evidence-based argument is a real-life skill. If our goal as teachers is to prepare students to be skilled, active, and engaged citizens of the 21st century, effectively teaching argumentative essay writing is a must. So, what are you waiting for? Teach those kids how to argue the write way.
1 thought on “How To Teach Argumentative Essay Writing”
This is very helpful. I am preparing to teach my student how to write an argumentative essay. This help me know that I am on the right path and to change how I organize some things in a different way. I really like how you recommended they pick out the elements of the writing. This will help them focus on the parts they dislike doing the most. Thanks for the writing.
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How to Teach Argument Writing Step-By-Step
No doubt, teaching argument writing to middle school students can be tricky. Even the word “argumentative” is off-putting, bringing to mind pointless bickering. But once I came up with argument writing lessons that were both fun and effective, I quickly saw the value in it. And so did my students.
You see, we teachers have an ace up our sleeve. It’s a known fact that from ages 11-14, kids love nothing more than to fire up a good ole battle royale with just about anybody within spitting distance.
Yup. So we’re going to use their powers of contradiction to OUR advantage by showing them how to use our argument writing lessons to power up their real-life persuasion skills. Your students will be knocking each other over in the hall to get to the room first!
I usually plan on taking about three weeks on the entire argument writing workshop. However, there are years when I’ve had to cut it down to two, and that works fine too.
Here are the step-by-step lessons I use to teach argument writing. It might be helpful to teachers who are new to teaching the argument, or to teachers who want to get back to the basics. If it seems formulaic, that’s because it is. In my experience, that’s the best way to get middle school students started.
Prior to Starting the Writer’s Workshop
A couple of weeks prior to starting your unit, assign some quick-write journal topics. I pick one current event topic a day, and I ask students to express their opinion about the topic.
Quick-writes get the kids thinking about what is going on in the world and makes choosing a topic easier later on.
Define Argumentative Writing
I’ll never forget the feeling of panic I had in 7th grade when my teacher told us to start writing an expository essay on snowstorms. How could I write an expository essay if I don’t even know what expository MEANS, I whined to my middle school self.
We can’t assume our students know or remember what argumentative writing is, even if we think they should know. So we have to tell them. Also, define claim and issue while you’re at it.
Establish Purpose
I always tell my students that learning to write an effective argument is key to learning critical thinking skills and is an important part of school AND real-life writing.
We start with a fictional scenario every kid in the history of kids can relate to.
ISSUE : a kid wants to stay up late to go to a party vs. AUDIENCE : the strict mom who likes to say no.
The “party” kid writes his mom a letter that starts with a thesis and a claim: I should be permitted to stay out late to attend the part for several reasons.
By going through this totally relatable scenario using a modified argumentative framework, I’m able to demonstrate the difference between persuasion and argument, the importance of data and factual evidence, and the value of a counterclaim and rebuttal.
Students love to debate whether or not strict mom should allow party kid to attend the party. More importantly, it’s a great way to introduce the art of the argument, because kids can see how they can use the skills to their personal advantage.
Persuasive Writing Differs From Argument Writing
At the middle school level, students need to understand persuasive and argument writing in a concrete way. Therefore, I keep it simple by explaining that both types of writing involve a claim. However, in persuasive writing, the supporting details are based on opinions, feelings, and emotions, while in argument writing the supporting details are based on researching factual evidence.
I give kids a few examples to see if they can tell the difference between argumentation and persuasion before we move on.
Argumentative Essay Terminology
In order to write a complete argumentative essay, students need to be familiar with some key terminology . Some teachers name the parts differently, so I try to give them more than one word if necessary:
- thesis statement
- bridge/warrant
- counterclaim/counterargument*
- turn-back/refutation
*If you follow Common Core Standards, the counterargument is not required for 6th-grade argument writing. All of the teachers in my school teach it anyway, and I’m thankful for that when the kids get to 7th grade.
Organizing the Argumentative Essay
I teach students how to write a step-by-step 5 paragraph argumentative essay consisting of the following:
- Introduction : Includes a lead/hook, background information about the topic, and a thesis statement that includes the claim.
- Body Paragraph #1 : Introduces the first reason that the claim is valid. Supports that reason with facts, examples, and/or data.
- Body Paragraph #2 : The second reason the claim is valid. Supporting evidence as above.
- Counterargument (Body Paragraph #3): Introduction of an opposing claim, then includes a turn-back to take the reader back to the original claim.
- Conclusion : Restates the thesis statement, summarizes the main idea, and contains a strong concluding statement that might be a call to action.
Mentor Texts
If we want students to write a certain way, we should provide high-quality mentor texts that are exact models of what we expect them to write.
I know a lot of teachers will use picture books or editorials that present arguments for this, and I can get behind that. But only if specific exemplary essays are also used, and this is why.
If I want to learn Italian cooking, I’m not going to just watch the Romanos enjoy a holiday feast on Everybody Loves Raymond . I need to slow it down and follow every little step my girl Lidia Bastianich makes.
The same goes for teaching argument writing. If we want students to write 5 paragraph essays, that’s what we should show them.
In fact, don’t just display those mentor texts like a museum piece. Dissect the heck out of those essays. Pull them apart like a Thanksgiving turkey. Disassemble the essay sentence by sentence and have the kids label the parts and reassemble them. This is how they will learn how to structure their own writing.
Also, encourage your detectives to evaluate the evidence. Ask students to make note of how the authors use anecdotes, statistics, and facts. Have them evaluate the evidence and whether or not the writer fully analyzes it and connects it to the claim.
This is absolutely the best way for kids to understand the purpose of each part of the essay.
Research Time
Most of my students are not very experienced with performing research when we do this unit, so I ease them into it. (Our “big” research unit comes later in the year with our feature article unit .)
I start them off by showing this short video on how to find reliable sources. We use data collection sheets and our school library’s database for research. There are also some awesome, kid-friendly research sites listed on the Ask a Tech Teacher Blog .
Step-By-Step Drafting
The bedrock of drafting is to start with a solid graphic organizer. I have to differentiate for my writers, and I’ve found they have the most success when I offer three types of graphic organizers.
1- Least Support: This is your standard graphic organizer. It labels each paragraph and has a dedicated section for each part of the paragraph.
2- Moderate Support: This one has labels and sections, but also includes sentence stems for each sentence in the paragraph.
3- Most Support: This one has labels and sections and also includes fill-in-the-blank sentence frames . It’s perfect for my emerging writers, and as I’ve mentioned previously, students do NOT need the frames for long and soon become competent and independent writers.
Writing the Introduction
The introduction has three parts and purposes.
First, it has a hook or lead. While it should be about the topic, it shouldn’t state the writer’s position on the topic. I encourage students to start with a quote by a famous person, an unusual detail, a statistic, or a fact.
Kids will often try to start with a question, but I discourage that unless their question also includes one of the other strategies. Otherwise, I end up with 100 essays that start with, “Do you like sharks?” Lol
Next, it’s time to introduce the issue. This is the background information that readers need in order to understand the controversy.
Last, students should state the claim in the thesis statement. I call it a promise to the reader that the essay will deliver by proving that the claim is valid.
Writing the Supporting Body Paragraphs
Each supporting body paragraph should start with a topic sentence that introduces the idea and states the reason why the claim is valid. The following sentences in the paragraph should support that reason with facts, examples, data, or expert opinions. The bridge is the sentence that connects that piece of evidence to the argument’s claim. The concluding sentence should restate the reason.
Writing the Counterclaim Paragraph
The counterclaim paragraph is a very important aspect of argument writing. It’s where we introduce an opposing argument and then confidently take the reader back to the original argument. I tell students that it’s necessary to “get in the head” of the person who might not agree with their claim, by predicting their objections.
It can be tough for kids to “flip the switch” on their own argument, so I like to practice this a bit. I give them several pairs of transitions that go together to form a counterclaim and rebuttal. I also switch up what I call this part so that they use the terminology interchangeably.
- It might seem that [ counterargument . ]However, [ turn-back .]
- Opponents may argue that [ counterargument .] Nevertheless, [ turn back .]
- A common argument against this position is [ counterargument .] Yet, [ turn-back .]
A great way for kids to practice this is to have them work with partners to write a few counterarguments together. I let them practice by giving them easy role-playing topics.
- Your cousins want to jump into a poison ivy grove for a TikTok challenge. Choose your position on this and write a counterargument and turn-back.
- Your friend wants to get a full-face tattoo of their boyfriend’s name. Choose your position on this and write a counterargument and turn-back.
This kind of practice makes the counterargument much more clear.
The concluding paragraph should remind the reader of what was argued in the essay and why it matters. It might also suggest solutions or further research that could be done on the topic. Or students can write a call to action that asks the reader to perform an action in regard to the information they’ve just learned.
My students write about local issues and then turn the essays into letters to our superintendent, school board, or state senators. It’s an amazing way to empower kids and to show them that their opinion matters. I’ve written about that here and I’ve included the sentence frames for the letters in my argumentative writing unit.
I hope this gives you a good overview of teaching argument writing. Please leave any questions below. Please also share your ideas, because we all need all the help we can give each other!
And one more thing. Don’t be surprised if parents start asking you to tone down the unit because it’s become harder to tell their kids why they can’t stay up late for parties. 🙂
Stay delicious!
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Strategies for Teaching Argument Writing
Three simple ways a ninth-grade teacher scaffolds argument writing for students.
My ninth-grade students love to argue. They enjoy pushing back against authority, sharing their opinions, and having those opinions validated by their classmates. That’s no surprise—it’s invigorating to feel right about a hot-button topic. But through the teaching of argument writing, we can show our students that argumentation isn’t just about convincing someone of your viewpoint—it’s also about researching the issues, gathering evidence, and forming a nuanced claim.
Argument writing is a crucial skill for the real world, no matter what future lies ahead of a student. The Common Core State Standards support the teaching of argument writing , and students in the elementary grades on up who know how to support their claims with evidence will reap long-term benefits.
Argument Writing as Bell Work
One of the ways I teach argument writing is by making it part of our bell work routine, done in addition to our core lessons. This is a useful way to implement argument writing in class because there’s no need to carve out two weeks for a new unit.
Instead, at the bell, I provide students with an article to read that is relevant to our coursework and that expresses a clear opinion on an issue. They fill out the first section of the graphic organizer I’ve included here, which helps them identify the claim, supporting evidence, and hypothetical counterclaims. After three days of reading nonfiction texts from different perspectives, their graphic organizer becomes a useful resource for forming their own claim with supporting evidence in a short piece of writing.
The graphic organizer I use was inspired by the resources on argument writing provided by the National Writing Project through the College, Career, and Community Writers Program . They have resources for elementary and secondary teachers interested in argument writing instruction. I also like to check Kelly Gallagher’s Article of the Week for current nonfiction texts.
Moves of Argument Writing
Another way to practice argument writing is by teaching students to be aware of, and to use effectively, common moves found in argument writing. Joseph Harris’s book Rewriting: How to Do Things With Texts outlines some common moves:
- Illustrating: Using examples, usually from other sources, to explain your point.
- Authorizing: Calling upon the credibility of a source to help support to your argument.
- Borrowing: Using the terminology of other writers to help add legitimacy to a point.
- Extending: Adding commentary to the conversation on the issue at hand.
- Countering: Addressing opposing arguments with valid solutions.
Teaching students to identify these moves in writing is an effective way to improve reading comprehension, especially of nonfiction articles. Furthermore, teaching students to use these moves in their own writing will make for more intentional choices and, subsequently, better writing.
Argument Writing With Templates
Students who purposefully read arguments with the mindset of a writer can be taught to recognize the moves identified above and more. Knowing how to identify when and why authors use certain sentence starters, transitions, and other syntactic strategies can help students learn how to make their own point effectively.
To supplement our students’ knowledge of these syntactic strategies, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein recommend writing with templates in their book They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing . Graff and Birkenstein provide copious templates for students to use in specific argument writing scenarios. For example, consider these phrases that appear commonly in argument writing:
- On the one hand...
- On the other hand...
- I agree that...
- This is not to say that...
If you’re wary of having your students write using a template, I once felt the same way. But when I had my students purposefully integrate these words into their writing, I saw a significant improvement in their argument writing. Providing students with phrases like these helps them organize their thoughts in a way that better suits the format of their argument writing.
When we teach students the language of arguing, we are helping them gain traction in the real world. Throughout their lives, they’ll need to convince others to support their goals. In this way, argument writing is one of the most important tools we can teach our students to use.
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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.
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2. Don’t choose a topic, choose an argument.
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3. Start with a bang.
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4. Personal stories are often very powerful to make a point.
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5. If the platform allows it, use photos or video or music or whatever.
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6. Don’t feel the need to be formal and stodgy.
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7. Acknowledge shortcomings in your arguments if the readers are likely to be aware of them, and address them openly.
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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.
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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 .
How to Teach Argument Writing: 3 Simple Steps to Improve Instruction
Teaching students how to write argumentative papers can be a challenging task. From teaching students how to include and refute the counterclaim to ensure students find the most relevant evidence to support their claims, teachers have their work cut out for them. This blog post will go over exactly how to teach argument writing in the secondary ELA classroom.
When I teach students how to write argument essays , I like to introduce challenging concepts to my students using ideas and topics they are familiar with. By doing this, I help them understand more complex ideas in a simple and easy-to-understand way.
How to Teach Argument Writing: 3 Steps for Success
Teaching argument essay writing step 1: develop the claim.
One of the first steps in helping students write an argument essay is developing the claim. Students need to understand that a claim is a debatable statement that they can back up and support using evidence and reasoning. Once students have a good idea about their essay’s claim, they can start writing their essay.
To teach students what a claim is, I’ll write a series of statements on the board, and we will have a quick discussion about fact vs. opinion. When I do this, I like to use topics that my students are interested in. Some topics I use frequently include food, Disney movies, and superheroes.
To illustrate this exercise, I might write these two statements on the board. I’ll have students identify which one is a fact and which one is a statement. The ultimate goal of this exercise is to get my students talking.
Let’s use superheroes as an example:
- Captain Marvel is a superhero.
- Captain Marvel is the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Immediately, when I reveal these statements on the board, my students are engaged. Not only are they engaged, but they might even be debating in class about their favorite Avenger.
Once students see the debatable aspect of a claim versus a fact, they are ready to move on and find supporting evidence for their claim. With the Captain Marvel example above, students will either agree or disagree with that statement.
Teaching Argument Essay Writing Step 2: Support the Claim
Once students understand what a debatable claim is, they are ready to support their claim with reasons and examples. This is where a quick four-corners type of classroom exercise comes into play. I divide my class up into the north side of the classroom and the south side of the classroom. If students agree with the claim, they must go to one side, and if they disagree, they go to the other side.
Once students stake their claim and choose a side, I give them a couple of moments to discuss their reasons with their like-minded peers. Students will then share their reasons either aloud or on the whiteboard or chart paper.
During this exercise, I teach students about the importance of why it is so important to have relevant supporting reasons and evidence.
Teaching Argument Essay Writing Step 3: Use Relevant Evidence
After students learn how to find related and supporting reasons, it is time to incorporate supporting evidence. By scaffolding the instruction with topics in which students are familiar, they should have a pretty good understanding of finding evidence that is related. However, this is still a tricky concept for high school and middle school students to master.
To help students keep their evidence related to the prompt, claim, and topic sentence, I suggest these teaching strategies.
- Write the prompt on the whiteboard and refer to it throughout the class period.
- Have students write their claim at the top of the paper
- Encourage students to get in the habit of rephrasing parts of the essay prompt and claim in their body paragraphs, especially their commentary.
With these three teaching strategies and ideas, students will have an easier time writing their augment essays. You might also be interested in my blog post about 50 argumentative essay prompts .
Begin your argument unit today
Help your students master the art of argumentative writing with this argument writing teaching unit ! I created this argumentative essay writing teaching unit with secondary ELA students in mind, and it includes step-by-step and engaging writing instructional materials. This argument essay writing unit includes everything you need for a complete argumentative writing instructional unit, including the print & digital materials.
This essay writing instructional unit includes an editable instructional presentation for direct instruction and student resources to help you and your students work through an argument essay. With a focus on argument writing and informational text, this unit fuses together key ELA standards as it covers the differences between persuasive and argumentative writing. Thus unit also teaches purpose, audience, tone, diction, and the rhetorical triangle.
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- How to write an argumentative essay | Examples & tips
How to Write an Argumentative Essay | Examples & Tips
Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.
An argumentative essay expresses an extended argument for a particular thesis statement . The author takes a clearly defined stance on their subject and builds up an evidence-based case for it.
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Table of contents
When do you write an argumentative essay, approaches to argumentative essays, introducing your argument, the body: developing your argument, concluding your argument, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about argumentative essays.
You might be assigned an argumentative essay as a writing exercise in high school or in a composition class. The prompt will often ask you to argue for one of two positions, and may include terms like “argue” or “argument.” It will frequently take the form of a question.
The prompt may also be more open-ended in terms of the possible arguments you could make.
Argumentative writing at college level
At university, the vast majority of essays or papers you write will involve some form of argumentation. For example, both rhetorical analysis and literary analysis essays involve making arguments about texts.
In this context, you won’t necessarily be told to write an argumentative essay—but making an evidence-based argument is an essential goal of most academic writing, and this should be your default approach unless you’re told otherwise.
Examples of argumentative essay prompts
At a university level, all the prompts below imply an argumentative essay as the appropriate response.
Your research should lead you to develop a specific position on the topic. The essay then argues for that position and aims to convince the reader by presenting your evidence, evaluation and analysis.
- Don’t just list all the effects you can think of.
- Do develop a focused argument about the overall effect and why it matters, backed up by evidence from sources.
- Don’t just provide a selection of data on the measures’ effectiveness.
- Do build up your own argument about which kinds of measures have been most or least effective, and why.
- Don’t just analyze a random selection of doppelgänger characters.
- Do form an argument about specific texts, comparing and contrasting how they express their thematic concerns through doppelgänger characters.
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An argumentative essay should be objective in its approach; your arguments should rely on logic and evidence, not on exaggeration or appeals to emotion.
There are many possible approaches to argumentative essays, but there are two common models that can help you start outlining your arguments: The Toulmin model and the Rogerian model.
Toulmin arguments
The Toulmin model consists of four steps, which may be repeated as many times as necessary for the argument:
- Make a claim
- Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim
- Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim)
- Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives
The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays. You don’t have to use these specific terms (grounds, warrants, rebuttals), but establishing a clear connection between your claims and the evidence supporting them is crucial in an argumentative essay.
Say you’re making an argument about the effectiveness of workplace anti-discrimination measures. You might:
- Claim that unconscious bias training does not have the desired results, and resources would be better spent on other approaches
- Cite data to support your claim
- Explain how the data indicates that the method is ineffective
- Anticipate objections to your claim based on other data, indicating whether these objections are valid, and if not, why not.
Rogerian arguments
The Rogerian model also consists of four steps you might repeat throughout your essay:
- Discuss what the opposing position gets right and why people might hold this position
- Highlight the problems with this position
- Present your own position , showing how it addresses these problems
- Suggest a possible compromise —what elements of your position would proponents of the opposing position benefit from adopting?
This model builds up a clear picture of both sides of an argument and seeks a compromise. It is particularly useful when people tend to disagree strongly on the issue discussed, allowing you to approach opposing arguments in good faith.
Say you want to argue that the internet has had a positive impact on education. You might:
- Acknowledge that students rely too much on websites like Wikipedia
- Argue that teachers view Wikipedia as more unreliable than it really is
- Suggest that Wikipedia’s system of citations can actually teach students about referencing
- Suggest critical engagement with Wikipedia as a possible assignment for teachers who are skeptical of its usefulness.
You don’t necessarily have to pick one of these models—you may even use elements of both in different parts of your essay—but it’s worth considering them if you struggle to structure your arguments.
Regardless of which approach you take, your essay should always be structured using an introduction , a body , and a conclusion .
Like other academic essays, an argumentative essay begins with an introduction . The introduction serves to capture the reader’s interest, provide background information, present your thesis statement , and (in longer essays) to summarize the structure of the body.
Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a typical introduction works.
The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.
The body of an argumentative essay is where you develop your arguments in detail. Here you’ll present evidence, analysis, and reasoning to convince the reader that your thesis statement is true.
In the standard five-paragraph format for short essays, the body takes up three of your five paragraphs. In longer essays, it will be more paragraphs, and might be divided into sections with headings.
Each paragraph covers its own topic, introduced with a topic sentence . Each of these topics must contribute to your overall argument; don’t include irrelevant information.
This example paragraph takes a Rogerian approach: It first acknowledges the merits of the opposing position and then highlights problems with that position.
Hover over different parts of the example to see how a body paragraph is constructed.
A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.
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An argumentative essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes and reflects on the arguments made in the body.
No new arguments or evidence appear here, but in longer essays you may discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your argument and suggest topics for future research. In all conclusions, you should stress the relevance and importance of your argument.
Hover over the following example to see the typical elements of a conclusion.
The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
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An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.
An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.
At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).
Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.
The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .
The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.
In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.
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Making a Claim: Teaching Students Argument Writing Through Close Reading
We know students in the middle grades can make an argument to throw a pizza party, to get out of[…] Continue Reading
We know students in the middle grades can make an argument to throw a pizza party, to get out of detention or to prove a point. So, why do they find it hard to craft strong arguments from text? The skill of argumentative or persuasive writing is a skill that’s easier said than done.
Close reading naturally lends itself to teaching argumentative writing. To be sure, it’s not the only way to culminate a close-reading lesson, but as students read, reread and break down text, analyzing author’s arguments and crafting their own can come naturally.
Argumentative writing isn’t persuasion, and it’s not about conflict or winning. Instead, it’s about creating a claim and supporting that claim with evidence. For example, in this set of writing samples from Achieve the Core , fifth grade students read an article about homework and wrote an argument in response to the question How much homework is too much? One student wrote the claim: I think that students should have enough homework but still have time for fun. Students in third grade should start having 15 minutes a night and work up to a little over an hour by sixth grade. The student goes on to support her claim with evidence from the article she read. It builds responsibility and gives kids a chance to practice.
Here are four ways to build your students’ ability to write arguments through close reading.
Choose Text Wisely
I don’t think I can say it enough: The most important part of planning close reading is choosing the text . If you want students to be able to create and support an argument, the text has to contain evidence—and lots of it. Look for texts or passages that are worth reading deeply (read: well written with intriguing, worthwhile ideas) and that raise interesting questions that don’t have a right or wrong answer.
PEELS: Help Students Structure Their Arguments
Before students can get creative with their writing, make sure they can structure their arguments. In the PEELS approach, students need to:
- Make a point.
- Support it with evidence (and examples).
- Explain their evidence.
- Link their points.
- Maintain a formal style.
Check out this Teachers Pay Teachers resource (free) for an explanation and graphic organizer to use with students.
Provide Time for Collaboration
When students are allowed to talk about their writing, they craft stronger arguments because they’re provided time to narrow and sharpen their ideas. In his book, Translating Talk Into Text (2014) Thomas McCann outlines two types of conversation that help students prepare to write.
- Exploratory discussions: These small-group discussions provide space for students to find out what others are thinking and explore the range of possibilities. These conversations should happen after students have read closely, with the goal of building an understanding of what ideas or claims are present within a text.
- Drafting discussions: After students have participated in exploratory discussion, drafting discussions are a chance for students to come together as a whole group to share and refine their ideas. Drafting discussions start by sharing arguments that students discussed in the exploratory discussions, then provide time for students to explore the arguments and challenge one another. The goal is for students to end the discussion with a clear focus for their writing.
The Incredible Shrinking Argument: Help Students Synthesize
Once students are writing, probably the biggest challenge becomes whittling an argument down to the essentials. To help students do this, have them write their argument on a large sticky note (or in a large text box). Then, have them whittle it twice by revising it and rewriting it on smaller sticky notes (or text boxes) to get the excess ideas or details out. By the time they’re rewriting it on the smallest sticky note (or textbox), they’ll be forced to identify the bones of their argument. (See The Middle School Mouth blog for more on this strategy.)
Samantha Cleaver is an education writer, former special education teacher and avid reader. Her book, Every Reader a Close Reader, is scheduled to be published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2015. Read more at her blog www.cleaveronreading.wordpress.com .
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February 2, 2016 CG Writing Lessons 9-12 , CG Writing Lessons CCSS 9-12 , ELA Focus - Writing , ELA 9-12 , ELA PD - Grammar Writing , ELA Resources - Charts/Posters , Core Grammar
Teaching argumentative writing in the classroom, grades 9–12, by: tiffany rehbein.
Teaching both tenth and twelfth grade presents its rewards and challenges. It is rewarding because I get to see so much growth and maturity in twelfth graders. It can be challenging when I just finish grading 50 tenth-grade argumentative essays at the end of the first semester only to turn around and grade 50 more twelfth-grade argumentative essays at the beginning of second semester.
The Purpose of Argumentative Writing
While the challenge is in the time it takes to grade the essays, the excitement is within teaching argumentative writing. The purpose of argumentative writing is to defend a position on a particular subject with the goal of persuading readers to accept or at least consider the argument.
Elements of Argumentative Writing
There are four big ideas to remember when teaching argumentative writing: claim, reasons, evidence, and counterclaim.
Claim – This is the main argument of the essay. It might also be called a thesis or thesis statement.
Reasons – These are the ideas that support the claim. In a traditional essay, there are at least three but this varies based upon grade level and complexity of the argument writing.
Evidence – These are the specific details in the argument writing. If students are conducting research, this is where the expert opinions would be included. If students are referencing data, it would be written here. If students are including examples, it would be included here. Any appeals a student used would be evident here.
Counterclaim – This is the other side of the issue. Addressing a counterclaim makes the student’s argument writing stronger.
Addressing Counterclaims
Students can address counterclaims a number of ways in argument writing. Here are some common approaches:
While it may be true that ____________; nevertheless, it turns out that ____________.
A common argument against this is ________, but _____________.
Skeptics may think that ____________, but ___________.
Focus Topics & Transitions in Argumentative Writing
Last November, I had the great pleasure of presenting at the National Council of Teacher’s of English Annual Convention with author, educator, and our special guest Core Grammar blogger, Dr. Beverly Ann Chin. In her presentation, Dr. Chin included the following questions to focus topics in persuasive writing:
Is the scope of my persuasive topic appropriate and manageable?
What is my thesis statement or claim?
What facts, examples, or details contribute to—or detract from—my persuasive topic?
How do my topic sentences and transitional devices help the audience see the unity and coherence in my persuasive writing?
Do the main ideas and supporting ideas address my audience’s questions about the persuasive topic?
The questions Dr. Chin shared during her presentation should also be asked when writing argumentative essays. Keeping in mind topic sentences and transitions, here are some key words that can help support students as they begin to write argumentatively.
To connect the first paragraph to the second paragraph, use phrases such as To begin with , In the first place , or The first reason .
To connect the second paragraph to the third paragraph, use phrases such as Additionally , Another reason why , or Next .
To connect the third paragraph to the fourth paragraph, use phrases such as Lastly , Yet another reason why , or Also
The conclusion also needs a transition, so remind students to use phrases such as In conclusion , To sum it up , or In the final analysis .
Graphic Organizer for Argumentative Essays
Argumentative writing is powerful and important. I've created two worksheets for download that can assist students in their argumentative writing.
The first is a graphic organizer to capture students’ thinking about a claim, reasons, and evidence. The second is a poster/tip sheet to remind students about the elements of argumentative writing. Download them now!
To read more about writing and revision, download Dr. Chin’s Teaching Meaningful Revision: Developing and Deepening Students’ Writing eBook!
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How to Teach Argumentative Writing
Three simple steps to help your students master argumentation.
It’s no secret: People love to argue. And arguments are all around us. Think about the last time you tried to convince a colleague to try a new piece of technology, shared your opinion about a political issue with friends, or even decided with your family where to go on vacation. But to learn to argue effectively—using critical thinking skills, credible evidence, and sound reasoning—students need practice and support. The higher-order thinking skills involved in argumentation aren’t only important for success on state and college entrance assessments; they will also serve students well throughout their education, careers, and civic life. Argumentative writing is any writing that attempts to get others to agree with your point of view, appreciate your ideas, or take a particular action. When people think about argumentation, their first thought might be an editorial in a newspaper for or against a particular policy. But argumentation goes beyond pro-con debates. You can make an argument about a character’s motivation in a story, whether a scientific study was well-designed, which car makes the most long-term financial sense to buy, or whether the Electoral College was the best solution for a voting system in the United States. At ThinkCERCA, we think argumentation is so important that we named our company after it; the CERCA in our name is a framework for argumentation: make CLAIMS , support claims with EVIDENCE , clearly explain REASONING , identify COUNTERARGUMENTS , and use AUDIENCE-APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE . Here are three best practices to try with your students as you work with them on their argumentation skills.
1. Give students engaging, relevant texts. In order for students to make an evidence-based argument, they have to care about the topic. Use texts that are at an appropriate level of complexity for the student; that are high-quality, such as from respected publications like The New York Times or National Geographic ; and that are relevant to students’ lives, on topics like social media, student free speech, or climate change.
2. Debate! People are social; we learn better when we’re talking with others. By having students work in teams to prepare for and then have a debate, you’re unlocking the powerful tool of peer collaboration among students to encourage them to dive deeper into the issues. They can then use all of the evidence and reasoning heard during the debate to strengthen their written arguments.
3. Provide specific and timely feedback. Just as powerful as students’ connections with one another is their connection with you. When you provide feedback on the elements of argumentation, such as how precise a student’s claim is, to what extent they have provided sufficient evidence, and whether their language is appropriate for the audience, you help students focus on their growth as writers and the development of their own powerful voices. And providing personalized feedback doesn’t have to take up all of your time. Here are some suggestions for designing classrooms that promote rapid teacher feedback .
To support your students in planning their arguments, check out this free graphic organizer that walks them through each element of argumentation.
Interested in More Writing Resources?
Learn more about incorporating argumentative, informational/explanatory, and narrative writing across your school or district by watching our on-demand webinar, A Deep Dive into the Writing Standards .
Claire has spent her career managing content creation of every possible sort, from print textbooks to marketing collateral to a travel blog. Having worked with major educational publishers and mobile companies, she brings project management and editorial expertise to her role at ThinkCERCA. Claire has a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a PMP certificate from the Project Management Institute.
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5 Steps to Teaching Argumentative Writing
Teaching students how to write arguments is both fun and challenging. Students have opinions, they want to be heard, but they need to learn how to make well reasoned arguments that are supported with strong evidence. This eCoach guides teachers through five simple steps that teach students how to write credible arguments.
Step One: Choose a High Interest Topic
When teaching argumentative writing, the topics we choose should be familiar and interesting to our students. Consider the list below.
- Should schools give homework?
- Should schools give letter grades?
- Should colleges look at students’ social media sites as part of the acceptance process?
- Should businesses be allowed to advertise on school campuses?
- Should we pay college athletes?
- Should schools allow students to play contact sports like hockey, lacrosse, and football?
It is important to acknowledge that not all writing tasks have high interest topics. In order to prepare for state exams, college aptitude tests like the SAT and ACT, and AP writing exams, students need to practice writing about subject matter that is less emotional and not as exciting. That said, high interest topics are great place to start when teaching students how to write arguments.
It might be a good idea to let students talk about the topic in small groups before you move to Step Two. Students will have lots to say about the above topics and will most likely list opinions. We want students to get their thoughts out so that they are ready to listen and learn.
Step Two: Explicitly Teach the Difference between Claims and Opinion
Since we are asking students to take a position on topics that are interesting to them, they might want to list their opinions on the subject instead of crafting a reasonable response that is supported with evidence. Here are three definitions that can help.
- claim : a confident statement that (something) is true but may not be proven or supported.
- argument : a position on a topic organized by a claim or series of claims that are supported by reasons and evidence.
- opinion : personal thoughts, feelings, and beliefs on a topic that cannot be supported with evidence.
Use multiple scenarios and examples to show the difference between these two words. Consider writing statements on cards and giving them to small groups. Then, ask the groups to sort the statements into two categories: claims and opinions. Discuss each statement and ask students to explain why a statement is a claim or why it is an opinion. To extend the learning, ask students how an opinion can become a claim. Ask inquiry-based questions like…
What about this opinion can we argue? What needs to change? Does it need to be more focused or specific? For example, an opinion might be: “School lunches are nasty.” To change this opinion into a claim, we could say, “School lunches lack nutrition and tend to be bland.” We can support this statement with evidence. The word “bland” could be supported by looking at the amount of salt and spices in the food and the types of food served in school cafeterias. (It might be good for me to pause here and state that LiteracyTA is not making the claim that school lunches are nasty.)
These types of activities give students multiple experiences with the words “claim” and “opinion.” This is what we mean when we say “explicit.” Students need more than a definition. They need multiple ways to learn new words and clear explanations that help them understand.
Step Three: Brainstorm Claims, Evidence, and Warrants
Now that students have a better understanding of claims, guide them through developing their argument with claims, evidence, and warrants. A warrant is an explanation that connects the evidence to the claims. To get started, create a three column chart. The first chart will focus on the proponent’s argument. Start with a claim. Then, ask students for reasonable evidence that directly supports the claim. Students may need to do some research based on the claims that are made. Next, brainstorm ideas that can connect the evidence back to the claim. See examples at Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) .
Consider working under a document camera or on the whiteboard as you complete the table. Students will benefit from seeing how the ideas build and connect. When ready, have students tackle a claim on their own or in small groups.
When the proponent’s argument is outlined, ask students to build a second organizer. This time, the class will work together to build an argument for the opposing side.
Step 4: Explicitly Teach Counterclaim
A well reasoned argument not only acknowledges the “other side,” it challenges its own claims and discusses its limitations. Traditionally, we have taught students to include a counter argument toward the end of a persuasive essay. In argumentative writing, counterclaims can appear almost anywhere and certainly have a different function. Counterclaims (as the name suggests) are designed to challenge the claims being made in the text; whereas, the purpose of a counter argument is to acknowledge other viewpoints on the topic. Both are useful, but a counterclaim can strengthen a writer’s credibility by forcing him or her to think deeply about the argument being made, questioning its merits and plausibility.
Step 5: Get Them Writing
Once students gather their claims, reasons, and evidence, have them take a central position on the topic and give them 20-30 minutes to write their arguments. Since so much work went into setting up the writing task, students won’t need a full 60 minutes to write. I like to have students practice writing arguments in their daily journal. Journaling is seen as informal, so students feel comfortable and uninhibited. The truth is, some of the best writing comes from my students’ journals. I expect my students to write with proper grammar, punctuation, and paragraphing, but the journal doesn’t feel like a timed test or an in-class essay. 20 minutes later, my students have written arguments that include all of the major features in this writing type.
Additional Teaching Ideas
An introduction and conclusion can be challenging for our students. I have learned a few questions along the way that help my students develop authentic writing. Here are my winning questions.
Opening paragraphs
- What is the issue?
- Why are you interested in the issue?
- How are you related to the topic?
- What is motivating you to write? (Don’t say, “My teacher.”)
- What are the common or leading viewpoints?
- What is your position on the topic?
Supporting Paragraphs
Support and advance the argument with claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims.
Concluding Paragraphs
Why is this topic relevant and important to consider?
Learn more with LiteracyTA resources for Argumentative writing .
Interested in this topic? Would you like to learn more about writing arguments and supporting claims with textual evidence? Come learn with us this summer in San Diego. LiteracyTA University early bird registration ends April 30th.
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Teaching Argumentative Writing Tips and Tricks
by Gordana S | Dec 12, 2020 | Skills & Career | 0 comments
Table of Contents
Teaching Argumentative Writing—Skills and Strategies
High school students need to possess strong writing skills and learn various writing strategies to be successful in college and the career of their choice . They have to be able to argue opinions, present viewpoints, and comment on events or phenomena using clear and effective language. It is a teacher’s job to identify which types of writing skills their students need to master to create persuasive argumentative texts.
Your students will need to practice critical writing to be able to do college essays and compose other types of argumentative and persuasive writing . School assignments and academic success aren’t the only reason why reading and writing skills are important for your students. Above all else, honing those skills in adolescence teaches your students to think for themselves, helps them determine what career path they want to take, and makes them more successful on that path.
Let’s take a look at what skills and strategies your students need to master argumentative writing and what activities you can implement in the classroom to help them become better writers and thinkers.
Credit: Mike Tinnion
Argumentative Writing—Definition and Characteristics
Argumentative writing is an essay or research paper that aims to comment on events, ideas, or phenomena. The author takes a stand and argues a point, supporting it by thorough theoretical and empirical research and conclusive evidence that backs up their claims.
An argumentative essay has some similarities to an expository essay , which is why the terms are often used interchangeably even though, in reality, they are two different genres of writing.
Here are some key differences between the two:
Characteristics of Argumentative Essays
Credit: Dan Dimmock
Argumentative writing follows a specific structure. Your students need to learn it and use it in their essays.
The structural parts of an argumentative paper, whether it’s a shorter or longer work, are:
- Introduction
- Body paragraphs
A crucial characteristic of argumentative writing is the transition from one paragraph to the next. The points made need to be clearly connected and interrelated for the essay to make sense and argue a point successfully.
Other important aspects are the clarity of the evidence presented and the persuasiveness the author employs to convince the reader their point is valid. Your students can learn how to do this efficiently if you teach them the skills needed to write argumentative essays.
Argumentative Writing Skills
Extensive knowledge of vocabulary and sentence constructions is integral for argumentative writing. This form of writing also requires solid:
- Reading skills
- Research skills
- Cognitive abilities
- Argumentative skills
Reading Skills
Argumentative writing is a response to another person’s essay, a societal issue, or a world phenomenon. For your students to write argumentatively, they need to research the topic well by reading about it extensively. For this reason, you need to equip your students with various reading comprehension strategies that make a substantial part of the prewriting process. Feel free to use fun ways to teach your students reading before you make them work on their writing skills as the two are inevitably interconnected.
Your students will also benefit from learning critical reading because it will:
- Improve their vocabulary
- Show them different writing strategies they can employ
- Give them ideas to use in their work
- Help them develop research and cognitive skills
Research Skills
Using supporting evidence is an inseparable part of argumentative writing. You should teach your students to research their topics properly before they start writing argumentative essays. This means that they should be able to locate the relevant material for their topic, compare and contrast the gathered sources, and determine which ones they will use in their essays.
Some students may struggle with research and fail to find the sources for the topic they need to cover. One reason for this is that they use the wrong keywords in their search. Another is that they waste hours on end going over the sources that are irrelevant for their purposes or they don’t even end up using.
You need to teach your students how to do research regularly and conscientiously so that they can avoid those traps. Ultimately, they should spend more time writing than digging for information.
Cognitive Abilities
To do research and write effortlessly, your students need to possess many cognitive skills, including:
- Language usage
- Problem-solving
Cognitive abilities play a significant role in the prewriting process and beyond. Your students need to be able to evaluate the evidence they have gathered through research, weigh the pros and cons of an issue, and present their point of view convincingly. Training your students to sharpen their memory, broaden their attention spans, and use problem-solving skills is instrumental for teaching them how to write a quality argumentative text.
Argumentative Skills
It’s not a surprise that your students need a set of argumentative skills to write successful argumentative texts. Many of the already mentioned skills fall under this category, like:
- Critical thinking
- Evaluating sources
- Taking a stand
A crucial aspect of argumentation is persuasion. Your students need to use it to convince their audience that the argument they’re presenting in their writing is the correct one. This is done through careful use of language, a successful rebuttal of the opposing argument, and enough implementation of credible evidence to support the main point.
Argumentative Writing Strategies
Credit: Kelly Sikkema
You should teach your students how to approach any genre of writing—from descriptive to persuasive—if you want them to write stellar essays. Here are the strategies you should teach your students to employ when they write argumentative essays:
- Choosing the side of an issue
- Presenting and refuting the opposing view
- Outlining the essay
- Connecting ideas
- Using linking words
- Reviewing their work
Where Do You Stand?
A prerequisite for argumentative writing is taking a stand. This is a strategy you can teach your students through various activities. A good idea is to have a classroom debate on a specific topic and to let your students present opposing views on it and decide which they would rather side with.
You should also teach them what opening statements are and how to compose them. The first sentence of their essay should explain the topic broadly, but it should also be catchy enough to grab the reader’s attention.
Don’t Ignore the Other Side
Your students’ argumentative essays will be more persuasive if they include an opposing viewpoint and refute it efficiently. Counter arguments are often an obligatory part of an argumentative essay assignment.
Maybe your students are writing a paper that has only two or three body paragraphs. If so, tell them to introduce the opposing argument in the first one and rebut it in the following paragraphs in which they’ll argue their case.
Organization in Writing
Creating an outline is an unavoidable part of any longer written piece. Even if your students are writing an argumentative essay of no more than 350 words, they should approach it with a plan in mind. Putting such a plan to paper, i.e., creating an outline, will not only help your students write a well organized final draft but also teach them how to:
- Structure their essays properly
- Contrast and compare ideas and evidence
- Refer to the sources in adequate parts of the essay
Connecting Ideas
A conclusion is often seen as a paraphrase of the introductory paragraph. You have to teach your students that this isn’t true. Even though they should restate the main idea in the conclusion, they shouldn’t only paraphrase their thesis statement and stop there.
Teach your students how to connect and summarize all the ideas from the essay in their conclusion. Their concluding paragraph should emphasize the main points, the evidence presented, and the call for the reader to side with the argument defended.
Transitions Are Key
What will help your students express their argument efficiently and connect the ideas from various parts of their essay into a unified piece of writing is linking words. Though they are often considered overused, if your students are just beginning to write argumentation, transition words will help them drive the point home in their essay. They will also make it easier for the reader to understand the ideas expressed in the text.
Appreciating Feedback
Another important strategy for any writing is getting feedback and revising the text according to it. You should give your students feedback on their outlines, opening statements, individual paragraphs, and the entire essays when they’re done. You can also implement peer-reviews and aid your students in learning from each other’s work.
Activities for Teaching Argumentative Writing in High School
Credit: fotografierende
Your students need to know the skills and strategies that go into writing argumentative essays. Once they do, what will help them acquire those skills is regular practice.
Here are some ideas for classroom activities that you can assign to help your students hone their argumentative writing skills:
- The missing linking phrases
- Different opening statements
- Argumentative essay examples
- Peer reviews
- Argumentative presentation
Adding The Missing Linking Words
You will give a lesson on the structure of argumentative essays before you ask your students to write them. While you’re at it, you have to teach them linking phrases and the purpose they serve.
You can give your students a list of the linking phrases with explanations of what they’re used for—for example, yet and however are both used for comparison. When your students have studied the list, give them an essay from which you have previously removed all linking phrases and ask them to supply the most appropriate linker in the blanks. Their answers don’t need to match the original transition words, but they do need to choose the ones that fit in with the context of the text logically and complement it.
The purpose of this exercise is to make your students:
- Learn linking words and when they are used
- See how devoid of clarity an essay can be without them
- Realize the importance of effective transitions in an essay
Coming Up With Another Hook
Authors use intriguing opening sentences to hook readers to their work. The primary purpose of any piece of writing is to get the audience interested in it and read it to the end.
Here are some ways in which your students could start an argumentative essay:
- Contrasting statements
- Question and answer
Find the examples of each of these methods in an essay introduction and give them to your students to study. You can then assign them a topic and a specific method to try out on their own.
Studying Other Argumentative Essays
When you introduce argumentative writing to your students, give them time to analyze the new form by studying example essays before they start writing their own. Many websites offer examples of argumentative writing for free, so you are bound to stumble upon different essay samples you can use in the classroom.
While your students are analyzing other people’s essays, ask them to identify the structural parts you had previously taught them. They can also fact-check the arguments the authors made to support their claims. They’ll get more engaged with the text and hone their critical thinking and research skills along the way. They should discuss how effective the argumentative essay they’re reading is, i.e., whether the author managed to prove their point and convince the reader.
Reviewing Peer Assignments
While you should provide thorough feedback on your students’ work, you can also delegate that duty to them every once in a while. Peer review will certainly be a fun activity for them. They can help each other reflect on their progress and improve together. To give them some direction, tell your students they have to answer these four questions about their classmates’ essays:
- Whether the introduction is sufficiently intriguing to make the audience keep reading
- How much evidence the author uses to prove a point
- Whether the conclusion is inviting the reader to side with the author’s view
- How well the author employed the transition techniques
Another fun spin on the peer review method is instructing your students to create an outline for the essay they’re reading. This is called backward outlining, and it helps your students identify the key parts of the finished text.
Oral Argumentation
When you are teaching students argumentative writing, you aren’t only doing it to help them write better papers but to help them improve their overall argumentative and reasoning skills. They will need those skills to be more confident, employ their logical thinking abilities, and use their voice and agency in every aspect of their life.
An excellent activity to demonstrate to your students that they need argumentative skills for more than writing an amazing essay is a presentation debate task. Teach your students all they need to prepare and execute a speech (like how to start a speech in a school competition ), assign them some thought-provoking topics, and have them sharpen their argumentation skills orally through debate.
Scribbling Down Ideas as They Come
A standardized argumentative essay outline is a clear, linear plan for what the essay will look like, which is likely to demotivate your students from the get-go.
Brainstorming is an interesting and unexpected activity that teaches your students to love the messiness of the writing process. Before they put their ideas into an outline, they should draw a mind map of everything that pops into their head and put those ideas on paper. They are bound to get creative and practice the different skills of the prewriting process at the same time.
How To Teach Argumentative Writing—What Do You Say?
If you feel we have neglected to mention some of the most fun ways to teach argumentative writing to high school students, why not offer some ideas of your own?
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Bell Ringers
Teaching argumentative writing in middle school ela: part one.
If you teach middle school, you know that teenagers have a lot of opinions! Luckily, you can use that to your advantage when teaching students how to write an argumentative essay. The key is to help students learn to craft well-written arguments with evidence (not just arguing for the sake of it, which middle schoolers can be prone to).
While learning to craft argumentative essays will help students in school, being able to craft and defend an argument is also an important skill for the real world. Writing an argumentative essay or having a debate requires critical thinking skills and the ability to take a stance and back it up.
What is Argumentative Writing?
In order for students to understand how to write an argumentative essay, they need to understand what argumentative writing is.
Argumentative essays usually require that students do some investigation or research on a topic and then choose a clear stance. When writing, students will spend the body of the essay explaining points and providing evidence that supports their stance. A counterargument is also typically given as a way to counteract how “nay-sayers” would disagree with the writer. At the end of the essay, students will restate their argument and summarize their evidence.
How to Introduce Argumentative Writing: The Debate
Now that we know what to expect from argumentative writing, we can get into how to write an argumentative essay. You’ll want to start by introducing argumentative writing, which I liked to do through debates. Just like in an essay, to successfully debate a topic, students must do some investigation, choose a stance, and then argue their point in a meaningful way. Holding a class debate is a great place to start when introducing argumentative writing. Debating a topic verbally can actually be used as a brainstorming session before students ever even put pen to paper. For students new to argumentative writing, this takes some of the pressure off of jumping right into the writing process and helps them generate ideas.
There are a few ways you can use debates. For instance, you can choose a topic you’d like students to debate or let them choose a topic they’re already passionate about.
I liked to give students a few minutes to think through the topic and prep on their own, and then I partner them up. They can either debate the topic with their partner, or they can work together with their partner to debate another pair.
Depending on your class size, you could also split the class in half and make it a whole group debate. As long as students are researching or investigating in some way, choosing a stance, and finding reasons to back up their position, there is no wrong way to hold a debate in your class – and you can try out a few different formats to see what works best.
After the debates, it’s a great idea to debrief. This is a good time to bring in some key vocabulary and reinforce how to write an argumentative essay. For example, you can look over some of the evidence presented and ask students to rate the “strength” of the argument. You can also brainstorm a counterargument together.
How to Introduce Argumentative Writing: The Flash Draft
After students debate, they move on to the flash draft. A flash draft is essentially a giant brain dump. Students do not have to worry about spelling, grammar, organization, or even structure. They will simply be taking their thoughts from the debate and getting them down on paper.
One benefit to the flash draft is it removes the barrier of intimidation for a lot of students. For many kids, the actual work of starting to write can be daunting. A flash draft removes that intimidation of perfection and just requires something to be on the page. Again, the flash draft portion can be completely tailored to best suit your students and classroom. You can set a timer for a specific amount of time, you can provide students with an outline or guiding questions, or you can give them sentence stems to start.
If you have access to technology in your classroom, you can even let students verbalize their flash draft and use transcription technology to get it on paper.
Expanding Knowledge of Argumentative Writing
By now, you might be wondering when you’ll actually dive deeper into how to write an argumentative essay. That will start with a mini-lesson. These mini-lessons should cover the key parts of argumentative essays, like how to take a stance, ways to support your position, how to transition between thoughts, and even how to craft a counterargument.
You could have a mini-lesson before each flash draft to focus on a particular skill, or you can hold the mini-lesson after the flash draft and let students focus on that skill during revisions. During mini-lessons, I highly suggest using mentor texts, guided examples, or other reference materials. When it comes to writing, many students need to see the process in action, so modeling and having a place for them to reference will be super key to their success.
Argumentative Writing Unit for Middle School
Want support putting together your argumentative essay unit? My done-for-you Argumentative Writing Unit scaffolds how to write an argumentative essay for you and your students.
The unit includes 23 full lesson plans, slide presentations, notebook pages for students, teacher keys and examples, student references pages, and more for a well-rounded unit.
Plus, this unit goes through the exact process I talked about in the blog, using debate, flash drafts, and mini-lessons to scaffold students through the writing process.
- Read more about: Middle School Writing
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5 Strategies to Teach Students How to Identify and Analyze Strong Argument Examples
Before students can write strong persuasive essays, they must be able to identify what makes a powerful argument. Therefore, before diving into an argumentative writing unit, I complete an analyzing arguments unit first. In this unit, students learn how to write strong claims, how to support claims with evidence, how to use counterarguments to strengthen arguments, and how to identify and avoid fallacies. I found the best way to teach these elements is by analyzing argument examples from other writers and speakers.
This type of analysis is consistent with the objectives for the AP English Language and Composition course. In this blog post, I’m going to share five strategies that help students not just identify, but analyze arguments so that they’re primed and ready to write their own strong arguments at the conclusion.
1. Differentiate strong claims from weak claims with small group work
The first step in writing a sound argument is to understand what makes a strong argument. This means that students must understand the elements of a strong claim. To begin, a strong claim includes an arguable stance on a topic and provides reasoning to support that stance. If it’s missing the reasoning component, it’s likely a weak claim. If it’s missing the defendable stance part, it’s likely not a claim at all, but a fact.
Because these can be tricky, students may find that talking through some examples in small groups can be really helpful. This way, I encourage students to apply the above definitions to a variety of example statements. An even better way to practice is to instruct students to rewrite facts or weak claims into strong claims. This gives students practice identifying types of claims and creating their own from ones that are strong enough to become a thesis statement in an essay.
2. Collect substantial, varied, and valid evidence with an evidence scavenger hunt
One of my favorite activities to teach students about using strong evidence to support strong claims is an evidence scavenger hunt. An evidence scavenger hunt teaches students that evidence must be substantial, varied, and valid in order to support a claim. So how does this scavenger hunt work?
First, give students a strong claim. Then, instruct students either individually or with a partner to find a piece of evidence that could support that claim. I give students evidence categories, such as anecdotes, observations, statistics, etc. to encourage them to find varied evidence. Then, I turn on a timer for about 10 minutes and ask students to go around the room, finding evidence from their classmates for each category. You can give bonus points to the students who collect the most in the time frame.
This activity serves as a metaphor for how rigorous evidence collection is. They have to find enough varied evidence to support a claim. It also gives a great opportunity to discuss which evidence most effectively supported the claim. Ultimately, this activity can lead to a discussion about how important it is to connect evidence to claims when writing an argument.
3. Predict counterarguments and make counterclaims with a scenario
One of the most challenging tasks for students is predicting and rebuffing counterclaims. To show sophistication and complexity, some students will try to address counterclaims in their written arguments. The problem? If not approached tactfully, this attempt can end up working against their own arguments. It’s not enough to address or concede a counterargument. Rather, students must counter the counterclaim.
One of my favorite strategies to teach students how to predict and address counterclaims is with a scenario activity. Choosing a scenario that students could encounter in real life makes this more practical and, therefore, easier for them to understand.
Here are some ideas:
- You want to convince your friends that s/he should play ________(a sport)___________ or be involved in ________(an extracurricular activity)________________.
- You want to persuade your friends to go to a haunted house at Halloween.
- You want to assure your parents that they can trust you with a car.
Once you give students the scenario(s). Ask them to predict every counterargument they can
imagine. Then, they should identify which counterargument(s) are the strongest. Finally, give them practice identifying how they could counter the counterargument. This practice sets them up for identifying the strongest counterarguments in their own writing and effectively rebuking those counterarguments.
4. Create visual fallacies
I know this may seem counterintuitive at first, but a great way to teach students to avoid logical fallacies is to have them create fallacies. One of my favorite activities is to instruct students to create their logical fallacy ad campaign. If students go into the assignment, knowing their intention is to deceive or distort with a fallacy, they’re priming themselves to recognize when fallacies unintentionally occur in their own writing or intentionally in the real world.
Even better, if you ask students to create a strong visual argument to go with their logical fallacy, they’ll be able to compare the difference. This type of analysis requires students to put everything that goes into a strong argument to practice making it a great culminating project. Plus, the visual aspect gives students a chance to analyze the impact of visual arguments.
Students can use free design websites, like Canva or Adobe Spark Video , to create their advertisements. The best part is presenting these advertisements to the class. Providing rationale for their decisions shows they understand what makes and breaks a strong argument.
If you’re looking for more activities to teach logical fallacies, including visual notes and quiz, check out my logical fallacies mini-unit .
5. Analyze other strong argument examples with silent discussions
Mentor texts serve as great examples for students to analyze and replicate. The good news is that there are so many options available, you will find great examples to use with students. Then, I love parking the mentor text with a silent discussion activity.
A silent discussion is an activity that requires all of their discussion in written format, either handwriting or typing. This activity encourages students to be focused on their analysis and deliberate about their participation. Give students a written copy of the argument either on a big piece of paper for them to write on or on a digital discussion forum or board. Then, give them a set amount of time to discuss the argument. Ten minutes is a great starting point.
I like to show students examples of how strong arguments are organized. For example, I’ll find examples of an argument that uses comparison and contrast, cause and effect, or definition to organize. Then, I’ll have them analyze how the argument was strengthened by their format. You can use any analysis focus for this activity. The key is to give students an opportunity to read strong arguments.
If you like these strategies, check out my analyzing arguments unit . This unit includes all the above strategies, and many more. Plus, you’ll have all the directions, activities, and rubrics that go with it. If you’re working toward an argument writing unit, my argument writing workbook pairs perfectly to support students from analysis to direct practice.
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How to Teach the Argument Essay
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8 Effective Strategies to Write Argumentative Essays
In a bustling university town, there lived a student named Alex. Popular for creativity and wit, one challenge seemed insurmountable for Alex– the dreaded argumentative essay!
One gloomy afternoon, as the rain tapped against the window pane, Alex sat at his cluttered desk, staring at a blank document on the computer screen. The assignment loomed large: a 350-600-word argumentative essay on a topic of their choice . With a sigh, he decided to seek help of mentor, Professor Mitchell, who was known for his passion for writing.
Entering Professor Mitchell’s office was like stepping into a treasure of knowledge. Bookshelves lined every wall, faint aroma of old manuscripts in the air and sticky notes over the wall. Alex took a deep breath and knocked on his door.
“Ah, Alex,” Professor Mitchell greeted with a warm smile. “What brings you here today?”
Alex confessed his struggles with the argumentative essay. After hearing his concerns, Professor Mitchell said, “Ah, the argumentative essay! Don’t worry, Let’s take a look at it together.” As he guided Alex to the corner shelf, Alex asked,
Table of Contents
“What is an Argumentative Essay?”
The professor replied, “An argumentative essay is a type of academic writing that presents a clear argument or a firm position on a contentious issue. Unlike other forms of essays, such as descriptive or narrative essays, these essays require you to take a stance, present evidence, and convince your audience of the validity of your viewpoint with supporting evidence. A well-crafted argumentative essay relies on concrete facts and supporting evidence rather than merely expressing the author’s personal opinions . Furthermore, these essays demand comprehensive research on the chosen topic and typically follows a structured format consisting of three primary sections: an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph.”
He continued, “Argumentative essays are written in a wide range of subject areas, reflecting their applicability across disciplines. They are written in different subject areas like literature and philosophy, history, science and technology, political science, psychology, economics and so on.
Alex asked,
“When is an Argumentative Essay Written?”
The professor answered, “Argumentative essays are often assigned in academic settings, but they can also be written for various other purposes, such as editorials, opinion pieces, or blog posts. Some situations to write argumentative essays include:
1. Academic assignments
In school or college, teachers may assign argumentative essays as part of coursework. It help students to develop critical thinking and persuasive writing skills .
2. Debates and discussions
Argumentative essays can serve as the basis for debates or discussions in academic or competitive settings. Moreover, they provide a structured way to present and defend your viewpoint.
3. Opinion pieces
Newspapers, magazines, and online publications often feature opinion pieces that present an argument on a current issue or topic to influence public opinion.
4. Policy proposals
In government and policy-related fields, argumentative essays are used to propose and defend specific policy changes or solutions to societal problems.
5. Persuasive speeches
Before delivering a persuasive speech, it’s common to prepare an argumentative essay as a foundation for your presentation.
Regardless of the context, an argumentative essay should present a clear thesis statement , provide evidence and reasoning to support your position, address counterarguments, and conclude with a compelling summary of your main points. The goal is to persuade readers or listeners to accept your viewpoint or at least consider it seriously.”
Handing over a book, the professor continued, “Take a look on the elements or structure of an argumentative essay.”
Elements of an Argumentative Essay
An argumentative essay comprises five essential components:
Claim in argumentative writing is the central argument or viewpoint that the writer aims to establish and defend throughout the essay. A claim must assert your position on an issue and must be arguable. It can guide the entire argument.
2. Evidence
Evidence must consist of factual information, data, examples, or expert opinions that support the claim. Also, it lends credibility by strengthening the writer’s position.
3. Counterarguments
Presenting a counterclaim demonstrates fairness and awareness of alternative perspectives.
4. Rebuttal
After presenting the counterclaim, the writer refutes it by offering counterarguments or providing evidence that weakens the opposing viewpoint. It shows that the writer has considered multiple perspectives and is prepared to defend their position.
The format of an argumentative essay typically follows the structure to ensure clarity and effectiveness in presenting an argument.
How to Write An Argumentative Essay
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write an argumentative essay:
1. Introduction
- Begin with a compelling sentence or question to grab the reader’s attention.
- Provide context for the issue, including relevant facts, statistics, or historical background.
- Provide a concise thesis statement to present your position on the topic.
2. Body Paragraphs (usually three or more)
- Start each paragraph with a clear and focused topic sentence that relates to your thesis statement.
- Furthermore, provide evidence and explain the facts, statistics, examples, expert opinions, and quotations from credible sources that supports your thesis.
- Use transition sentences to smoothly move from one point to the next.
3. Counterargument and Rebuttal
- Acknowledge opposing viewpoints or potential objections to your argument.
- Also, address these counterarguments with evidence and explain why they do not weaken your position.
4. Conclusion
- Restate your thesis statement and summarize the key points you’ve made in the body of the essay.
- Leave the reader with a final thought, call to action, or broader implication related to the topic.
5. Citations and References
- Properly cite all the sources you use in your essay using a consistent citation style.
- Also, include a bibliography or works cited at the end of your essay.
6. Formatting and Style
- Follow any specific formatting guidelines provided by your instructor or institution.
- Use a professional and academic tone in your writing and edit your essay to avoid content, spelling and grammar mistakes .
Remember that the specific requirements for formatting an argumentative essay may vary depending on your instructor’s guidelines or the citation style you’re using (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago). Always check the assignment instructions or style guide for any additional requirements or variations in formatting.
Did you understand what Prof. Mitchell explained Alex? Check it now!
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Prof. Mitchell continued, “An argumentative essay can adopt various approaches when dealing with opposing perspectives. It may offer a balanced presentation of both sides, providing equal weight to each, or it may advocate more strongly for one side while still acknowledging the existence of opposing views.” As Alex listened carefully to the Professor’s thoughts, his eyes fell on a page with examples of argumentative essay.
Example of an Argumentative Essay
Alex picked the book and read the example. It helped him to understand the concept. Furthermore, he could now connect better to the elements and steps of the essay which Prof. Mitchell had mentioned earlier. Aren’t you keen to know how an argumentative essay should be like? Here is an example of a well-crafted argumentative essay , which was read by Alex. After Alex finished reading the example, the professor turned the page and continued, “Check this page to know the importance of writing an argumentative essay in developing skills of an individual.”
Importance of an Argumentative Essay
After understanding the benefits, Alex was convinced by the ability of the argumentative essays in advocating one’s beliefs and favor the author’s position. Alex asked,
“How are argumentative essays different from the other types?”
Prof. Mitchell answered, “Argumentative essays differ from other types of essays primarily in their purpose, structure, and approach in presenting information. Unlike expository essays, argumentative essays persuade the reader to adopt a particular point of view or take a specific action on a controversial issue. Furthermore, they differ from descriptive essays by not focusing vividly on describing a topic. Also, they are less engaging through storytelling as compared to the narrative essays.
Alex said, “Given the direct and persuasive nature of argumentative essays, can you suggest some strategies to write an effective argumentative essay?
Turning the pages of the book, Prof. Mitchell replied, “Sure! You can check this infographic to get some tips for writing an argumentative essay.”
Effective Strategies to Write an Argumentative Essay
As days turned into weeks, Alex diligently worked on his essay. He researched, gathered evidence, and refined his thesis. It was a long and challenging journey, filled with countless drafts and revisions.
Finally, the day arrived when Alex submitted their essay. As he clicked the “Submit” button, a sense of accomplishment washed over him. He realized that the argumentative essay, while challenging, had improved his critical thinking and transformed him into a more confident writer. Furthermore, Alex received feedback from his professor, a mix of praise and constructive criticism. It was a humbling experience, a reminder that every journey has its obstacles and opportunities for growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
An argumentative essay can be written as follows- 1. Choose a Topic 2. Research and Collect Evidences 3. Develop a Clear Thesis Statement 4. Outline Your Essay- Introduction, Body Paragraphs and Conclusion 5. Revise and Edit 6. Format and Cite Sources 7. Final Review
One must choose a clear, concise and specific statement as a claim. It must be debatable and establish your position. Avoid using ambiguous or unclear while making a claim. To strengthen your claim, address potential counterarguments or opposing viewpoints. Additionally, use persuasive language and rhetoric to make your claim more compelling
Starting an argument essay effectively is crucial to engage your readers and establish the context for your argument. Here’s how you can start an argument essay are: 1. Begin With an Engaging Hook 2. Provide Background Information 3. Present Your Thesis Statement 4. Briefly Outline Your Main 5. Establish Your Credibility
The key features of an argumentative essay are: 1. Clear and Specific Thesis Statement 2. Credible Evidence 3. Counterarguments 4. Structured Body Paragraph 5. Logical Flow 6. Use of Persuasive Techniques 7. Formal Language
An argumentative essay typically consists of the following main parts or sections: 1. Introduction 2. Body Paragraphs 3. Counterargument and Rebuttal 4. Conclusion 5. References (if applicable)
The main purpose of an argumentative essay is to persuade the reader to accept or agree with a particular viewpoint or position on a controversial or debatable topic. In other words, the primary goal of an argumentative essay is to convince the audience that the author's argument or thesis statement is valid, logical, and well-supported by evidence and reasoning.
Great article! The topic is simplified well! Keep up the good work
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How to write an argumentative essay
The argumentative essay is a staple in university courses, and writing this style of essay is a key skill for students across multiple disciplines. Here’s what you need to know to write an effective and compelling argumentative essay.
What is an argumentative essay?
An argumentative essay takes a stance on an issue and presents an argument to defend that stance with the intent of persuading the reader to agree. It generally requires extensive research into a topic so that you have a deep grasp of its subtleties and nuances, are able to take a position on the issue, and can make a detailed and logical case for one side or the other.
It’s not enough to merely have an opinion on an issue—you have to present points to justify your opinion, often using data and other supporting evidence.
When you are assigned an argumentative essay, you will typically be asked to take a position, usually in response to a question, and mount an argument for it. The question can be two-sided or open-ended, as in the examples provided below.
Examples of argumentative essay prompts:
Two-sided Question
Should completing a certain number of volunteer hours be a requirement to graduate from high school? Support your argument with evidence.
Open-ended Question
What is the most significant impact that social media has had on this generation of young people?
Once again, it’s important to remember that you’re not just conveying facts or information in an argumentative essay. In the course of researching your topic, you should develop a stance on the issue. Your essay will then express that stance and attempt to persuade the reader of its legitimacy and correctness through discussion, assessment, and evaluation.
The main types of argumentative essays
Although you are advancing a particular viewpoint, your argumentative essay must flow from a position of objectivity. Your argument should evolve thoughtfully and rationally from evidence and logic rather than emotion.
There are two main models that provide a good starting point for crafting your essay: the Toulmin model and the Rogerian model.
The Toulmin Model
This model is commonly used in academic essays. It mounts an argument through the following four steps:
- Make a claim.
- Present the evidence, or grounds, for the claim.
- Explain how the grounds support the claim.
- Address potential objections to the claim, demonstrating that you’ve given thought to the opposing side and identified its limitations and deficiencies.
As an example of how to put the Toulmin model into practice, here’s how you might structure an argument about the impact of devoting public funding to building low-income housing.
- Make your claim that low-income housing effectively solves several social issues that drain a city’s resources, providing a significant return on investment.
- Cite data that shows how an increase in low-income housing is related to a reduction in crime rates, homelessness, etc.
- Explain how this data proves the beneficial impact of funding low-income housing.
- Preemptively counter objections to your claim and use data to demonstrate whether these objections are valid or not.
The Rogerian Model
This model is also frequently used within academia, and it also builds an argument using four steps, although in a slightly different fashion:
- Acknowledge the merits of the opposing position and what might compel people to agree with it.
- Draw attention to the problems with this position.
- Lay out your own position and identify how it resolves those problems.
- Proffer some middle ground between the two viewpoints and make the case that proponents of the opposing position might benefit from adopting at least some elements of your view.
The persuasiveness of this model owes to the fact that it offers a balanced view of the issue and attempts to find a compromise. For this reason, it works especially well for topics that are polarizing and where it’s important to demonstrate that you’re arguing in good faith.
To illustrate, here’s how you could argue that smartphones should be permitted in classrooms.
- Concede that smartphones can be a distraction for students.
- Argue that what teachers view as disruptions are actually opportunities for learning.
- Offer the view that smartphones, and students’ interest in them, can be harnessed as teaching tools.
- Suggest teaching activities that involve smartphones as a potential resource for teachers who are not convinced of their value.
It’s not essential to adhere strictly to one model or the other—you can borrow elements from both models to structure your essay. However, no matter which model of argumentation you choose, your essay will need to have an outline that effectively presents and develops your position.
How to outline and write an argumentative essay
A clear and straightforward structure works best for argumentative essays since you want to make it easy for your reader to understand your position and follow your arguments. The traditional essay outline comprises an introductory paragraph that announces your thesis statement, body paragraphs that unfold your argument point by point, and a concluding paragraph that summarizes your thesis and supporting points.
Introductory paragraph
This paragraph provides an overview of your topic and any background information that your readers will need in order to understand the context and your position. It generally concludes with an explicit statement of your position on the topic, which is known as your thesis statement.
Over the last decade, smartphones have transformed nearly every aspect of our lives, socially, culturally, and personally. They are now incorporated into almost every facet of daily life, and this includes making their way into classrooms. There are many educators who view smartphones with suspicion and see them as a threat to the sanctity of the classroom. Although there are reasons to regard smartphones with caution, there are ways to use them responsibly to teach and educate the next generation of young minds. Indeed, the value they hold as teaching tools is nearly unlimited: as a way to teach digital literacy, to reach students through a medium that is familiar and fun for them, and to provide a nimble and adaptable learning environment.
Body paragraphs
Most argumentative essays have at least three body paragraphs that lay out the supporting points in favor of your argument. Each paragraph should open with a topic sentence that presents a separate point that is then fleshed out and backed up by research, facts, figures, data, and other evidence. Remember that your aim in writing an argumentative essay is to convince or persuade your reader, and your body paragraphs are where you present your most compelling pieces of information in order to do just that.
The body of your essay is also where you should address any opposing arguments and make your case against them, either disproving them or stating the reasons why you disagree. Responding to potential rebuttals strengthens your argument and builds your credibility with your readers.
A frequent objection that teachers have to smartphones in the classroom is that students use them to socialize when they should be learning. This view overlooks the fact that students are using smartphones to connect with each other and this is a valuable skill that should be encouraged, not discouraged, in the classroom. A 2014 study demonstrated the benefits of providing students with individual smartphones. Sanctioned smartphone use in the classroom proved to be of particular importance in improving educational outcomes for low-income and at-risk students. What’s more, learning apps have been developed specifically to take advantage of the potential of smartphones to reach learners of various levels and backgrounds, and many offer the ability to customize the method and delivery of lessons to individual learner preferences. This shows that the untapped potential of smartphones is huge, and many teachers would do well to consider incorporating them into their classrooms.
Your concluding paragraph wraps up your essay by restating your thesis and recapping the arguments you presented in your body paragraphs. No new information should be introduced in your conclusion, however, you may consider shifting the lens of your argument to make a comment on how this issue affects the world at large or you personally, always keeping in mind that objectivity and relevance are your guiding principles.
Smartphones have a growing place in the world of education, and despite the presence of legitimate concerns about their use, their value as teaching tools has been clearly established. With more and more of our lives going digital and with the growing emphasis on offering distance learning as an option, educators with an eye to the future won't wait to embrace smartphones and find ways to use them to their fullest effect. As much time and space as we could devote to weighing the pros and cons of smartphones, the fact is that they are not going to disappear from our lives, and our best bet is to develop their, and our students', potential.
Frequently Asked Questions about argumentative essays
Your argumentative essay starts with an introductory paragraph. This paragraph provides an overview of your topic and any background information that your readers will need in order to understand the context and your position.
Like any traditional essay, the argumentative essay consists of three parts:
- Introduction
There are do's and don'ts in argumentative writing. This article summarizes some of them well - you should, for example, avoid coming to an argument based on feelings, without any evidence. Everything you say needs to be backed up by evidence, unless you are the renowned expert in the field.
Yes, you can start your argumentative essay with a question or with a thesis statement. Or you can do both - ask a question and then immediately answer it with a statement.
There are contrasting views on that. In some situations it can make sense to end your argumentative essay with a question - for example, when you want to create room for further discussions or want the reader to leave thinking about the question.
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Prewriting strategies to help with persuasive writing
In developing persuasive writing skills, students learn to communicate their ideas clearly, convincingly, and ethically, which is important across academic, personal, and professional settings. Students are most likely to practice these skills in persuasive essay writing, where they need to both inform and influence an audience.
To be successful, students need to master the skills of understanding their audience’s perspective, anticipating counterarguments, and building a compelling case. And with so many considerations to bear in mind, it’s essential that students use prewriting to help them in the persuasive writing process!
In this article, we’ll talk about why prewriting is important for persuasive writing, some strategies you can use, and how you can use Kialo Edu as a tool in this process.
Why is prewriting important for writing persuasive essays?
Though it may seem like a drag to students who just want to put pen straight to paper, prewriting is important to ensure students start writing with a clear plan, purpose, and approach .
Giving students strategies to tackle a writing assignment supports metacognitive skills in writing, helping them become better writers in the process. And prewriting can even save them time in the long run, by helping students produce a focused and coherent essay from the start, minimizing the need for extensive revisions.
Prewriting allows students to first generate broad ideas, and to then refine these ideas to bring focus and clarity to their argument. Prewriting also gives students an opportunity to intellectually engage with the topic, making sure important points aren’t overlooked to make sound arguments!
What are some prewriting strategies for persuasive writing?
Here are strategies to help students generate and select ideas, then decide on their position and approach. Students may do all or just some of these!
1. Use brainstorming techniques to generate ideas and identify prior knowledge
Brainstorming encourages a flow of ideas, free from judgment or rigid structure. It helps students identify what they already know about a topic, or provide inspiration when drawing a blank on where to begin. Conversely, it also helps to get ideas down on paper when there are just too many of them floating around.
Brainstorming can take on many forms. It can be done individually as a more reflexive exercise or collaboratively to tap into a group’s different perspectives. It can take different structures, from simple lists to word clouds, or even free writing style exercises.
Try using a Kialo discussion for initial idea generation — set up a discussion on the essay topic and ask groups of students to quickly create as many claims as they can based on their existing knowledge and immediate instincts. They can then return to refine it later as they’re working on their essays!
2. Carry out research to understand the issues and lend credibility to arguments
Help students see the value in carrying out appropriate research as a part of prewriting for their persuasive essays. Effective persuasive essays will offer robust arguments while acknowledging and addressing counterpoints. Thus, students need to show that they have a good understanding of the issues and include sources to lend credibility to their writing.
Adding research to their prewriting activities can also help students learn to meet required academic standards in the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of sources. And, by using research to deepen their understanding of the topic, students can more confidently take a strong position.
Using a Kialo discussion as a prewriting activity allows students to record their research alongside the arguments and details it unveils, with the Sources feature providing a handy reference list. Set a task for a particular number of sources to make research a clear objective for students to meet.
3. Use questioning to explore the topic from different angles
Asking targeted questions throughout the prewriting process helps students explore the topic in-depth and decide on an approach. Encourage students to make detailed use of journalistic questions — Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? — to pull together important elements from different angles. Who questions might seek to identify those most impacted by the topic to look at different perspectives, or the role of key stakeholders. Why questions might prompt students to consider the root causes of the issue or why their argument is important.
Students can use a multi-thesis Kialo discussion to explore different answers to a central question in the prewriting process. The multi-thesis discussion can help students identify their strongest arguments, anticipate counterarguments, or simply to have a more thorough understanding of the topic from different angles.
4. Identify audiences to tailor the persuasive message to their beliefs and values
Framing an essay to be meaningful and relevant to the target reader goes a long way toward making it more engaging and persuasive. By taking the time to consider their audience, students can speak directly to reader concerns and interests in an appropriate tone. That may mean identifying the arguments most likely to hit home or the counter-arguments a particular audience is most likely to raise.
A persuasive essay on urban planning , for instance, will seek to persuade residents and local business owners from different angles. In cases where the only stated audience is the educator, speaking to reader interests might include using a suitable writing style or addressing other curricular standards.
Should the local government regenerate this area? — kialo-edu.com
5. Organize thoughts and information to create a clear picture of the persuasive essay
Teaching students to externally organize their thought processes and information during prewriting can set them on the smoothest path to producing a well-structured persuasive essay. Some techniques include using mind maps to make sense of brainstormed notes and gathered research, or outlining an essay and creating a paragraph plan to guide the actual writing. You might ask students to talk their plan through with a partner to identify gaps in their arguments and gain insight from another perspective.
A Kialo discussion is an effective way for students to externalize and examine their thinking and gathered information. Students can use Kialo’s branching structure to develop their thoughts in many directions, making it easier to spot connections between ideas.
Meanwhile, the extra input from peers’ supporting and opposing claims helps students refine and select the most convincing arguments to use in their persuasive essays. Because claims in a Kialo discussion are meant to be short, students can focus on their ideas before refining to the most appropriate wording to make their case in the essay.
Learning to influence others’ opinions and advocate for your point of view in written form is a good skill for students to have. We’d love to hear about how you persuade your students to participate in prewriting! Please do get in touch at [email protected] or any of our social media platforms.
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Sign up for free and use Kialo Edu to have thoughtful classroom discussions and train students’ argumentation and critical thinking skills.
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Role of Conjunctions and Students’ Cognitive Characteristics in Argumentative Essay Writing
Most high school students are able to write arguments. However, most students are still unable to develop complex writing. The purpose of this research was to investigate the students' argumentative writing which displays various linguistic features and cognitive characteristics, and to investigate the conjunctions that fall into several categories (addition, opposition, causal, and time), which are markers of the complexity of the students' reasoning. The method used in this research was factorial analysis because it aimed to determine the students' linguistic and cognitive features in relation to improving the quality of the students' argumentative writing. The sample in this study was 350 high school students from grades 10 to 12. Analysis was carried out on the students' written argumentative essays which were written in the context of formal or academic language, transcribed and given an analysis code. The research findings show that students are able to demonstrate complex and high-level reasoning according to their use of conjunctions in their essays. The use of conjunctions based on class is relatively low in terms of the number of addition, contradiction, causal, and temporal conjunctions in each essay. The interclass correlation analysis shows that the essay length variable is in a stable condition, while student variability is higher in relation to the use of argument types and conjunctions. Based on the results following the testing of the predictability of conjunction use on argument sophistication, it was found that conflicting conjunctions contributed positively to argument sophistication apart from other variables (essay length, topic, gender, and student socioeconomic status). Contradictory conjunctions are the most complex conjunctions used by students using the integrative perspective. These conjunctions are also used to control the length and type of essay topic. Conjunctions can also contribute to the sophistication of the students' argumentative essays.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.23.3.6
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Step 2: Informal Argument, Freestyle. Although many students might need more practice in writing an effective argument, many of them are excellent at arguing in person. To help them make this connection, I would have them do some informal debate on easy, high-interest topics.
Step 1: Start with Casual Augmentation. Engage your students in a low-stakes debate before formally teaching argumentative essay writing. This approach will help get students in the right mindset as you begin to lay the foundation for effective argumentation. Don't even mention the word essay at this point.
I teach students how to write a step-by-step 5 paragraph argumentative essay consisting of the following: Introduction: Includes a lead/hook, background information about the topic, and a thesis statement that includes the claim. Body Paragraph #1: Introduces the first reason that the claim is valid. Supports that reason with facts, examples ...
Mentor Texts are Golden. Structure is Everything. Research is Key. The Little Details Matter. Checklists are a Must. Mentor Texts are Golden. A great way to introduce the argumentative essay is through mentor texts. Mentor texts help students see distinct elements of craft, tone, and structure within a piece.
Extending: Adding commentary to the conversation on the issue at hand. Countering: Addressing opposing arguments with valid solutions. Teaching students to identify these moves in writing is an effective way to improve reading comprehension, especially of nonfiction articles. Furthermore, teaching students to use these moves in their own ...
4. Identify claims and evidence. Related Article Tim Lahan. The Common Core Standards put argument front and center in American education, and even young readers are now expected to be able to ...
Teaching Argument Essay Writing Step 2: Support the Claim. Once students understand what a debatable claim is, they are ready to support their claim with reasons and examples. This is where a quick four-corners type of classroom exercise comes into play. I divide my class up into the north side of the classroom and the south side of the classroom.
Step 4: Prep Your Points. Once students have a strong thesis and varied, substantial, and credible evidence, there is one last important step: prep their body paragraph points for a line of reasoning. To establish a line of reasoning in their essays, they'll need main points that serve as your reasons to support the main claim in your thesis.
WORD CHOICE. When students are ready to revise, word choice lessons can make a big difference! I like to cover formal vocabulary options throughout the research unit so that students have an opportunity to use the new words they are learning in writing.. Each day, students learn two formal word options that can replace common cliches in writing.
Make a claim. Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim. Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim) Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives. The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays.
Argumentative essay writing is one of the more challenging genres to teach because it relies heavily on text evidence. However, if your students can argue with a friend, family member, or have the desire to prove a point, then argumentative writing is the perfect writing genre to teach them. I've listed 7 steps that may help you guide your ...
Here are four ways to build your students' ability to write arguments through close reading. Choose Text Wisely. I don't think I can say it enough: The most important part of planning close reading is choosing the text. If you want students to be able to create and support an argument, the text has to contain evidence—and lots of it.
The Purpose of Argumentative Writing. While the challenge is in the time it takes to grade the essays, the excitement is within teaching argumentative writing. The purpose of argumentative writing is to defend a position on a particular subject with the goal of persuading readers to accept or at least consider the argument.
1. Give students engaging, relevant texts. In order for students to make an evidence-based argument, they have to care about the topic. Use texts that are at an appropriate level of complexity for the student; that are high-quality, such as from respected publications like The New York Times or National Geographic; and that are relevant to ...
To prepare to write the persuasive essay, challenge your students to make two lists. One list should be reasons that they hold their opinion (or the pro side of the argument ), and the other list should be reasons that the opposition holds their opinion about the issue (or the con side of the argument ). If you are teaching a simple argument ...
Step 4: Explicitly Teach Counterclaim. A well reasoned argument not only acknowledges the "other side," it challenges its own claims and discusses its limitations. Traditionally, we have taught students to include a counter argument toward the end of a persuasive essay.
These steps will help you get your point across clearly and concisely: 1. Turn the topic into a question and answer it. Set up a big question in the title of your essay or within the first few sentences. Then, build up to answering that question in your thesis statement.
Teaching Argumentative Writing—Skills and Strategies. High school students need to possess strong writing skills and learn various writing strategies to be successful in college and the career of their choice. They have to be able to argue opinions, present viewpoints, and comment on events or phenomena using clear and effective language.
My done-for-you Argumentative Writing Unit scaffolds how to write an argumentative essay for you and your students. The unit includes 23 full lesson plans, slide presentations, notebook pages for students, teacher keys and examples, student references pages, and more for a well-rounded unit. Plus, this unit goes through the exact process I ...
In this blog post, I'm going to share five strategies that help students not just identify, but analyze arguments so that they're primed and ready to write their own strong arguments at the conclusion. 1. Differentiate strong claims from weak claims with small group work.
An argumentative essay comprises five essential components: 1. Claim. Claim in argumentative writing is the central argument or viewpoint that the writer aims to establish and defend throughout the essay. A claim must assert your position on an issue and must be arguable. It can guide the entire argument.
It mounts an argument through the following four steps: Make a claim. Present the evidence, or grounds, for the claim. Explain how the grounds support the claim. Address potential objections to the claim, demonstrating that you've given thought to the opposing side and identified its limitations and deficiencies.
Persuasive writing is a form of writing where the writer attempts to convince or persuade the audience to adopt a particular point of view or take a specific action by presenting logical reasoning, supporting evidence, and compelling arguments. This type of writing encourages students to formulate a clear viewpoint on a particular topic ...
Teaching students to externally organize their thought processes and information during prewriting can set them on the smoothest path to producing a well-structured persuasive essay. Some techniques include using mind maps to make sense of brainstormed notes and gathered research, or outlining an essay and creating a paragraph plan to guide the ...
Learn how to write an argumentative essay step by step: structure, tips, examples with none of the generic blah-blah-blah of the other guides. ... When thinking about how to write an argumentative essay introduction, some students use the BAM method: B — background: Engage a reader with a writing hook;
Most high school students are able to write arguments. However, most students are still unable to develop complex writing. The purpose of this research was to investigate the students' argumentative writing which displays various linguistic features and cognitive characteristics, and to investigate the conjunctions that fall into several categories (addition, opposition, causal, and time ...