Writing and Argumentative Essay
An argumentative essay is an academic paper that offers a point of view and argues its validity with clear, well presented evidence. When you are assigned an argumentative essay it does not have to be a daunting task. Break up the work into several tasks and never procrastinate. Try not to do the entire essay in a single day. Use the following steps as a guide, take your time, and you will have success.
1-Chose your topic - Your instructor may have a preselected list of topics for you to chose from. This will help narrow down your search. Chose a topic that you are already familiar with if you can. Also, chose something that you are interested in researching. It will make the process much more enjoyable.
2-Find a question or point to argue within your topic. Be sure that there will be plenty of sources that you can refer to for research. If it is a very unusual or weak argument, you will not find enough evidence to back up your claim.
3-Once you have chosen your topic and argument, it is time to research. Spend plenty of time scouring your school's library, as well as your public library. Do NOT rely solely on internet sources, and if you do use the internet, be sure that your sources are reliable. Find your evidence from not only secondary sources (text books etc), but from primary sources as well. These include documents such as letters, newspaper articles, and government papers. You want to back up your argument with variety of rich and reliable sources.
4-Go through your research. Take notes, or make cue cards, each with one point, or one quotation. Try to be very organized so that things are simple and easy to access once you start writing your paper. Be sure to chose 5 or 6 of the strongest pieces of evidence that back up your argument. There is no need to overload your paper. If you have several convincing points backing you up (as opposed to 15 weaker points), then stick with them and expand.
5-Write an outline of
1-Chose your topic - Your instructor may have a preselected list of topics for you to chose from. This will help narrow down your search. Chose a topic that you are already familiar with if you can. Also, chose something that you are interested in researching. It will make the process much more enjoyable.
2-Find a question or point to argue within your topic. Be sure that there will be plenty of sources that you can refer to for research. If it is a very unusual or weak argument, you will not find enough evidence to back up your claim.
3-Once you have chosen your topic and argument, it is time to research. Spend plenty of time scouring your school's library, as well as your public library. Do NOT rely solely on internet sources, and if you do use the internet, be sure that your sources are reliable. Find your evidence from not only secondary sources (text books etc), but from primary sources as well. These include documents such as letters, newspaper articles, and government papers. You want to back up your argument with variety of rich and reliable sources.
4-Go through your research. Take notes, or make cue cards, each with one point, or one quotation. Try to be very organized so that things are simple and easy to access once you start writing your paper. Be sure to chose 5 or 6 of the strongest pieces of evidence that back up your argument. There is no need to overload your paper. If you have several convincing points backing you up (as opposed to 15 weaker points), then stick with them and expand.
5-Write an outline of