ENGLISH ESSAY STUDY GUIDE
1. Argumentative Essay
DEFINITION
An argumentative essay tries to change the reader’s mind by convincing the reader to agree with the writer’s point of view.
CHARACTERISTICS
An argumentative essay attempts to be highly persuasive and logical. It usually assumes that the reader disagrees with the writer, but it should be noted that the reader is no less intelligent than the writer. Hence an argumentative essay should be written objectively, logically and respectfully.
When planning an argumentative essay, be aware that the essay should contain the following characteristics:
The argumentative essay introduces and explains the issue or case. The reader needs to know what the issue is going to be.
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WRITING OPINION STATEMENTS
In argumentative writing, you need to convince your readers to agree with your point of view or opinion. You can achieve this goal by supporting your opinions with strong evidence. A careful study of the essay “Aggressive driving should be avoided’ will reveal that the writer uses statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Council (NHTSC) and the Department of Highway Safety (DHS) – two wellrespected organizations - to lend support to his opinions. Statistics from very reliable sources as those used in the essay provide very strong evidence which can easily sway the readers to the writer’s point of view. There are different sources of evidence that can be used in argumentative essays. Besides statistics published by reliable sources, research findings, examples and opinions of experts in their fields are some of the other sources of evidence. You also can use forceful words to state your opinions. These words can make readers rethink their views about the issue being discussed. There are many examples of such words in the essay. They are:
raised public opinion (1); dangerous to other road users (4); should be avoided (5); causes crashes, injuries and fatalities (5); resulted in (7); accounts for (11), the most important contributing factor (14); has increased (18); and leading to more aggressive drivers (19).
IMPORTANT POINTS
• A clear, concise, and defined thesis statement that occurs in the first
With writing an argumentative paper, it’s important to have all the right facts, and make sure you have reliable sources. If you don’t have the right facts or reliable sources nobody will want to read your argument; because you wont have the right facts to back up your points. When writing an argumentative paper, its good to know all the facts about each side. Knowing all the facts about each side is important, because people want to read
What is a persuasive essay? Persuasive writing attempts to persuade the reader to change their belief or point of view to the one of the essay. Heather Meredith’s essay “The Death Penalty: Justice for None” is more persuasive than Edward Koch’s “Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life”. A strong essay must be clear on what it is claiming, have a strong use of pathos, and have a strong use of logos.
An argument is a claim supported by reasons and pieces of evidence. Arguments have five primary attributes. Firstly, argumentation is a social process which involves two or more parties responding to one another’s proposal or claim. For the case of a written argument, the writer responds to the content of the essay through a critique process. The responses should not only involve restating the same claims and reasons but rather providing supportive pieces of evidence to the positions taken accordingly. Secondly, the aim of an argument is to make the audience adhere to the written critique. The objective is to influence the audience with the aim of gaining support to
Argumentation is a significant element, and people tend to use it every day. By using the word “argumentation” I do not mean to go against someone’s opinion and arguing with them, but what I mean is making others have faith or some sort of belief on the person who is arguing. However, these arguments can occur in two ways such as direct argument and indirect argument. Furthermore, these arguments work with elements and there are three types of elements ethos, pathos, and logos. These elements are engaged with practical reasoning which are divided into three parts datum, warrant, and claim. Accordingly, to discuss about the process of the argumentation “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” will be a notable example.
14. When writing an argumentative essay, which of the following should be avoided? (Points : 5)
An effective argumentative source develops consistency in reasoning and has logos that influences people through logic. Logos explains and establishes the ideas of the writer in
An argument is a two-sided claim that has facts and evidence to back up and justify each side of the argument. The purpose of any argument is to persuade the opponent and the audience to one side or the other. The goal of the speaker or writer is to use persuasive techniques that end with the audience’s vote. These techniques include pathos, logos, and ethos. Each one of these tactics plays an important role in producing a strong case in a debate or argument. Recently, in this composition class, I have put these techniques to use to create a strong argument with two other classmates. Our debate topic was whether or not the death penalty should continue to be legal in the United States. My team served as the proponents of the argument and tried to use each one of these three main persuasive techniques, pathos, logos, and ethos.
The tool of argumentation has been used throughout the entirety of history. Arguing can occur in many different situations, yet most have a misconceived interpretation of what the term actually is. According to author Jay Heinrichs, an argument is properly defined as having the ability to “convince your opponent, or enemy, by changing his mood, his mind and his willingness to act” (Heinrichs, 15). Heinrichs also claims that to be able to master the art of arguing, one must be able to persuade anyone to do anything. In order to establish one 's standpoint on a position, one must possess a range of tools to be able to properly convince an audience. The two texts “Time 's Up For Title IX
The article by The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill on the topic “Argument” is communicating a point of view; an idea you strongly feel about something or call to action on any subject that is true, real or right. An argument includes interpretation of the purpose, making a claim, premise, providing evidence for the case that is a compelling, examples, and evoking change from the audience to believe in something.
As a “Advanced Placement” student during high school much of my time was spent writing essays on various topics and challenging prompts. Many of my essays centered around structuring supportive arguments to push or pull the audience in my direction of belief. Writing a persuasive essay often included looking for multiple supportive cases, choosing two or three that best “pushed” my view, and including these real world cases and examples throughout my essay to help “build” my case.
What all is a demonstrated when an argument essay is being written? A writer, when discussing a good argument, will use four important sections. They are the introduction, the presentation of the writer’s position, the summary and critique of alternative views, and finally the conclusion (Ramage, Bean, & Johnson, 2012). Argumentative essays are in a form of the writer’s way to either have their audiences be in agreement with the topic or being in a disagreement. Creating a rhetorical triangle argument, a template or order of structure in an argument can be the best form of question development to begin an argumentative paper. (Ramage, Bean, & Johnson, 2012). The different appeals that are called persuasive
Some people believe that you can completely control you own life but others think that fate controls your life. Two examples of literature that explain how you can control your life and life styles are Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer and If written by Rudy Kipling. Into the Wild is about a man who wants to completely change his life. But If explains how if you do these certain things it will make you a man but if you don't then you cannot become a "true man." With multiple pieces of evidence Krakauer's argument that you can influence your life by changing the way you act is stronger than Kipling's theory that only you can control your life.
When analyzing an argument, there are many things a reader must take in to consideration to make their own decision. They need to consider the facts, why the argument is being made, and the opinions already expressed by the writer. Based off all of the information from the argument, one can decide if they are for or against the decision at hand. The argument that I am analyzing today is the school dress code demanding too much from children. Looking at Karen Manicotti’s article, “Back off, dress codes. This is not your call” presents heavy evidence that students are being too controlled and degraded by the way the school dress code is being enforced.
The expression argument has two meanings in scholarly writing. First, it means a composition that takes a position on one side of a divisive issue. You might write an argument against the death penalty, or for or against censorship of pornography. But argument has another meaning, too. It means an essay that, simply, argues a point. You might assemble an argument about the significance of ancestor myths in a certain aborigine culture, or you might write an argument defending your understanding of any poem or essay that is read in your philosophy class. (Winthrop University) You are not necessarily taking one side of a divisive issue, but you are required to defend your points with credible evidence. You are taking a position. In a sense,
However, I believe that my argumentative essay is my strongest essay. I believe that my argumentative essay is my strongest essay in my portfolio because I am so use to writing a paper similar to this that it came second nature to me when I began to write it. I also believe that this is my strongest essay because this was the first time I properly used transition words and phrases throughout my entire essay. For instance, my conclusion flowed perfectly right into the next sentence, “Thus, the thought of using a cellular device while driving is not the worst thing do to while operating a vehicle. Therefore, the committees and groups should rethink their recommendations on bans being proposed…” (Spicer 4). This is why I feel that my argumentative essay is my strongest essay in my